fbpx

Bend The Arc Renews Call on RJC to Rescind Trump Endorsement

Bend the Arc, a Jewish progressive and social justice organization, renewed its call on the Republican Jewish Coalition to withdraw its support for Donald Trump in light of his recent campaign rhetoric.

Trump’s comments on Tuesday encouraging “Second Amendment people” to take action against Hillary Clinton to prevent her from appointing liberal judges to the Supreme Court were roundly condemned by both Democrats and Republicans.

In an interview with Jewish Insider on Wednesday, Bend the Arc Jewish Action’s CEO Stosh Cotler called on the Republican Jewish Coalition to withdraw their endorsement of Trump. “I believe that it is an entirely reasonable next step given that Donald Trump has continued to demonstrate that he is someone who is running on a platform of hatred and bigotry, that he has made comments insinuating violence to Hillary Clinton. This is so incredibly outrageous. It goes far and beyond anything we have ever seen before. ”

“We believe that no organization that identifies itself as Jewish could possibly stand behind this kind of language and these kinds of behavior,” she asserted. “There is a hypocrisy between identifying oneself as Jewish and the kind of behavior that Donald Trump has displayed. This is just part of their moral imperative. And while, of course, there are times when one could say that they are a Republican Jewish group, therefore, they would back a Republican candidate, there are some moments in history where we must rise above partisan politics and call out demagogues and fascists and dangerous individuals like Donald Trump. This is one of those historic moments.”

Speaking at a campaign rally in North Carolina on Tuesday, Trump said,  “Hillary wants to abolish, essentially abolish the Second Amendment. By the way, if she gets to pick her judges, nothing you can do, folks. Although the Second Amendment people, maybe there is. I don’t know.”

The Republican presidential nominee later clarified that he meant political action. “What it is is there’s a tremendous power behind the Second Amendment. It’s a political power, and there are few things so powerful, I have to say, in terms of politics,” Trump said on “Hannity” Tuesday night.

But Clinton, campaigning in Iowa on Wednesday, said her opponent crossed the line with his recent remarks.

“Yesterday we witnessed the latest in a long line of casual comments from Donald Trump that cross the line,” Clinton said at a campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa. “Words matter, my friends, and if you are running for president or you are president of the United States, words can have tremendous consequences. His casual cruelty to a Gold Star family, his casual suggestion that more countries should have nuclear weapons and now his casual inciting of violence. Every one of these instances shows us that Trump simply does not have the temperament to be president and commander-in-chief of the United States. ”

Bend the Arc Jewish Action has been urging the RJC to reject Trump since the Star of David tweet controversy, including delivering a petition with thousands of signatures to the RJC calling on the group to withdraw its endorsement.

Subscribe now to
the Daily Kickoff

The politics and business news you need to stay up to date, delivered each morning in a must-read newsletter.