The Anne Frank Center for Mutual Respect may never be satisfied with President Donald Trump no matter what he says or does, as it signaled by piling on him Tuesday even after he made some of his strongest anti-Semitism remarks to date.
The center's executive director, Steven Goldstein, and Kayleigh McEnany, CNN’s in-house surrogate for Trump, got into a verbal battle on a network segment.
The heated debate was sparked by remarks the president had made earlier on Tuesday pertaining to anti-Semitism, which Goldstein described as “too little, too late,” adding that the administration’s anti-Jewish comments are “the worst we have ever seen,” the Huffington Post noted.
“The anti-Semitic threats targeting our Jewish community and community centers are horrible and are painful and a very sad reminder of the work that still must be done to root out hate and prejudice and evil,” Trump said Tuesday morning at the National Museum of African American History and Culture, according to CNN.
Following his visit to the museum, Trump vowed to bring unification to what he views as a “divided country,” San Francisco Gate noted.
“Today and every day of my presidency I pledge to do everything I can to continue that promise of freedom for African Americans and for every American,” Trump said.
Goldstein had responded to the president’s remarks in an official statement, saying Trump’s comments Tuesday morning placed a “Band-Aid on the cancer of Antisemitism that has infected his own administration.”
Goldstein pointed out that the “White House repeatedly refused to mention Jews in its Holocaust remembrance” when Trump made a statement in January on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, USA Today noted.
During the back and forth between Goldstein and McEnany, she challenged Goldstein’s backlash.
“So you think the president does not like Jews and is prejudiced against Jews?” McEnany asked, according to the Huffington Post.
“You bet,” Goldstein replied.
“Wow! Does he hate his daughter?” McEnany asked, referring to Ivanka Trump, who converted to Judaism before tying the knot with her husband Jared Kushner.
“Wow is right,” Goldstein responded.
“You know what, Kayleigh? I am tired of commentators like you from the right trotting out his daughter, trotting out his son-in-law, as talking point against the president’s anti-Semitism,” Goldstein said. “They are Jewish, but that is not a talking point against anti-Semitism and that is a disgrace. Have you no ethics that you invoke people’s religion as a talking point? That itself is anti-Semitic.”