Trump’s ‘stupid Jews’ comment was the problem — not the fact I pointed it out

When I published my post yesterday — “Trump’s ‘stupid Jews’ comment is the same old antisemitic garbage” — I knew I was tossing a match into a dry field. The Times of Israel blogs comment sections have long become a familiar battleground: full of people who think “defending Israel” means defending Donald Trump no matter what he says.

Still, the responses to that post were breathtaking in their self-owning honesty.

One commenter wrote, “Trump may have been impolite, but he certainly wasn’t wrong.” Another declared, “Any Jew who voted for Mamdani is voting against the interests of the Jewish people.” And my personal favorite: “Sorry, Rav Ryan, but President Trump’s remark is bemet! Any Jewish person who voted for Mamdani is tipesh me’od!” — Hebrew for “very stupid.”

Thank you, truly. You just underlined my entire argument.

Trump’s original comment wasn’t a one-off “impolite” remark — it was a classic antisemitic trope. When he said any Jew who voted for Zohran Mamdani is “stupid,” he wasn’t just criticizing a political stance. He was implying that Jews who don’t align with his ideology are disloyal, foolish, or unworthy of respect.

And now, his defenders are parroting that same logic word for word. They’ve absorbed the idea that there’s one “correct” Jewish way to vote, and anyone who dares to think differently deserves public shaming. That’s not Jewish pride — that’s cult behavior.

As I wrote in the original post, “This isn’t about Israel. It’s about power. Trump doesn’t love Jews — he loves Jews who love him.”

Mamdani isn’t the point — moral independence is…

Zohran Mamdani is a Muslim progressive. Yes, he is anti-Zionist. You can disagree with him all you want. But Trump’s attack wasn’t on Mamdani — it was on Jews who vote for him. In other words, it was about policing Jewish thought.

When Jews start echoing that same rhetoric, they’re doing the work of antisemitism for him. The obsession with “good Jews” and “bad Jews” is as old as exile itself. To see it reappear — this time wielded by our own people in defense of a man who’s mocked Holocaust survivors and dined with white supremacists — is gutting.

Judaism isn’t a MAGA loyalty test…

My critics in many a comment section on here love to say Trump has “protected Israel.” Fine. But he also has protected Kanye West’s right to dine with Nazis and gave oxygen to conspiracies that put Jews in danger.

Being “pro-Israel” doesn’t cancel out being antisemitic… and loving Judaism doesn’t mean surrendering your conscience to a politician who sees Jews only as props for his campaign rallies.

Our faith demands better than that. It demands moral clarity, not partisan obedience.

The comment section in yesterday’s post tells the real story…

Those who called me “tipesh me’od” (very stupid) for challenging Trump didn’t offend me — they exposed something much bigger. They showed how far we’ve drifted from the Jewish moral tradition that values questioning, justice, and humility.

If standing up against bigotry earns me your mockery, then so be it. I’ll wear it proudly. Because if defending human dignity is “stupid,” then I’ll gladly be the stupidest Jew in the comment section.