Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) on Tuesday fired back at Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) for providing what he described as “evasive and embarrassing answers” to his questions about antisemitism.
In a thread on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, Raskin facetiously wondered aloud whether Stefanik’s account had been hacked by “some intellectually frivolous person” and whether that “imposter” was responding to his questions in her name.
“Rather than directly answering 5 simple questions about vicious antisemitism in America—the kind of yes/no questions you insist upon!—this impostor has changed the subject and dodged all 5 questions in just the way you warned the college presidents never to do!” Raskin wrote on X.
Stefanik’s direct line of questioning of university presidents about whether calling for the genocide of Jews violates the schools’ codes of conduct has now gone viral. All three elite university presidents have apologized, and University of Pennsylvania President Liz Magill resigned Saturday.
Raskin, however, called out Stefanik this week for what he described as a double standard in her eagerness to denounce college presidents for antisemitism but her continued embrace of former President Trump, who, Raskin said, “traffics in antisemitism all the time.”
“Where does Elise Stefanik get off lecturing anybody about antisemitism, when she’s the hugest supporter of Donald Trump, who traffics in antisemitism all the time?” Raskin asked during an interview Sunday with MSNBC’s Ali Velshi. “She didn’t utter a peep of protest when he had Kanye West and Nick Fuentes over for dinner … Nick Fuentes, who doubts whether Oct. 7 even took place because he thinks it was some kind of suspicious propaganda move by the Israelis.”
“The Republican Party is filled with people who are entangled with antisemitism like that,” Raskin said in the interview, “and yet somehow she gets on our high horse and lectures a Jewish college president from [the Massachusetts Institute of Technology].”
After the interview, in an X thread on Monday, Raskin posed to Stefanik “five easy questions for you to address with ‘moral clarity’ on presidential tolerance for — and embrace of — antisemitism … Please avoid the waffling evasion you rightfully denounced!”
Raskin listed four examples of moments when Trump engaged in activity that some have labeled antisemitic and asked whether Stefanik would support a candidate engaged in such behavior. A fifth question asked whether she was prepared to denounce the antisemitic “Great Replacement Theory” linked to several mass shootings.
In response to an MSNBC interview in which Raskin made a similar point, Stefanik wrote on X, “Thanks for asking @jamie_raskin, the answer is simple: President Trump was the best friend Jewish people have had in the White House in modern times,” Stefanik wrote Monday afternoon on X.
She then gave five examples of actions Trump or his administration took that she argued furthered Jewish interests, four of which were specifically actions about Israel: moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem, brokering the Abraham Accords, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and withdrawing from the Iran nuclear deal. The fifth example addressed extending Title VI protections against discrimination to include Jewish students.
Raskin, in his recent Tuesday thread, called out Stefanik for suggesting all actions taken in support of Israel’s government and its policy positions would benefit American Jews.
“Is the impostor on your account Donald Trump? He routinely mistakes American Jews for Israelis. He told American Jews that the Pences visit Israel and ‘love your country. And they love this country.’ He told US Jewish leaders ‘we really appreciate you; we love your country also,’” Raskin wrote on X.
“Trump thinks Jews should be fine with him dining with antisemites and Holocaust deniers, praising white supremacist rioters and promoting conspiracy theories and insurrection simply because he will give [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu] whatever he wants,” Raskin said, referring to Trump’s widely reported dinner at Mar-a-Lago with Kanye West and Nick Fuentes, who has embraced conspiracy theories about Jews and denied the Holocaust, which killed 6 million Jews in Europe in the late 1930s and 1940s, ever happened.
Raskin further pushed back on Stefanik’s claim that Trump was a good president for American Jews by pointing to his performance in past elections.
“But American Jews have twice overwhelmingly rejected Trump at the polls (71% & 68%) and 72% of Israelis today want Netanyahu to resign. Both men face criminal corruption charges and are desperately trying to avoid prison. Right-wing politics isn’t the solution; it’s the problem,” he said.
“Most Jewish Americans support strong democracy and freedom in America and in Israel, and reject authoritarianism, antisemitism and racism everywhere. That’s why we reject Trump,” Raskin added.
Raskin wrapped his thread returning to his facetious tone, saying, “So to quote you from your now-famous ‘J’Accuse’ hearing: ‘I am going to give you one more opportunity for the world to see your answer.’ Please respond to 5 questions that should be easy for a Harvard grad like you: ‘it’s all yes or no!’”