Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., suggested Tuesday that President Donald Trump was a bigger threat to the American way of life than radical Islamic jihad.
Schultz brought up the president when NewsNation host Leland Vittert asked her on “On Balance” whether she believed that Islamophobia or jihad was a bigger threat to American life and values after a deadly attack against Australian Jews Sunday.
“I think we have to focus, quite frankly, on, if we’re worried about the threat to American values, on the person who’s in the White House. I mean, we have a president …,” Schultz began.
Vittert interrupted her in disbelief, asking her if she was really “going” with that.
“Yeah, I’m going there,” she responded. “Because we have a president who has completely undermined our democracy.”
“So you don’t see jihad, you don’t see this as a problem?” Vittert asked.
“What I don’t see is it as a single lens problem. We have a president who has been determined to undermine our constitutional principles, to degrade our democracy, to divide instead of unite us,” Schultz said.
Schultz agreed that antisemitism was a growing issue but argued that it was a problem among “many young White men” as well as Islamic extremists.
“It is absolutely unacceptable to just oversimplify the problem with antisemitism right now and paint it with a broad brush and say, ‘You know what, if we just deal with radical Islam then Jews are going to be fine,’” Schultz said.
She insisted that Trump had let antisemitism grow after his dinner with White nationalist Nick Fuentes in 2022. She called on Trump to do more to protect Jewish institutions.
“I want a president who actually walks the walk as much as he talks the talk,” Schultz said. “I want a president that makes sure that we restore the nonprofit security grant funding that protects Jewish institutions and other religious institutions from attacks like we’re talking about here. I want a president who isn’t closing down divisions that investigate discriminatory conduct and antisemitic attacks.”
In a comment to Fox News Digital, a White House spokesperson said, “Only someone suffering from a severe case of Trump Derangement Syndrome would make such an outlandish comment.
“Following several recent high-profile cases of Jihadist attacks, no sane person should hesitate to condemn radical Islamic terrorism. Debbie Wasserman Schultz obviously does not fit in that category.”
Sixteen people, including one gunman, were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Forty people were also hospitalized.
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