President Joe Biden denounced antisemitism and lashed out at Donald Trump, days after the former president dined with rapper Yeh, who has recently made a string of antisemitic comments, and white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
“I just want to clear up a few things,” Biden tweeted from his official account on Friday. “The Holocaust happened. Hitler was a monstrous figure. And instead of giving it a platform, our political leaders should call out and reject antisemitism wherever it hides. There is tacit complicity.”
The message comes a day after the rapper formerly known as Kanye West told right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones “I like Hitler”. He also tweeted a swastika in the Star of David, To indicate suspension from the platform.
trump, presumed precursor For the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, dinner with West and Fuentes last week at his Mar-a-Lago club drew widespread condemnation. West’s comments have only gotten more inflammatory since the meal, and Trump has yet to disavow his affair with the rapper.
“I love the Jewish people, but I love the Nazis too,” West told Jones on his InfoWars show, adding praise about Hitler’s contributions to society. Fuentes, who was labeled a white supremacist by the Justice Department last year, was also a guest at the hate-filled event. Jones, a noted conspiracy theorist, filed for personal bankruptcy on Friday following a lawsuit filed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, which they have called a hoax for nearly a decade.
West’s comments were deeply offensive to Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee delete a tweet He posted on October 6, which read: “Kanye. Elon. Trump.” Committee members faced pushback over the post for weeks after billionaire Elon Musk allowed previously banned right-wing figures, including Trump and West, to rejoin Twitter.
the west was once again booted from twitter On Friday, he posted a picture of the Nazis’ synonymous swastika inside the Star of David, a prominent symbol of Judaism. Prior to Musk’s purchase, West had previously suspended his Twitter account in October after he posted that he was “going to put a death trap on Jewish people.” Musk announced that the company had restored West’s account on November 20 and welcomed the rapper back to the platform, tweeting, “Don’t kill what you hate, save what you love.”
West’s net worth has declined hundreds of millions after the dollar Adidas announces it is ending its partnership with rapper and Gap, Foot Locker And others said they would no longer carry his products after his anti-Semitic tweets in October. major hollywood talent agency CAA removed them Even as a customer. Three weeks before his “Death Con 3” tweet, West drew controversy — and praise from some conservatives — for showing a “White Lives Matter” T-shirt at Paris Fashion Week.
The “silence is complicity” part of Biden’s tweet is an explicit criticism of Trump and other prominent Republicans. Trump has yet to denounce the men with whom he had dinner at Mar-a-Lago, and he claimed not to know who Fuentes, a white nationalist, was.
Republicans including former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Vice President Mike Pence condemned Trump’s dinner. Others, including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, condemned antisemitism without mentioning Trump’s meeting.
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who is seeking to become the next House speaker, said Tuesday he doesn’t think anyone should spend time with Fuentes and that he “has no place in the Republican Party.” McCarthy said: “Well, I condemn their ideology. It has no place in society. At all.”
But most Republicans have refrained from criticizing the dinner at all. PBS News asked 57 current Republican lawmakers to condemn the meeting and the majority did not respond, Those who have condemned it, such as McCarthy, have focused their attention on Fuentes rather than Trump.
Sen. Marco Rubio R-Fla., told political man He hopes Trump condemns Fuentes “because I know [Trump’s] not an opponent. I can tell you that for a fact that Trump is not, but [Fuentes is] Wicked … just a disgusting disgusting person. He’s a– a clown, and he’s trying to legitimize himself by being around a former, maybe a future president.”
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., told POLITICO that he would not dine with Fuentes. But he said that “this is a free country, [Trump] He can do whatever he wants.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is seen as a potential challenger to Trump in 2024, remained notably silent on the meeting in his home state.