The end-of-year holidays used to be a time when politicians from both sides of the aisle put aside their differences in the name of holiday cheer. In Trump’s White House, that time is over.
Trump campaigned on a promise that he’d celebrate “Merry Christmas” again (despite the fact that it never stopped), but he held a Hanukkah reception this year. The New York Times reports that Trump used the invite list as a way to reinforce division and punish leaders who’ve failed to align with him on political issues.
Mr. Trump, who prizes loyalty and seldom forgets a slight, left Democratic members of Congress off his Hanukkah list this year, according to congressional aides tracking the invites. He also did not invite Reform Jewish leaders who have been critical of him or progressive Jewish activists who have differed with him publicly on policy issues.
By leaving out Democratic lawmakers, Trump decidedly left out all but two of the Jewish members of the House. Splinter points out:
For starters, exactly zero Democratic congresspeople were invited to the event, despite the fact that 28 of the 30 Jewish House members are Democrats. Also not invited: representatives from Jewish groups who happen to disagree with Trump.
Jewish Republican congressmen Lee Zeldin and David Kustoff were, however, in attendance, hobnobbing with a who’s who of far-right Jews, including Zionist Organization of America president Mort Klein, who once proudly proclaimed President Obama a “Jew-hating anti-semite.”
To add insult to injury, the White House didn’t bother to decorate for the occasion.
They did eventually bring out one tiny menorah, which was lit by his Jewish grandchildren.
Stay classy, Trump.