Jonathan P. Baird lives in Wilmot.

During election campaigns, many wild and hyperbolic things get said. One comment that pushed my buttons was Donald Trump’s statement that Jews would bear much of the responsibility if he lost the election. The logic is twisted but Trump’s assertion unmistakably evokes Jewish history.

Trump has said Jews supporting Vice President Kamala Harris “should have their head examined.” He said 40 percent of American Jews support him (actually the number is closer to 30 percent).

He went on: “That means you got 60 percent voting for somebody that hates Israel. It’s only because of the Democrat hold or curse on you. You can’t let that happen - 40 percent is not acceptable because we have an election to win.”

Previously Trump has said that Jewish voters who support Democrats “should be ashamed of themselves” over their lack of loyalty to him and he has said such voters “hate their religion.” He says he is Israel’s “best friend” and he points to relocating the American embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, recognizing Israel’s control of the Golan Heights and brokering the Abraham Accords.

All these statements demand a response. Jews make up 2.4 percent of the American population. Of that 2.4 percent, 1.8 percent are voting-age adults. Assuming 75 percent of those eligible vote, you are down to 1.3 percent of voters. About one-quarter of Jewish voters live in New York, a state Trump has no chance to win and another 20 percent live in California, another state where Trump is not contending.

Pennsylvania does have 300,000 Jewish voters (there are 8.8 million registered voters in the state). It is a state where Jews have a presence but how do you conclude that Jews bear much of the responsibility if Trump loses? The facts don’t support that. Jewish voting numbers are not that consequential in the other battleground states that will decide the Electoral College vote. You can just as easily and more persuasively argue the electoral importance of African Americans, Hispanics, Muslims or young people.

Trump is trying to scare Jewish voters into voting for him by saying bad things will happen if he loses, including the total annihilation of Israel. Of course, this is consistent with his doom-and-gloom message about the state of everything if he loses. No doubt he has his own criminal cases in mind and the possibility of future jail time.

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Blaming the Jews for his possible electoral loss is fundamentally about scapegoating. He is demonizing Jews who vote for Democrats. His words are putting American Jews into the crosshairs of his many conspiracy-minded supporters. MAGA extremists have shown impressive capability in harassment. Trump’s words can sic a mob.

Many on the far right fear a Great Replacement where minorities, allegedly manipulated by Jews, replace the white majority. From Tucker Carlson to Nick Fuentes, that is a mantra. That was the thinking of the shooter at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018. There is a pattern of mass shooters posting manifestos online citing Great Replacement as justification.

Trump’s blaming words evoke Germany’s “stab in the back” history. German nationalists and Nazis argued Germany lost World War I because they had been stabbed in the back by an international Jewish conspiracy. This slander contributed to the growing antisemitism in Germany in the 1920s and 1930s. Trump singling out Jews is dangerous since antisemitism has regained more of a foothold in America. Antisemitism can be increasingly found on the American right.

In discussing the reasons why Trump believes Jews should vote for him, Israel is central. He makes no appeal based on American political issues. He treats American Jews like they are Israelis and appeals to them based on his slavish support for Netanyahu’s government. In 2019 at a Republican Jewish Coalition meeting, he called Netanyahu “your Prime Minister.”

Trump is calling out a second antisemitic trope that has plagued Jews over time. That is dual loyalty, the notion that Jews are more loyal to Israel than to the United States. That trope has an ancient history and it has been employed against Jews in contexts like Dreyfus’s France and in the former Soviet Union. The message is that Jews are foreign guests in their home country, not true citizens. That is the kind of thinking that inspires Jew hatred from people who fear the other.

The irony is that Netanyahu’s extremist and bellicose government is doing more to promote antisemitism through its actions than anything else. Israel has become a rogue state violating international law with impunity. Trump’s support for Netanyahu is actually endangering Jews in Israel and around the world. Netanyahu and his allies like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich have fanned the flames of hatred and they have created a new generation of people who will hate Israel.

Only diplomacy, a ceasefire and return of the hostages can lead to a lessening of the chances of a regional war which is in the common interest of humanity. A ceasefire, not more war, will help reduce antisemitism.

Last week Sen. Bernie Sanders introduced a resolution to force a vote in Congress to block billions of dollars in offensive American weapons sales to Israel. That may be the only leverage the United States has over Netanyahu. Blindly supporting Netanyahu and his racist government doesn’t fight antisemitism. It does the opposite.

We are in a new period where old thinking about how to fight antisemitism doesn’t apply. American Jews largely oppose MAGA because we recognize that the movement is a fascist threat. It is a movement that supports self-professed Nazis like Mark Robinson. Maintaining our democracy offers the best protection against antisemitism.