Former President Trump recently reissued his test of loyalty to religious Americans, declaring that he was best able to protect their freedoms while preemptively blaming members of certain faiths if he lost the presidential election. november.

Jews and Catholics can vote for him and pass the test, but those who don’t, he said, “need to have their heads examined.” If he loses, Trump added, “the Jewish people would have a lot to do with that loss.”

Among Jewish leaders dismayed by Trump’s remarks was Rabbi Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism — an umbrella group for more than 800 Reform synagogues in North America.

“Your words preemptively blaming Jews for your potential election defeat are one with millennia of anti-Semitic lies about Jewish power,” Jacobs said in a social media post. “This targets American Jews. And that makes you an ally not to our vulnerable community but to those who wish us harm. Stop.”

Trump’s speeches for years have focused on divisive “us” versus “them” messages, but tying those themes to specific religious Americans who oppose him is inappropriate and even dangerous, rhetoric experts say. religious leaders and academics.

“Non-Jews should not express public opinions about what is or is not good Judaism and non-Catholics should not express public opinions about what is or is not good Catholicism said Steven Millies, professor of public theology at the University of Washington. Chicago Catholic Theological Union.

“Not only is it bad form, it’s also an ignorant waste of oxygen.”

Asked to respond to criticism from Jewish leaders, Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt sent statements from herself and several Jewish Trump supporters. The statements did not directly address the possibility of blaming Jews for Trump’s defeat; rather, they portrayed Trump as a stronger supporter of Israel than President Biden and Trump’s Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris.

“American Jews and Jewish leaders around the world recognize that President Trump has done more for them and for the State of Israel than any president in history,” Leavitt said by email. “Ultimately, Kamala Harris and Joe Biden are caving to far-left extremists and terrorists while President Trump will protect American Jews and put American citizens first. »

Trump’s latest provocative comments came in four days. His warnings about Jewish voters came in speeches on September 19 to Jewish donors and to the Israeli-American Council in Washington. His remarks about Catholics were published September 22 in an article on Truth Social.

Matthew Boedy, who studies religious rhetoric as a professor at the University of North Georgia, said Trump has embraced spiritual warfare rhetoric, common in some Christian circles.

“Those who gave him this rhetoric considered Satan or evil to be an enemy. Now that enemy is anyone – Jew, Christian, Muslim – who gets in his way,” Boedy said via email, calling him dangerous to democracy and religion.

“Trump always makes his religious supporters choose, especially Christians. They must choose it over pluralism, morality or evangelism,” said Boedy, a Protestant.

“If God is already on your side theologically, there’s not much to say that He should be on your side politically. This is not new in American politics,” Boedy said. “Trump is only making this division to his advantage. It reinforces what was there, but it also adds its own weight. Even worse.

David Gibson, director of the Center on Religion and Culture at Jesuit-run Fordham University, said that in past elections, “for a non-Catholic like Trump to set himself up as the savior of Catholics, or of Jews, moreover, would have been political madness.

“But this is Trump, and conservatives who would attack a Democrat for such language are cheering for the Republican candidate,” Gibson added in an email. “There are many reasons, the most obvious is that they love Trump more than they care about their own church.”

Gibson also suggested that Trump’s hardline stance on immigration, which includes calls for mass deportations, is at odds with Catholic teaching.

“Catholics who listen to Trump’s increasingly nativist rhetoric on immigration and even his running mate, JD Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, should have their hearts examined if they support this,” he said. Gibson said.

Professor Jennifer Mercieca, a historian of American political rhetoric at Texas A&M University, said typical politicians seek to connect with voters on the basis of shared political beliefs, not by demanding religious loyalty.

“But Trump is not a typical politician and he is very concerned about loyalty,” she said. “He divides the world into ‘us’ and ‘them’ and tries to use these divisions to gain power.”

“It is particularly dangerous to try to divide people based on their religious identity,” said Mercieca, author of “Demagogue for President: The Rhetorical Genius of Donald Trump.” “The kind of language Trump is using here sounds more like that used by an authoritarian leader of a personality cult.”

Trump’s recent comment that Jews should be blamed if he loses came at an event also attended by Jewish megadonor Miriam Adelson, widow of the late casino mogul Sheldon Adelson. She introduced Trump as “a true friend of the Jewish people.”

Among the pro-Trump statements provided to The Associated Press by Leavitt was one from Ellie Cohanim, who served during the Trump administration as deputy special envoy for combating anti-Semitism.

Trump “is absolutely right to question our assumptions about voting on autopilot and to fail to understand that the Democratic Party, which has been hijacked by its far-left base, is no longer a home for the people Jewish,” Cohanim’s statement said.

Adelson and Cohanim represent the portion of American Jews who strongly support Trump. In 2020, he received about 30% of the American Jewish vote, compared to Biden’s 70%, according to AP VoteCast.

Criticism of Trump’s recent remarks has come from both the center and the left of the national Jewish community.

The American Jewish Committee – a leading advocacy group that strives to broadly represent Jews in the United States and abroad – issued a highly critical statement. He disputed Trump’s suggestion that if 40% of the American Jewish electorate voted for him, “that means 60% are voting for the enemy.”

“Having someone say we lost because of the Jews is outrageous and dangerous,” the AJC said. “Thousands of years of history have shown that scapegoating Jews can lead to anti-Semitic hatred and violence. »

“Some Jews will vote for President Trump and others for Vice President Harris,” the AJC added. “None of us, by supporting the candidate we choose, are voting for the enemy.”

Left of center, Lauren Maunus, political director of IfNotNow, an organization of American Jews that has accused the Israeli government of oppressive policies toward Palestinians and protested Israel’s military offensive in Gaza, harshly criticized Trump.

“Trump has doubled down on his long-standing strategy of scapegoating Jews,” Maunus said. “Make no mistake: This is a clear and blatant instruction to his fanatical extremist base to target Jews with punitive violence should he lose. »

Some Jews found a positive spin on Trump’s remarks, as Betsy Frank of Mattituck, New York, expressed in a letter published September 23 in The New York Times.

“As a proud Jew who believes in Israel’s right to defend itself but is even more supportive of the United States and everything it stands for, I would not vote for Donald Trump for any office,” she wrote . “If he loses the election, I will gladly take responsibility.”

Crary and Meyer write for the Associated Press.