The Anti-Defamation League slammed the Donald Trump campaign on Sunday for “conjuring painful stereotypes and baseless conspiracy theories” in its two-minute closing ad.
“Whether intentional or not, the images and rhetoric in this ad touch on subjects that anti-Semites have used for ages,” ADL CEO and National Director Jonathan Greenblatt wrote in a statement released Sunday. “This needs to stop.”
He wrote that candidates should be “especially responsible” with their statements due to high tensions in the time remaining before Election Day.
“All candidates need to be especially responsible and bid for votes by offering sincere ideas and policy proposals, not by conjuring painful stereotypes and baseless conspiracy theories,” Greenblatt wrote.
This #Trump ad touches on images and rhetoric that anti-Semites have used for ages https://t.co/fKjHU3Bsy5 pic.twitter.com/itMxVUpS2R
— ADL (@ADL_National) November 6, 2016
The Trump campaign released the ad Saturday, and it is reportedly set to spend $4 million to air it in nine swing states. It features audio of the Republican nominee declaiming against “global special interests” and “those who control the levers of power in Washington” played over footage of Hillary Clinton, George Soros, Janet Yellen and Lloyd Blankfein – all of whom are Jewish, except Clinton.
The audio comes from a speech that the Republican nominee gave in October at a rally in West Palm Beach, Florida, warning voters about a global “power structure” of establishment figures conspiring to derail his campaign.
In a tweet posted the same day as the speech, Greenblatt condemned Trump’s use of historically anti-Semitic rhetoric and imagery:
.@TeamTrump should avoid rhetoric&tropes that historically have been used ag. Jews & still spur #antisemitism. Lets keep hate out of cmpgn https://t.co/9LMnurQ3Xg
— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) October 13, 2016
Watch the Trump campaign’s closing ad below:
