Trump’s praise of an anti-Semite’s ‘good bloodlines’ triggers furious backlash

May 22, 2020 By David Badash, The New Civil Rights Movement
- Commentary

President Donald Trump once again is dog-whistling to his base. While delivering a campaign-style speech at a Michigan Ford auto plant that’s been retooled to manufacture personal protective gear, Trump decided to take a walk into history and praise the company’s founder, the infamous anti-Semite Henry Ford.

Henry Ford gave America the Model T, mass production, and after death, the non-profit Ford Foundation, but he also was an anti-Semite who reportedly blamed Jewish people for World War I and World War II, published anti-Semitic propaganda, and was a Nazi sympathizer.

“Ford is the only American mentioned by name in Hitler’s notorious ‘Mein Kampf,’” according to Religion News Service.
President Trump has repeatedly called Ford “legendary.”

On Thursday, Trump praised the anti-Semitic Nazi sympathizer for having “good bloodlines.”

The President says the founder of Ford has good bloodlines.. If you’re not familiar with Henry Ford, I would encourage you to read more about him and specifically his actions during WW2 pic.twitter.com/vniaOSR2sX

— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) May 21, 2020


Social media users grew furious.

You know who also believed in “good bloodlines”? Adolf Hitler. That’s who. https://t.co/jtsD7w09K3
— PTM (@portugaltheman) May 21, 2020


Henry Ford was a Nazi sympathizer who wrote “The International Jew, the World’s Foremost Problem.”
Hitler called Ford an “inspiration” & gave him the highest Nazi medal for foreigners.
Trump praising Ford’s “good bloodlines” = a dog-whistle to antisemites & white nationalists. https://t.co/478q3Oq67r
— Bend the Arc: Jewish Action (@jewishaction) May 21, 2020

Trump talked about “good bloodlines” while at the Ford factory…
Know who else talked about “good bloodlines”?
Nazis.
— Red, Noble Committee Marketing Director (@Redpainter1) May 21, 2020
The president just described nazi sympathizer Henry Ford as a man with “Good bloodlines.” https://t.co/AdnAd2vX7o

— Molly Jong-Fast

 

(@MollyJongFast) May 21, 2020


“Henry Ford, good bloodlines, good bloodlines. If you believe in that stuff, he had good blood.”
Ford hated Jews to the point that Hitler literally once said “I regard Henry Ford as my greatest inspiration.”
Our Pres is a white supremacist https://t.co/ZNTka0rsTG
— Matt Braunger (@Braunger) May 21, 2020


Folks, he does this a lot. He really is a miseducated eugenicist, with bad blood lines. https://t.co/O4RfzPEa0A
— Joan Walsh (@joanwalsh) May 21, 2020

Surprising NO ONE, @realDonaldTrump says that the virulent anti-Semite and Nazi-sympathizer, Henry Ford, has “good bloodlines.”

#RacistInChief #RacistGOP https://t.co/7vbzJ9jk6k
— Dr. Dena Grayson (@DrDenaGrayson) May 21, 2020


Talking about Ford and his good bloodlines is seriously f’ed up. This is anti-semitic and pro-Nazi. https://t.co/whujGR4uVX https://t.co/22KVKa4SOS
— Janet Johnson (@JJohnsonLaw) May 21, 2020

Henry Ford definitely believed in that stuff https://t.co/jg8nA80KHZ
— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) May 21, 2020

This isn’t one of those “what the fuck is he saying” Trump rambles. He specifically calls out Henry Ford with eugenics terminology. This is blatant signaling to his fascist base.
The President is a fucking NAZI. https://t.co/nGpMvOIzIo
— Gareth M. Skarka (@gmskarka) May 21, 2020

Trump ‘should apologize’ for praising ‘antisemite’ Henry Ford: 

ADL

The CEO of the Anti-Defamation League suggested President Donald Trump to apologize for comments made during a tour of a Ford factory in Michigan.

Trump praised the “good bloodlines” of Henry Ford, resulting in harsh criticism online.

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt responded to Trump’s comments on Twitter.

“Henry Ford was an antisemite and one of America’s staunchest proponents of eugenics,” Greenblatt noted.

“The President should apologize,” he counseled.

In case Trump “doesn’t know why” he should apology, Greenblatt include a link to ADL’s briefing on Ford.

Henry Ford was an antisemite and one of America's staunchest proponents of eugenics.
The President should apologize.
If he doesn't know why, our backgrounder on Ford's legacy will help:https://t.co/U3uxpdEDto https://t.co/0CdzCGLKvu

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) May 22, 2020

THE IRONY IS THAT THE FORD BLOODLINE ENDED IN AN EDSEL