US President Donald Trump has stated that the level of antisemitism in the United States has become as dire as the situation in Germany in 1938.
In a recent interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Trump remarked that attacks on Jews and incidents of racist hatred in the US are rising at an alarming rate. He asserted that Jews are the primary targets of a large portion of hate crimes motivated by religious bias.
“I am shocked by what I see,” Trump said. “It’s like Germany in 1938. What is happening is absolute madness. Fifty-seven percent of the attacks against individuals are directed at Jews—it’s unbelievable!”
According to FBI statistics, 63 percent of religiously motivated hate crimes in the United States last year targeted Jews. In 2024, that figure reached 70 percent.
Trump’s comments come shortly after the 88th anniversary of “Kristallnacht”—the wave of anti-Jewish mass violence carried out by the Nazi regime on November 9, 1938—an event widely regarded as the prelude to the Holocaust.
Under Adolf Hitler’s rule in Germany, Jews were stripped of their citizenship and subjected to severe restrictions, boycotts, and discrimination.
Trump claimed that the rise in antisemitism began during the administration of Barack Obama.
Data from various organizations, including the Anti-Defamation League, indicate that antisemitic incidents in the US began to increase in 2016—a trend that continued throughout Trump’s first term in office.
