Here’s Where Trump’s Anti-Semitic Attack On Hillary Came From (WITH VIDEO)

It’s been a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad Fourth of July weekend for Donald Trump. The Donald has taken a well-deserved beating for tweeting a blatantly anti-Semitic meme attacking Hillary Clinton. It contained a red Star of David plastered on top of a pile of cash. Due to a firestorm of outrage, Trump was forced to delete it and tweet out a replacement just hours later. However, it says a lot about the Donald that either he or his social media team even thought this was a good idea in the first place.

Well, Trump’s only plausible defense for tweeting this bilge collapsed on Sunday. He can’t credibly claim that he or his staff didn’t know the image had anti-Semitic connotations. Not after it emerged that it had been floating around the white supremacist web for some time before Trump tweeted it on Saturday.

Mic discovered that the image on which this meme was based appeared on /pol/, an 8chan board that is a major gathering spot for the alt-right–a loose confederation of white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and anti-Semites that has floated to Trump like moths to a flame. It’s the same crew responsible for vicious anti-Semitic attacks on anyone who dares speak out against the Donald–such as Julia Ioffe and Jonathan Weisman. They’re also responsible for “echoes,” a nasty mini-meme in which multiple parentheses are placed around Jewish-sounding last names to flag them for harassment.

The image was first uploaded as early as June 22. It’s since been deleted, but you can view an archived version via Archive.is.

The Star of David meme, as it appeared on 8chan (screengrab courtesy Mic)
The Star of David meme, as it appeared on 8chan (screengrab courtesy Mic)

The original image’s file name was “HillHistory.jpg”–an apparent reference to “HH,” code in neo-Nazi circles for “Heil Hitler.” However, any doubt that this image was anti-Semitic was eliminated once several outlets took a peek at who created it. The watermark on the image reveals it was created by a guy who went by the Twitter handle “FishBoneHead1.” According to Mic and The Daily Beast, he first tweeted the meme on June 15.

The original tweet (screenshot courtesy Mic)
The original tweet (screenshot courtesy Mic)

FishBoneHead1’s Twitter feed was a cesspool of racist and anti-Semitic memes. Some examples:

(Screengrab courtesy Mic)
(Screengrab courtesy Mic)
(Screengrab courtesy Mic)
(Screengrab courtesy Mic)

Within hours of Mic reporting on the meme’s origins, FishBoneHead1 started frantically deleting some of his more outrageous memes. By Sunday night, his account was gone altogether–either because he decided to delete it or he didn’t move fast enough before Twitter nuked it for numerous Twitter Rules violations.

Seen in this light, statements from two Trump supporters defending this outrageous meme sound incredibly tone-deaf. On Sunday’s edition of CNN’s “State of the Union,” former Trump campaign manager and current CNN analyst Corey Lewandowski said this is much ado about nothing. Watch here.

Lewandowski told guest host Brianna Keilar that the star wasn’t anti-Semitic at all, but “the same star that sheriff’s departments all over the country” have used for years. He thinks all the outrage is just “political correctness run amok.”

Along similar lines, CNN contributor Jeffrey Lord fired off a blizzard of tweets defending the original meme, and even going as far as to say those criticizing Trump for using it were the real bigots.

So outrage over a major-party candidate using an image that was created by an anti-Semitic knuckledragger, and circulated on a hate-infused imageboard, is “political correctness.” And criticizing its use amounts to “sly Anti-Semitism”? Yeah, okay.

So here’s the $64,000 question–how did this meme fall into Trump’s hands? At best, they didn’t properly vet the image’s history. It would have taken only a few minutes to check the FishBoneHead1 account to see that it was a steaming pile of hate. Regardless of where they got it, Trump needs to show some leadership for once and apologize.

He should also do what he should have done long ago–denounce anti-Semitic garbage being churned out in his name. And if he isn’t willing to do it, Reince Preibus and the RNC need to grow a pair and make him do it.

Featured image: screengrab from Trump’s Twitter, courtesy Mic

Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.