Is Ted Cruz Anti-Semitic? Geraldo Rivera Thinks ‘New York Values’ Is A Jab At Jews

Geraldo Rivera rallied behind his controversial remarks that Ted Cruz is anti-semitic in an appearance on Friday’s Fox and Friends.

Geraldo believes that Ted is using carefully coded language in his interactions with the public in order to express anti-semitic beliefs. Rivera specifically pointed to Cruz’s accusations that Donald Trump has “New York values,” and that because of them, he is somehow out-of-touch with the average American.

According to Geraldo, Ted’s phrasing is a shrouded attempt to take a jab at the New York Jewish community. Cruz, he says, is coming just short of making such anti-semitic remarks openly.

“In terms of this Ted Cruz situation and this ‘New York values’ situation, when you say ‘New York, money, and media,’ what do you need really before you get to the caricature — the dog-whistle — the code-word, of what this man is trying to say?… What do you need? A cartoon of someone with a big nose from another era? This was designed to bring to the heartland the negative impression of greedy New Yorkers trying to take money out of people’s pockets. The association is indelible, and undeniable, and you can’t explain it [away]. There are a million ways to put down socialism and liberalism and excessive government spending and the welfare state — a million ways without suggesting that you’re talking about a particular race.”

Ted has brought up New York values as a way to disparage Republican rival Donald Trump several times, including in public debates. While Trump himself is not Jewish, Rivera says that there is an attempt to make Evangelical Christians distrust the business tycoon by associating him with Jews. Geraldo said one of the most perniciously anti-semitic examples of this strategy was in Cruz’s campaign ads in Iowa.

“What you say in the matzah factory in Brooklyn is different from what you say in Iowa. That commercial in Iowa was meant to convey two messages. One was that Trump was not legit, that whatever Trump was saying now, he believed something else because he was from New York. The other was that what New York values represent something that is very different from the Evangelical Iowa voters that [Ted] was directing his message toward.”

While appearing at a January GOP debate, Cruz first stirred up trouble with the phrase “New York values” when he claimed that “everybody knew” that the social norms in the city were not the same as in the rest of the country. Ted argued that the city is a liberal stronghold, then coyly remarked that “not too many conservatives” come from there. His attack was deflated, however, when it gave Donald Trump the opportunity to talk about 9/11.

At the time, Cruz might not have expected he’d be battling off the comment months later; but Rivera isn’t the only one who is calling Ted an anti-semite. CNN legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin sided with the Fox anchor on Thursday’s The Situation Room.

“Let’s be honest. He said, New York values are about money and they’re about the media. That’s an anti-Semitic trope from 100 years, it’s been around for a very long time, everyone in the whole country understands what he was saying.”

Do you think Gerald Rivera is right about Ted Cruz being anti-semitic with his remarks about New York values?

[Image via Uriel Sinai and Joe Raedle/Getty Images]