Eric Trump had a few choice words about Bob Woodward, the journalist who wrote the book Fear: Trump In The White House . According to Think Progress , Eric Trump spoke about how Woodward was guaranteed press from places like CNN because the network loves to hate his father.
“You can write a sensational nonsense book, CNN will definitely have you on there because they love to trash the president. It’ll mean you sell three extra books, you make three extra shekels — I mean, at the behest [sic] of the American people, at the behest of our country and a president that’s doing a phenomenal job by every quantifiable metric,” said Trump.
As the Times of Israel reports, “shekels” are now the currency of Israel, but the word refers to “an ancient Hebrew currency long associated with the Jewish people.” Additionally, the Times states that the word can also serve as a reference for “the New Testament, in which Jesus was betrayed by Judas for silver.”
Most recently, the term has been bandied about by those on the alt-right as an anti-Semitic term, especially on the message boards of known alt-right websites like 4chan. Though the hosts did not comment on Trump’s use of the word, several Twitter users took exception to it.
One user wrote, “The only people who refer to being paid off as wanting ‘extra shekels’ are Israelis speaking Hebrew and anti-Semites speaking English outside Israel. Eric Trump doesn’t speak Hebrew, so you know exactly who he has been reading online.”
Another said, “I don’t know if it’s more sad or shocking that someone who’s sister is now an orthodox Jew and sister in law is Jewish would say that. Even in mixed families, it’s there,” referring to the fact that Trump’s sister, Ivanka, converted to Judaism when she married her husband, Jared Kushner.
In addition to Trump’s comment, he stated that the Democrats are against law enforcement, plan to raise taxes, and only care about plastic straws. He also praised his father, saying he was doing a wonderful job for responding to Hurricane Florence, a category 3 storm that is not set to touch down until the weekend.
Even though Trump and his older brother, Donald Trump Jr., said they’d remain independent businessmen once their father took office in 2016, the brothers have become two of his staunchest surrogates, often doing interviews or posting their comments on Twitter.
