Yesterday morning, Donald Trump took a shot at Chuck Todd:
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018
Now, most people probably saw “Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd” and figured that Trump was just showing off yet another one of his trademarked nicknames for someone he doesn’t like. But Stoneman Douglas High School student Sarah Chadwick saw something much more sinister:
“Sleepy eyes” is an anti Semitic term that was and is stilled used by neo- nazis groups relating to “how to spot a Jew.” Donald Trump just used anti semitic terminology against a Jewish reporter. Why are people not talking about this?! https://t.co/cy54ZEE92v
— Sarah Chadwick (@Sarahchadwickk) April 23, 2018
Don’t worry, Sarah … they were talking about it:
That “sleepy eyes” comment about Chuck Todd who is Jewish is a dog whistle for his followers. https://t.co/hpmcqPfKfh
— Stellarjay (@Stellarjay2) April 22, 2018
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/988244289842008064
https://twitter.com/LouisRinaldi1/status/988232139362750464
This guy dissected it in an entire thread:
I did not know "sleepy eyes" was an anti-Semitic slur.
When I was told such here on Twitter, I went and looked it up.
It is. And it's much worse than that.
1/ https://t.co/jZmMplHrtE— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
The term's origin comes from a list of criteria used by Nazis to determine who might be a jew. This list includes traits such as a widow's peak, dark curly hair, attached earlobes, weak or pointed chins, thick lips, head shape, and thick eyelids with "sleepy, wary eyes."
2/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Recommended
That list naturally found it's way to various neo-Nazi, White Supremacist, and other anti-Semitic groups after WWII. "How to spot a jew" is a common search phrase on Google, and the results are hundreds of variations on this list of Nazi-originated criteria.
3/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Chuck Todd is Jewish, a fact that Trump most certainly knows.
It is unlikely in the extreme that Trump would pick "sleepy eyes Chuck Todd" as an insult at random and without malice aforethought.
4/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Unlikely in the extreme? Really?
While Trump himself may or may not know the origin of the insult and who commonly uses that insult today, it's obvious he surrounds himself with people who use this term openly in the halls of government and business.
5/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
The President of the United States calling a Jewish person "sleepy eyes" isn't funny or clever or harmless.
If Trump DOESN'T honestly know that he's engaged in an anti-Semitic slur, that doesn't make it better, it makes it WORSE.
6/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Because this tells you, Citizen, who he surrounds himself with and how utterly shameless they are in their hate and bigotry.
More than anything, this is yet another indicator of just how dangerous and unqualified Trump is to be leader of our nation.
7/7— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
Addendum:
Trump apologist feedback acknowledged.
Very well: Ask TRUMP what he meant. I don't want to hear YOUR interpretation, I want to hear it from Trump.
Chuck Todd's eyes are no different, no more "sleepy" than anybody else's. They appear normal in every way.
8/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
It's an odd label, "Sleepy eyes." Not at all obvious, like weight based insults or hair color or height or even sex.
Sleepy eyes.
It's damned coincidental, damned peculiar, damned suspicious, given Todd's ethnicity.
9/— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
But I'll bite: what DID Trump intend with this insult? Let's ask him. What prompted it? Who did Trump hear it from? What was the impetus of the label?
Come now, let's have it.
10/10— Stonekettle (@Stonekettle) April 22, 2018
We know this sounds crazy, but is it possible that Trump was just taking a swipe at Chuck Todd’s appearance, because that’s kind of what he does?
I have never heard this in my life https://t.co/uXDirlgD1O
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) April 23, 2018
I have never heard that used as an antisemitic term.
— (((AG))) (@AG_Conservative) April 23, 2018
I honestly think she just made this up. https://t.co/NQqUXAivSv
— Lyndsey Fifield (@lyndseyfifield) April 23, 2018
Or, at the very least, got it very, very wrong.
https://twitter.com/ElliottRHams/status/988273587466448896
This is a lie.
She based this entire tweet off of a highly unreliable Twitter account and claimed it as fact.
As my friend @ElliottRHams notes: She’s confusing “wary and piercing eyes” from Streicher’s “Der Giftpilz” with “sleepy eyes.” https://t.co/aHQrqe1z3J https://t.co/EfbZlMPRAz
— Ryan Saavedra (@RealSaavedra) April 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/ElliottRHams/status/988279846563471360
Even Oliver Willis is rolling his eyes:
Until I see any evidence consider me a "sleepy eyes" skeptic. Trump is commenting on the shape of Todd's eyes not his ethnic background.
(Also my eyes are way sleepier than Chuck Todd's)
— Oliver Willis (@owillis) April 23, 2018
Is Willis a self-hating Jew for admitting that his eyes are sleepy? Liberals flipping their sh*t over stuff like this only serves to diminish the seriousness of actual, intentional anti-Semitism.
https://twitter.com/notwokieleaks/status/988250349378129920
https://twitter.com/notwokieleaks/status/988251285488066561
Stop making crap up.
— Teresa † ن (@BlackIrishI) April 23, 2018
I haven’t seen a reach this ridiculous since MJ beat the Monstars… pic.twitter.com/nd3e0Oui2C
— Daniel Gold (@dgold_16) April 23, 2018
There’s not a Jew on twitter who’s ever heard of this supposed slur. It’s nonsense. https://t.co/mKHwTbyozO
— Kerfuffle Actual? (@shoshido) April 23, 2018
Actual Jews on American streets and college campuses are being physically attacked, and the Left is like “La la la, I can’t hear you!” But one teenage girl says a ridiculous thing is anti-semitic, and the Left rises as one to say, “Yes! Yes it is!” https://t.co/iJB4L2J1Ap
— Kerfuffle Actual? (@shoshido) April 23, 2018
I've seen my share of anti-Semitic references, I'm plenty old.
Never heard this ever.
Let's see how much lower @Sarahchadwickk can stoop,
Mighty low.— (((tamarisk))] (@tamariskinLA) April 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/cindys_75/status/988418956116480001
Yeah, because that's what Trump meant… not. Seriously, this tactic of everything he does being racist is getting old.
— Kyle Kashuv (@KyleKashuv) April 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/theophimon2/status/988277818319552512
Stevie Nicks "Leather and Lace" makes such a reference.
She must be anti-Semitic for including it in a song, right?
— J&J's Dad (@JFK_711) April 23, 2018
You’ve never heard it because it’s nonsense; but these days on the left and right, calling things “antisemitic” is just the norm, often without much thought as to weather it actually is antisemitic
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) April 23, 2018
No one is talking about this because people have never heard this was an “antisemitic” term, including 99% of people on Twitter. How can something be some kind of secretly antisemitic phrase if no one has ever heard of it? So now if I say “sleepy eyes” I’m an “antisemite” ?
— Seth Frantzman (@sfrantzman) April 23, 2018
It’s one thing to call out Donald Trump for legitimately awful things he says or does; it’s another thing entirely to be outraged for outrage’s sake. If Sarah Chadwick is genuinely concerned about Jews being insulted by titles, maybe she should start by having a talk with her Stoneman Douglas classmates David and Lauren Hogg:
You know what’s offensive to Jews? Your pal @davidhogg111 naming his book Never Again. You want to boycott something? Boycott his book.
cc: @ZOA_National https://t.co/Lx8XAx33Ja
— Arthur Schwartz (@ArthurSchwartz) April 23, 2018
Better get on that, Sarah.
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