Stephen Yang
As a young American Jew and patriot who attended Donald Trump’s so-called “Nazi rally” at Madison Square Garden Sunday, I can tell you one thing: It was nothing like what the fake-news media wants you to believe.
The first thing I noticed was all the Jews.
Inside the arena and out, Jews were everywhere: Orthodox Jews wearing kippahs, tzitzit (fringes worn beneath their shirts) and black hats, others wearing Star of David necklaces, still others waving Israeli flags. I heard several people speaking Hebrew as we waited on a 90-minute line to get in.
As my mother, a Conservative rabbi, and I waited, we noticed several outwardly Jewish people politely escorted in as “VIP” guests.
What self-respecting Nazi would allow so many Jews to be honored guests at his rally?
Israel celebrated
Once inside, a few kind strangers moved aside to help us find two seats together. My mom, wearing a MAGA cowboy hat and toting a large Israeli flag, loudly cheered along with the crowd at every positive mention of Israel.
One neighbor in our section, a non-Jewish retired cop, commiserated with us about the “terrible” way the Biden administration has treated Israel, and shared that his wife and son had recently traveled there.
I felt nothing but good vibes all around: People seemed happy to be there, optimistic about a Republican victory and friendly toward fellow Trump supporters.
Apart from the coincidental fact that Madison Square Garden hosted a Nazi rally in 1939, which the media shamelessly wielded against Trump and his supporters, nothing about the day evoked the Nazis at all.
Speakers like Sid Rosenberg and Rudy Giuliani explicitly defended Israel in their remarks. Stephen Miller, Trump’s Jewish senior adviser, gave a rousing and patriotic speech. Howard Lutnick, the Jewish CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, highlighted the need to “crush jihad.”
‘Hitler’ hypocrisy
Kamala Harris’ rallies have been completely unable to muster the same vibrancy and joy that suffused the entire arena Sunday night. They certainly haven’t attracted openly observant Jews — or, for that matter, outwardly religious people of any stripe.
The Democrats have leveled their disgraceful, baseless smears equating Trump to Hitler for almost a decade now.
But their insults attack not only Trump but the half or more of the American people who support him.
They also amount to a revisionist minimization of the great tragedy of the Holocaust and paint a target on the backs of those who oppose the Democratic Party.
Yet what I saw at Sunday’s rally, and have seen among his supporters since Trump’s 2016 run, was unity, tolerance and joy.
Lily Zuckerman is a Post intern and junior at Barnard College.