Senior Bernie Sanders Adviser Rips Politico for ‘Wildly Anti-Semitic’ Use of ‘Cheap Jew’ Trope Against Bernie

Politico Magazine spent the weekend getting blasted for a profile that promoted anti-Semitic tropes against Bernie Sanders, including by senior Sanders campaign adviser David Sirota.

The article, entitled “The Secret of Bernie’s Millions,” explores the path Sanders took to amass “a net worth approaching at least $2 million,” and featured the writer noting that Sanders “might still be cheap, but he’s sure not poor.”

That sentiment, expressed in a tweet, earned outrage from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who also called Politico out for its use of an image that showed Bernie Sanders standing next to a tree whose leaves are made of hundred-dollar bills, sometimes referred to as “Benjamins.”

Can ⁦@politico⁩ explain to us how photoshopping money trees next to the only Jewish candidate for president and talking about how “cheap” and rich he is *isn’t* antisemitic?

Or are they just letting this happen because he’s a progressive politician they don’t like? pic.twitter.com/O9qvDBw4ib

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) May 25, 2019

After Politico deleted that tweet, Sirota posted a message condemning the paper, noting that despite the deletion, “it’s important for everyone to not forget this episode. At a moment when we have a president who called Nazis ‘very fine people,’ this newspaper promoted the ‘cheap Jew’ trope against that president’s opponent. Disgusting.”

So, @Politico deleted its wildly anti-semitic tweet, but it’s important for everyone to not forget this episode. At a moment when we have a president who called Nazis “very fine people,” this newspaper promoted the “cheap Jew” trope against that president’s opponent. Disgusting. pic.twitter.com/Pz23rse9EI

— David Sirota (@davidsirota) May 24, 2019

But even after deleting the “cheap” tweet, Politico continued to post the image of Sanders and the Benjamin tree, doping so about a half-a-dozen more times. The article still features the image, and the writer’s claim that Sanders “might still be cheap, but he’s sure not poor.”

In fact, Politico even posted a tweet featuring the image along with a note saying it was intended to replace the one that AOC called out as anti-Semitic:

For the record: This replaces a deleted tweet that needed more context. Our apologies.

— POLITICO (@politico) May 25, 2019

Thus far, neither the article nor Politico’s Twitter feed feature any response to the accusations of anti-Semitism.

Image via screengrab.