A Writer Shamed Her Paper's Publisher Over His Support for Trump

Hmm! What could Donald Trump possible be evoking with the raining money and Star of David — Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz)July 2, 2016

Remember that tweet Donald Trump sent out last weekend? The one with the image that depicts Hillary Clinton smirking in front of a big pile of money with a six-pointed star off to the right carrying the words "Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!"? The one he deleted after everyone called it anti-Semitic? The one Trump defended by calling the symbol a "sheriff's star" or "plain star"?

Observer writer Dana Schwartz—who has also written for VICE—isn't forgetting about it. On Tuesday, she wrote a piece about it, and the openly anti-Semitic hate she got on Twitter after criticizing it. That's noteworthy because the Observer is owned by Trump's son-in-law and confidant, Jared Kushner (the paper endorsed Trump in April). Nevertheless, Schwartz went in:

"I'm asking you, not as a 'gotcha' journalist or as a liberal but as a human being: How do you allow this? Because, Mr. Kushner, you are allowing this… when you stand silent and smiling in the background, his Jewish son-in-law, you're giving his most hateful supporters tacit approval."

"Look at that image and tell me, honestly, that you just saw a 'Sheriff's Star,'" she continued. "I didn't see a sheriff star, Mr. Kushner, and I'm a smart person. After all, I work for your paper."

The Observer's editor, Ken Kurson, released a statement to Politico Tuesday saying that while Schwartz is a thoughtful writer, he disagrees with her criticism of the candidate:

"In my opinion, Donald Trump is not a Jew hater. The effort to hold him responsible for what his supporters do is a dangerous trend because it empowers anyone who wants to shut a candidate up to simply organize some misbehavior on his behalf."

Schwartz told Politico that she hasn't yet received a response from Kushner or anyone from the Trump camp as of Tuesday afternoon, but that she would love an opportunity to discuss the whole thing off the record.

Read: We Asked a Fascism Expert if Donald Trump Is a Fascist