Republican Congressman Nods Along as Fox News Host Singles Out Jewish Donors

While interviewing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), Fox News host Laura Ingraham emphasized that “huge amounts of money from Mark Zuckerberg and George Soros” — both of whom are Jewish — influenced the 2020 elections:

"Well, we have huge amounts of money from Mark Zuckerberg and George Soros and others flooding into everything from — to the local D.A. races to — to even school board races in some cases and then canvassing, you know, states like Pennsylvania and these — and these other efforts. And I think that it had a huge effect on this."

McCarthy nodded along as Ingraham singled out the two Jewish donors — something he himself did in his 2018 congressional race, when he accused Jewish donors of trying to “buy” the election.

Ingraham made a similar claim following GOP losses in Virginia in 2019, stating that “foreign-born” voters, suburban women, and George Soros were responsible for Republican losses. She also blamed George Soros for St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner's decision to charge the McCloskeys for threatening BLM protestors outside their home.

George Soros is a Holocaust survivor and a Jewish philanthropist who donates to liberal causes, making him a frequent villain on the political right, which regularly casts him as the secret orchestrator of activity and events they oppose. Republicans have falsely claimed Soros was responsible for women-led protests against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, as well as the Black Lives Matter movement.

The decision to consistently highlight and demonize Jewish donors plays into long-standing antisemitic tropes about Jews, money, and power.