Once Again, Donald Trump Uses the Antisemitic "Puppet-Master" Trope to Attack Biden.

Donald Trump tweets that Joe Biden’s “puppet masters are willing to destroy the U.S. Supreme Court,” invoking an age-old antisemitic trope about Jewish control and power.

The “puppet-master” characterization is a long-standing antisemitic trope used to present Jews as shadowy manipulators, secretly orchestrating world events on the political or financial stage. Jewish philanthropist George Soros has long been depicted and referred to by right-wing pundits and politicians — as well as by Donald Trump, Jr. — as a literal puppet-master controlling Democrats, social movements, and political affairs.

Trump has used the “puppet-master” trope many times before, on national television, and even in campaign advertisements. And neither he nor his son are alone in doing so. The Republican Party has also made similar claims on its official website. Some of these invocations of the antisemitic trope specifically name Jewish “puppet-masters” — often figures like liberal donor George Soros or Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT). Others stop short of naming precisely who they think is pulling the proverbial strings, as Trump did in an August 2020 interview with Laura Ingraham, but the antisemitic subtext is there.

The puppet-master trope can have material and even deadly consequences. It was one of the very conspiracy theories invoked by the Tree of Life shooter before he committed the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S. history.