Former Trump State Department spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus expressed outrage on Wednesday after Tennessee State Senator Frank Niceley stated in an interview that only the Jewish members of Trump's family cared about Ortagus's candidacy for Congress.
Ortagus had received an endorsement from former president Donald Trump for her bid to be the Republican candidate in the elections for House representative in Tennessee's 5th Congressional District.
On Wednesday, Ortagus was removed from the August primary ballot by the Tennessee Republican Party along with two other candidates after months of efforts by Republican legislators and activists to kick her out because she only recently moved to Tennessee.
“I don’t think Trump cares one way or the other,” said Niceley in an interview, according to NBC. “I think Jared Kushner — he’s Jewish, she’s Jewish — I think Jared will be upset. Ivanka will be upset. I don’t think Trump cares.”
"Antisemitism is the oldest and one of the most vile forms of hatred on this earth, and Senator Niceley should be ashamed of his repeated antisemitic rhetoric," said Ortagus on Tuesday. "I am incredibly proud to call myself a part of the Jewish people, and I have always called out antisemitism when I see it in all of its forms. I will condemn anyone who traffics in this hate-mongering. Senator Niceley's repulsive words could not be more clear in disparaging the Jewish people. This racism cannot stand."
Niceley recently came under fire after he presented Adolf Hitler as an example of a homeless person who "got into the history books" during a debate on a bill that would make it a misdemeanor for a person to solicit or camp by a highway or exit ramp.
The state senator stressed at the time that this showed that for homeless people "it's not a dead end. They can come out of these homeless camps and have a productive life or in Hitler's case a very unproductive life."