Ann Coulter, the left’s devil and the Right’s darling, likes to provoke, but was her comment about Jews during the GOP debate one tweet too far? Those who love her and loathe her expect provocative statements from the conservative commentator, but after criticizing the number of times the topic of Israel came up debates with the tweet, “How many [expletive] Jews are there” in the United States, Coulter immediately received a plethora of offended responses, even from those who were professed fans. Some of the Jews who have shifted to the right partly out of disappointment with the Obama Administration over policies affecting Israel were flummoxed. Some tweeters wondered if Coulter had been drinking or if her account had been hacked; others stated flatly the tweet was inappropriate; others denounced Coulter as an anti-Semite who had spontaneously cast aside her pro-Israel clothing. Others noted Coulter’s controversial statements about Jews and other groups in the past and said there was no surprise there.
Ann Coulter is the author of ten New York Times bestsellers, with titles like “Demonic: How the Liberal is Endangering America,” and other titles that start out with words like Slander, Treason and Guilty. She has appeared on most media outlets, but says she has a very short list of journalists she will allow to interview her a second time (the list includes Jonathan Freedland of The Guardian, Time Magazine’s John Cloud, and Jamie Glasov of Frontpage Magazine). Coulter was born in Connecticut, the daughter of Vince Coulter, an FBI agent, and Nell Husbands Coulter. She graduated from Cornell, received a JD from the University of Michigan and was editor of its law review. She had a private practice in New York City and worked for the Senate Judiciary Committee where she handled crime and immigration issues for Michigan Senator Spencer Abraham. Coulter became a litigator of the Center for Individual Rights in Washington, DC. She caught the public eye as a critic of President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial and when she wrote briefs for Paula Jones, who accused the president of sexual harassment.
On Wednesday, September 16, at 8:05 PM, the conservative commentator tweeted, “How many [expletive] Jews do people think there are in the United States?” The tweet ran during the closing remarks of the three hour, Republican debate, when four of the eleven candidates—former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, Senator Ted Cruz, Senator Marco Rubio and New Jersey Governor Chris Christie—had noted their support for Israel in their closing remarks. Previously she tweeted, “What will AMERICA look like after you are president?” and commented that Huckabee sounded like he was running for Prime Minister of Israel.
The first response to Coulter’s unkind tweet was from Louise Mensch: “One more thing to thank the Jewish People for—your career is over.” Anti-Israel tweeters expressed support for Coulter’s view that the GOP was pandering to Jews, although it was unlikely they would agree with her on much else. Azzmador tweeted: “No, she’s quite correct to question Jewish Power and hypocrisy,” and cited a meme based on an earlier Coulter quote: “If Israel had our open-border policies, it would be overrun with Palestinian, Jordanian and Eritrean criminals. Jews forthrightly ask, ‘Is it good for the Jews?’ Why can’t Americans ask, ‘Is it good for Americans?’”
Ali Abunimah commented, “Support for Israel, Islamophobia and anti-Semitism often go together” (how he manages to find a connection between anti-Semitism and support for Israel is something worth pondering… or maybe not). Tweeter Kilgore Reinhardt called Coulter: “The smartest, most courageous woman in America.” As was to be expected, the Twitter feed quickly descended into expressions of anger against Coulter and outrage against the Jews by pro-Palestinian activists. A mini-debate broke out over the notion that the Jews killed Jesus, with Christian defenders of Jews saying their Savior laid down his own life, so no one was to blame. A few Jews commented that Coulter, while stating her views in a trashy manner, had a point, that Jews and Israel were mentioned too often in the debate, presumably feeling that excessive outward expressions of support for Israel is ultimately bad for Israel and for the Jews. Some tweeters praised Coulter as another plain speaker like Donald Trump, who seems to gain more points in polls with every remark that is deemed offensive, while others predicted this would be the death knell for Coulter’s support, just as Sarah Palin was shot out of the media sky after her rambling speech in Iowa earlier in the year, when her teleprompter crashed.
For those who weren’t sure whether or not Coulter meant what she wrote in her initial tweet, Coulter had some follow-up remarks. “Maybe it’s (sic) to suck up to Evangelicals?” and after Governor Christie’s pro-Israel statement, Coulter tweeted: “Christie also talks @ Israel in response to the question, ‘What will AMERICA look like after you are President?’” followed by: “How to get applause from GOP donors: 1) Pledge to start a war 2) Talk about job creators 3) Denounce abortion 4) Cite Reagan 5) Cite Israel.”
Ann Coulter’s remarks were immediately condemned by Christians United for Israel, the Zionist Organization of America and the Anti-Defamation League. Spokesman for CUI Ari Morgenstern said in a news release: “Ann Coulter’s tweets this evening concerning Israel were completely inappropriate. The US—Israel relationship is both a moral and strategic imperative. There are tens of millions of Christians in America who stand with the Jewish State.” The Zionist Organization of America called on Fox News to dismiss Ann Coulter, who transformed what seemed to be a legitimate point of emphasis—that President Obama’s Iran deal has harmed the US/Israel relationship—into an accusation that GOP candidates are merely pandering to the Jews. The ZOA said that criticizing the Iran deal also strengthened America’s as well as Israel’s interests. The letter continued, “Ann Coulter is known for making harsh, sweeping statements, but I wonder, would she have ever dared spoken of [expletive] blacks or [expletive] Hispanics? I doubt it. This shows it is becoming permissible to say anything about Jews … Ann Coulter was gratuitously offensive and anti-Jewish in her remarks.” The ZOA said either Coulter should apologize or be dismissed from FoxNews.
Jonathan Greenblatt, director of the Anti-Defamation League, said Coulter’s tweets were “hyperbolic and hateful. Ms. Coulter is pandering to the basest of her base. Her messages challenging candidate’s support for Israel were offensive, ugly, spiteful and borderline anti-Semitic. Her tweets give fodder to those who buy into anti-Semitic notions that Jews control the US government, wield disproportionate power in politics and are more loyal to Israel than their own country.” One may wonder, given how strongly worded the rest of Greenblatt’s statement was, why he said her actual tweet was only “borderline” anti-Semitic? The ADL statement seemed careful to concentrate on the possible effect the tweets would have, without probing the motives of the tweeter or the views she may hold. Saying outright that the Ann Coulter statement was anti-Semitic rather than “borderline” anti-Semitic might have been too risky a step to take, just in case Coulter’s career might survive this tweet.
Someone in Tehran agrees with Ann Coulter that the Jews were mentioned too often in the GOP debates. Iran’s Supreme Leader, the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, tweeted, commenting on the GOP candidates’ debate, “US govs put their people under Zionists custody. Isn’t it a shame that presidential candidates try to satisfy Zionists & prove their servitude.” Ann Coulter might not agree, however, with Khamenei’s next tweet, or at least not with the second half: “The Zionist regime is an imposed regime made through coercion; no entity made by coercion will last. This regime will not survive either.” Freudian slip?
It wasn’t an apology that Coulter offered, but instead, criticism of those who took her tweets and “ripped [them] out of context, chopped up and sent out tweets with inflammatory headings,” according to the Hollywood Reporter. She disregarded the fact that, before her tweets could have been manhandled by the media, her bare, straight forward message evoked outrage from so many. Coulter implies that the real context is, of course, Coulter’s own résumé on Israel, which should have caused people to understand she really meant that the GOP candidates should have focused more on immigration. Coulter said the tweets were being used as fodder by “mostly Israel-hating liberals and pro mass-immigration Republicans. Both of whom don’t want anyone to notice how immigration is changing the country, putting America—and Israel—at risk.” She added, “The GOP wastes half of these debates on issues on which there is already 100% agreement… The GOP is Pro-Israel. I’m Pro-Israel.” Coulter said she also tweeted that pro-life issues and Ronald Reagan, in addition to Israel, were being mentioned too often in those debates, “I like Jews, I like fetuses, I like Reagan. I don’t need to hear applause about them all night.” One wonders why, if Coulter wanted to hear more about immigration and less about fetuses, Reagan and Jews, she didn’t tweet just that point, rather than to make an offensive comment about what shouldn’t be discussed (i.e. Israel and the Jews). Still though, Coulter defended herself against the charge of anti-Semitism by citing points she seemed to feel were obvious. “Anyone with a pulse knows I’m pro-Israel and against the enemies of the Jewish People.” She adds that she has an entire chapter on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in one of her books.
Those who said Ann Coulter’s tweet about the Jews came as no surprise referred to her scandalous remarks in a 2007 CNN interview that Jews needed to be “perfected.” Ironically, or perhaps appropriately, it was in an answer to the same question Ann Coulter mocked GOP candidates in 2015 for handling ineptly. On CNN’s “The Big Idea,” Donny Deutsch, who in the middle of the interview identified himself as Jewish, asked Coulter what America would look like, under ideal circumstances.
Coulter: It would look like New York City during the Republican National Convention. In fact, I think that is what heaven is going to look like … People were happy, they’re Christian. They’re tolerant. They defend America.
Deutsch: Christian? So we should be Christian? It would be better if we were all Christian?
Coulter: Yes
Deutsch: We should all be Christian?
Coulter: Yes, would you like to come to church with me, Donny?
Deutsch: So I should not be a Jew. I should be a Christian, and this would be a better place?
Coulter: Well, you could be a practicing Jew, but you’re not.
Deutsch: I actually am. That’s not true, I really am. But—so we would all be better if we were no Jews, no Buddhists?
Coulter: Whenever I’m harangued by—
Deutsch: In this country? You can’t believe that—
Coulter: You know, liberals on diversity—
Deutsch: Here you go again.
And she did go on. Then, later in the same interview:
Deutsch: …we should just throw Judaism away and we should all be Christians then, or—
Coulter: Yeah.
Deutsch: Really?
Coulter: Well, it’s a lot easier. It’s kind of a fast track.
Deutsch: Really? Yeah, you have to obey.
Coulter explained that Jews needed to be “perfected,” but that this fact shouldn’t really be offensive to Jews because she said Christians saw themselves as “perfected” Jews who didn’t need to follow the laws of the “Old Testament” but could just accept Jesus.
Coulter: We just want Jews to be perfected, as they say.
Deutsch: Wow, you didn’t really just say that, did you?
Coulter: Yes, that is what Christianity is. We believe in the Old Testament, but ours is more like Federal Express. You have to obey laws. We know we’re all sinners—
Two very different Jewish responses to Coulter’s remarks in 2007 were from Bradley Burston of Ha’aretz and conservative talk show host Dennis Prager. Burston said Ann Coulter is a symptom of what is “wrong” with America. Burston said prior to the CNN interview, he had written off Coulter’s racist, anti-woman and homophobic comments as “scattershot schtick,” but he then saw something more sinister at work. “I was wrong to see her as some highly intelligent, well-educated, perversely gifted panderer to the lowest common denominator,” or “an overqualified infotainment shock jock … I should have taken her seriously” as “my enemy” as “what is wrong with America.” Burston wrote, “I’ll never underestimate her again. Ann Coulter has a plan for the Jews. She has one for the Muslims as well. And it’s her people who are exactly the kind of Americans who could find the way to try to carry it out.”
In 2007, in response to the interview and the aftermath, Dennis Prager wrote, “Those who label Ann Coulter an anti-Semite do damage to the battle against anti-Semitism.” Prager listed his credentials as a religious Jew and lecturer and author of several books on Jewish topics, including anti-Semitism, and said that Coulter has done or said nothing to indicate that she “hates Jews or wishes them ill,” so how can she be considered an anti-Semite. Prager then asked if liberals don’t also think conservatives need to be “perfected” and come around to their viewpoint. “What damage has she ever done to Jews?” he wrote in Townhall. “What’s wrong with a person believing that it would be better for another person to adopt their faith?” He asked how Jews who demand a boycott of Coulter don’t also call for a boycott of Jimmy Carter, who has called Israel an “apartheid” state. Prager said even if Coulter believes Christianity is superior to Judaism, why should Jews be any more offended by that than by a liberal who thinks left wing viewpoints are more sound than conservative ideology. “Liberals not only believe that conservatives are philosophically imperfect” writes Prager, “but they often believe Conservatives are bad human beings” for allegedly not caring about the poor and are “immeasurably more likely to impose their views on others than Christian Americans are.”
Ann Coulter might be as interested in stoking ire as in persuading people. Many of her followers seem to enjoy watching her throw verbal punches and watching liberals or moderates reel with offense and shock. Ann Coulter is apparently not worried about charges of hyperbole when making her points, but she is difficult to ignore by those who hate or love her. If GOP candidate and real estate mogul Donald Trump started off his campaign by calling illegal immigrants “rapists,” Coulter has gone well beyond that and said immigrants (she doesn’t always make the distinction between legal and illegal, violent or non-violent, since she views it as a demographic problem) are more dangerous for America than ISIS. On Ann’s America, she said, “I have a little tip. If you don’t want to get killed by ISIS, don’t go to Syria. If you don’t want to get killed by a Mexican, there’s nothing I can tell you.” She left Jorge Ramos, a Mexican journalist and the best known Spanish speaking news reporter, speechless for a few seconds. Similarly, Donald Trump had Ramos thrown out of a news conference for allegedly speaking out of turn. When Ramos asked Coulter if she believed the Mexican immigrants were “biologically predisposed” to commit crimes, Coulter said, “No. I think there are cultures that are obviously deficient, and if they weren’t deficient, you wouldn’t be in America interviewing me, I’d be sitting in Mexico. You fled that culture. There are a lot of problems with that culture … when you bring those people here, you bring that culture here. That includes honor killings, it include uncles raping their nieces, it includes not paying their taxes, paying bribes to government officials. That isn’t our culture. You can see the successful cultures in the world … America is the best in the world, and we are about to lose it.”
On Fox News in 2011, Ann Coulter found a silver lining in the Japan nuclear power disaster by saying “radiation is good for you” and that “anyone exposed is much less likely to get cancer.” Perhaps a clue on how to take that remark from Coulter would be to look at another comment she made about nukes and Japan in 2007. Referring to the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki that ended the WWII in the Pacific, Coulter said, “A couple of well-placed bombs, and the Japanese became meek little lambs.” Parents with disabilities demanded an apology from Coulter who discussed Mitt Romney’s debate performance in 2012, and said she approved of his decision to be “kind and gentle to the retard.” Ellen Seidman, a mother of a special needs child who complained over Coulter’s use of the “r” word applied to disabilities, told CNN, “At this point, I’m thinking the woman must surely be aware the word is offensive, and she chooses not to care. That’s pretty vile and heartless.” Coulter has alleged Bill Clinton and Al Gore had latent homosexual tendencies and said of Presidential candidate Jonathan Edwards, “I was going to have a few comments about John Edwards, but you have to go into rehab if you use the word [common expletive for homosexual].” Shortly after 9-11, Coulter said America should invade Muslim countries and forcibly convert their citizens to Christianity. Concerning widows who lost their husbands in 9-11, Coulter wrote she “had never seen widows enjoy losing their husbands so much.”
After awhile, it gets pretty exhausting to still feel offended by what Ann Coulter says, and that is exactly what she seems to be counting on; a war of attrition against those who will be offended. Coulter churns out intentionally provocative remarks that will hurt and shock people in such volume as to make her critics sound like easily offended, compulsive whiners. The only option for those who dislike Coulter is to ignore her, which means to stand back and let her grab the spotlight. After all, truth be told, her remarks about the debate were more memorable than anything said by anyone else during that evening.
Coulter’s remarks haven’t gone unpunished: her columns have been dropped from newspapers and her speaking engagements often attract protesters. However, the more publications and shows drop her, the more she is embraced as a maverick. But will there come a time when she goes too far or, worse, when Coulter fatigue sets in? Radhika Sanghani gives a perspective from the other side of the pond in the UK’s Daily Telegraph: “If you haven’t heard of Ann Coulter, you may want to count your blessings and stop reading now.” Sanghani says Coulter “seems to be on a personal campaign to be the most hated woman in her country, and by the look of things, she’s succeeding.”
Liam O’Brien, an expert in media criticism and pop culture at Quinnipac University, told ABC, “I think [her comments are] highly calculated. I’m not sure she knows what trigger on which verbal gun she is going to pull at any given moment, but I think at any particular time she has three or four of these things that are controversial and inflammatory enough to get national press notice above and beyond whatever the topic is of her book or talk show.”
Following her controversial statement about Jews on Donny Deutsch’s program in 2007, far from losing viewers and fans, requests for Coulter’s appearances increased, and perhaps the same will happen after her outrageous tweets about Jews and Israel following the GOP debates. While Coulter says offensive things about many groups, getting dangerously close to the tipping point with Jews, many of whom support her because she speaks well of Israel usually, seems to be good for her ratings. After the incident on “The Big Idea,” when she said Jews needed to be perfected, Coulter’s publicist Diana Banister told ABC News, “No one has been reluctant to book [Coulter] and we’ve had as many requests as ever, probably more.” There was speculation then that Coulter’s career as a media figurehead might be over, and those predictions were incorrect, as they might be now. Even if talk show hosts and interviewers refuse to book her, Coulter still has social media, her website and her books. In fact, a well-publicized refusal to book her might just generate more interest in her.
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