A man who taunted the press and called reporters the ‘enemy’ at an Arizona rally showed ‘completely unacceptable’ conduct, Trump’s campaign manager said

A Donald Trump supporter who screamed “Jew-S-A” at reporters at a rally on Saturday night behaved in a “deplorable” way, the Republican nominee’s campaign manager agreed with CNN host Jake Tapper on Sunday.

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On Saturday night in Phoenix, Arizona, a man wearing a “Hillary for prison 2016” T-shirt turned around during a chant of “USA” to face the press enclosure, calling reporters the “enemy” and shouting “Jew-S-A”.

“That man’s conduct was deplorable,” Trump’s campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told CNN after Tapper suggested the adjective. “His conduct is completely unacceptable and does not reflect our campaign or our candidate.

“And had I been there, I would have asked security to remove him immediately. Clearly, he doesn’t speak for the campaign or the candidate.”

Nick Corasaniti (@NYTnickc) Guy chants "Jew-S-A" in front of press pen pic.twitter.com/2yqgA6dD4k

Conway, Trump and his campaign have for months criticized Hillary Clinton for her description of “half” the Republican’s supporters as “a basket of deplorables”. Clinton later said she regretted the generalization, and said she was referencing extreme factions of Trump’s support, such as the former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke and antisemitic and white nationalist groups.

Trump wavered on and then disavowed Duke’s support earlier this year, but he has periodically echoed antisemitic tropes, for instance alleging the existence of a global conspiracy of media and bankers and tweeting and defending an image of Clinton, money, a six-pointed star and the words “most corrupt candidate ever”.

Similar rhetoric about “rapist” Mexican migrants and other minorities has outraged Democrats and some Republicans: Clinton gave an entire speech in August on Trump’s relations with the so-called “alt-right” movement, and Mitt Romney warned in June that Trump had made racist groups feel legitimized and emboldened.

Conway was quick to argue that most of Trump’s supporters do not share racist beliefs, telling CNN host Jake Tapper: “I have to push back on some of the adjectives you just used to describe [Trump’s supporters]. These are people who love their country. And these are people who feel like they’re part of a movement, that this is not a typical politician. If you do anything, don’t besmirch the good hearts and the good values of the tens of thousands, the millions of Donald Trump supporters.”

She clarified that she did not condone the Phoenix supporter’s language: “I think what he had to say was disgusting.”

Trump has blamed “the dishonest media”, sometimes singling out reporters by name, for his recent collapse in the polls, and reporters have been subjected to jeers and even threats.

At the same Phoenix rally, a reporter alerted security to a man whose behavior toward the press alarmed members of the media. Jewish reporters have experienced intense antisemitic abuse online.