For the second day in a row, President Trump addressed anti-Semitism during a press conference and also for the second day in a row, the Anti-Defamation League was stunned by the way he handled it.

Yesterday, Trump started off his answer to a question about anti-Semitism by invoking his electoral college win. The ADL responded in a tweet that it was “troubling” he didn’t “condemn the real issue of anti-Semitism” in America today.

Well, today Trump got another question on the matter. The reporter brought up recent bomb threats against Jewish centers across the country and other anti-Semitic acts going on. Trump immediately scolded the reporter, told him to sit down and said, “I am the least anti-Semitic person that you’ve ever seen in your entire life.”

ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt and ADL National Chair Marvin Nathan issued the following statement in response:

On two separate occasions over the past two days, President Trump has refused to say what he is going to do about rising anti-Semitism or to even condemn it. It is mind-boggling why President Trump prefers to shout down a reporter or brush this off as a political distraction. This is not a partisan issue. It’s a potentially lethal problem — and it’s growing. In light of the bomb scares, online harassment, physical vandalism, death threats and other hate crimes, there is a simple question at hand that Americans of all faiths deserve an answer to – what is the Trump Administration going to do about the recent surge of anti-Semitism? What concrete steps will the White House take to address intolerance? We are going to keep asking these questions – and urge others in the press and public to do so as well – until we get a clear answer from our President.

[image via screengrab]

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Follow Josh Feldman on Twitter: @feldmaniac

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