During a cabinet meeting on Thursday, President Trump used an antisemitic dogwhistle while joking about economic adviser Gary Cohn’s departure from the White House, then quipped that Cohn might return to the administration after the longtime Goldman Sachs CEO makes “another couple hundred million” in the private sector.
“This is Gary Cohn’s last meeting in the cabinet,” Trump said. “And he’s been terrific. He may be a globalist but I still like him.”
The room broke out in laughs, but “globalist” is a term often often used as a euphemism for “Jew,” especially in far-right circles. As the Huffington Post puts it, “globalist” is “a reference to the longstanding conspiracy theory about an international Jewish cabal working to undermine the traditional white family and Western culture by pushing for immigration and diversity.”
“He is seriously a globalist, there is no question,” Trump continued. “But you know what, in his own way he’s a nationalist because he loves our country.”
Trump then said that Cohn is “gonna go out and make another couple of hundred million, and then he’s maybe going to come back.”
“Absolutely,” Cohn replied.
Trump’s comments come a day after the Office of Management and Budget’s official Twitter account published a statement in which director Mick Mulvaney also referred to Cohn as a “globalist.”
.@MickMulvaneyOMB's statement on the departure of Gary Cohn. pic.twitter.com/PgpOH6rcdE
— OMB Press (@OMBPress) March 6, 2018
Cohn, who is Jewish, reportedly drafted a letter of resignation after Trump described neo-Nazis as “very fine people” last August. But he ultimately stayed on until Trump decided to impose tariffs on imported steel and aluminum.
During his sendoff to Cohn, Trump mentioned the dispute over tariffs, saying Cohn “is not quite as strong on those tariffs as we want.”