When the memes started appearing, many leaders in Montana’s Jewish community thought that U.S. Senate candidate Tim Sheehy was probably not aware of the deep roots of the cartoon.
They thought the same might be true of the Gallatin County Central Republican Committee, after another meme popped up in the middle of June.
But now, most of those leaders don’t know what to think because both the Sheehy camp and the Republican leadership in one of Montana’s largest communities remain silent and non-responsive to two social media messages they’ve posted depicting Jewish leaders controlling other liberal politicians by puppet strings, harkening back to an antisemitic trope that Jews secretly control politics, the media or banking.
Memes aren’t the only issue; comments from a campaign staffer also have raised concerns, and those same Jewish leaders weren’t the only ones taking notice.
They heard from fellow Jews and concerned citizens reacting to the postings. When the Daily Montanan reached out earlier this summer, most said they didn’t want to talk about it until they reached out to the campaign and committee to have conversation.
Since then, there’s been little response by the Sheehy campaign and even less response by the Gallatin Republicans to counteract the notion that they’re trading on old antisemitic tropes that depict Jews as secretly exerting control.
Meanwhile, attacks against the Jewish community have grown since Hamas’ assault on Israel, although support from faith communities has increased in Montana as well.
Neither the Sheehy campaign nor the Gallatin County Republicans responded to questions or interview requests from the Daily Montanan.
The first meme, posted by the Sheehy campaign, shows the United States’ highest ranking Jewish official, U.S. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, controlling the radio, TV and money. Sheehy asks in the posting, “We need your help to stop Jon Tester and Chuck Schumer. Donate to Tim Sheehy for Montana today!”
A puppeteer’s hands, possibly Schumer’s, controlled the strings to radio, TV, and money portion, which was joined by a cartoon of a bag with a “$.”
The Gallatin County Republicans posted a meme that featured a baggy-eyed cartoonish figure of liberal activist George Soros, who is Jewish, controlling former President Barack Obama, who is, in turn, controlling President Joe Biden and Vice President and now-Democratic President nominee Kamala Harris with a caption that said, “Our current situation explained.”
The leaders within Montana’s small Jewish community reported that they, too, approached the campaign and committee wanting conversations. Those failed.
Rebecca Stanfel is part of the leadership of the Montana Jewish Project, based in Montana’s first historical synagogue, Temple Emanu-el in Helena. The Montana Jewish Project is not a synagogue, and it typically doesn’t hold religious programming. Instead, it works on preserving the cultural heritage of Jews in Montana, as well as supporting educational outreach about Judaism, and supporting the diverse Jewish communities in the Treasure State.
“Even appearing partisan makes it more difficult to inform the state of the presence of Jews in Montana,” Stanfel said.
Sheehy is a Republican who is associated with Gallatin County.
The Montana Jewish Project reached out to Sheehy’s campaign repeatedly in the days following the original post. It heard nothing. It reached out to several other Republicans who knew the campaign, only to hear nothing.
Finally, Stanfel said she “went old-school,” and sent a certified letter to the only address she could find on Sheehy’s website. She was contacted by one staff member who said that the campaign couldn’t respond until later this month.
It’s not the first time Jewish faith leaders have been iced out by a politician in Montana. During the 2023 Legislative session, Speaker of the House Matt Regier, R-Kalispell, had removed Rep. Ed Stafman, D-Bozeman, who is an ordained rabbi, from giving the invocation at one of the daily openings. The invocations are given by a variety of leaders from different backgrounds, but Stafman was removed from the calendar and was told the decision came “from the leadership.” At the time, Stanfel and the Montana Jewish Project tried to contact Regier and reached out to him by letter, without response.
In a recent interview, retired Rabbi Laurie Franklin of Missoula said that the memes play on popular antisemitic tropes, including that the Jews control the media, the Jews control the banks and there are political conspiracies of Jews controlling the political process.
Many of those ideas are embedded deeply within western and European cultures and date back to the time of the Christian Crusades when Jews were not allowed to be full members of European society, being relegated to professions like banking and being excluded from trade guilds or owning land.
“I can’t believe the campaign is antisemitic or are using antisemitism as a tool,” Franklin told the Daily Montanan. “These ideas are closely related to the ‘Replacement Theory,’ in which the Jews are aiding others in replacing the traditional white male power structure.”
In Montana, Franklin said such ideas can lead to powerful results in communities where Jewish families make up a fraction of the population.
“This shows profound carelessness and a lack of consideration for people who are Jewish,” Franklin said. “I see this as somewhat unbelievable. Who was doing the messaging, and why did they decide to publish this? How does that happen?”
Franklin and other Jewish leaders said that some of the younger generation may not understand the symbolism or iconography of the memes, but the idea of Jewish control is still there.
“It can influence negative stereotypes. It’s there because it’s obviously part of the culture,” Franklin said.
Caleb Oriet
It is not the first time the Sheehy campaign has found itself being questioned about its candidate’s stance on antisemitism.
Several political journals covering national politics noted the presence of Caleb Oriet, a Montanan active in conservative Montana politics with a history of controversial, even bigoted postings.
After the memes of Schumer appeared on Sheehy’s social media, Oriet was connected by payroll records filed through the Federal Elections Commission as working for the Sheehy campaign.
Sheehy’s campaign didn’t not respond to national media outlets like Axios and the Daily Beast about Oriet’s status on the campaign, and it’s still unclear whether he’s affiliated.
When the connection between the Sheehy campaign and Oriet was first discovered, the Daily Beast’s Riley Rogerson reported it this way on May 20:
“The account belonging to the 21-year-old Montanan and self-proclaimed ‘Anglo-Saxon Protestant’ and ‘menace to society’ liked, for instance, a tweet that refers to Black Americans as ‘the most criminal, dependent, and socially destructive part of the population,’ and attacks GOP efforts to connect with Black voters.”
A spokesperson for the Sheehy campaign at the time accused the Daily Beast as a “trash New York tabloid,” then accused it of “trying to tear down a 21-year-old.”
After the article appeared, most of Oriet’s social media accounts were taken down, and it reported that his name on the Sheehy campaign website had been removed. However, the campaign also failed to answer whether Oriet was still involved with the campaign. Those questions went unanswered by the campaign when the Daily Montanan reached out it to it last week.
Oriet previously worked for Rep. Matt Rosendale, the lame-duck Republican congressman from Montana’s central-eastern district. In addition, Oriet has given public speeches touting the need for Christian Nationalism.
Still, the appearance of the trope and Sheehy’s decision to enlist Oriet are worrying Montana’s Jewish community.
“I can’t speak for Mr. Sheehy or Mr. Oriet,” Stanfel said. “But they may not realize there are Jewish folks living, for example, outside of Roundup or in Clyde Park. Montana Judaism is pluralistic and diverse.”
Antisemitic symbolism
At first, both of the Republican-based political advertisements look thematically similar, puppeteers controlling the strings of either politicians or institutions. Both attack Democrats.
But the person pulling the strings, literally, in both ads happens to be Jewish. What people may not understand is the long history of Jews being accused of secret plots and political fixing. The idea and imagery of Jews controlling politicians and institutions has it roots centuries ago, but was used more recently in the pogroms of Russia and the U.S.S.R., as well as propaganda during the Third Reich in Germany.
The American Jewish Committee reports that it’s closely tied to the idea of replacement theory as well as an idea of clandestine world domination.
Soros has become an international target of right-wing scorn, and has been featured so often in antisemitic tropes using the imagery of the puppet master that the British-based AntiSemitism Policy Trust has published an entire 13-page report on the history and variety of Soros-based conspiracy theories.
It’s not the first time that other right-wing aligned media has promoted the image of Soros as a Jewish puppet master. In 2021, Fox News was pressured to remove similar imagery of Soros after complaints from the Anti-Defamation League, now ADL.
The Montana Jewish Project also hopes that it can be a resource in the future for leaders and communities that may encounter antisemitic messages. For example, Stanfel said that not many realize how many Jewish families are in Montana, nor that the Jewish community played an outsized role in building the state.
The Montana Jewish Project reaches out to classrooms and teachers throughout the state, helping with resources for history lessons, providing information about “Not In Our Town,” and even helping teachers locate supplies during Hanukkah.
“Jewish voices are interwoven in our state’s history,” Stanfel said. “But when something hateful happens, it shouldn’t be the Jewish community or the Catholic community or Montana’s eight sovereign nations. It shouldn’t have to be just them who stand up.”
She also said that the MJP is becoming more of a resource for those who don’t much about Judaism or its deep roots within the state.
“We answer questions all the time,” Stanfel said.
Escalating problems, growing solidarity
Most of the state’s Jewish leaders said that after the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the number of antisemitic acts have been increasing, not just here but also nationwide.
Stanfel reports more antisemitic leaflets being left on cars or blanketed in neighborhoods. There have been more “swatting” incidents, too.
She said there’s been a supportive counter-reaction from other faith communities. The Montana Jewish Project counts other denominations as its largest supporters, including members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America who took up offerings and wrote checks to help support the nascent MJP. And, Diocese of Helena Bishop Austin Anthony Vetter helped facilitate the sale of the Temple from the diocese at a discounted rate so that it could open and go back into use as a gathering place for Montana’s Jewish community.
“You have to pay attention to the good the faith community throughout the state has done,” Stanfel said. “We wouldn’t exist without non-Jewish Montana.”
Bishop Laurie Jungling leads the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in Montana. She said that standing with the Jewish community is simply a matter of doing what’s right.
“We would stand up anytime you have a trope that degrades or diminishes our humanity,” Jungling said. “This isn’t just yelling at them, it’s about inviting them in. It’s about a conversation. It’s about an issue, where at the very least we could educate. We hope we would stand up for anyone who is oppressed and marginalized.”
Next steps?
“Universally, it’s troubling and disheartening,” Stanfel said. “People who have brought these things to our attention keep asking, ‘Well, did they respond?’ And, we have to keep saying, ‘No.’”
The decision to go public with their concerns happened only after weeks of silence and trying.
“It’s important to call out hate of any kind,” Stanfel said. “But it’s not the most effective way to help a person or group understand that what they’re doing my be hurting people. We really tried a different strategy. We said explicitly: We want to talk face to face, phone to phone, or Zoom screen to Zoom screen.”
Franklin said what many of the leaders most hoped for was a conversation, not a call-out.
“And to have heard nothing,” Franklin said. “No opportunity to have the discussion and no answer is either bad administration or a sign that they didn’t not want to have a discussion.”
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