Cruz's "New York Values" is code for Jewish [View all]

[Cyrano]

I spent much of my life in New York. And last week, when Ted Cruz accused Donald Trump of having "New York Values," I heard it as a code word for "Jewish." It seems I'm not alone in hearing this dog whistle. Here's an excerpt from Dana Milbank's column from today's Washington Post.

When Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) last month mocked Donald Trump’s “New York values,” it wasn’t entirely clear what he was implying.

This week we got a clue: For Cruz, “New York” is another way of saying “Jewish.”

At an event in New Hampshire, Cruz, the Republican Iowa caucuses winner, was asked about campaign money he and his wife borrowed from Goldman Sachs. Cruz, asserting that Trump had “upward of $480 million of loans from giant Wall Street banks,” said: “For him to make this attack, to use a New York term, it’s the height of chutzpah.” Cruz, pausing for laughter after the phrase “New York term,” exaggerated the guttural “ch” to more laughter and applause.

But “chutzpah,” of course, is not a “New York” term. It’s a Yiddish — a Jewish — one. And using “New York” as a euphemism for “Jewish” has long been an anti-Semitic dog whistle.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-nastiness-of-ted-cruz/2016/02/05/2cfbfde0-cc2c-11e5-a7b2-5a2f824b02c9_story.html