The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) on Wednesday extended an olive branch to president-elect Donald Trump after continuously criticizing him during the presidential election.
“We congratulate President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence on last night’s election victory,” ADL National Chair Marvin Nathan and ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, said in a joint statement. “This is American democracy at work. The voters have spoken, Secretary Clinton has conceded, and the civil transition of power is underway.”
The ADL has been a fierce critic of Trump’s candidacy, suggesting his rhetoric on the campaign trail led to the uptick in racism and anti-Semitism and condemning him for a tepid denouncement of his anti-Semitic supporters and retweeting of white supremacist and anti-Semitic memes.
But on Wednesday, the ADL welcomed Trump’s pledge that he will be a president for all Americans, and that he will seek the common ground and reconciliation to heal a divided nation.
“Democracy is more than simply what occurs at the ballot box or during a particular election. Democracy encompasses the full collection of our laws, our norms and institutions that enshrine and protect our freedoms,” the statement read. “That work begins today to reinvigorate the idealism of e Pluribus Unum and to ensure that America remains a land of economic opportunity and personal freedom for all people regardless of their gender, race, class, faith, ethnicity, sexual orientation or political preference.”
Other major Jewish American organizations also released statements congratulating the Republican president-elect for a surprising victory, but also urging him to act swiftly to unite the nation after a long and bruising campaign.
“The Conference stands ready to contribute to the hard work of healing the divides in our country which were revealed at times in stark terms during the campaign,” Conference of Presidents’ Stephen Greenberg and Malcolm Hoenlein wrote in a joint statement. “We look forward to working with President-elect Trump and his advisors in the transition before his inauguration and in the years to come during his presidency on the issues facing our country, as well as of specific concern to the American Jewish community including strengthening the special U.S.-Israel relationship, the rise of anti-Semitism and the security of the Jewish people at home and abroad.”
