Democratic lawmaker claims Trump is a bigger threat to American values than radical Islam

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Democratic lawmaker claims Trump is a bigger threat to American values than radical Islam

Debbie Wasserman Schultz's comments came after a deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Australia

Lindsay Kornick Fox News

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December 17, 2025 7:00pm EST

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Debbie Wasserman Schultz suggests Trump a bigger threat than radical Islam

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., described President Donald Trump as a threat to American values ahead of Islamic jihad or Islamophobia on NewsNation Tuesday.

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Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., suggested on Tuesday that President Donald Trump was a bigger threat to the American way of life than radical Islamic jihad.

Schultz brought up the president when NewsNation host Leland Vittert asked her on "On Balance" whether she believed that Islamophobia or jihad was a bigger threat to American life and values in the wake of a deadly attack against Australian Jews on Sunday.

"I think we have to focus, quite frankly, on, if we’re worried about the threat to American values, on the person who’s in the White House. I mean, we have a president —" Schultz began.

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Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., spoke about the threat of antisemitism on NewsNation Tuesday. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)

Vittert interrupted her in disbelief, asking her if she was really "going" with that.

"Yeah, I’m going there," she responded. "Because we have a president who has completely undermined our democracy."

"So you don’t see jihad, you don’t see this as a problem?" Vittert asked.

"What I don’t see is it as a single lens problem. We have a president who has been determined to undermine our constitutional principles, to degrade our democracy, to divide instead of unite us," Schultz said.

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Schultz agreed that antisemitism was a growing issue but argued that it was a problem among "many young White men" as well as Islamic extremists.

ISIS Syria flag and Donald Trump split image

A split image of an ISIS member holding the ISIS Syria flag and U.S. President Donald Trump. (History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images and Daniel Heuer / AFP via Getty Images)

"It is absolutely unacceptable to just oversimplify the problem with antisemitism right now and paint it with a broad brush and say, 'You know what, if we just deal with radical Islam then Jews are going to be fine,'" Schultz said.

She insisted that Trump had let antisemitism grow after his dinner with White nationalist Nick Fuentes in 2022. She called on Trump to do more to protect Jewish institutions.

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"I want a president who actually walks the walk as much as he talks the talk," Schultz said. "I want a president that makes sure that we restore the nonprofit security grant funding that protects Jewish institutions and other religious institutions from attacks like we’re talking about here. I want a president who isn’t closing down divisions that investigate discriminatory conduct and antisemitic attacks."

A menorah is projected onto the Sydney Opera House

Schultz's comments came after a deadly attack on a Hanukkah celebration in Sydney, Australia. (Reuters/Hollie Adams)

Fox News Digital reached out to the White House for comment.

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Sixteen people, including one gunman, were killed during a Hanukkah celebration at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia. Forty people were also hospitalized.

Lindsay Kornick is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Story tips can be sent to lindsay.kornick@fox.com and on Twitter: @lmkornick.

Democratic lawmaker claims Trump is a bigger threat to American values than radical Islam