Trump Supporter Who Chanted "Jew-S-A" Says We Just Misheard Him

George Lindell, who previously went viral in a 2011 local news clip, told BuzzFeed News that he was really saying "U-S-A."

By
Claudia Koerner
by Claudia Koerner

BuzzFeed News Reporter

A man at a Donald Trump rally in Phoenix caught national headlines on Saturday for chanting what sounded like "Jew-S-A" at members of the media.

Ashley Killough @KilloughCNN

So this just happened near the press pen at Trump's Phoenix rally. Man chanting "Jew.S.A.!"

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Accusing the media of being part of a Jewish conspiracy that's trying to rig politics has been a consistent claim among anti-Semites and white nationalists — and it has continued this election cycle.

The man was called "deplorable" by Trump's campaign. "I think what he had to say was disgusting," Kellyanne Conway told CNN.

CNN @CNN

Trump campaign manager Kellyanne Conway: The man who shouted "Jew-S-A" is "deplorable" https://t.co/V7SFwX6qfC https://t.co/eEnygau3q9

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The man is George Lindell, a 51-year-old Phoenix resident who went viral in 2011 for his hilarious description of being in a car accident. "Reality hits you hard, bro," Lindell told a local TV reporter.

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Given Lindell's previous 15 minutes of fame, a new conspiracy claimed he was paid off by the Clinton campaign to make Trump look bad.

@thebrigade / Via Twitter: @thebrigrade

A racist? A Clinton plant? None of that's true, Lindell told BuzzFeed News. "That's the way I say USA," he said.

Ashley Killough / CNN / Via Twitter: @KilloughCNN

"I'm around Mexican people all the time," said Lindell, who has for years worked as a house painter in Phoenix. "I speak Spanish a lot. That's just the way I say it."

Lindell said he is voting for Trump, who he thinks will stand up to banks and the Federal Reserve. Lindell said that he's concerned banks act as a shadow government and have taken power away from the American people.

The idea that Jews control the Federal Reserve, and with it, have a conspiratorial power over society is a classic anti-Semitic myth, according to the Anti-Defamation League.

BuzzFeed News asked Lindell if his anti-banker views had anything to do with being anti-Jewish.

"God made all of us, and we are all children of God," he said. "There's only one race, and that's the human race."

Lindell added he was just trying to have a good time at the rally, and he doesn't know why people have taken it to mean anything else.

"I have a lot of personality," he said. "That's just the way I am."

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