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DC City Council Member Who Claimed Jews Control the Weather Announces Run for Mayor

D.C. city councilman Trayon White Sr. (D.) / Twitter
October 13, 2021

A D.C. City Council member who claimed Jewish bankers control the weather is running for mayor, according to a Wednesday announcement.

Trayon White Sr. (D.) is the second city councilman this week to throw his hat into the mayoral race. He announced his candidacy on Instagram, in response to a post about Councilman Robert White (D.) launching his mayoral bid on Wednesday.

White's candidacy is likely to cause a stir due to his history of espousing anti-Semitic conspiracy theories. In 2018, he claimed that the Rothschilds—a historically wealthy Jewish family that is often the center of anti-Semitic assertions—manipulate the weather and control the levers of federal power.

"Man, it just started snowing out of nowhere this morning, man. Y'all better pay attention to this climate control, man, this climate manipulation," White said in a video he posted on Facebook. "And DC keep talking about, 'We a resilient city,' and that's a model based off the Rothschilds controlling the climate to create natural disasters they can pay for to own the cities, man. Be careful." During a city council breakfast meeting, White also argued that "the Rothschilds—control the World Bank, as we all know—infusing dollars into major cities."

"They really pretty much control the federal government, and now they have this concept called resilient cities in which they are using their money and influence into local cities," he said.

White's comments drew condemnations from Jewish groups and anti-Semitism watchdogs at the time. He later agreed to visit the Holocaust museum with the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington in an attempt to make amends but left without explanation halfway through the 90-minute tour.

An adviser to Trayon White on Wednesday confirmed the run in a statement to D.C. radio station WAMU, saying the councilman "has a tremendous amount of support coming his way because he is willing to speak out for and advocate for those who need the leadership the most."

Incumbent mayor Muriel Bowser (D.) has yet to say if she will run for reelection.