Tiring from its overuse, we have heard many times the accusation that this or that person has expressed an “antisemitic trope that Jews control” fill in the blank — Hollywood, the government, whatever.

“Trope” is a rather uncommon word in use. It is used in the phrase “antisemitic trope” and in some discussion of fiction, such as in books or movies. Otherwise, it a largely left behind word.

Often the accusation is a stretch. Sometimes it seems much closer to an accurate description. Strangely, the latter seems to be the case with recent comments made by Yehuda Kaploun, who is President Donald Trump’s pick for “antisemitism envoy.”

One would probably expect Kaploun to be criticizing others for “trotting out an antisemitic trope,” not trotting one out on his own. But, there he is saying something that, if said by many other people, the antisemitism accusation brigade members would be jumping up to decry as an “antisemitic trope.” This man has declared “Jews control the internet” they would shout, and they would demand action in response, such as that he be condemned and silenced.

Kaploun explained on December 10 at a Jerusalem Post conference in Washington, DC that as antisemitism envoy at the United States Department of State he, along with other people in his government office, will be “working with the greatest leaders in technology, many of whom are Jewish and have offered their assistance,” to “battle antisemitism on the internet.”

A particularly interesting thing about Kaploun’s comments is that he is not complaining about a power he suggests Jewish people have. Rather, he is making a promise to exercise such a power in coordination with other influential Jewish people. Kaploun, a rabbi in addition to his other pursuits, says in the public comments that as antisemitism czar he would oversee his section of the State Department that “will be revamped entirely to be one of the highest profile offices in the State Department because that is what the secretary wants and that is what the president wants.” That organization he leads would in turn, he declares, work with technology leaders, many of which he notes are Jewish, to control what people see on the internet.

Wow. That is not just making a trope accusation; that is promising to ensure the trope is reality.

If Trump’s goal is really to reduce animosity toward Jewish people, empowering Kaploun to pursue Kaploun’s stated mission seems counterproductive. Kaploun is, after all, promising vigorous United States government backed censorship of the internet overseen largely by powerful Jewish individuals. As a result, Kaploun and his accomplices can be expected to be widely viewed as villains.