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Friends,

The Jewish community is rallying behind Georgia Senate candidate Rev. Raphael Warnock. Hundreds of Jewish faith leaders signed a letter stating that "All Americans, especially Jewish Americans, should reject attempts to divide the Black and Jewish communities, and to divide the Jewish community, by spreading falsehoods about Rev. Warnock. We abhor the politics of dividing traditionally marginalized communities in order to consolidate political power. The friendship between Jewish clergy and Black Christian clergy has stood strong for justice for generations, and cannot be so easily broken by bad faith actors who care little for our communities."

If you know clergy who have not signed but should sign, forward the letter to them--the sign-up period is still open and they can add their names.

I explained in the Times of Israel last week that Warnock is better on Israel than his opponent, Sen. Kelly Loeffler, better on anti-Semitism than Loeffler, and more aligned with Jewish values than Loeffler. Warnock is the clear choice of the reality-based Jewish community in this election, and Georgia's Black-Jewish coalition remains strong.

This election will determine control of the Senate. Divided government is dysfunctional government. Voters need to understand, as Alex Pareene explains, that "all the nasty partisan bickering they’re sick of is the direct result of divided government." But if you want more nasty partisan bickering, root for the Republicans to win on January 5.

President-elect Biden's appointments signal a return to competency. Of the Cabinet-level appointments announced thus far, four are Jewish and, in contrast with Trump's appointments, all share our values: Tony Blinken, Secretary of State; Alejandro Mayorkas, Secretary of Homeland Security; Janet Yellen, Secretary of Treasury; and Ron Klain, Chief of Staff.

JDCA called the appointments of Blinken, National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, and Ambassador to the U.N. Linda Thomas-Greenfield a "national security dream team."

Breaking with precedents set by Donald Trump, Biden has not appointed his children or their spouses to government positions, nor has he appointed neo-Nazis or white supremacists. Instead, Biden has limited his appointments to highly qualified individuals with years of relevant experience.

The Republican Jews who told us to vote for Trump--who have so discredited themselves that I wouldn't trust them to tell me the score of the Bears game--would have us believe that a couple of Biden's appointments reveal his secret plan to stock the government with anti-Israel infiltrators who will carry out his secret plan to destroy Israel. They might be on to something.

Biden appointed Palestinian-American Reema Dodin to serve as White House deputy legislative affairs director. Dodin compiled a spotless record working for Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL), but Republicans uncovered an article from about 20 years ago, while Dodin was in college, quoting her as saying that suicide bombings were the last resort of desperate people (which happens to be true--that's not a defense of suicide bombings, but an explanation). To its credit, Zioness deleted its criticism of Dodin. Other critics should do the same and organizations that have remained silent should support the Biden team's decision to stand by her appointment.

Biden appointed Avril Haines Director of National Intelligence, a post for which she is eminently qualified. But not to be outdone, right-wingers are pointing to, horror of horrors, a letter she signed supporting language in the Democratic Platform that would explicitly restate what, until Trump, was bipartisan foreign policy. Never mind that the language, benign as it was, was rejected and that her role in the Biden administration is not a Middle East policy role.

Biden's appointments work for Biden, not the other way around. They are there to carry out his policies, not to change them, especially at the sub-cabinet level. We don't have to read tea leaves to know where Biden stands. He's been in public life for five decades and his positions on Israel could not be clearer.

The facts will not keep these untruths out of circulation, but if they become tiresome, give yourself a break and remember the source. As Jarrett Blanc counsels, now that Biden has won, "it is no longer incumbent upon us to respond point-by-point to every lie or bit of stupidity from the incompetents and grifters."

When the pandemic ends, let's not let life return to normal. Let's wear masks in public when we are not feeling well, let's wash hands frequently, and let's find an alternative to shaking hands--which shouldn't be hard since most of us don't carry swords.

Let's remember what we learned about our country these past four years. Political scientists have known for years, as political scientists Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein wrote in 2012, that the Republican Party "is ideologically extreme; scornful of compromise; unmoved by conventional understanding of facts, evidence and science; and dismissive of the legitimacy of its political opposition."

But we refused to believe them. We didn't want to believe them despite the evidence because that meant admitting that one of our two parties rejected basic democratic norms. Trump was not an aberration, and his defeat does not redeem the Republican Party. Trump was supported on every vote and every position by the overwhelming, often unasinous, majority of Republicans in Congress. When people ask Biden to reach across the aisle, that's who they are asking him to reach out to.

Biden won more popular votes than any president in history, but roughly 48% of the country voted for Trump. We can argue how many are deplorable and how many are ignorant, but they all voted for a racist, corrupt, buffoon. Nearly half the country. A small shift of votes in key states could have given Trump an electoral college victory. More than half of Republican voters say they'd support Trump in 2024 over other Republicans. Trump is a feature, not a bug, of the Republican Party.

The Republican Party has long been the party of plutocracy and racism; what changed under Trump was that the agenda moved from dog whistles to fog horns. This election was not a basketball game with a few hard fouls that we can laugh off and forget about. This election was about the soul of our nation and the fate of our democracy. It was a test of who we are, and nearly half the country and an entire political party failed. Religious leaders who remained silent in the face of evil failed.

So-called bipartisan and non-partisan organizations who remained silent, or worse, supported Republican candidates or invited them to their events without calling them out, not only failed, but implicitly took a position by pretending that everything was normal. Pro-Israel organizations that support Republican candidates are proof that it is possible to support Israel without adhering to Jewish values.

It will be tempting to put this aside when Biden takes office, but if we forget today we'll remember the hard way tomorrow, and we'll have ourselves to blame.

Last week's newssletter.

ICYMI. Why Biden may try to return to the JCPOA before renegotiating it.

Tweet of the Week. Graham M. Reed.

Twitter Thread of the Week. Bess Kalb.

Video Clip of the Week. Queen's Gambit--deleted scene.

Political Ad of the Week. Rev. Raphael Warnock.

Upcoming Events. Dana Goldsmith Gordon and I, along with the Gurtin family, Lee Wolf & Jordan Cohen, April Underwood & Matthew Herrero, and Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania are hosting an event in support of Georgia Senate candidates Jon Ossoff and Rev. Raphael Warnock on Wednesday, December 2, at 7:00pm CT. Click here for details and to RSVP.

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The Fine Print: This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. Unless stated otherwise, my views do not necessarily reflect the views of any candidates or organizations that I support or am associated with. I reserve the right to change my mind as I learn more. Intelligent, well-informed people may disagree with me; read opposing views and decide for yourself. A link to an article doesn't mean that I agree with everything its author has ever said or that I even agree with everything in the article; it means that the article supports or elaborates on the point I was making. I take pride in accurately reporting the facts on which I base my opinions. Tell me if you spot any inaccuracies, typos, or other mistakes so that I can correct them in the next newsletter (and give you credit if you want it). Advertisements reflect the views of the advertisers, not necessarily of me, and advertisers are solely responsible for the content of their advertisements. I read, value, and encourage replies to my newsletters, but I don't always have time to acknowledge replies or to engage in one-on-one discussion. Don't expect a reply if your message is uncivil or if it's clear from your message that you haven't read the newsletter or clicked on the relevant links. © 2020 Steve Sheffey. All rights reserved.