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Friends,

I need to update my Democratic Haggadah to include Ariel Edwards-Levy's question: "In most other presidencies we do not impeach even once. Why, in this presidency, do we impeach twice?" Unfortunately, no Republicans knew the first time why Trump should be impeached, and only ten knew the second time. Small solace knowing there are more righteous men in the Republican Party than in Sodom and Gomorrah.

Greg Sargent writes that "it’s a straight cause-and-effect: One side (Trump and his democracy-despising enablers who are still trying to illegitimately overturn the election’s outcome) is threatening and inciting violence against the other (those who stand for constitutional democracy and are affirming the legitimacy of that outcome)."

But it's not just Trump. I will concede that reasonable minds can differ on whether today's GOP more closely resembles the Brezhnev-era Communist Party or Hezbollah. But there is no question that the GOP has long been the party of white nationalism and antisemitism and that its leaders use "white supremacist paranoia to construct a base of the very people they exploit." It's no surprise that the insurrection Trump incited was laced with antisemitism, which the American Jewish Congress documented.

Now is the time for good partisanship. Not the partisanship that we saw under Trump from the Republicans that led to blind obedience to whatever Dear Leader tweeted out that day, not the partisanship that led to 93% of House Republicans voting "to shield Trump from punishment nearly two years before their next election, one week before he leaves office, and one week after he incited a deadly insurrection that threatened their lives," but a partisanship recognizing that only one party, the Democratic Party, shares our values, including a commitment to democracy. That's not the way it should be, but that's the way it is, and ignoring reality won't make it go away--it will lead to more of the same.

A significant portion of the Republican electorate supports Trump's efforts to undermine democracy. If Democrats are not willing to enact the structural reforms needed to restore democracy (abolish the filibuster and then admit DC and the Virgin Islands as states, campaign finance reform, gerrymandering reform), then it's up to us to call Republicanism what it is--authoritarianism--and defeat it at the polls every two years. We cannot rely on do-overs.

After Democrats lost in 2016, they were told they needed to listen to Americans who voted Republican. Democrats swept the mid-terms in 2018 and won back the Senate and the White House in 2020--and are being told they need to listen to Republicans. Maybe it's time to stop coddling Republicans like children and instead demand that if they want to be taken seriously, they acknowledge that Biden won fair and square, unequivocally condemn Trump and his rhetoric, prove their sincerity by convicting him in the Senate, and purge themselves of leaders who fomented insurrection. Then we can have unity.

Look for unfounded attacks on Biden nominees. A certain amount of hypocrisy is par for the course in politics, but watching people who were silent when Trump appointed white nationalist Stephen Miller, neo-Nazi sympathizer Sebastian Gorka, and Steve Bannon to key positions complain about Biden's nominees is chutzpadik per excellence.

Unlike Trump, who regularly engaged in racist and antisemitic rhetoric prior to becoming president, Biden has a record of opposition to antisemitism and support for Israel five decades long. While Biden's nominees should be judged on their merits, we should remember that they are charged with implementing Biden's policies, not the other way around.

Samantha Power is an excellent choice to lead the U.S. Agency for International Development. Read her 2015 AIPAC speech, and if you are concerned about President Obama's decision to abstain on U.N. Resolution 2334, read the speech she delivered to the U.N. that day.

The resolution broke no new ground. It was not one-sided and was not a condemnation of Israel, but of its government's settlement policies. Contrary to the right-wing hysteria that followed the abstention, there has been little consequence to the U.N. action. Former U.S. ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro described claims by unnamed sources that the U.S. controlled the timing of this resolution as “a garbage claim, made by someone who doesn’t know what they are talking about.”

Kristen Clarke, Biden’s nominee for assistant attorney general for civil rights, unequivocally rejects antisemitism. If you are concerned about what she did in college 25 years ago, you owe it to yourself to read her side of the story. Rabbi Jack Moline said this "attempt to sow distrust between an outspoken Black woman and the Jewish community is both racist and anti-Semitic." She will be working for Merrick Garland and ultimately for Joe Biden, and she is qualified for this job.

Biden will have to undo four years of neglect and incompetence on Israel and Iran. As he has on so many challenges, Trump has left us worse off than we were four years ago. Michael Koplow writes that "the Trump peace plan was one of the most unrealistic efforts to solve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that has ever been advanced," and that by telling Israel what its right-wing government wanted to hear rather than what it needed to hear, David Friedman "has only set the stage for future missteps that will lead to diplomatic clashes."

Trump's decision to withdraw from the JCPOA while Iran was still in compliance was a mistake that brought Iran closer to nuclear weapons than it was when he took office. Eric Brewer writes that returning to Iran Nuclear Deal "is not only viable but also presents the best chance of preventing an Iranian bomb. It is the best path toward building on the agreement and addressing some of the shortfalls that critics deride." We've seen the world with and without the JCPOA. It's a better world with the JCPOA.

Be careful before using the IHRA definition of antisemitism for legal or policy purposes. The government must fight all hatred and bigotry, including antisemitism. Certain Jewish organizations want the Biden administration to use the IHRA definition to help enforce laws against antisemitism. The definition includes valid examples, omits key manifestations of right-wing antisemitism (such as George Soros conspiracy theories), and includes examples that are not per se antisemitic. The risk of abuse must be addressed before codifying a definition designed for different purposes as law or policy.

The Progressive Israel Network and Americans for Peace Now explain why using the IHRA definition risks wrongly equating what may be legitimate expressions of speech with antisemitism.  Ken Stern explains that the IHRA definition "was intended for data collectors writing reports about anti-Semitism in Europe." Stern should know. He wrote the damn definition.

As David Schraub explains, the IHRA definition is "vague to the point of incoherency, and riddled with so much imprecision and hedging that it could justify labeling anything or nothing anti-Semitic." In 2018, Rabbi Jill Jacobs outlined criteria that can help us determine whether criticism of Israel is antisemitic while avoiding the pitfalls of the IHRA definition. If you care about this, please read the links in this section to help you understand this issue and work toward fighting antisemitism effectively.

Last week's newsletter.

ICYMI. Rep. Watson Coleman: I’m 75. I had cancer. I got covid-19 because my GOP colleagues dismiss facts.

Tweets of the Week. Rabbi Shai Held and Chris Stein.

Twitter Thread of the Week. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).

Video Clip of the Week. People who say things like "Orwellian."

Upcoming Events. Jewish Democratic Council of America is hosting its special inauguration celebration, Democracy Wins, this afternoon, Sunday, January 17 at 4:00 CT, honoring voting rights attorney Marc Elias and featuring comedian Sarah Silverman, Senators-elect Raphael Warnock and Jon Ossoff, Senator Chris Coons, Rabbi Sharon Brous, and other very special guests. It's free, but you need to register here.

The Decalogue Society of Lawyers is presenting a CLE taught by yours truly on BDS and Free Speech on Thursday, February 18, from 12:15 to 1:15 CT. Register here by scrolling down to my CLE.

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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. © 2021 Steve Sheffey. All rights reserved.