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Friends,

Do people vote Republican because they like Trump and his politics of racism, resentment, and revolt, or do they vote Republican because they support Republican policies? If only there was a real-world way to find out...

On Tuesday, Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) was trounced in the Republican primary. She vehemently opposes abortion and voting rights. She votes with House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) 91% of the time. She departs from Republican orthodoxy only in her opposition to insurrection and her insistence on disclosing the truth about Trump's January 6 insurrection. But that was too much for Republican primary voters. She lost to nut-job Harriet Hageman by a 2-1 margin on Tuesday after coasting to victory two years ago.

A question for the ages is what the Bible means when it refers to Noah as "righteous in his generation." Does it mean that Noah is exceptionally righteous because, despite the depravity of his generation, he lived an upright life? Or does it mean that he stood out in his generation but in any other generation he would have been average?

We can ask the same question of Liz Cheney (and Adam Kinzinger). Are they profiles in courage because they sacrificed their political futures in the Republican Party by speaking out when the rest of their party went along with Trump's Big Lie? Or are we setting a low bar by praising them for not breaking the oath they swore to the Constitution, which ought to be the bare minimum we expect from our elected representatives?

In 1973, when faced with incontrovertible evidence, GOP leaders demanded that Richard Nixon resign. In 2022, when faced with incontrovertible evidence, GOP leaders turn the channel to Fox News and escape to the fantasy land inhabited by their base.

Charles Blow is right: "We must stop thinking it hyperbolic to say that the Republican Party itself is now a threat to our democracy. I understand the queasiness about labeling many of our fellow Americans in that way. I understand that it sounds extreme and overreaching. But how else are we to describe what we are seeing?"

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas used obscene Holocaust rhetoric in Germany. Last week, Abbas claimed that Israel committed "50 Holocausts" against Palestinians over the years. He said this in Germany. President Biden's Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, Dr. Deborah Lipstadt, immediately deemed those remarks "unacceptable." She was right, and Abbas later retracted his remarks, affirming that “the Holocaust is the most heinous crime in modern human history.”

Too little too late. Is it any wonder that Israelis do not think they have a partner for peace? Americans for Peace Now said that "Abbas’ clarification is welcome, but does little to touch the hearts and minds of Israelis, and deals yet another blow to efforts to reach peace and reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians."

Republicans use obscene Holocaust rhetoric in the United States. Illinois Republican gubernatorial candidate Darren Bailey said that “The attempted extermination of the Jews of World War II doesn’t even compare on a shadow of the life that has been lost with abortion since its legalization.”

Virginia Republican congressional candidate Hung Cao, comparing abortion to infanticide, said “The Nazis did this. They take Jewish babies and just take the legs and just smash the babies and kill them. You think that can’t happen in this country?”

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) compared vaccine mandates to the Holocaust (Davidson is far from alone in the GOP). Republican Pennsylvania gubernatorial candidate Doug Mastriano has "made comparisons involving the Holocaust in the past on issues such as gun control, abortion and the removal of Confederate monuments." Sen. Rick Scott (R-FL), who heads the National Republican Senatorial Committee, compared "the FBI's raid on Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort to tactics used in Nazi Germany, directly comparing FBI actions to the Gestapo."

But the people who claim Abbas's remarks prove that Israel has no one to negotiate with expect Democrats to negotiate with Republicans who openly embrace insurrection and regularly demean the significance of the Holocaust.

Meanwhile, a Florida synagogue canceled a beachside Shabbat service following violent antisemitic threats from Trump supporters against the judge who approved the Trump search warrant (he serves on the synagogue's board). Dan Rather notes that antisemitism "has become a particular hallmark of elements of the Republican Party, especially in the age of Trump."

Does Israel have a partner for peace? Putting aside Abbas's retraction, how can Israel be expected to negotiate with anyone who would make such heinously inappropriate comparisons in the first place? (Let's also put aside how any American could vote for a candidate who abused the memory of the Holocaust as so many Republicans have).

Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin answered this question when he recognized the PLO and said "you don't make peace with friends. You make it with very unsavory enemies." Abbas's views are repulsive, but unlike Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza, which was followed by thousands of rockets fired into Israel, any two-state solution will be negotiated and will include security arrangements satisfactory to Israel.

A two-state solution is not a reward for the Palestinians; it is a necessity for Israel. I've always found it odd that Americans running around in IDF t-shirts tend to have the least confidence that the IDF is capable of ensuring Israel's security following a negotiated agreement. If the Palestinians are not ready to negotiate, then Israel must preserve the possibility of a two-state solution for such time when negotiations are possible for its own sake.

The same logic--of negotiating with enemies--explains the necessity of reentering the Iran Deal. It is precisely because Iran is a state sponsor of terrorism whose government engages in antisemitic rhetoric that we need to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons. We have seen the world with the JCPOA (thanks Obama) and without it (thanks Trump). Under the JCPOA, Iran's nuclear program was verifiably contained and Iran's breakout time was pushed back to about a year. Following Trump's withdrawal while Iran was in compliance and his reimposition of nuclear-related sanctions, Iran's breakout time is a few weeks at most, perhaps days. Which world makes you feel safer?

What does it mean to be "pro-Israel"? I answered this question last week, but some readers responded that a better definition might be "supporting the policies of Israel's democratic government," a standard we do not apply to any of our other democratic allies. Israel does have the right, as does any country, to make its own decisions. Five years and two prime ministers ago, I explained the difference between supporting the State of Israel (we should) and supporting the policies of the current government of Israel (not necessarily). If you think supporting Israel requires you to outsource your opinions on U.S. policy to a segment of the Israeli electorate, you owe it to yourself to read this.

And if you think we must defer to Israel on reentry into the JCPOA, I've got news for you: Israel has no Iran policy. Instead, as Alon Pinkus writes, "despite the grandstanding and platitudes, Israel doesn't have a grand Iran policy, just a sequence of never-ending complaints about the agreement... Israel said there’s 'a better agreement' but never divulged it, mainly because it never existed." In some respects, this sounds like the Republican platform (if they had a platform).

Highland Park Strong. Under Mayor Nancy Rotering's leadership, Highland Park's City Council unanimously passed a resolution outlining the gun safety legislation our nation needs. Incremental steps are better than nothing, but when we say "assault weapons ban" we don't mean banning sales and letting current owners of assault weapons keep weapons that no civilian should own. We mean banning the "manufacture, purchase, sale, possession, and use of all semi-automatic weapons, high-capacity ammunition cartridges and magazines, and body armor, except as needed by military and law enforcement bodies."

Bracelets, yard signs, and ribbons are wonderful, but if you want to stop mass shootings in this country, demand that your federal and local officials enact every reform called for in this resolution and vote them out if they won't. As a practical matter, that means voting Democratic up and down the ballot. Voting Republican in 2022 means voting to make abortions illegal, voting to keep assault weapons legal, and voting against protecting our democracy. Only you can decide if that matters to you or if something else is more important, but you are responsible for the consequences of your votes. Elections matter.

Last week's newsletter.

ICYMI. From Ambassador (Ret.) Daniel C. Kurtzer, former U.S. ambassador to Egypt and Israel: Have we learned the lessons from Afghanistan?

Tweets of the Week. Schrödinger's Treason and Gen. Michael Hayden.

Video Clips of the Week. Today's Republican Party (Here's the backstory) and All These FBIs.

Upcoming Events. Politics with Dana and Steve, the premier Jewish political organization in the Chicago area, presents Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL) on Sunday, August 21, at 4:00 pm at a private residence in Highland Park, outdoors. Tickets are free, but contributions are encouraged. Rep. Casten is one of the brightest members of Congress and is excellent on all of our issues. RSVP here. It's not too late--spaces for this afternoon are still available.

Please join me, Dana Gordon, and Marcy Fleisher & Steve Kanner plus a growing list of co-hosts (check out the invitation) for an in-person (outdoors if the weather is nice) reception in support of U.S. Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) candidate for U.S. Senate, on Wednesday, August 24 at 6:30 PM at a private residence in Highland Park. RSVP using this link. Please let me know if you would like to attend the event and meet Ryan before committing to a specific or any contribution amount.

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The Fine Print: This newsletter usually runs on Sunday mornings. If you receive it as an ICYMI on Wednesday it's because you didn't open the one sent on Sunday. 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. I am willing to sacrifice intellectual consistency for intellectual honesty. I might be wrong: 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 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. I'm happy to read anything, but please don't expect me to watch videos of any length--send me a transcript if the content is that important. 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. Dedicated to Ariel Sheffey, Ayelet Sheffey, and Orli Sheffey z''l. ©2022 Steve Sheffey. All rights reserved.