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July 6, 2025
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
- Today, July 6, marks 639 days since October 7, 2023. The Hamas-led attack on Simchat Torah resulted in 1,182 fatalities (including 44 Americans) and over 4,000 wounded. 251 hostages (210 alive, 41 dead bodies) were taken during a day of brutal savagery and sexual violence. It was the largest single massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, with more than one in every 10,000 Israelis killed, and the third overall deadliest terrorist attack in the world to date.
- The 50 remaining hostages, 27 known to be dead, 20 thought to be alive, and three of unknown status, include the bodies of two Americans: Omer Neutra and Itay Chen. Releasing all the hostages might not be priorities for Trump and Netanyahu, but it's a top priority for us.
- Republicans passed a bill that will leave many Americans worse off so that the wealthiest Americans will be better off. Democrats cannot take for granted that low-information voters will understand what this means and who is responsible.
- Trump invoked the classic antisemitic "Shylock" slur on Thursday. No condemnation from any Republican members of Congress.
- Trump has created unprecedented daylight between the U.S. and Israel. Hostages remain in Gaza. While Trump's airstrikes caused many explosions, Iran remains dangerously close to nuclear weapons capability.
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Hi Steve,
The remaining hostages are running out of time. The hostages, the Palestinians in Gaza, and the Israeli soldiers fighting in Gaza need this war to end now. Releasing the hostages in dribs and drabs in exchange for temporary ceasefires is not the answer. We need an end to war and the return of all the hostages now.
On Thursday, Republicans played Robin Hood in reverse, stealing from the poor to give to the rich. Their Big Ugly Bill was a big win for plutocracy and a big loss for America. It might go down in history as the worst piece of legislation ever passed. Jay Michaelson has the receipts.
Trump's cruel bill passed without any Democratic votes. Suddenly, partisanship was not a dirty word. Depending on who you want to believe, it increases the deficit by anywhere from $3 trillion to $6 trillion. Republicans no longer show us those charts depicting how much each of us owes or the debt we are leaving our children and grandchildren to repay. None of it matters as long as Trump got what he and his obscenely wealthy friends wanted.
In fairness, Republicans did not care when Reagan ballooned the debt for his tax cuts for the wealthy or when George W. Bush ballooned the debt to pay for the Iraq War. Why did anyone expect them to care now?
The blame for this bill lies with the Republican Party and the Americans who voted them into office. The solution is to elect more Democrats. Is it really as simple as that? Interestingly enough, yes.
If, after all we've been through this year, you don't understand that which party is in power makes all the difference, or if you are talking about polarization, then you are both-sidesing the problem.
Too many Americans, including a small but vocal segment of Jewish Americans, think they are informed because they scroll through Instagram or TikTok and read catchy memes or watch charismatic talking heads tell them what to think, peppering their oh-so-sincere videos with exactly the right amount of emotion and unverifiable facts.
Why bother to read an article by an expert written at the college level, let alone a book, which requires an attention span longer than a few minutes, when you can learn everything from a pleasant-looking guy or gal with no expertise who might even be wearing a Chai or Star of David necklace that they certainly didn't don just for the video?
When you point out the facts to those addicted to their influencers of choice, they are not relieved to know that the nonsense they are so worried about is false. They are looking for confirmation of their prejudices, not facts. You cannot reason someone out of what they have not been reasoned into. Maybe I should start reading this newsletter into the camera and post it on Instagram and TikTok. Or maybe not. Some of the words are too long.
We are becoming a pre-literate culture. At least they're not sitting around bonfires singing "The Ballad of Donald Trump." At least not until we stumble into a nuclear apocalypse or epidemic caused by the stupidity and incompetence of those running this country into the ground.
The good news--I've always been a glass-half-full guy--is that roughly half of America seems to have a grip on reality. Many Americans will suffer until Democrats return to power, but the only way to guarantee that we don't return to power is by giving up.
This weekend might be good weekend to re-read the Declaration of Independence. Jen Rubin draws parallels between the offenses that autocrats then and today are guilty of. We won then and we can win today.
Trump added to his list of antisemitic slurs last week. On Thursday, Trump used the term "Shylock" to describe bankers. Heyalma will have to update its list.
Danny Miller's post shows that we've come a long way in the wrong direction since George Washington was president.
If you're not familiar with this centuries-old antisemitic slur, read Congressional Jewish Caucus Co-Chair Rep. Jerry Nadler's (D-NY) condemnation of Trump.
The Nexus Project, the ADL, JCPA CEO Amy Spitalnick, JDCA CEO Halie Soifer, and many others condemned Trump's antisemitic slur.
But not by any Republican members of Congress, not even that limelight-loving crusader against antisemitism, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY).
Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL) defended Trump by introducing a new standard: It's okay if you don't know it's antisemitic. Let's see if he applies that standard the next time a Democrat is accused of antisemitism.
Putting aside the unbelievability of a 79-year-old man from New York claiming he didn't know that this classic antisemitic trope was antisemitic, the decent thing to do upon learning that it's antisemitic would be to apologize and promise never to do it again.
It will shock you to know that as of this writing, Trump has not apologized to the Jewish community that his ovine Republican supporters claim he cares about.
Then again, Trump is not a student protester. Trump is not running for office in a municipal election. Heck, he's not even a university president. He's only the President of the United States and the leader of the Republican Party. We keep hearing that words matter. They do matter--especially when you have the biggest platform in America and your followers bend to your will like members of a cult.
On the foreign policy front, Trump has not been good for Israel. Remember the crocodile tears Republicans cried when they alleged that Democratic presidents were interfering in Israeli domestic politics? Daniel Kurtzer and Aaron David Miller write, "Trump has taken the unprecedented step of directly interfering in the Israeli judicial process by calling for Netanyahu’s criminal trial to be “cancelled immediately.”'
Further, they write, "Of all the presidents we’ve served, Trump stands alone as the one who has both sidelined Israel when it wasn’t convenient and made Israel central to his aims when it was. In the first six months of his administration, Trump has opened direct negotiations with Hamas without Israel’s knowledge; cut a bilateral cease-fire with the Houthis that Israel learned about after the fact; lifted sanctions on the Syrian government over Israel’s objections; and negotiated with Iran—including floating the prospect of some Iranian enrichment. And his repeated Truth Social posts showing impatience over Israel’s (and Hamas’s) unwillingness to end the fighting in Gaza increased the daylight between the two allies."
Trump's strikes against Iran prove that his Iran policies have been failures. If Trump had not walked away from the Iran Deal in his first term, Iran today would be years away from nuclear weapons capability. Trump's airstrikes did not "obliterate" Iran's nuclear program. If we assume that they did as much damage as possible, Iran is perhaps a year or so away from nuclear weapons capability. James Acton explains why.
Will Saleton documents the Trump team's lies about Iran, Paul Pillar documents Trump's use and misuse of Iran intel, and yet, as Jeffrey Lewis points out, lying about the effectiveness of the strikes might be smart policy.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. No one pointed out any errors in last week's newsletter.
In Case You Missed It:
- Tom Allon's analysis of claims that Zohran Mamdani is antisemitic is among the best I've read.
- The Wall Street Journal editorialized that "Trump's decision to stiff Urkaine on arms looks like another signal to Mr. Putin to continue the war. And why not? He can keep banking territorial gains while Mr. Trump keeps begging the dictator, pretty please, for a truce."
- CNN reported that Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth halted weapons for Ukraine despite military analysis that the aid wouldn’t jeopardize U.S. readiness. It was the third time Hegseth on his own has stopped shipments of aid to Ukraine. In the two previous cases, in February and in May, his actions were reversed days later. Who's running this country?
Social Post of the Week. Aaron Regunberg.
Thread of the Week. Michael Koplow.
Video Clip of the Week. Pete Holmes calls out Bruce Springsteen & Neil Diamond’s creepy lyrics.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. Kiki Dee Band - I've Got the Music in Me (1974).
For those new to this newsletter. This is the newsletter even Republicans have to read and the original home of the viral and beloved Top Ten Signs You're At a Republican Seder (yes, I wrote it). If someone forwarded this newsletter to you, why not subscribe and get it in your inbox every Sunday? Just click here--it's free.
I periodically update my posts on the IHRA definition of antisemitism and on why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
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