|
February 2, 2025
Key Developments and What We're Discussing Today:
1) It's been 485 days since October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel on Simchat Torah and murdered 1,200 people (including 44 Americans). More Jews were murdered on that day than on any day since the Holocaust. Hamas wounded 3,300 and took 251 hostage during a day of brutal savagery and sexual violence.
2) The 79 remaining hostages include six Americans. Keith Siegal was released yesterday. Sagui Dekel-Chen, thought to be alive, is among the 33 on the list for the first phase of hostage releases, leaving Edan Alexander as the only American believed to be alive not in the first group. Hamas holds the bodies of Omer Neutra, Itay Chen, Judi Weinstein Haggai, and Gad Haggai.
3) Trump's statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day was disgraceful.
4) Trump's executive order on antisemitism is deeply problematic.
5) Senate Democrats blocked consideration of the poorly drafted Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act.
6) The Republican Party is a fascist cult. The sooner we understand this, the better we will understand how to respond.
This is an independent reader-supported newsletter. You're welcome to read for free, but if you get something out of this newsletter, you can give something back by credit card or PayPal, by Venmo @Steven-Sheffey (last four phone digits are 9479), or by check. Thank you.
Hi Steve,
On Thursday, Hamas released eight hostages: three Israelis, Agam Berger, Gadi Mozes, and Arbel Yehud, and five Thai agricultural workers who were not part of the hostage/terrorist exchange, Watchara Sriaoun, Pongsak Tanna, Sathian Suwankam, Bannawat Seathao, and Surasak Lamnau.
Yesterday, Hamas released American Keith Siegel, Ofer Calderon, and Yarden Bibas. Hamas continues to hold hostage the rest of Yarden Bibas's family: his wife Shiri and their young children, Kfir, and Ariel.
Rob Eshman writes that we should be enraged that so many people failed the Bibas family.
Eight of the remaining hostages set for release in the next few weeks are dead. Why are dead hostages coming out before live hostages? Because for Hamas, the cruelty is the point. Hence the hateful mobs that accompanied previous hostage releases.
Trump's statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day was disgraceful. Trump waited until after 10 pm ET to issue a statement on International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
He got the name wrong. It's called "International Holocaust Remembrance Day," not "National Day of Remembrance of the 80th Anniversary of the Liberation of Auschwitz."
The date is January 27 because that is the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, but the Day was created to "remember the six million Jewish victims of the Holocaust and the millions of other victims of Nazi persecution," not only those who perished in Auschwitz.
Holocaust denial and distortion is a major problem. Instead of using the six million number, Trump referred in his statement only to "one million" killed at Auschwitz.
No reference at all, in a statement on the Holocaust that Trump issued on International Holocaust Remembrance Day, to six million--or to International Holocaust Remembrance Day.
It's not hard to do this right: Read Sen. Jacky Rosen's (D-NV) Senate resolution.
But credit where credit is due: In his Holocaust statement eight years ago, Trump did not mention Jews at all.
Trump's Executive Order on antisemitism is deeply problematic. Dov Waxman's short thread explains why. The executive order should be read in conjunction with its accompanying "fact sheet."
The Nexus Project opposes Trump's executive order. The Jewish Council For Public Affairs noted in its statement that "undermining inclusive democracy in the name of countering antisemitism only makes Jews – and so many others – less safe."
Emily Tamkin writes that Trump's executive order on antisemitism is a threat to every American.
Hannah Rosenthal and David Saperstein are right: There is a better way to fight antisemitism.
Senate Democrats blocked consideration of the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act. Every Democrat except John Fetterman (D-PA) voted against cloture (60 votes are required to end a filibuster).
The International Criminal Court was wrong to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant.
Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on the Senate floor that the problem with the ICC Act is that its poor drafting will lead to many unintended consequences. Yet Republicans refused to work with Democrats to fix those problems.
Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) explained why the vast majority of Democrats in the House voted against the Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act.
Isn't it cute how the bill's initials are the same as International Criminal Court? The ICC Act! How clever. It should have been named the Creative Republican Attempt at Poppycock Act.
Do you know any Trump voters who regret their choice? Neither do I. Cults don't work that way. No matter how bad it gets for themselves or others, it won't be Trump's fault.
The dupes who voted for Trump, aside from Trump's wealthiest supporters, probably didn't know who or what they voted for. They f'd around and we are all finding out--the hard way.
Today's 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."
Two respected centrist political scientists, Thomas Mann and Norman Ornstein, wrote that in 2012. Those of us who were paying attention (such as readers of this newsletter) saw this coming.
Mann and Ornstein quoted Mike Lofgren, who wrote in 2011 that "the Republican Party is becoming less and less like a traditional political party in a representative democracy and becoming more like an apocalyptic cult, or one of the intensely ideological authoritarian parties of 20th century Europe."
MAGA is not an aberration. MAGA is the Republican Party. America has a center-left party, the Democratic Party; a fascist party, the Republican Party; and no center-right party. This is not your father's Republican Party. It's not even Mitt Romney's Republican Party. Not anymore.
If you think you can deprogram a MAGA Republican go for it. If you think you can convince a Jewish Republican that Jews don't fare well under authoritarian regimes, go for it.
The question today is not why 25% of Jews vote Republican but why any Jews vote Republican. Have they forgotten that Hitler's enablers included conservative German Jews or are they trying to emulate them?
The rest of us should focus on helping the sane half of our country remain outraged by Trump's outrages and not get worn down by the sheer volume of damage Trump is doing.
Charlotte Clymer and Dan Pfeiffer have good advice for Democrats on how to do that. Shannon Watts has good advice for grassroots activists.
If you want an example of how Democrats should be communicating, read Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's statement on last week's tragic aviation crash in D.C.
More than stopping Trump, we need to give voters--and those who did not vote in 2024--an agenda to vote for rather than simply against.
Decency, honesty, and a government that cares about us rather than the obscenely wealthy might be a place to start.
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, so it must have been perfect.
In Case You Missed It:
1) Ilan Goldenberg explains that Trump's foreign aid spending freeze is a combination of chaos and cruelty.
2) The dumbest trade war in history: The Wall Street Journal explains the monumental stupidity of the tariffs that Trump imposed yesterday. Trump's tariffs are probably illegal but when has that stopped him? Tariffs are taxes--not on foreign governments. On us.
3) Read Trump's January 22 "fact sheet" on aviation safety and the Democratic response. Trump's response to Wednesday's plane/helicopter collision in DC was similar to his Covid responses. He later blamed DEI and Biden (in fact, Trump launched the hiring program he is now complaining about in his first term). Illinois Governor JB Pritzker's statement asks the right questions. It's past time for Trump to answer them.
4) Trump's Defense Intelligence Agency is pausing observances related to Holocaust Day/Days of Remembrance in May.
5) Top U.S. Jewish advocate Halie Soifer called Musk's address to a German far-right political party rally "incredibly dangerous."
6) There is no evidence for Trump Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's absurd claim that the Biden administration budgeted $50 million for condoms in Gaza.
7) The group behind Project 2025 has a plan to protect Jews. It will do the opposite. Project Esther is the wrong way to fight antisemitism.
8) Why did Paul Krugman really leave the New York Times?
Social Posts of the Week. Kevin Kruse, Matt Steichen and Josh Malina.
Thread of the Week. Fania Oz-Salzberger. Separately, on Twitter, she decried those who compare "this official and sweeping Hamas depravity with the behavior of an (admittedly) racist and hate-filled minority of Israelis. As my father said, if you don’t discern between degrees of evil you become a servant of evil."
Film Critique of the Week. I'm with Kate Cohen 100% on this: Here’s my beef with ‘A Complete Unknown’ — and all biopics.
Video Clip of the Week. The courtroom scene from Bananas.
Vintage Political Clip of the Week. Marco Rubio in March 2016.
Vintage Music Clip of the Week. John Lennon's Instant Karma! was released 55 years ago last week.
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 why Democrats are better than Republicans on Israel and antisemitism and on the IHRA definition of antisemitism. My definition of "pro-Israel" is here (it's a work in progress, as am I).
I hope you enjoyed today's newsletter. It takes time to write and costs money to send. If you'd like to support my work, click here and fill in the amount of your choice. You don't need a PayPal account. If you see something that says "Save your info and create a PayPal account," click the button to the right and it will go away. Or you can Venmo @Steven-Sheffey (last four phone digits are 9479). Or you can send a check.
| 