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October 23, 2022
Key Takeaways:
- Donald Trump's latest antisemitic screed confirms that you can be against antisemitism or you can vote Republican. But not both.
- Trump's record on Israel left much to be desired. Only the Democratic Party strongly supports Israel and opposes antisemitism. It is impossible to separate Trump from the GOP as long as Republicans refuse to condemn his antisemitism.
- If you don't believe me, ask any Republican running for any office to publicly condemn Trump's antisemitism and affirm that Joe Biden lawfully and legitimately won the 2020 presidential election.
- It's time to stop virtue-signaling about the location of embassies in Jerusalem, which is all about domestic politics and nothing about Israel's security.
- Voting Republican means voting to make abortions illegal (even in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother), voting to keep assault weapons legal, surrendering our democracy to fascism, and replacing pluralism with antisemitism and racism. (Voting Republican also means cutting aid to Ukraine and cutting Social Security and Medicare.)
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Hi Steve,
The record proves that Democrats are better on Israel and antisemitism. Last week, the Biden administration again called out unfair treatment of Israel at the UN and rejected inappropriate comparisons between the situation in Ukraine and the West Bank. But as Joel Rubin writes, Republicans continue to put political gain above Israel's security.
If you care about antisemitism you can't vote Republican. You can't wish away Donald Trump and the silence from every Republican member of Congress on Trump's antisemitism.
In a country with only two major parties, bigots on the right have nowhere to go but the Republican Party. Bigots on the left have nowhere to go but the Democratic Party. Neither party can control the outcome of every primary. The difference between the parties is that the Democratic Party marginalizes and condemns antisemitism within its ranks while the Republican Party normalizes and condones antisemitism within its ranks.
The GOP twice nominated Donald Trump for president. Hours after Trump incited a violent insurrection, 147 Republicans voted to overturn the election. Trump leads in the polls for the 2024 GOP nomination. Trump's long history of trafficking in antisemitic tropes has no equivalent in the Democratic Party.
Last week, Trump attacked Jews in a social media post, telling the world that "U.S. Jews have to get their act together and appreciate what they have in Israel--Before it's too late!"
The Washington Post reported that "American Jews have long been accused of holding secret loyalty to Israel rather than the United States, and Trump’s post leaned on that antisemitic trope, suggesting that by virtue of their religion, American Jews should show more appreciation to Israel." Trump later defended Kanye West.
Amir Tibon writes that the "question is what American Jews will learn from this episode, which together with Kanye West’s antisemitic outbursts, is a reminder of the threats Jews face in today’s toxic political climate. It’s a mistake to ignore or downplay antisemitism coming from the far left, but it’s also a mistake to equate it with the larger threat coming from organized and powerful far-right forces that have taken over one of America’s two major parties. In that sense, Trump actually gave the Jewish people a gift as we marked the end of the High Holy Days: a much-needed reminder of who he is and how he views us." And by extension, how the Republican Party views us.
Not one Republican candidate or officeholder has condemned Trump's comments (neither has the Republican Jewish Coalition). We shouldn't be surprised because they've never condemned his previous antisemitic comments.
The next time your Republican friends hoot and holler about antisemitism not from Democratic leadership, not from Democrats running for statewide or national office, but for offices less significant, ask them if whoever they are complaining about, individually or collectively, has anywhere near Donald Trump's power or influence. Ask them if they have any evidence that fringe views on antisemitism or Israel are spreading within the Democratic Party or its leadership. Then revel in the silence.
But don't think twice, it's all right, say our Trump-supporting MAGA Republican friends. He really loves us. He's looking out for us. His daughter is Jewish! Really--that's the best argument they have. Saying Trump can't be antisemitic because he has Jews in his family is like saying Herschel Walker can't be misogynistic because he has women in his family.
The most dangerous form of antisemitism is government-condoned or encouraged antisemitism, and that's what you're voting for if you vote Republican. Voting Republican means voting to make abortions illegal (even in cases of rape, incest, or danger to the mother), voting to keep assault weapons legal, surrendering our democracy to fascism, and replacing pluralism with antisemitism and racism. (Voting Republican also means cutting aid to Ukraine and cutting Social Security and Medicare.)
Two years ago, David Schraub anticipated Trump's post, writing that "the right is primed and ready to accept a message of Jewish perfidy, and it will be accelerated by the GOP's wounded insistence that they are entitled to our adoration." Schraub lists the two reasons Jews vote Democratic:
- First, on every issue aside from Israel, Jews prefer Democrats to Republicans.
- Second, on the issue of Israel, Jews prefer Democrats to Republicans.
It's truly that simple. Check out the most recent polling of Jewish voters.
Not only is Trump antisemitic, but his record on Israel left much to be desired. Trump's withdrawal from the Iran Deal and his "maximum pressure" campaign was a maximum failure--Iran ramped up its nefarious non-nuclear activities and decreased its breakout time from over a year to a few weeks.
Trump’s record at the U.N. was one of abdication and defeat. National Security Action detailed how Trump and his ineffective U.N. ambassadors “adopted an ineffective approach of vindictive and bullying diplomacy that has done little except erode American influence, weaken coalitions and alliances vital to our national security, and leave core American values without a champion.”
If you think Trump's moves on Jerusalem and the Golan Heights made Israel safer or more secure, you owe it to yourself to refresh your memory. The location of the embassy was grounded in domestic American politics from the start, prompted by GOP efforts to promote Robert Dole's presidential campaign. Now, and not for the first time, it's Trump's antisemitic dog whistle to right-wing Evangelicals, and Bibi and his GOP friends go along for the ride.
Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital left the specific boundaries of Israeli sovereignty in Jerusalem for the parties to the conflict to determine, which is why it had little effect and did not set off the firestorm that some had predicted. It was an empty gesture and the world saw it as such. To date, writes Noa Landau, "only Guatemala, Honduras and Kosovo have joined the United States" in moving their embassies to Jerusalem.
Leil Leibovitz pointed out at the time that Trump's "largely symbolic gesture didn't make Jerusalem any more or any less the capital of the sovereign nation of Israel, the whole point of sovereignty, of course, being the ability to determine such matters without anyone else's approval."
On Friday, Anshel Pfeffer wrote the best article on Jerusalem that you are likely to read. He recommends we should stop virtue-signaling on Jerusalem and start focusing on the issues that matter to Israel's security: "Beyond providing a few dozen jobs and quick profits for a bunch of real-estate developers, [Trump's] embassy move has had zero influence on people actually living in Jerusalem, Israeli or Palestinian." But Trump's Republican donors and his right-wing Evangelical base loved it.
Donald Trump is the Republican Party. That's why not one Republican condemned his most recent antisemitic outburst. We must do all we can to elect Democrats in the midterms if we are serious about fighting antisemitism.
It's not too late to get involved. As the women of JDCA's Board of Directors wrote last week, "Democracy is not a spectator sport, and we control our fate–but only if we are willing to get off the sidelines and contribute our time and money in support of the values we cherish."
And as Jennifer Rubin reminds us, "if voters in less than three weeks select Republicans, they cannot claim ignorance of their Trump idolatry, their cruel views on abortion, their assault on government and their refusal to stand by democratic values. It’s nihilism vs. the center left. Take your pick."
Last Week's Newsletter.
ICYMI. Why is Donald Trump harassing Jews?
Tweets of the Week. Keir Starmer and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).
Twitter Threads of the Week. Susan Kusel and Dov Waxman
Facebook Post of the Week. Carla Garfinkle.
Video Clips of the Week. Medhi Hasan's opening monologue and JDCA CEO Halie Soifer on CNN.
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