How to Lose Friends and (likely not) Influence People
I’m not mad, I’m just disappointed.
I’m disappointed that somehow Donald John Trump is on the ballot again and I’m disappointed there are enough people supporting him (or at least enough people who are adamantly opposed to his opponent, Kamala Harris) that the 2024 presidential race will come down to a few tens of thousands of votes across a handful of states.
But I get it, I really do. You think Trump is good for Israel and Jews.
Were Trump just a tremendously damaged vessel*, perhaps I’d be able to justify some support for him. But, there is a bigger issue at play: the MAGA mindset. To misuse a mnemonic from Ethics of Our Fathers, the MAGA world rests on three things: neo isolationism, white nationalism and grievance politics. I don’t believe any of these are good for Jews or Israel.
Neo Isolationism
Again, I get it. That whole neo-conservative “let’s go make the world democratic and bomb everyone who doesn’t look like us” thing didn’t really work. It’s one of the reasons I’m politically where I am. But you know what’s more asinine than blowing stuff up? Pretending there’s no one else on the planet. At the end of the day that’s what the neo isolationists in Congress who voted against funding Israel’s war against Hamas believe. They don’t believe in ongoing American leadership, they believe America has led, therefore America no longer has to lead. Anyone who has studied history for more than 12 seconds recognizes this is an insane approach. Maybe you don’t like the aggressive neo-con world view, maybe even Reaganism is too much for you, but when you find the far left of the Democratic party voting in sync with the MAGA base in Congress, you know you’ve either reached the upside down, or a policy that is so irresponsible that Majorie Taylor Greene and Rashida Tliab agree on it.
J.D. Vance, who – win or lose – is the future of the current iteration of the Republican party, made it pretty clear where the Trump administration will sit: everyone is on their own unless there is a clear American interest. If elected officials don’t see Israel as a priority (again look at the MAGA group who voted against Israel aid), the Jewish state is screwed.
Either way, America shirking its responsibility as the global leader – especially when it amounts to pennies on the dollar of the overall budget – is not good for our allies, and especially not good for Israel.
White Nationalism
From the moment he came down that golden escalator, Trump has energized white nationalists on two levels: with his rhetoric and through his staffing and policy choices. This is one of those facts we can’t dispute. From Richard Spencer’s response to Trump’s victory to Charlottesville to January 6th, because Trump created a permission structure for the dregs of society to come out of the shadows, they have come out in force and peoples’ lives have been lost. This isn’t a fluke or an accident, white nationalism is a core part of Trump’s support. Look who spoke from the podium at the Republican National Convention or at Tucker Carlson’s support for the “replacement theory” and how Carlson’s support of that has seeded it throughout the right-wing media and Congressional focus.
Either Trump knew who Nick Fuentes was when he sat down to dinner with him and Kanye West, or Trump is as unaware as Fox News thinks Joe Biden is. There’s no reason to belabor this point, Trump – whether he subscribes to it or not – has created the MAGA Republican party that sees white nationalism as a pillar. Trump has normalized the kind of bigotry, hate, and xenophobia that is unacceptable in places like modern day Germany. Trump, or his successors as leaders of MAGA are not going to suddenly disavow this. Hillary Clinton was electorally wrong to publicly say that “you could put half of Trump’s supporters into what I call the basket of deplorables,” but she was factually correct. Re-electing Trump gives this movement of the worst of society more energy and encouragement to grow. Trump’s inability to disavow them, whether telling the Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by,” or saying “you had very fine people on both sides” even the Republican Jewish Coalition being incapable of condemning public antisemites, this rot is an essential aspect of the MAGA Republican Party.
Grievance Politics
Grievance supplies the undercurrent to all of MAGA. Put simply, what that means is there is a simmering feeling among Trump supporters that America as they know it is under attack. And maybe you get it—maybe you see the country changing faster than you can keep up with and feel like it’s leaving traditional American values in the dust. MAGA grievance politics is all about that sense of loss, channeling it into a rallying cry that says, “We’re not going down without a fight.”
Economically, it’s the idea that the globalists care more about their bottom lines than the American workers whose jobs they’re sending overseas. MAGA grievance politics calls it out, saying this isn’t just change; it’s betrayal.
MAGA grievance politics thrives on this narrative of righteous outsiders – led (somehow) by a billionaire – battling corrupt elites, it wars on experts, and fights a culture war in which MAGA supporters feel written off by the media, disrespected by universities, and ignored by the government that works for everyone but them. This isn’t just about Trump; it’s about reclaiming America from those who, in their view, want to destroy it. Conspiracy and misinformation run rampant and the grievance hunts for someone to blame; the “other.” Maybe it’s African Americans, maybe it’s immigrants from South America, maybe it’s people who identify as LGBTQ, maybe it’s women. But we have thousands of years of history that teach us this kind of politics inevitably targets Jews.
The Republican pollster, Sarah Longwell has said that “Trump gives everybody permission to be their worst selves. You want to say sexist things that are funny? Trump’s there to tell you that’s cool.” For the sake of our children we need this guy and what he represents off the stage, he’s an awful role model, who brings out the worst in both his supporters and opponents.
Not to get too preachy, but we, as Jews, are better than this. It isn’t about the oft-misused concept of “Tikkun Olam,” we are literally commanded to “not wrong or oppress the stranger.” We are told that we are to “walk in His ways” (imitatio dei). How can we be a “Light unto the nations” if we castigate and reject them. The very basis of MAGA Republicanism is such anathema to the values of Judaism that even putting the two in the same sentence feels like something I need to apologize for.
We don’t just elect a president, we elect their policy and personality. We already know what Trump brings, except this time it’ll be worse, because he’s doubled down on the worst aspects of his personality, policy and supporters.
Do you want your children to look at Donald Trump or the die-hard MAGA-heads as something to emulate? The personal choices we’ll make are one thing, but whether we like it or not there is a geopolitical aspect to this as well. If, as a country we embrace the retrograde values upon which MAGA rests, all the talking points about Israeli-American shared values get tossed out. If Israel and America no longer have shared values, why bother supporting Israel? In a MAGA world, there is no equality nor are there are no guarantees of freedoms if you aren’t a white Christian male. Wherever you may fall out on the ideological spectrum, most Americans tend to lean conservative in their views but favor more liberal approaches in practice. That isn’t acceptable in the us-or-them mindset of MAGA.
Defeating Trump (again) could finally begin to put nails in the coffin of MAGA and enable a thoughtful conservative Republican party to reemerge (Was Mitt Romney really that bad?). You don’t have to support Harris, or even like her, but voting a vote for Trump is a vote for what he represents.
It’s not hard to recognize a “same facts, different story” situation and boy howdy do we have one right here. We’re all slaves to various social media algorithms and media choices, all of which are caused by our own biases and create new ones.
Despite the necessary cognitive dissonance to have both a Trump and a Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ,5th) sign in your yard, I understand where you’re coming from (especially on the Rep. Gottheimer front, who I will enthusiastically be voting for). Hopefully no one reading this is a frighteningly uninformed luddite dullard, and obviously your vote is your choice, but I know who I’ll be voting for without a scintilla of hesitancy: Kamala Harris.
I trust her to be a good and decent person, keep family in the United States safe and keep my family in Israel safe. I do not trust Donald Trump to do that. Do I know if she’ll be a good president? Nope, but I have confidence in her and her team. What I am certain of is that Donald Trump won’t be a good president and he’ll be surrounded by what amounts to a wretched hive of scum and villainy. Maybe his economic policies – if that’s what matters most to you – will somehow make an already booming American economy better, but a second Trump presidency won’t be good for Israel or for Jews.
The next week (and/or next 81 days) are going to be difficult for all of us, as Jews, as voters and as Americans. However, I can assure you of a few things: we will get through this, we will figure out a way to continue to be neighbors, friends and family, we will all appreciate the cessation of text messages from various PACs and parties and most of all, we will all continue to love and support both this country and Israel and hope the future for both is as bright as possible.
Sen. Reverend Raphael Warnock (D-GA) has said that “a vote is a kind of prayer for the world we desire for ourselves and for our children.” I don’t know if that sentiment has ever been more true than this year. May the outcome of this election season bring peace and prosperity in America, Israel and around the world.
—————————————————————————————-
*For the sake of brevity, I cut a few paragraphs. If you care to, you can read them here:
But I get it, I really do. You think Trump is good for Israel and Jews. (which is the wrong premise, as Israel HAS TO BE a bi-partisan issue despite what Trump or Bibi may say) Or that he’s better for the economy or he’ll lower your taxes (note: if you’re reading this, your taxes were likely raised in the takeaway of the SALT deduction). Maybe you worry about the leftward drift of the Democratic Party, the overly online Left, the (diminished) Squad, or the abhorrent campus protests and the even more despicable response by the universities, or have some warped sense of how “Woke” may be impacting your life. Maybe you discount all the things Flag Officers and senior White House officials have said about Trump by ascribing it to single-sourced “axe-to-grind” Trump haters. Maybe you really hate Kamala Harris, or maybe you don’t want a female president. It could be a combination of these things. Or perhaps you’re the kind of Trump voter that the New York Times columnist David French describes as an “old line Republican” who doesn’t believe anything Trump says and he’ll just cut taxes and be normal.
Let’s not dwell on the indisputable facts such as Trump being a serial liar, women-abusing, criminally indicted, allegiance-for-sale, race-baiting, military veteran-insulting twice-impeached, emolument-taking, xenophobic, blowhard, braggart, bigoted, tax-raising, 78-year-old wanna be-fascist, doddering, past-his-prime, enfeebled, buffoon. Or Trump’s moral, ethical, financial, economical, biological, social, legal, political and geopolitical failings. You’ve managed to justify away each of these in favor of Trump’s support for Israel. I used to call this the “but…but…but…Jared” mentality.
Some more facts we can agree on: Donald Trump’s administration did some important things for Israel while in office. Some were substantive (Abraham Accords), others were long-overdue (moving the Embassy to Jerusalem), and others were largely symbolic (recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel). Trump also should be applauded for assassinating Qasem Soleimani, the world is safer without Soleimani.
But as investment advisors are legally obligated to state: past performance is not indicative of future results. This is particularly due to staffing, Trump had his “globalists,” like Jason Greenblatt, David Friedman, Gary Cohn and yes, Jared Kushner as his leading voices on Israel, he also had “neo-cons” like Mike Pence, Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, Rex Tillerson, retired flag officers like John Kelly, H.R. McMaster, and Jim Mattis. He’ll have none of them should he reach the Oval Office again. He’ll have the K-squad, made up of MAGA-aligned goons with no allegiance to the international order or Israel.
Trump’s transactional nature poses a problem that even the Israelis recognize. Trump is for sale. Always has been and always will. Look how he tossed aside the Pro-life part of his base , you think tossing aside Israel will be any different? Putin, Xi, Kim Jung Un, the “Axis of Chaos” autocrats Trump has developed strange relationships with know this and it will be even worse in a second term without adults around him. It’s worth noting all three of these leaders lead the only countries keeping the Iranian economy and nuclear programs going. Trump’s unpredictability, which he views as an asset (as he also told the Wall Street Journal “I wouldn’t have to, because he [Chinese President Xi] respects me and he knows I’m f— crazy.”) does little to ensure his past actions towards Israel can be viewed as predictive of future results.