The Blogs: “MAGA Caps and Yarmulkas the Jewish Political Stockholm Syndrome”

What is the cost of voting blue when red has our back?

The real shock of the presidential election was that the Jews are the only minority group in the country that barely shifted demographically to the red column during this election, we remained steadfast in our commitment to a party that has long abandoned us.

While other minorities have awoken from their hypnotic stupor and have finally noticed the emperor’s lack of wardrobe, the Jewish constituency continues to be hopelessly enthralled by a movement that neither respects our values nor shares our ideals. Jew hate on campuses has been nationalized and the only thing more dangerous than wearing a MAGA cap on the street is wearing a Yarmulka, so why are we such loyal sycophants in a clearly unrequited and toxic relationship. How many times can we vote against our own survival before we realize we are the administers of our own pain?

The Biden-Harris administration were never our friends and barely paid lip service to our genuine concerns for our safety and our future. They empowered our nemesis Iran both financially and by our perceived weakness. This had a direct causation to October 7th and the ensuing period during which tens of thousands of rockets stamped with “Made in Iran” have been fired at Israel either directly or via its proxies.

Under constant threat from this administration to show restraint and agree to a ceasefire, Israel has been forced to defend itself with one hand firmly tied behind its back. Our inability to bring all our hostages home is a direct result of our administration induced handicap at the negotiating table. Red Lines, threats of critical weapon supply deprivation, calls for unconditional ceasefires, disparaging the democratically elected leader of Israel, “take the win” and the list goes on. With friends like this, who needs enemies? Why did 80% of us waste our vote and risk another four years of an administration that lined the pockets of the Iranian regime?

The contrast with the Trump years could not be starker. Regardless of your personal feelings about President Trump, this election was a binary decision when it comes to the best interest of the Jewish people both here and abroad. In an NBC exit poll, 67% of people who felt that U.S. support for Israel was too strong, voted Democrat, 82% of those who felt it was not strong enough voted Republican, and yet we still overwhelmingly, at close to 80% voted Democrat. What kind of political Stockholm Syndrome has caused us to abandon our dignity and self-respect?

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President Trump has proven himself not just in office but for decades prior as a devoted friend of the Jews and Israel. Throughout his entire career, he has always and consistently been an outstanding champion for Jewish causes and has done so with respect and passion. We have never had a better friend in the White House, someone who supported our real interests on both an existential and spiritual level.

The Abraham Accords was and remains, the greatest achievement for peace in the region ever, and unlike the purely functional peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, the Abraham Accords is an actual peace between governments, and more importantly, their citizens.

This is not a new phenomenon, our grandparents loved and voted for Roosevelt, who dragged his feet getting into the war and point blank refused to raise the quota of Jewish immigrants despite their threatened annihilation. On a personal level, I confess in my youthful ignorance to having voted for Jimmy Carter in a pre-school election. In my defense, I confused him with the character from the popular sitcom at the time “Welcome Back, Kotter” and Kotter was Jewish (Gabe Kaplan), so I was in fact voting for what I perceived to be our best communal interests.

The battle against anti semitism is a Sisyphean struggle as logic will always struggle to prevail in this arena. As the great Jew Billy Joel famously said, “You should never argue with a crazy mind, you ought to know by now.” Where we can make a difference though, is in the political landscape and my primary area of concern therefore, is more focused on the struggle internally than on the cacophony of imbecility externally.

I get that as a dynamic and diverse nation, we will never agree on everything, but what I do not get is our propensity for self harm. Jewish progressives are the useful idiots of a movement that has repeatedly turned on them as soon as it was politically expedient. Like puppies, we yearn for approval from a liberal society that reduces us to obsequious and fawning spaniels anxious for a pat on the head and a scratch behind the ears.

Our politicians will express solidarity with us during campaign season, then spend the rest of their terms held hostage to the most progressive ideological political factions. Our social justice warriors are so distracted by their own moral purity and virtue signaling, that they are ready to abandon our actual safety and survival on the altar of political correctness. Meanwhile Trump is praying at the “Ohel” and bouncing his Jewish grandkids on his knee. Yet, we insist on vilifying those that come to our defense and lionize those who conspire against us.

Which is the crux of the Jewish paradox, why do we allow this to continue? Why are we not calling out this obvious hypocrisy and ostracizing these pariahs from our communities and from our ballot boxes? At what point will we recognize that no matter how far left we lean, no matter how many marches we join in solidarity, no matter how many rainbow and Ukrainian flags we wave, we will never, ever reach the nirvana of a society free from Jew hate. If we are waiting for the intersectionality crowd to come to our rescue, this is hopelessly delusional.

I empathize with the anxiety of the ancient prophets berating deaf ears about their incessant genuflection before a secular deity that will never love you back and only anger the one and true God. If we learn anything from history and from October 7th in particular, it must serve as a wake-up call to love ourselves a little more. We cannot rely on others to have our back, and we can no longer afford to be quite so philanthropic with our voice and vote. Before we sojourn on an idealistic “Tikun Olam” quest, let us start with “Tikun Bayit” and get our own house in order.

As another great Jew Mel Brooks once said, “Hope for the best Expect the Worst.” I, for one, embrace the promise of the next four years with President Trump at the helm. We can dream again of a real peace, hope for a better tomorrow and maybe, just maybe, a restored sense of Jewish American pride where we can finally use our democratic voice to protect our own best interests.