Trump’s Capitulation to Iran: Saying ‘I Told You So’ Misses the Point
Many American Jews are reeling. President Trump is in the throes of a deal with Iran that allows Iran to continue its nuclear production while remaining a threat to the United States, Israel, and the world.
In response, a number of liberal Jews have rushed to social media with a familiar refrain: “I told you President Trump would turn on Israel the moment he thought supporting Israel would no longer serve his personal interests.”
That observation was never going to win a MacArthur genius grant. Self-interest is a hallmark of too many leaders of all political stripes. More importantly, it misses the point.
The real story is not confined to Donald Trump’s capitulation. The real story is that many American Jews are politically homeless with nowhere to go.
For decades, most American Jews felt secure. We may have voted overwhelmingly Democratic, but we generally believed both parties accepted the legitimacy of Jewish concerns. The parties agreed on basic principles: Antisemitism was wrong, Israel had a right to exist and defend itself, and Jews belonged fully in American public life.
That consensus has collapsed.
On the one hand, the anti-Israel radical left has taken over the Democratic Party. It is why I re-registered as an Independent last year after a lifetime as a Democratic activist. Too many Democrats dismiss Jewish concerns. Too many activists celebrate anti-Zionism as a moral virtue. Too many progressive spaces welcome Jews only if we check our Zionism at the door.
At the same time, the anti-Israel radical right is taking over the Republican Party. MAGA activists embrace an isolationism that would have Israel fend for itself and not fight the battles that have kept terrorism from traveling from the Middle East to America.
Sacrificing both America’s and Israel’s security for authoritarian ideology, the far-right attracts voices drawn to grievance, conspiracy, and strongman politics. We Jews know where those roads can lead because we have traveled them.
Where does that leave us?
Our vulnerability is laid bare by Zohran Mamdani, AOC, the DSA and Squad anti-Zionists. It is also laid bare by JD Vance, Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens and MAGA isolationists.
With Jews getting hit from both sides, hate crimes against us have skyrocketed. Jewish institutions spend unprecedented amounts on security. Synagogues hire armed guards. Parents think twice before allowing their children to wear Jewish symbols in public. Jewish students wonder whether classmates or professors will target them for harassment because of their Jewish identity or support for Israel.
Many of us Jews now shoulder an anxiety that never disappears.
We notice the security cameras.
We notice the police presence.
We notice the exits.
And we notice when people would rather tell us “I told you so” than help us to feel safe in America or uphold the security of Israel should we ever need a place of refuge. Israel is the one place on earth where Jews never have to ask permission to exist as Jews.
What exactly does “I told you so” accomplish?
Does it help a synagogue hiring another security guard?
Does it help a Jewish student facing harassment on campus?
Does it help a Jewish parent wondering what kind of country his or her child will inherit?
Self-congratulation is not enough.
We Jews need all Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, to address rising Antisemitism in both parties, not just the one to which they belong. Doesn’t it dawn on you? You have more influence in your own party than in the other.
We Jews need all Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, to acknowledge the correlation between anti-Zionism and Antisemitism, especially when hatred of Israel becomes the pretext for soaring hate crimes against Jews in America and globally.
We Jews need all Americans, Jews and non-Jews alike, to recognize that millions of Jews in America live in abject fear and need Israel more than ever as a safe haven, physically and emotionally.
Reach out to your Jewish friends who are hurting.
Listen more than you lecture.
Show more concern than certainty.
Support more than try to score points.
And remember that behind every political argument stand real people navigating a hostile world. If, God forbid, many of us Jews stand once again at the threshold of murder with nowhere else to go, remember this:
We told you so.
