Author Archives: First.One.Through

J Street Shows its Disdain for Israel in Criticism of Pompeo

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US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo broke with traditional norms by addressing the Republican National Convention this week. Various media outlets covered the controversy of a sitting Secretary of State speaking at a political convention when historic practice is that such position is beyond party politics. Consider the headlines:

  • NYTimes: “Radical Break From Tradition: Trump Stages Part of His Convention From the White House”
  • ABCNews: “Pompeo defies his own policy by praising Trump in unprecedented convention speech”
  • Vox: “Mike Pompeo’s RNC speech will place him as the most partisan secretary of state in decades”
  • NBCNews: “Diplomats aghast as Pompeo set to address GOP convention from Jerusalem”
  • Washington Post: “Pompeo stirs up outrage among some diplomats over speech to RNC”

The press was appalled that Pompeo would take a public stance in favor of one political party while he was still actively serving as Secretary of State.

But J Street, a left-wing Pro-Palestinian organization which uses the fig leaf of a missing foreskin to claim it is “Pro-Israel,” was angry at Pompeo for showcasing the various actions the Trump administration took which benefited Israel.

On August 24, J Street posted an attack called “POMPEO’S JERUSALEM RNC SPEECH SHAMELESSLY USES ISRAEL AS A PARTISAN PROP.” Rather than simply focusing on the atypical speech at a convention, J Street said

“The Trump administration continues to break new ground in their shameless efforts to use the state of Israel as a political prop and a partisan football.“

Even the left-wing media didn’t attack Pompeo for speaking from Jerusalem; they simply noted that he should not have been speaking at the convention at all, whether from Washington or Paris. The media was angry at the usage of the OFFICE of the Secretary, not the location from which he spoke.

But J Street knows that there is no better contrast in foreign policy between the Democrats and Republicans than on the subject of the Middle East.

During the Obama administration, J Street aggressively pushed to give Iran a legal pathway to nuclear weapons and to pass a resolution at the United Nations marking Jews living east of the Green Line as illegal. During Trump’s tenure, it lobbied against recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s undivided capital, moving the US embassy to the city and from withholding financial assistance to the Palestinian Authority while it continues to pay for terrorism.

In lambasting the location of Pompeo’s speech and highlighting Israel, J Street tacitly admits that the policies for which it advocates are ANTI-Israel and the promotion of its agenda into the Democratic Party is the essence of turning Israel into a “partisan football.”

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo speaking at the Republican National Convention from Jerusalem, Israel

Related First One Through articles:

J Street: Home for Pro-Palestinian, Pro-Peace Americans

J Street is Only Considered “Pro-Israel” in Progressive Circles

The Evil Architects at J Street Take a Bow

J Street is a Partisan Left-Wing Group, NOT an Alternative to AIPAC

J Street’s Select Appreciation of Transparency

WHY The Progressive Assault on Israel

The Tikkun Olam Brigade and the Taped Banana

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CNN Eliminates Jews in Martin Luther King’s Final Speech

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On April 3, 1968, Rev Martin Luther King Jr, delivered his final speech. It is considered one of the greatest speeches of the 20th century.

And CNN edited it.

Just after the one minute mark of his speech in the third paragraph, King set the stage to compare the journey of African Americans from a life of racism to one of liberty, much as the biblical Jews left slavery in Egypt to their promised land. It served as a foreshadow to the end of the speech in which King compared himself to the Jewish prophet Moses who went “up to the mountaintop” to look over to the “promised land” in which he could not enter, even as the Children of Israel succeeded in their trek.

The actual words King said were:

“Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, “Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?” I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God’s children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn’t stop there.”

But CNN removed the words in red above “and I would watch God’s children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt” which described the Jews as “God’s children” who left slavery towards their promised land in Israel. Instead, the CNN text reads like a general travelogue, stripped of any significance. The promised land is sanitized of its Jewish essence, and applicable to any and all.

CNN edited one of the greatest speeches in modern history which continues to be read to this day, and removed the plight of the Jews and their three thousand year old-Zionism, presumably to make a political point. And a very noxious one at that.

Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

Related First One Through articles:

For CNN, The Critical Israeli Facts Have No Murdered Jews

CNN’s Politicization of Antisemitic Murder

Martin Luther King and Zionism

CNN Makes Clear the Attackers and Victims in Gaza-Israel Fight

CNN’s Embrace of Hamas

CNN Changes Its Black Transgender Story to Target Police

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NY Times Hails the Heroes of Hamas

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On August 8, 2020, The New York Times wrote an article praising Hamas for its actions regarding the pandemic while also warning about the destructive actions of Israel.

New York Times article praising Hamas

The article “Covid-19 Spares Gaza, but Travel Restrictions Prove Less Forgiving” noted that

“the blockaded Gaza Strip might be one of the only places in the world where no cases of community transmission of the coronavirus have been recorded – an achievement attributed to the coastal enclave’s isolation as well as the swift measures taken by its militant Hamas rulers…. In March, fearing the potentially disastrous consequences of an outbreak in Gaza, Hamas authorities ordered all travelers returning to the territory from by way of Israel and Egypt to enter quarantine facilities for three weeks. They could not leave quarantine until they had passed two virus tests. The system seemed to have succeeded… Hamas initially instituted other restrictions in Gaza. But it later lifted many of them, enabling residents to follow significant parts of their daily routines. They have been flocking to the beaches, working out in gyms, eating at restaurants, praying at mosques and shopping in markets, among other activities.“

Hamas is highlighted as one of the greatest governing bodies in the world, sparing the Gaza community any deaths while allowing people to enjoy activities that are forbidden in much of the world including going to gyms  and churches. There is no mention that the group is a designated terrorist organization with a founding charter which is the most antisemitic in the world both calling Jews disgusting names and for a jihad to kill them and destroy the Jewish State. The Times never calls Hamas a terrorist group and has now taken the incremental step of praising its leadership.

The Times wasn’t quite through sharing its twisted narrative as it needed to condemn Israel.

The media outlet posted a blow-out clause about the evil occupying forces:

“A fear that Israel is ‘tightening its closure’ on the territory.“

The article also included three pictures, of which the largest two were of women and children. The caption described how the woman was unable to visit her ailing father – because of Israel. The third picture was of a man who wanted to move to Europe because “poverty is rampant,” presumably, also because of Israel, not Hamas’s funneling of resources towards killing Jews.

This is the prevailing theme surrounding the Times’ coverage of the pandemic in Israel, Israeli territories and the Palestinian territories.

On April 9 the Times wrote how “[Palestinian Prime Minister] Shtayyeh’s administration earned broad approval for its aggressive response to an early outbreak,” even “as extremist Jewish settlers take advantage of the West Bank emergency by assaulting farmers, damaging property and trespassing or squatting on Palestinian land.” For the Times, Palestinians are noted for good governance while Israelis are terrible right-wing violent racists.

The Times does not tell its readers that the death rate in Jordan from the pandemic stands at only 1 person per million, even better than their cousins in the Palestinian territories which are at 19 per million, roughly the same as Israeli Arabs. The Times will not posit that the reason could be from their common culture or DNA rather than actions of the leadership and circumstances.

For the New York Times, autocrats fail the tests of handling the coronavirus while noble governments led by Socialists and women – and the Palestinians – fair well. For the liberal rag, Hamas and the Palestinian Authority are “resistance movements”, not authoritarian racist regimes, welcomed into the community of the woke.

Related First One Through articles:

Where the Virus is Killing the Most: Countries with Socialist Leaders

Toronto Star Sanitizes Hamas During Pandemic

Liberal Senators Look to Funnel Money into Gaza

The Proud Fathers of Palestinian Terrorists

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The Cultural Appropriation of the Jewish ‘Promised Land’

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Various segments of western society have become critical about “cultural appropriation” in which the majority group adopts customs of another group without explicitly acknowledging its origins, as to do so would be both stealing and effectively wiping out the essence of the minority culture. The issue is even more concerning when the majority group’s acts of appropriation specifically target religious and holy items of minority groups.

There is no greater example of this trend than the broad theft of the Jewish “Promised Land.”

In Genesis 12, God tells Abraham to leave his home “to the land that I will show you.” When he passed through Shechem (Nablus) God said “I will assign this land to your offspring.” It is a speech which God would repeat throughout the Bible to Abraham, Isaac, Jacob (Israel) and the Children of Israel, that this specific land was promised “as an everlasting possession.” (Genesis 17:8) It is a core belief of Judaism.

Over time, non-Jewish musicians and poets would use the phrase “Promised Land” as a generic destination without noting its specific identity to the land of Israel for Jews. Chuck Berry sang about it (later covered by Elvis) in reference to California as a destination for his music to reach the masses. Bruce Springsteen sang about the “promised land” as a place of yearning, a mental and spiritual destination beyond current problems.

When Arab invaders brought Islam into Israel in the seventh and eighth centuries, they seized Jewish holy sites like the Tomb of the Jewish Matriarchs and Patriarchs in Hebron and turned it into a mosque. They built the Dome of the Rock atop the Jewish Temple Mount. The Muslims even adopted the notion of a “waqf” as a religious holy space. As opposed to Jews who viewed the land of Israel as holy because it was promised to them by God, Muslims believe that anywhere Muslims conquered and established the supremacy of Islam became a Muslim holy land. As such, Muslims attempted to erase the physical Jewish Promised Land as a land of their own.

Politicians mostly avoid using the term “Promised Land.” They might note that Israel is a “Holy Land” which is “sacred to Jews and Christians and Muslims” as President Obama noted in a national prayer breakfast in 2014, stripping the uniqueness of the Promised Land for Jews. When Obama did use the term “Promised Land” it was as a metaphor for when Black children will have full equality to live in an America devoid of bigotry and racism.

The worst and most feared element of cultural appropriation happens constantly in regards to the “Promised Land,” in which it is either used generically as a metaphor without any connection to Jews, or when applied to the physical land of Israel, it is noted as holy to the three monotheistic faiths and not uniquely promised to the Children of Israel.

We should aspire to follow the example of Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. whose final speech in 1968 pulled together the story of the Jewish Promised Land in connection with his desire for a more perfect society:

“Something is happening in Memphis; something is happening in our world. And you know, if I were standing at the beginning of time, with the possibility of taking a kind of general and panoramic view of the whole of human history up to now, and the Almighty said to me, “Martin Luther King, which age would you like to live in?” I would take my mental flight by Egypt and I would watch God’s children in their magnificent trek from the dark dungeons of Egypt through, or rather across the Red Sea, through the wilderness on toward the promised land. And in spite of its magnificence, I wouldn’t stop there…

Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people, will get to the promised land!“

The “promised land” is commonly used as a metaphor for a perfect society. Let’s strive for that perfection by acknowledging that its foundation is the Jewish State of Israel.

Related First One Through articles:

Martin Luther King and Zionism

The Cave of the Jewish Matriarch and Arab Cultural Appropriation

Linda Sarsour as Pontius Pilate

The Remarkable Tel Jerusalem

The Jewish Holy Land

Jews, Judaism and Israel

The Nation of Israel Prevails

“Flowing with Milk and Honey”

Today’s Inverted Chanukah: The Holiday of Rights in Jerusalem and Judea and Samaria

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Hamas Charter, Article 33

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Article 33 of the Hamas Charter is a call for global jihad against the Jewish State.

Article Thirty-Three:

The Islamic Resistance Movement, being based on the common coordinated and interdependent conceptions of the laws of the universe, and flowing in the stream of destiny in confronting and fighting the enemies in defence of the Moslems and Islamic civilization and sacred sites, the first among which is the Aqsa Mosque, urges the Arab and Islamic peoples, their governments, popular and official groupings, to fear Allah where their view of the Islamic Resistance Movement and their dealings with it are concerned. They should back and support it, as Allah wants them to, extending to it more and more funds till Allah’s purpose is achieved when ranks will close up, fighters join other fighters and masses everywhere in the Islamic world will come forward in response to the call of duty while loudly proclaiming: Hail to Jihad. Their cry will reach the heavens and will go on being resounded until liberation is achieved, the invaders vanquished and Allah’s victory comes about.

“And Allah will certainly assist him who shall be on his side: for Allah is strong and mighty.” (The Pilgrimage – verse 40).

Hamas truly believes it is acting at the direction of Allah and that all Muslims around the world are duty-bound to supply “more and more funds” and other support “while loudly proclaiming ‘Hail to Jihad’” until “Allah’s purpose is achieved,” defined as being when “liberation is achieved [and] the invaders [are] vanquished.” For Hamas, defeating Jews is an Islamic religious calling and therefore not subject to compromise nor question.

And the Palestinian Arabs elected Hamas to 58% of the parliament with this charter, the United Nations pushes for Hamas to be part of a unity government, and the media talks of “Islamic resistance” as a peaceful and natural endeavor.

Related First One Through articles:

“Mainstream” and Abbas’ Jihad

Pick Your Jihad; Choose Your Infidel

The Palestinians aren’t “Resorting to Violence”; They are Murdering and Waging War

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NY Times Ignores Centrality of the Jewish Temple Mount

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On July 31, 2020, the New York Times wrote a moving piece about the annual pilgrimage of Muslims to Mecca in Saudi Arabia for the hajj. It described how the coronavirus limited the number of people who could attend the hajj this year and the various steps which the kingdom undertook to try to protect the health of the smaller gathering to Islam’s holiest location.

I looked to see if the Times covered the solemn day of the Ninth of Av (July 30, 2020), when Jews traveled to Jerusalem, the Western Wall and the Jewish Temple Mount to mourn the destruction of the first and second temples. While Jewish media outlets like the Jerusalem Post and Times of Israel wrote about it, the Times ignored the story.

The Times did write a 1,300-word article about the Temple Mount on May 15, 2020 when it described how Muslims could not visit the site for Ramadan because of the pandemic. It seemed that Islam’s third holiest site which has no specific connection to Ramadan was an important focus for the liberal paper even as it ignored writing about the pandemic’s impact on Jews visiting their holiest site on Jewish holidays.

I looked back further to see if the Times covered any of the three Jewish holidays which call upon Jews to visit Jerusalem and the Temple Mount: Shavuot (celebrated May 28-30, 2020), Passover (celebrated April 8-19 this year) and Sukkot (which will be celebrated October 2-9, 2020). It did.

On March 30 it published an article “For Shut-In Pilgrims, the World’s Holiest Sites Are a Click Away,” which covered Jerusalem, Mecca and Rome. While Mecca was devoted to Muslims and Rome to Christians, the Times described Jerusalem from the vantage point of “Passover, Easter and Ramadan — touchstone holidays of three major religions.” Not only was Judaism not worthy of a unique article as was Islam (twice, in May and July), but when an article was written, the other monotheistic faiths were also covered, AND when Judaism’s holiest city was mentioned, it was noted as holy to other faiths as well.

Christianity and Islam pushed their religions globally for over one thousand years, converting and killing non-believers. Their numbers now count in the billions and their faithful are spread around the globe, while the Jewish population was decimated with only about 15 million people today, of which 84% live in Israel and the United States. Arguably the paltry sum of Jews makes them barely worth mentioning to global papers.

But it’s the deliberate denial of Jewish Jerusalem that irks me.

The July 31 NY Times article explained to its readers that “the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, is required for all Muslims who are physically and financially able to go at least once in their lifetimes.” ONCE IN THEIR LIFETIMES. Why only once? Because there are 1.8 billion Muslims living all over the world. After pushing the religion around the globe it is impossible for so many people to come to Islam’s holiest city every year.

In contrast, Judaism calls on all Jews to visit Jerusalem and the Temple Mount THREE TIMES EVERY YEAR. It calls on Jews to do this because the religion was not orchestrated to spread to the corners of the world with forced conversions on the masses, inflating the numbers of adherents. Judaism was designed as a local religion for a small nation, in the Jewish holy land with its holy city in the center.

I appreciate the beautiful article The New York Times wrote about Mecca and Islam. I wonder if it will ever write with such sensitivity about the Jews, Jerusalem and the Jewish Temple Mount.

Related First One Through articles:

It is Time to Insert “Jewish” into the Names of the Holy Sites

There is No Jewish Temple Mount for The New York Times

The New York Times All Out Assault on Jewish Jerusalem

It’s the Temple Mount, Not the Western Wall

Names and Narrative: CNN’s Temple Mount/ Al Aqsa Complex Inversion

Tolerance at the Temple Mount

The Green Line Through Jerusalem

Antisemitism Includes the Denial of Jewish History

The Nerve of ‘Judaizing’ Neighborhoods

Palestineism is Toxic Racism

I Understand Why the Caged Jew Sighs

The Remarkable Tel Jerusalem

The Cave of the Jewish Matriarch and Arab Cultural Appropriation

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Only Jews Pray at the Flying Buttresses of Notre Dame

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The Cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris, France is notable for its beauty in many respects including the remarkable stained glass windows and the flying buttresses which support the large structure. In April 2019, a fire destroyed the roof and much of the furniture, but the core elements of the building remained intact. Still, prayer services have been cancelled until repairs can be made.

Despite the centrality of this important church, church-goers made arrangements to pray elsewhere. The other houses of worship may not be ideal yet they serve the same basic function of prayer. The devout French do not line up for services outside the charred remains while waiting the day they can enter.

Only Jews do that.

The Jewish Temple which stood in the center of the Temple Mount was destroyed on the ninth day of the Hebrew month of Av nearly 2,000 years ago. Still, Jews would ascend the mount to pray, as the very land was holy even without the Temple being present.

Around 1550, Ottoman leader Suleiman I made various structural improvements to the city of Jerusalem, including rebuilding the exterior city walls. While he made improvements to the Temple Mount which by then held the Al Aqsa Mosque and the Dome of the Rock, he pushed the Jews off of the Mount and set aside the supporting western wall of the Temple Mount as a designated area for the Jews to pray.

Jews have been praying at this retaining wall of the Temple Mount ever sense.

On this ninth day of Av, let us not forget that the Western Wall is simply a talisman, an object to rub to bring us luck, while the holiest spot for Jews remains only meters away but off-limits to Jewish prayer according to current laws. In a world afire with quests for social and racial justice, it is well past time to fight for religious justice for Jews to ascend and openly pray at their holiest location.

No Parisian would ever imagine praying at Notre Dame’s flying buttresses, and Jews must climb above the consolation wall to re-establish their basic human rights. #JewishTempleMountPrayers

The Old City of Jerusalem including the Jewish Temple Mount/ Al Aqsa Compound

Related First One Through articles:

Calls From the Ashes

Losing the Temples, Knowledge and Caring

The Cave of the Jewish Matriarch and Arab Cultural Appropriation

The Dark Side of Jerusalem Day: Magnifying the Kotel and Minimizing the Temple Mount

Visitor Rights on the Temple Mount

Tolerance at the Temple Mount

The Green Line Through Jerusalem

The United Nations and Holy Sites in the Holy Land

Joint Prayer: The Cave of the Patriarchs and the Temple Mount

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The Jewish State Handles the Muslim Jurassic Jerks

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The New York Times’ Maureen Dowd penned a piece called “Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handles the Jurassic jerks,” which described how the youngest female member of Congress handled being dehumanized by a Republican male member of Congress who called her a “bitch.” Dowd complimented AOC on her performance as standing above the hate and excelling at what she does, “strutting to the rap tune Boss Bitch by Doja Cat, her long hair whipping to the music, with the Capitol in the background. ‘I’m a bitch and a boss, I’m a-shine like gloss.’ She captioned it: ‘Shine on, fight for others, and let the haters stay mad.’” Dowd noted that such approach was the best way to “make Paleolithic men understand that they are history.”

At the same time that this liberal was noting how Republican misogyny was a pathway to oblivion, Islamic leaders continued their practice of dehumanizing Jews.

Heshmat Khalifa, a trustee and director of Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW), resigned from his position after posts on his Facebook page were revealed in which he called Jews the “grandchildren of monkeys and pigs.” This is a common refrain among imams around the world.

Official Palestinian Authority TV posts videos of clerics and young girls making the identical slurs repeatedly. Politicians in both Fatah and Hamas continuously dehumanize Jews with this curse. The most antisemitic people in the world cannot fathom Jews having any rights to even live in their Jewish homeland, as they are not even human beings.

“Poet” on Palestinian TV calling for the murder of Jews

But decent people all over the world recognize the incredible contribution of Jews and the Jewish State. Jews account for roughly 20% of Noble prizes even as the make up only 0.2% of the global population. The only Jewish state is a shining example of democracy, innovation and tolerance in the midst of a region that still practices honor killings, executes minors and hangs gays from cranes.

Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote about her experience growing up as a Muslim listening to vile antisemitic comments in The New York Times in 2013. She wrote about it again in the Wall Street Journal in 2019 after Muslim Congresswoman Ilhan Omar went on an antisemitic tirade. It was clear that Ilhan Omar was no victim but emblematic of the disgusting mindset that festers in radical Muslims.

Many people are calling for women and oppressed minorities to strut their stuff and declare they are the new “boss” while they laugh at misogynistic “Paleolithic men” becoming extinct. It is well past time for people to call upon Jews to stand tall and laugh at Islamic radicals who seek to deny Jews’ basic humanity and human rights to live and pray in their holy land while these Muslim Jurassic Jerks disappear into the dustbin of history.

Related First One Through articles:

Israel Stands Out Regarding Equality for Women

Murderous Governments of the Middle East

Progressives Judge Past American Actions and Ignore Today’s Foreign Culture

What do you Recognize in the Palestinians?

Palestinian Actions Matter

The New Salman Abedi High School for Boys in England and the Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel Soccer Tournament in France

Palestinians are “Desperate” for…

The Cancer in the Arab-Israeli Conflict

Related First.One.Through videos:

The 2011 Massacre of the Fogels (Gorecki)

The 2002 Massacres of Netanya and Jenin (Gorecki)

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Naked Democracy 2

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The 2016 U.S. presidential election was a bizarre and emotionally-charged affair. Not only did two highly disliked politicians face each other but the Republican and Democratic parties used very different paths to electing their ultimate candidate. That history set the course for the subsequent elections which we are seeing played out in 2020.

The Republican establishment and media scorned Donald Trump. Not only did he spend most of his life as a Democrat and outside of politics, but his personality and temperament accosted the party’s sensibilities. Sen. Ted Cruz called Trump a “pathological liar,” Sen. Marco Rubio said he was a “con artist” and Sen. Lindsay Graham said Trump hasn’t “displayed the judgment and temperament to serve as Commander in Chief.” 

The list went on and on.

The media acted much the same with conservative publications refusing to endorse Trump during the primaries, hoping someone would save the election and the Republican party.

Cover of the Conservative Magazine National Review

Republicans ignored their leaders and nominated someone from the outside of their party and politics who ultimately secured both the nomination and the presidency.

Democrats came close to electing an outsider as well.

The incredible run of Sen. Bernie Sanders to almost win the Democratic nomination mirrored the rise of Donald Trump in the Republican primaries. The Vermont Independent rarely caucused with Democrats during his time in the Senate and had virtually no impact on passing legislation over his entire tenure. However, he attracted the attention of the far-left public who rallied to his cause and nearly secured his position at the top of the ticket. He did so without the help of the Democratic machine and press which heavily favored Hillary Clinton.

The long-time political insider’s loss to a brash novice like Trump was too much for the left-wing to bear and they decided to remake the Democratic Party much the way Trump  had done to the GOP.

A new far left-wing group called the Justice Democrats formed and took aim at moderate Democrats in primaries in an effort to shift the party far to the left. It secured victories in 2018 with Democratic-Socialists like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib getting into congress. In 2020, they succeeded again with wins including Jamaal Bowman defeating long-time Democratic congressman Eliot Engel as well as other victories.

By all accounts, the insurgents would never have found a home inside the established Democratic Party in the past, and would have run on the Green Party or Working Family Party tickets. But the treatment of Sanders in 2016 and ultimate defeat of Hillary Clinton made them take up arms against the Democratic machine and are now effectively reshaping the party in their extremist image. The establishment is cow-towing to the fringe with its leaders saying that AOC is the “future of the party” and backing Ilhan Omar’s reelection.

Meanwhile the Republicans are not so sure that winning is everything and are contemplating their current situation of letting their party get hijacked by an outsider.

Many Republicans in the media and politics initially chose to look away from Trump’s statements in 2016 and back the new president in the hope of influencing Trump’s policies and securing gains for their constituents. But four years later many cannot look away from Trump’s acerbic personality. Sen. Mitt Romney and former-Secretary of State Collin Powell have said they will not support Trump’s re-election and former Ohio Republican governor and congressman John Kasich has accepted an invitation to speak at the Democratic National Convention against Trump.

In a curious situation, the loser is seeking to emulate the winner while the winner is debating the cost of the win.

A two-party democracy works best when the choice before voters is center-right versus center-left. Should society seek to have a voice for radicals, a parliamentary system would be most efficient in which those sentiments would be heard, but in whispers at the edges. But America is moving in a dangerous direction with its two-party system tacking to the fringes, destroying moderate politicians and the mainstream media which has pivoted in kind.

Related First One Through articles:

The U.S. is Stealing Real Choices from the Voters

Libertarian Validation and Absolution

I Love 5-to-4

In The Margins

“Coastal Liberal Latte-sipping Politically-correct Out-of-touch Folks.”

Liberal’s Protest Bubble Harms Democracy

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The Mason-Dixon Plaid

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The Mason-Dixon Line was known as the demarcation between the northern states and the southern states in the US Civil War. The line clearly separated those states in which slavery was prohibited (the Union north of the line) and the slave states (the Confederacy south of the line).

The Civil War waged from 1861 to 1865 and was the bloodiest war in American history with 618,000 killed, more than all other U.S. wars combined (WWII and WWI had 405,000 and 116,000 fatalities, respectively). The death total was roughly 2 per cent of the country, equivalent to over 6 million people today. It is remarkable to think about the millions who fought to preserve (and counter) a preferred form of government, rather than let the country divide seamlessly.

It is difficult to imagine how the Civil War would have played out if the warring parties were not delineated by the neat Mason-Dixon line but a patchwork of alternating states. Would the war have ended faster and with fewer deaths if a few surrounding states ganged up on a common enemy in the middle? Or would the destruction have been far longer and worse for each side with alternating gains and losses on multiple fronts? Imagine if the dynamics were even narrower, with alternating cities and neighborhoods which pit neighbor against fellow neighbor.

A civil war between standing armies would be nearly impossible in such configuration. It would more likely resemble a series of micro-battles in which one square of the plaid pattern attacked another rectangle. A raging riot would break in part of one city and a pogrom in another. Lawlessness would prevail as police forces fragmented between the sides.

It is doubtful such war could conclude with long-term stability and peace. The tensions would likely come to the fore every so often, much like the hundred-year battle between the Arabs and Jews in Israel. Competing visions for a single land is unsustainable as simmering feuds between neighbors and clans never dissipate as people mourn for the loss of family, friends and illusion that the past can be recreated.

The United States is an increasingly polarized society. Radical leftists are taking over the Democratic Party while the Republican Party disembowels itself under President Trump. The alt-left and alt-right visions for America are radically different as the country that once touted itself as the home of the middle class has jettisoned the political moderates. While the deep blue is mostly on the coasts and deep red is predominantly in the middle of the country, the depth of colors offends every non-zealot in every corner.

At this same moment in time, the pandemic has introduced a mindset that one’s neighbors can literally kill them. The notion of “give me liberty (to not wear a mask) or give me death” is being shouted at the man on the street, not a monarch thousands of miles away. The stresses of financial and physical health against a backdrop demanding purity of thought at the risk of losing one’s job have pushed people to the edge.

The Mason-Dixon Plaid has crisscrossed the country amid a pandemic setting the stage for a long and brutal battle pitting neighbor against neighbor. It is being launched with ostracizations and evictions, boycotts and theft, and weapons are being drawn. This civil war will not end when the pandemic eases, but with a turn towards the center where neighbors can speak and listen to jointly compromise on a shared vision for the land.

Related First One Through articles:

A Country Divided

The Personalisation of War

Socialists Employ Arabs’ Four Step Battle Plan

I Love 5-to-4

Americans Welcome the Philosophy of ISIS

Mike Bloomberg, Where #NeverTrump Meets #NeverBernie

American Hate: The Right Targets Foreigners, The Left Targets Americans

Naked Democracy

Eyes Wide Shut

Magnifying the Margins, and the Rise of the Independents

Please Don’t Vote for a Democratic Socialist

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