On November 5, 2024, New York’s 15th Congressional District once again elected Ritchie Torres to serve in Congress. With broad support from the Latin, Black and Jewish communities in the area, the consensus candidate was a shoe-in.
In the weeks following the sweep of Republicans to the Executive Office, Senate and House, Torres attacked the far-left of the Democratic Party for foolishly advocating for non-common sense positions. He has taken particular aim at New York’s Governor Kathy Hochul, a fellow Democrat whom he seems intent on challenging in the Democratic primary of 2026.
On November 21, Torres said there was a “poverty of governance in New York” as well as a “leadership crisis.” The next day he called Hochul “the new Joe Biden” who is so clueless about “her vulnerabilities as a Democratic nominee,” that allowing the Democratic machine to prop her up will “give us a Republican Governor in 2026.”
Torres has not officially declared he will run for state Governor but his attacks on a fellow Democrat are not subtle. The following week he called Hochul a liar and hypocrite.
While Torres represents the poorest district in the United States, he has built strong relationships with many wealthier sponsors including Jews and pro-Israel advocates who appreciate his strong fight against antisemitism and supporters of Hamas. Torres should be able to stage a strong fight against Hochul, if he can build support around New York State.
The next question becomes who is best positioned to take his seat in Washington, D.C. should Torres move on to Albany. The likely contenders are former Congressmen Jamaal Bowman and Mondaire Jones.
Bowman has strong roots in the Bronx. He defeated Eliot Engel in the Democratic primary in 2020 and then rapidly lost hold of the district when new lines were drawn which replaced much of the Bronx with lower Westchester County. While Bowman lost in his 2024 Democratic primary, he faired well in Co-op City in the Bronx.
Jones has bounced around a few districts after his seat in Rockland and Westchester counties were redrawn. After a single term in 2020, he failed in his attempted run for office in lower Manhattan in 2022, and then again running in 2024 for the lower Hudson Valley in NY’s 17th district. He would need to build a new strong ground team to take on Bowman in his comfortable turf.
Or a newcomer could enter the race, perhaps someone Hispanic as the district is 53% Hispanic and 31% Black.
Will the Democratic Party rally to the disgraced Bowman who was censured for pulling a fire alarm, putting many lives at risk? For chanting to a crowd that there were no rapes of Jewish women by Palestinian Arabs on October 7, 2023, in a #DontBelieveJewish Women moment?
The Jewish community that invested so much in Torres and wants to see him succeed in his political aspirations will be outraged and appalled if Bowman comes back to Congress to represent them. It must therefore work with the Democratic power brokers, Mondaire Jones or another rising candidate from the Bronx immediately, to prevent the return of the toxic squad.
On November 21, 2024 the House of Representatives approved H.R. 9495 by a vote of 219-184 with 30 people not voting. The bill was called the “Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act” and principally involved relaxing laws about tax collection if people are “detained” like hostages in Gaza, as well as to terminate “the tax-exempt status of terrorist supporting organizations.”
J Street, the left-wing pro-Palestinian group marketed as Jewish and pro-Israel was “dismayed” at its passage. It had joined with 50 other progressive groups in a letter to members of Congress to oppose the bill on the grounds that “the bill threatens to politicize decisions.”
On July 13, 2010, J Street called for a “Treasury investigation into settlement charities.” It claimed that “tax-exempt organizations are working to undermine a two-state solution by deepening the occupation.”
The head of J Street, Jeremy Ben Ami, would not relent on this Holy Grail quest and tried to push the willing ears of President Barack Obama in his fight. On September 9, 2016, Ben Ami posted an urgent plea: “J Street Calls on Treasury Department to Review Tax Deductibility of Donations to Groups Entrenching Settlements.” It stated that the best way to advance its preferred public policy goals was to terminate tax exempt status for those with different agendas.
J Street called on its supporters and all who support a just Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement to urge the US Treasury to review the tax-deductibility status of contributions to groups working to entrench or expand Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank.
J Street September 9, 2016
The call to stifle free speech and expression was obvious to all. Eugene Kontorovich wrote in Tablet Magazine on October 6, 2016 that called J Street’s action “unprecedented and clearly unconstitutional” in attacking charities “pursuing goals at odds with the foreign policy of the President.”
Snapshot of article by Eugene Kontorovich in Tablet on October 6, 2016
Now that a Republican president is about to take office, progressive groups are suddenly worried about politicizing the tax-exempt status of charities, an effort they had inaugurated.
And that’s a red herring as it’s not what the bill states. It is not trying to rob charities of donations for having different opinions, the bill specifically is about supporting terrorism. As laid out, “the term ‘terrorist supporting organization’ means any organization which is designated by the Secretary [of Treasury] as having provided, during the 3-year period ending on the date of such designation, material support or resources (within the meaning of section 2339B of title 18, United States Code) to an organization described in paragraph (2) (determined after the application of this paragraph to such organization) in excess of a de minimis amount.”
J Street has long fought to strip the tax-exempt status of charities operating east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL), such as a charity which provides wheelchairs for the elderly in the Old City of Jerusalem. It is now crying foul as Congress passed an act to fight terrorism, because of the long list of Palestinian terrorist groups and even longer list of its supporters.
Berlin, Germany’s top cop, Barbara Slowik, issued a warning to Jews and gay people, “There are areas of the city, we need to be perfectly honest here, where I would advise people who wear a kippah or are openly gay to be more careful.” She added “There are certain neighborhoods where the majority of people of Arab origin live, who also have sympathies for terrorist groups.”
New York’s Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY) was outraged by the warning. He said “A healthy society tells its Jewish community: “We will keep you safe.” A sick society tells its Jewish community: “You should go in hiding.” Antisemitism is a sign of societal sickness.”
He is right. But the problem isn’t solely on Holocaust soil. It is a growing presence in the United States.
On May 21, 2021, President Biden’s Jewish Engagement Director Aaron Keyak posted on X “It pains me to say this, but if you fear for your life or physical safety take off your kippah and hide your magen david (Jewish star),” in response to growing antisemitic attacks coming from the jihadi-socialist alliance.
That was two and one half years before the October 7 Palestinian Arab massacre of Israelis and spike of jihadism in the United States.
Keyak lives and breathes the world of Democratic politics and interfaith relations. As profiled in his bio on the State Department site where he serves as Deputy Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism since November 2021, “Deputy Special Envoy Keyak is an experienced leader and interfaith coalition builder who has previously held senior roles advising members of Congress, the Obama Administration, and the Biden-Harris Administration transition team.”
People operating in the highest ranks of the U.S. government whose job is to combat antisemitism, liaise with the Jewish community and build interfaith relationships, told the Jewish community that they must hide. He tacitly gave permission for pogroms since law enforcement would do little or nothing.
It is a deep descent from George Washington’s letter to a synagogue in Rhode Island written in 1790 in which he wrote “For happily the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens, in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”
There is a moral rot in the left flank of the Democratic Party, which has demanded sanction to bigotry and assistance to the persecution of Jews. It is not only an abandonment of Jews but to the principles of America.
Joe Biden was elected by many in the hopes of healing the division in America but he laid bare the “societal sickness” of licensed antisemitism. It is no wonder that Jews voted for Donald Trump in 2024, in the greatest percentage for any Republican in 36 years.
After the clean sweep of the presidency, Senate and House by Republicans, Democratic politicians are trying to figure out why they lost. Mainstream Democrats like Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) thinks that the party needs to pivot to economic issues and away from social issues, emphasizing the need to “take power” from the powerful and hand it to the working class. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) thinks that there’s an “oligarchy” in the United States who steal everyone’s money and buy elections, so Democrats should focus on seizing and redistributing that wealth.
If those are the lessons learned, the Democrats will continue to lose, as they should.
Money in elections. The Democrats spent about one-third more than Republicans and lost big. The dollar spent per vote was about 50% more. The numbers show that it’s not about money in politics or the Democrats would have sailed away with victory.
America’s “oligarchy.” The richest people in the United States BUILT amazing companies and created millions of jobs and products that people love. The oligarchs in Russia just STOLE state assets. Sanders & Co. have a basic lack of understanding of economics which feeds a deep contempt for wealthy people. The distortion leads people like Sanders to the horrific conclusions and proposed policies that deny Americans property rights.
Americans feel “impotent”. Murphy’s claim that Americans feel that only a handful of people hold power is true about the omnipotent Democratic political machine: They decided to throw President Biden out of the running. They unilaterally decided that VP Kamala Harris was going to run as the party’s nominee without allowing everyday Americans the opportunity to vote for their nominee. Democratic politicians are the imperialist power players and people are waking up to that grotesque fact. Most do not want to pivot to the far-left like Justice Democrats who accuse the Democrats of imperialism, so they pivot right.
The Democrats should now appreciate that they should have never picked Harris for vice president four years ago. You don’t pick one of the most left-wing senators from the most radical left-wing state and assume that such person could win most of America. Knowing her baggage and role in the unpopular Biden administration, Harris’s attempt to pivot towards the middle came off as completely inauthentic, a non-starter for many voters.
Considering the above, the election takeaways for the public and the Democratic Party and possible plans for the future include:
The Democratic machine was tactically smart to lie to Americans about Biden’s health. Harris was never going to beat any Republican – as the November election showed – so the best chance of her becoming president was to prop up Biden until the middle of 2025 and then let him resign to hand the presidency to Harris. The question isn’t why the Democrats waited so long to admit to Biden’s health issues; there was no other option, as even $1.5 billion dollars highlighted. [Note that Pelosi and gang are very astute – it will be important to trace the monies spent on the Harris campaign to see if/how much was siphoned off to favorite causes and other Democratic politicians for future races.]
Pick presidential candidates from swing states. Democrats should stay away from California, Massachusetts and New York and run candidates from Pennsylvania, Georgia or Michigan. The electoral college is not just a game of arithmetic; the candidates should be broadly attractive for everyone, not niche extremists.
The far-left wing “Squad” of the Democratic party is a toxic anchor that shut be cut off. The Democratic Socialists of America held a vote in August 2023 to remain inside the Democratic party to pull the party leftward rather than break into its own party, stating “It is not advisable for us to form an independent political party with its own ballot line at this moment.” The stink of their socialist policies has washed over Democrats. The party should expel the toxic DSA politicians and candidates, including Rep.Rashida Tlaib (D-MI).
Stop the wealth transfer platform. No American will feel safe if the idea that their property can be seized by the government and handed over to someone the government prefers. Immigrants know the corrupt communism and socialism of property theft. They came to this country for a fair shot at capitalism to become wealthy. Don’t vilify billionaires as immoral, the way AOC says.
Decentralize and narrowly focus. Don’t push an issue like fracking or gender identity in sports onto the national stage. What may fly in Oregon may not in Texas, and making politicians delve into matters that are best handled locally will inevitably rub many people the wrong way. National campaigns should always lead with safety and the economy. Always, in every election.
Mainstream and extreme Democrats are so trapped in their political philosophies that they believe that the election loss was an issue of messaging. It was not. Americans have eyes and ears and did not appreciate the pig under the lipstick.
The critical issues of security and the economy were alight with global wars, rampant antisemitism, inflation, grab-and-go theft and the National Guard in the subways over the past four years. Keeping the socialist-jihadi fringe inside the party whose policies include destroying the economy and embracing genocidal terrorists will forever sink anyone in their orbit on a national level.
The image of the Democratic policies and priorities
Most importantly, Democrats need to stop pitting groups against each other – the powerful versus working class and Whites versus people of color – and then vilifying their foes as ‘Nazis’ and ‘deplorables.’ The only segment to move leftward towards those positions were those they targeted who dutifully ate their humble pie – educated White men – while the non-woke uneducated and minority groups watched the pandering as inherently racist, anti-religion and anti-Democratic.
Americans are abandoning the politics and universities of wokeism. It’s a good thing. Democrats will now decide whether to jettison it or continue to cleave to their intersectional and DEI ideology.
Jewish organizations once again rallied people to Washington, D.C. for a “Stand Together” event. The Jewish Federations of North America invited many groups to attend, a spectrum of religious leaders and those with diverse political views to assemble and stand with fellow Jews and the Jewish State of Israel, including Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) and Gov.Gretchen Whitmer (D-MI). The speakers included Blacks and native Americans, soldiers and children.
They had a variety of backgrounds and beliefs but were united in being pro-Israel and for fighting antisemitism.
But there were a number of left-wing radical groups which refused to join the unity event. J Street published a joint statement that a number of groups in its orbit including Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, New Israel Fund, New York Jewish Agenda, Partners for Progressive Israel and T’ruah had joined it in boycotting the event.
Joint statement by far left-wing groups to boycott an event in Washington DC which included a wide range of pro-Israel organizations
This cohort didn’t simply decide to quietly not show up for the event but banded together and issued a joint statement denouncing unity at moment when it is sorely needed. [Note that Ameinu and Americans for Peace Now merged in February 2024, although they are still listed separately by the Conference of Presidents.]
Instead, J Street took to the soapbox to demand the U.S. withhold weapons to Israel as the Jewish state engages in a multifront war. It slammed President-elect Donald Trump’s appointment of ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
And it is urging the U.S. Congress – and perhaps the Biden Administration at the United Nations – to use its remaining months in office to severely punish Israel. This same pro-Palestinian (marketed as “pro-Israel”) group has never once suggested harming the Stateless Arabs from Palestine (SAPs).
At the end of President Barack Obama’s term in 2016, J Street effectively lobbied the administration to allow UN Security Council Resolution 2334 to pass, making it illegal for Jews to live east of the 1949 Armistice Lines (E49AL), including in the Old City of Jerusalem. It publicly thanked Obama and disgraced Secretary of State John Kerry for their efforts to make Jerusalem Jew-free as a “moral” matter.
Full page J Street ad in The New York Times in January 2017 quoting Secretary of State John Kerry after the Obama administration allowed UN Security Council 2334 to pass, making it illegal for Jews to live in Jerusalem and the “West Bank.”
Many Jewish groups are assessing whether to allow radical groups that harm Israel and the Jewish people to remain in the same tent. These umbrella groups should make plain that if these groups lobby the U.S. administration to punish Israel in the lame duck session, they will be kicked out of the community, much like they removed themselves from Standing Together in Washington.
ACTION ITEM
Write the various umbrella groups to warn J Street, New Israel Fund and others that lobbying Congress to punish Israel will result in their exclusion and/or expulsion.
The metropolitan New York City area is home to the largest Jewish diaspora community in the world. For clarity, as most religions do not have a “diaspora”, it means that outside of the Jewish homeland of Israel, more Jews live in the greater NYC area than any location in the world.
Despite the size of the community, the last several years have seen the area’s Jews come under fire, both literally and figuratively.
In 2018, radical left-wing extremists started to win seats in Congress in response to the 2016 presidential election of Republican Donald Trump. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (AOC) was the first to win a seat in New York’s 14th Congressional District, followed two years later by Jamaal Bowman in New York’s 16th CD. The two woke New Yorkers pushed the outer limits of the Democratic Party, voting against measures like the Infrastructure Bill, and supplying security aid to Israel.
Rank-and-file antisemites followed their leaders. They shot up a synagogue in Pennsylvania in October 2018. Then another synagogue in California in April 2019, and a kosher supermarket in Jersey City (part of the NYC metropolitan area) in December 2019. By 2022 they were taking hostages in synagogues in Texas to free jihadi murderers in jail.
New York’s Woke members of Congress appreciated the cesspool of Jew hatred and coddled up to jihadists at New York City’s Columbia University who continue to celebrate the 2023 massacre of Jews in Israel, and raised money for the election campaign from Hamas supporters. Their incessant calls of “white supremacy”, “patriarchy”, “colonialism” and “imperialism” echoed the Columbia lies to distract from the toxic woke antisemitism embedded in the radical left and as a rallying cry for the socialist-jihadi campaign.
New York’s political class of radical leftists paraded reasons why Jews in school should not be given any police protection, including Rosie Mendez who claimed Jews discriminate against the gay community; Daniel Dromm who said Jews are robbing from public schools; Teamsters Local 237 which said taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to pay to protect Jewish students; and the American Federation of School Administrators which was appalled that taxpayer money should be spent in any manner on private schools (should the fire department not respond to a fire in a yeshiva?), amongst others.
On October 7, 2023, as the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust was unfolding in Israel, New York’s Jews lay vulnerable and unprepared for the assault from the socialist-jihadi alliance.
New Yorkers are fed up with being targeted because of who they are. Angry with not being given time nor space to grieve for 1,200 people brutally massacred. Incensed that rioters show up at synagogues and Jewish Day Schools to scream that Jews have no history, heritage or rights in Israel.
The tide may be turning.
On October 15, 2024, the United States and Canada labeled Samidoun a sham charity funneling money to Palestinian Arab terrorist groups. White Plains-based WESPAC, which also funds terrorist groups, has not yet been banned or lost its tax-exempt status, but that may hopefully change soon.
Bowman lost in the Democratic primary in the summer of 2024 to a moderate pro-Israel candidate. AOC’s popularity is seemingly fading, as she was not able to secure 70% of the general vote in November 2024, her lowest tally since entering Congress, and among the lowest for any Democrat in New York City.
Trump’s victory and the Republican takeover of the Senate (and maybe retaining control of the House) may portend a defunding of schools that either take money from state sponsors of terrorism like Qatar, or give antisemitism a free hand to harass, intimidate, discriminate and attack Jewish students, faculty and buildings.
Individuals are scoring victories too. In October 2024, Columbia University’s paper announced that alumni are shunning their alma mater. It is likely due to the school’s disgusting treatment of Jews.
Still, the Democratic Socialists of America – endorsers of Bowman, AOC and others in the socialist-jihadi alliance like Rep Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) – are still operating openly in New York, even as they call for violent attacks against Israeli civilians. Perhaps they will also come under prosecution as decent people and the government start to push back against the anti-Jewish vitriol.
Democratic Socialists of America label all Israelis as fair targets for violent attacks
The Battle of Vienna in 1683 turned back the Muslim Ottoman Empire’s quest for expansion and conquest in Christian Europe. The world we live in today is a byproduct of that battle.
History may one day consider what happened when the ‘Globalize the Intifada’ pogroms came for the world’s largest Jewish diaspora community. All of us have an opportunity to play a part in that battle.
On June 5, 1968, on the one year anniversary of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestinian Arab, shot and killed Senator Robert Kennedy while he was campaigning to be the president of the United States. Sirhan assassinated the American politician because of his support for Israel.
On October 7, 2023, on the fiftieth anniversary of the 1973 Yom Kippur Arab-Israeli War, the Iranian proxy of Hamas massacred 1,200 people in Israel and took over 250 people hostages. In the ensuing months, other Iranian proxies went to war with Israel including Hezbollah from Lebanon and the Houthis from Yemen, while the Islamic Republic of Iran attempted to assassinate former President Donald Trump as he campaigned to be the next president.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump is surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is helped off the stage at a campaign rally in Butler, Pa., Saturday, July 13, 2024. (photo: Gene J. Puskar / AP)
On February 1, 2024, the FBI filed a lawsuit against members of the US designated foreign terrorist group Hamas. The suit mentions Iran 79 times as a partner for Hamas’s October 7 massacre, as well as ongoing support for the group. Beyond that gruesome day, the suit alleges that Hamas and Iran “knowingly and intentionally combined, conspired, confederated, and agreed together and with each other to kill nationals of the United States.“
The Iranian proxies are public with their threats on the U.S. On October 28, 2023, one of Hamas’s leaders broadcast “The U.S. Administration and the Western countries supporting the aggression are full partners with the occupation in the genocidal war and the cascade of blood that flows from defenseless civilians.This blood will be a curse and a volcano of fury from the masses of our Ummah [i.e., the Muslim community] and the free people of the world against these killers.” An October 18 broadcast from Hamas had a similar message that Hamas is “stating loud and clear that the American administration and the Western countries that support the aggression are full partner countries along with the occupation forces in this annihilation war.” On December 2, 2023, a Hamas official said on Hamas media that “[t]here is not a single crime that the U.S. has not committed against Gaza. May Allah settle the score with America, and may He take revenge on that criminal Nazi country.”
The jihadi war against the United States predates the October 7 jihadi massacre. For example, as stated in the lawsuit, “On or about December 22, 2017, Hamas spokesman Abd Al Qadir Al-Hawajiri spoke at a Hamas rally that was broadcast on a Hamas media outlet. In his speech, Al-Hawajiri condemned American support for Israel, proclaiming that ‘that entity [i.e. , Israel] will cease to exist, as will America.‘”
The vitriol against the United States accelerated after President’s Trump’s pro-Israel actions, specifically mentioning “the American Declaration that the U.S. recognizes Jerusalem to be the entity’s [i.e., Israel’s] capital, as well as to America’s recognition of the legality of the settlements.”
But the jihadi war against Israel is not about the “settlements” or the capital, but Jewish presence in any form. As Ismail Haniyeh, a leader of the Hamas movement said months before he was assassinated in Iran, “We do not want to see you [Jews] on this land; this land is ours, Al-Quds is ours, all of it is ours… there is no place or residing for you.” He went on to commit to waging war and never negotiating or compromising with Israel.
Iran and Hamas actively recruited monetary support from the United States and elsewhere to wage their genocidal war. In November 2020, Hamas’s Al Aqsa TV held a “First Electronic Pioneers Conference” in which Haniyeh said “We need to upgrade the support, from support through soft power to support by means of money and weapons. Yes, I would like to make it perfectly clear: I am talking about support by means of money and weapons, for the mujahideen and the murabitun [the people who harass Jews visiting the Jewish Temple Mount] in Jerusalem and its environs.” Members of South African parliament were in attendance.
Millions of dollars were routed – and continue to be routed – to Hamas via Gazan charity groups. That money is used to kill Israelis, Americans and to fund assassination attempts on American leaders.
Jihadi groups are not just waging a war on Israel but also on America. The genocidal assassins are not limited to the fanatical leaders of Iran and Palestinian groups and include members of the socialist-jihadi alliance in the United States who provide material support for the violence.
The United States is considering the final tallies from the 2024 presidential election. While the numbers are not quite final, there are a few obvious takeaways: Republican Donald Trump won, and spent a lot less to do so.
Trump won roughly 4.5 million more votes than VP Kamala Harris. According to Open Secrets, Trump spent about one-third less than Harris on the campaign, about $1.0 billion to $1.5 billion for Harris. Taken together, Harris spent $22.00 on average per vote compared to Trump’s spend of about $14.06, 56% more.
Progressives have long decried the spending of AIPAC, the bipartisan pro-Israel group, as “an existential threat.” They assembled far-left anti-Israel groups into a Reject AIPAC coalition, claiming that “This influx of [pro-Israel] money to oppose the strongest progressives in Congress and to support election deniers hurts our democracy.”
But democracy is seemingly fine when progressives spend billions of dollars.
The anti-Israel progressive group lies are multiple: AIPAC supports many progressives, but only those who share the pro-Israel philosophy which is the mission of the group, much like abortion PACs support politicians focused on that one issue. They also support conservatives who are pro-Israel.
Post by Rep. Jamaal Bowman who was primaried by George Latimer with the support of AIPAC because of his demonization of Israel and anti-Israel and Jew ambivalent actions, posting on X about ‘Palestine’ in a reflection of the Harris loss. Seemingly looking for a job among the socialist-jihadi alliance.
Second, and to the point here, progressives love spending money as witnessed in the Harris campaign. They spent one-third more and still lost both the popular vote and electoral college. Democrats only point to the money when its spent against them, and especially if they can make it look like the source is powerful Jews operating behind the scenes in classic antisemitic stereotypes.
AIPAC was highly successful in its campaigns in the 2024 election cycle among Democrats and Republicans. They helped Asian-Americans, Blacks, Hispanics, vets, progressives and conservatives win their races. Their success stands in sharp contrast to the failure of Democratic groups to elect Harris with so much money to lose so badly.
Money is important in elections but isn’t the deciding factor as the $1.5 billion spent by Democrats in the failed effort to get Harris elected demonstrated. It will be interesting to see if there is an audit of the enormous Democratic spend and whether many people enriched themselves during the race. People should also track whether “progressives” continue to only talk about money when Jews are spending it.
The exit polls are in for the 2024 election, and President Donald Trump did remarkably well for a Republican amongst Jews, particularly in key swing states of Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada, where he secured 41%, 37% and 42% of the Jewish vote, respectively.
The 32% tally which Trump secured nationally among Jews was the highest tally since 1988.
To put that figure in context, since 1952, Jews have only broken the 30% threshold for Republicans seven times, and in each of those situations, the Republican has prevailed. In the 12 elections where the Jewish vote for Republicans was 30% or less, the Republican only won four times, or just one-third.
Jews are a minority-minority and their votes do not necessarily deliver the outcome, but they are seemingly a solid bellwether of the national mood. The nation – and a considerable portion of its Jews – feel that the United States has been going in a bad direction and is now putting its faith in the Republican Party.
The election of Donald Trump has brought out the anticipated comments by politicians and pundits. The talking heads have said that they are “outraged”, “disgusted” and “horrified” that the nation would elect a convicted felon who was accused multiple times of sexual assault.
Cover of Vanity Fair magazine
They referred to Trump has “Hitler” and a “Nazi” who would destroy democracy, an autocrat hell-bent on power. His racist ideology would punish minorities like Hitler did to the Jews.
Cover of the Daily News from December 2015
After the 2016 election of Trump, many liberals stopped inviting people who voted for Trump to their houses, parties and events. Anyone who did not have the clarity to see the vileness of Trump was deemed morally corrupt.
It’s a scene that has had a parallel over the past year among Jews who watched the glee of the socialist-jihadi alliance about the gruesome October 7 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel.
Jews were appalled that university presidents did not have the basic humanity to condemn calls for the genocide of Jews on campuses. That the United Nations Secretary General would demand that Israel not bring the terrorists to justice. That the Jewish Senate Majority leader Chuck Schumer would not bring acts meant to stem the tidal wave of antisemitism to a floor vote.
People have been disgusted by scenes of Jews being openly attacked, intimidated and harassed on streets and college campuses. Outraged that attackers are immediately released and suffer no consequences. Incensed that people affix stickers that “rape is resistance” while ripping down posters of Jewish toddlers stolen into captivity. Revolted that members of Congress would deny rape – if it happened to Jewish women
Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY16) yelling to a crowd on the streets of White Plains, NY after the October 7 massacre that Israel is making up propaganda to kill Arabs
Decent people are sickened that the International Court of Justice could accuse Israel of “genocide” for a war it didn’t start, doesn’t want, would end immediately if the hostages were released and terrorists surrender, and has the lowest civilian-to-terrorist death ratio of any urban combat. People are horrified that nations would vote to recognize a Palestinian State in the aftermath of Palestinian Arabs proving that they will not accept the basic presence of Jews anywhere.
On one side, people are disgusted that fellow citizens have elected a vile person, while on the other side, people are horrified that people have embraced antisemitic murderers. Liberals are shocked by the figurehead while Jews have been traumatized by pogroms.
Where does all of the revulsion lead? Will liberals once again end friendships with Trump supporters? Will Jews fire rabbis who sit on the board of Jewish Voice for Peace?
Will people recognize that the polarization is mutual? Will it matter?
Democrats and Republicans are no longer negotiating the finer points of economic or foreign policy. We have enabled the extremist members of the House of Representatives, as well as our politically active and biased media and school systems to redefine language and dismantle the foundation of facts to reframe the narratives of history advancing an us-versus-them dynamic.
“Us” is the “powerless,” minority groups and LGBT+ communities. “Them” are White misogynistic powerful men. The battle is a broad redistribution of power, wealth and privilege. The combatants are the socialist-jihadi coalition embedded in your school system, running your media and serving in Congress, against “The Man,” now in the caricature of Donald Trump.
There have already been two assassination attempts on Trump before he was even elected. Has our society reached such a terrible state that unhinged extremists would have theoretically tried to kill John McCain or Mitt Romney because they are White male Republicans?
Many blame Chinese-owned TikTok and other social media algorithms for fueling the outrage. However, it is our education system, legacy media and political process that are the main culprits. It’s not just everyday citizens’ posts and reposts on social media meant to shock and awe to get followers, but historic institutions that upheld society which have tacked to the immoral perverse.
The feelings and comments of Americans about the disgust they feel for America – fellow Americans, actually – about the election of Trump should NOT be to double down on the war against the “Patriarchy.” The left and right should retool their worldview for a country that provides freedom and opportunity for everyone collectively. Pitting one group against another will always be bad for society.
Will Democrats let the education system which they control via the teachers unions be fixed? Will mainstream media reorient their news towards facts instead of biased narratives? Will the country retool its political processes to allow moderates to win seats in deeply blue or red districts?
I doubt it.
People elected Joe Biden as a moderate to bring the nation together. He and Kamala Harris were a complete disaster. We remain disgusted with each other’s sense of humanity and morality.
It is time for us to be honest about our collective condition: there is a thin veneer of civilization covering tremendous anger and contempt for fellow Americans. At this vulnerable time – like a long dry spell marking susceptibility for forest fires – we need to douse our fields, cut back the dense wood, have emergency cut off of power lines and have early warning systems. Politically that means inserting civics classes into our schools, encourage volunteerism in our communities, cut back our viewing of mainstream and social media, and aggressively monitor hate groups, including expelling them and their financial sponsors from universities.
Donald Trump is not the cause of our disgust nor are the rabbis marching with Students for Justice in Palestine. They are byproducts of a deeper decay in our society, an us-versus-them mentality being aggressively fomented by a socialist-jihadi alliance.
Globalize the Intifada is a violent revolution brewing in the United States. Disgust may seem a quaint emotion before long.
First One Through 