American Jews have long favored Democrats in presidential elections. The best showings that Republican candidates have had since World War II among Jews was 40% (Eisenhower 1956), 39% (Reagan 1980) and 36% (Eisenhower 1952). Since the 1992 election, Democrats have sailed to clear majorities with between 68% and 80% of the Jewish vote for president. On average, 71% of Jewish voters chose Democratic candidates and 26% chose Republicans since 1968.
Historians consider that Jews aligned themselves with Democrats as it was considered the party of working class immigrants, just as the Jews were coming to the country from Europe and the USSR in the first half of the 20th century. As Jews became more established in America, and the Second Vatican Council of 1965 pushed antisemitism out of the Catholic doctrine, Jews sought candidates which had greater support for their economic and religious (Judeo-Christian) interests between 1972 and 1988 and began to vote for Republicans more frequently. Bill Clinton’s popularity helped bring Jews back overwhelmingly to the Democrats but that faded as Democratic candidates emerged from left-wing states of Illinois, New York and Massachusetts.
President Ronald Reagan (R-CA) at a Jewish synagogue
The majority of Jews still live in liberal states including New York, California, New Jersey, but many now reside in conservative Florida and moderate Pennsylvania. Overall, Jews are moving away from the Northeast (from 63% in 1971 to 40% in 2020) to the South (12% in 1971 to 25% in 2020) according to Brandeis. They are going for the sun and lower taxes to live with more conservative neighbors.
This 2024 election may yield a breakthrough of Jews voting for the Republican candidate, former President Donald Trump. No Republican candidate crossed the 30% of Jewish vote threshold since George HW Bush in 1988 collected 35% of the Jewish vote. Trump’s share of the Jewish vote jumped from 24% in 2016 to 30% in 2020.
If Trump pulls over 30% of the Jewish vote – particularly in Pennsylvania (where the Jewish population is about 430,000 or 3.3% of the state), Georgia (140,000; 1.3%) and Michigan (87,000, 0.9%) – it might prove to be the tipping point to help Trump win the electoral college.
American Jewry: Approximately 5%, 2% and 2% of American Jews live in swing states of Pennsylvania, Georgia and Michigan, respectively (Brandeis)Jews outnumber Muslims in Pennsylvania by almost 3-to-1
The trend of Jews voting more Republican is likely to continue into the future. Orthodox Jews are currently the only denomination to vote Republican (75% according to Pew) and they have much higher fertility rates than the non-Orthodox streams. Orthodox Jews made up roughly 12% of American Jewry in 2021, which is expected to grow to 29% by 2063 according to a study by Yale. That will likely yield a more conservative voter base for the Republican party.
Republican candidate Donald Trump visits grave of the Lubavitch rebbe
The media is focused on the Israeli record of Trump and Biden-Harris in their analysis of how Jews will vote, and it is a factor amid the Iranian proxy-Israel war. But so is the growing segment of Jews who do not want to see economic interests and religion trampled by liberal laws, nor suffer overt (physical attacks and harassment) and covert (DEI mandates) discrimination.
Like many Jewish Americans, I am a registered Democrat. Unlike many, I have no party loyalty and vote for the person I think is best suited for the job.
My friends were shocked when I voted for the libertarian candidate for president in 2016. They rattled off the many offenses of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump, and that I was wasting my vote. I did not disagree. But I could not vote for Trump or Clinton. Not only had Clinton proven herself to be awful but Trump was a vulgarian wildcard. I believed Trump was such a “deal guy” that he had no sense of the compromises that are needed to run a country of 330 million. He would be bad for America, Israel and the whole world.
I ended up being quite wrong about Trump on Israel. Surrounded by a strong team of advisers, he understood what was required for an ENDURING PEACE in the Middle East, not just the paper to get to a peace agreement. He delivered an amazing array of achievements for America and the Middle East over his term, including the fewest deaths of Arabs and Jews over any four year stretch in modern history.
Yet I remained worried. America was deeply divided and I could not imagine Trump being the solution to bring the country together. Four years on I looked for an alternative.
I cast my lot initially with Mike Bloomberg as a centrist, who had pushed aggressively for Hillary over Trump in 2016 under the premise that she was basically like a prostitute who is deeply unloved but gets the job done. Bloomberg was my version of #NeverTrump meets #NeverBernie Sanders. But he was eliminated early on.
I settled on Biden as the “centrist” to help address the “Mason-Dixon Plaid” that pitted neighbor against neighbor. I wanted to stop the brewing civil war, and too many people hated Trump for him to be the solution. I similarly voted for centrists in Congress, rejecting mainstream media’s endorsement of far left-wing radicals like Jamaal Bowman. I picked a winner at the top of the ticket but saw extremist radicals taking over Congress.
Those radical members of Congress had no need to compromise the way a president must. They incited their base, and brought antisemitism to deplorable levels after the October 7, 2023 massacre of 1,200 people in Israel. Fading Biden had no idea or desire to stem the vicious tide.
Jewish members of Congress like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) turned on Israel and refused to combat the wave of antisemitism. Young Democrats and liberal universities revealed themselves to be deeply hostile to Israel and Jews.
The divide in America now felt more personal. It was no longer about Republicans versus Democrats, but more immediately, radical antisemitic extremists which had metastasized inside the Democratic party and liberal institutions against American Jewry. The general tension in the country is no longer my priority, but the specific targeting of minority-minority Jews which made even leading Jewish politicians hide in fear.
Pundits like Bret Stephens may argue that Trump continues to be a danger, and I was a NeverTrumper just like him. Many friends who are devout liberal Jews continue to believe that the antisemitism is really just a minor issue which will subside when the Iranian proxy war against Israel ends.
Sen. Bernie Sanders explaining that Kamala Harris will side with the alt-left when she is not bound by Biden’s preferences as it relates to Israel
Israel is laying the groundwork for an enduring peace in the Middle East by ridding the region of jihadi extremists who intend on annihilating local Jewry. It is tragic and ugly but essential. Americans – DEMOCRATS – need to similarly take actions which may seem displeasing, including voting for Trump, to end the toxic antisemitism drowning Jews today.
There are only a handful of tight races in the November 2024 election that have clearly superior candidates: New York’s 17 district has been incredible well-served by incumbent Republican Mike Lawler.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY17)
Lawler is one of the most bipartisan members of congress, drafting numerous pieces of legislation with a number of Democrats including Ritchie Torres (D-NY) and Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ). He has fought aggressively for his constituents and for actual peace in the Middle East. He has been ranked as a leader by the non-partisan group GovTracks.
GovTracks ranking of Mike Lawler as a middle-of-the-road Congressional leader
This is in sharp contrast to his competitor Mondaire Jones who has been running around New York State to find a district to run in. He lost badly in the last cycle when he decided he ran in Manhattan’s Chelsea district.
When Jones did last serve in Congress, he was ranked as a highly partisan left-wing radical. He was not considered a leader and drafted little legislation.
GovTracks scored Mondaire Jones legislative record as far left-wing and with little leadership credentials
Vote for bipartisan Mike Lawler, a leader in Congress and fighter for New York.
Vice President Kamala Harris continues to lose Democratic voters in each poll. Of particular concern for Democrats is that the first Black female presidential candidate is fading among the majority-minority cohort of Black and Latino voters who are normally lock-step with the party.
The pundits blame Harris’s poor showing on the belief that former President Donald Trump will do a better job on two key policy matters, the economy and immigration. What is not mentioned is that people view Harris as a phony.
Most recently, they’ve watched the Democratic big wigs push out the sitting president and anoint his successor without consulting the public.
In these few weeks before election day, Americans are watching Harris avoid unscripted events. They’re watching the Democratic machine script a platform designed to gather broad appeal remaking the candidate.
This is not the easy oratory of Barack Obama but a puppet show. Harris is a mannequin dressed for the crowds by Democratic power brokers looking to quickly cement a presidency which they will choreograph.
And people don’t like it. They may enjoy Harris’s (her handlers’) packaged statements but know they are being duped in a very heavy-handed manner by a cabal that concealed President Joe Biden’s mental decline for months.
Half of the top six traits that people look for in a successful leader are being trustworthy, honest and authentic, according to U.S. News & World Report. Harris – and the current cast of Democrats – fails on all three.
Black and Hispanic votes were more likely to place ambitious and humble as important characteristics, but no candidate to lead the great nation can approach that position in the current political framework without ambition and arrogance.
Trump may say outlandish things but people believe him to be authentic. He may be convicted of felony crimes but he doesn’t waffle. He may be making the Republican party chase after him but it beats watching the Democratic elites completely orchestrating the election and controlling their candidate and the media.
And dominating a female minority to boot.
Democrats would do better by encouraging Harris to do town hall meetings in the seven swing states and let her answer questions honestly. The lingering fear of Harris’s statements may be more of a liability than her actual comments.
American citizens in 43 states will have no say on the presidential election in November 2024. Seven “purple” states – Arizona (11), Georgia (16), Michigan (15), Nevada (6), North Carolina (16), Pennsylvania (19) and Wisconsin (10) – with a collective total of 93 electoral votes, will ultimately decide the election. All of the other states are deeply Democratic or Republican so an individual’s vote there will not change anything, despite how vocal or passionately they feel about the candidates.
It does not mean that there is nothing for the vast majority of Americans to do.
For those who are moderate and do not want to see the country continue its divisive path towards the fringes, it is incumbent to try to help separate the party of Congress from that of the presidency. That means, that as Democratic nominee Vice President Harris continues to gain momentum and looks to secure the White House, people should try to ensure that Republicans are the majority in the House and/or Senate to avoid a Democratic administration tacking to the socialist-jihadi extreme of the party.
House of Representatives
The current split in the House of Representatives is 221 Republicans and 213 Democrats. Of these, fifteen are running for a different office (12 of which are Democrats), fourteen are retiring (8 of whom are Democrats) and three are resigning (1 Democrat).
Roll Call identified ten of the most contested races in the House of Representatives; I have added one more, NY17. In every race, the pro-Israel bipartisan lobbying group AIPAC endorsed the incumbent, of which seven are Republican. Those races are (incumbent listed first, AIPAC endorsed in bold, Republicans endorsed by AIPAC in red):
NY22: Brandon Williams (R) v. John Mannion (D)
CA13: John Duarte (R) v. Adam Gray (D)
NY4: Anthony D’Esposito (R) v. Laura Gillen (D)
WA3: Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D) v. Joe Kent (R)
NC1: Don Davis (D) v. Laurie Buckhout (R)
OR5: Lori Chavez-DeRemer (R) v. Janelle Bynum (D)
NE2: Don Bacon (R) v. Tony Vargas (D)
AK: Mary Peltola (D) v. Nick Begich (R)
CA27: Mike Garcia (R) v. George Whitesides (D)
PA8: Matt Cartwright (D) v. Rob Bresnahan (R)
NY17: Mike Lawler (R) v. Mondaire Jones (D)
Senate
The Senate is currently divided with 51 Democrats and 49 Republicans. According to Bloomberg, “of the 34 Senate elections currently scheduled for 2024, Democrats and allied Independents are the defending party in 23 contests, while the Republicans are defending just 11 seats. Democrats Joe Manchin of West Virginia, Jon Tester of Montana, and Sherrod Brown of Ohio are all up for re-election in states President Joe Biden lost in 2020. Trump won all 10 states where Republicans are defending Senate seats, all but two of them by double-digit percentage-point margins. Nebraska will have two races in 2024, including a special election triggered by the resignation of Ben Sasse (R).”
According to Real Clear Polling, there are seven toss up races in the Senate in 2024. They are:
Arizona: [open] Ruben Gallego (D) v. Kari Lake (R)
Florida: Rick Scott (R) v. Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (D)
Maryland: [open] Larry Hogan (R) v. Angela Alsobrooks (D)
Michigan: [open] Elissa Slotkin (D) v. Mike Rogers (R)
In summary, the top ten races people should get behind to stem the anti-Israel and antisemitic tide are: Bacon (NE2); Chavez-DeRemer (OR5); D’Esposito (NY4); Duarte (CA13); Garcia (CA27); Lawler (NY17); Williams (NY22); and in the Senate, Moreno (OH), Rogers (MI) and Scott (FL).
Runner-up to the top ten is also a somewhat tight race in NJ7 where incumbent Tom Kean (R) is running against Sue Altman (D).
To be clear, I am not suggesting that these individuals have great records overall; I am saying that a balanced Congress is the best antidote for extremist policies, and donating or volunteering for these candidates may provide a path for a more moderate administration.
One can donate to the candidates via the AIPACPAC portal. The two non-AIPAC endorsed candidates should be contacted directly at Mike Rogers and Bernie Moreno. Volunteering should also be done directly at the person’s website. Early action is highly recommended, as it takes time to build the local momentum needed to win these races.
The Palestinian political-terrorist group continued its vile and evil actions in shooting and killing six hostages it had held for the last eleven months. The civilians lives were worthless, as were the thousands that the group has killed over the decades.
Vice President Kamala Harris issued a press release, as one of the hostages was an American citizen, and his parents had just spoken at the Democratic National Convention. Harris called Hamas “an evil terrorist organization… whose “depravity is evident and horrifying.”
VP Harris press release about the murder of six Israeli hostages by Hamas, on August 31, 2024
Harris noted that Hamas is a threat to Israelis, Americans and even Palestinians, but she did not offer a plan of action, other than that the “threat” of Hamas “must be eliminated.”
By way of comparison, Senator Tom Cotton was more clear, that not just the “threat” of Hamas must be eliminated, but the “terrorist group must be destroyed.”
Sen. Tom Cotton post after the murder of six Israeli hostages by Hamas
Former President Obama ran his administration’s fight against terror in a particularly segmented manner, placing the “evil ideology” of jihadi groups into four buckets: evil to destroy (like ISIS); evil to condemn (like Boko Haram); evil to tolerate (like Syria); and evil to ignore (like Hamas). He would only activate American arms when American lives were at stake in the first category, while providing support in fighting evil globally in the second category. Regarding Syria and evil to tolerate, he offered little more than empty words. For evil like Hamas, he ignored it as something Israel turned into a phony boogeyman.
Obama’s successor, President Trump, collapsed those four categories into “radical Islamic terrorism,” which was a problem for everyone to be fought globally. He prioritized fighting ISIS and al Qaeda but viewed all of the sister jihadi groups through a similar lens.
President Biden condemned the Hamas October 7 massacre as “an act of sheer evil” and later added that the group should be eliminated. His Attorney General Merrick Garland announced terrorism charges against the leaders of Hamas on September 3, 2024, something that had been filed in February. It is unclear what is particularly special about unsealing the complaint at this time – Israel already killed a number of the senior Hamas leaders on the list. Is the US going to take direct action against Hamas? Will it use its pull with Qatar to extradite Khaled Mashal? Or will the world see the U.S. as a paper tiger, a distracted and divided once-upon-a-time military power?
Harris, now in the position of Democratic nominee for president, is crafting her own language about evil, that it should be deprived of the capability of being a “threat” but not necessarily “destroyed” as Biden and other politicians have advocated.
Harris’s softer position is being provided cover by J Street, the left-wing pro-Palestinian marketed as pro-Israel group. In response to the assassination of the six Israeli hostages, J Street called for Biden to assert “maximum pressure on [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu,” rather than providing Israel full capabilities of finishing the evil group.
J Street press release after Hamas’s killing of six hostages calling for US to withhold arms and funding to Israel if Netanyahu doesn’t accept a ceasefire deal
Many Democratic members of Congress will likely push a President Harris to not only let Hamas survive but to withhold critical arms to Israel, even as it fights Hezbollah, Iran and the Houthis. A Harris administration with someone like Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) as Secretary of State, would likely condition military aid to Israel.
Harris and Trump agree that Hamas is an evil terrorist organization but it would appear that only a Trump Administration would push to destroy the group, while Harris might work to simply remove the terrorist group from power.
Vice President Kamala Harris moved quickly to become the presumptive Democratic nominee for president after President Joe Biden announced that he would no longer run for re-election just weeks before the Democratic National Convention. Rather than let Democratic voters decide on their nominee, the Democratic establishment rallied behind Harris and shut down voter wishes for alternatives.
Immediately after the Democratic establishment rallied behind Harris, far-left Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) endorsed Harris. In her endorsement, Bush said “When we say trust Black women, we mean it. Black women are the backbone of the Democratic Party and it is past time for us to lead our country forward.”
It’s not a surprise. While Harris served in the Senate, she was listed as one of the most partisan senators, scoring a -0.92670, ranking #93 out of 98 senators scored (majority and minority leaders are excluded), according to the Lugar Center Bipartisan Index. That scored her close to House squad member Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) who scored a -0.94183 during the same 2019 Congress.
People voted Joe Biden to the presidency in 2020 because he was a moderate. The Lugar Center scored Biden in the top 20% of bipartisan senators all-time, coming in at #47 out of #250 scored. When Biden selected Harris to join the ticket, it was widely viewed as a nod to rally the far-left wing of the party onboard which was upset that Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders did not secure the nomination.
It caused many people concern at the time. During a 60 Minutes interview in 2020, Harris was questioned about her extremist views and record. She cackled her way through the question, reluctantly responding that she is on board with Biden’s approaches to policy.
The powerful teachers unions have gone all-in on Harris, including the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers. The NEA is pushing to begin indoctrinating its members in several anti-Israel items including: the ‘Nakba’ narrative; teaching that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism; endorsing the BDS (boycott, divest and sanctioning) of Israel; call to stop funding Israel’s military; and call Israel’s operation in Gaza a “genocide.” AFT considered similar resolutions as the socialist teacher unions try to indoctrinate America’s future in a socialist-jihadi narrative
As president, Harris will become “unburdened by what has been,” meaning the more moderate and pro-Israel policies of Biden, and free to push an extremist socialist agenda.
Vice President Kamala Harris with Secretary of Health and Human Services Xavier Becerra, left, and Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (Official White House Photo by Lawrence Jackson)
Now that Rep. George Santos is out of Congress, the current most hated representative in New York State is Jamaal Bowman of New York’s 16th District. Censured by a bipartisan Congress for pulling a fire alarm to delay a vote and then lying about it, his antics have long drawn the condemnation of Democrats and Republicans.
He is being challenged by popular Westchester County Executive George Latimer, who comfortably out-raised Bowman in the period ended December 31, 2023, raising $1.4 million with 73% coming from inside the district, while Bowman raised less than half that amount with a paltry 9% from inside the district. Bowman is so unpopular among his constituents, that he has resorted to teaming up with antisemitic money-raising machine Rep. Rashida Tlaib FROM MICHIGAN who is running unopposed, so can transfer all of her externally raised funds to Bowman.
The race is considered among the most watched in the country.
Siena College conducted a poll of likely New York voters from February 12-14, 2024 on a variety of issues. By every category of race, religion and age, New Yorkers were more pessimistic about the country than the state. That says a lot, because Democrats, Republicans and Independents all think that things in New York are getting worse, with Jews being the most angered about the situation in the state.
And it’s not about crime, as Jews were less likely to fear crime than other religious groups. Latinos are the most worried about being attacked.
According to the poll, when it comes to people’s representative in Congress, Democrats and Republicans are, not surprisingly, inclined to vote for the member of their own party. Independents are more likely to vote for the Republican over the Democrat (41% to 30%). The same holds true for people in the suburbs (40% to 37%) and upstate (42% to 40%). A significant percentage of suburban voters – like those in NY-16 – chose “someone else”, perhaps indicating a strong preference to oust their current Congressperson, beyond strict party consideration.
These results are problematic for Bowman. His district includes a large percentage of Latinos who worry about crime and are against his call to “Defund the Police.” Further, more than 2,000 Republicans and independents switched party to Democrats by the February 14 deadline to vote in the primary to be held on June 25, presumably to vote for Latimer.
Bowman now seems to be banking – literally – on Black and Muslim voters and donors.
In a transparent effort to buy votes, Bowman sponsored a resolution to hand $14 TRILLION to Black Americans, or about $333,000 for every Black American.
As part of his alliance with antisemite Rashida Tlaib, Bowman has taken the stage at fundraisers with a variety of antisemites and anti-Zionists including Nada Khader, Norman Finkelstein and several people who support the butchers of the political-terrorist group Hamas.
Rep. Jamaal Bowman and Rep. Rashida Tlaib shout “Free Palestine” before crowd after the October 7 massacre and mass rape of Israelis by Palestinian Arabs
Perhaps Bowman is looking at a silver-lining for him in the Siena poll which shows liberals more in favor of supporting military aid to Ukraine than to Israel, in N.Y. state, overall. The only place that the trend breaks is in the suburbs and among Jews, a constituent Bowman tossed into the garbage long ago.
Bowman has openly declared war on Jews across America and in his district, with the hope that the beleaguered minority-minority will be drowned by the masses and Gulf petrodollars, as he stokes a campaign based on hatred and divisiveness.
The insidious jihad is growing, and must be turned back now before it overwhelms America.
While the Arab-Israeli Conflict has been going on for 100 years, there have been notable breakthroughs. Peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan in 1979 and 1994, respectively, were watershed moment which were unfortunately followed by the Two Percent War/Second Intifada (2000-2004), 2006 Lebanon War and Gaza Wars of 2008, 2012 and 2014. But in the waning years of the Trump Administration in 2020, Israel forged normalization agreements with several Arab countries including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
Democrats offered a tepid reaction to the new Arab-Israel peace announcements because there was no similar announcement with the Palestinians. However, a review of how Palestinians viewed their Israeli neighbors over the past several years shows interesting movements precisely when such archaic negative thinking is rejected.
Gazans consistently view Israel as an enemy. Palestinian polls show Gazans in favor of armed attacks inside of Israel against Jewish civilians by a majority ranging from two-thirds to over three-quarters, a shocking figure which should alarm the world (imagine if 75% of Pakistanis were in favor of killing civilians in India).
Arabs from the West Bank have a more nuanced attitude towards Israel. Their opinions change depending on current events.
results from Palestinian polls since mid-2015
The chart above shows how West Bank Arabs changed their attitudes in regards to launching an armed “Intifada” (blue line) and supporting the killing of Jewish civilians inside of Israel (orange line).
The “Stabbing Intifada” which included running over soldiers and civilians in the summer/fall of 2015 was popular among West Bank Arabs and saw a peak support level for terrorism at 47%.
The Trump administration announcement of its intention to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem saw an uptick supporting terrorism that had been dropping since the 2015 peak.
The lowest support for terrorism occurred after Trump cut funding for UNRWA. UNRWA is much more popular in Gaza where roughly 85% of Gazans get service from the UN agency, compared to only roughly 35% in the West Bank.
Support for Hamas and attacks against Israel spiked shortly thereafter, when Israel botched a military operation in Gaza. Palestinian Arabs widely viewed Hamas as being the victor in the contest, and with that perceived win, support for terror rose.
Support for attacking Israelis among West Bank Arabs declined since then and reached a low with the signing of the Abraham Accords
Interestingly, the Trump years saw a sharp decline in attitudes among West Bank Arabs supporting “lone wolf” attacks against Israeli Jewish civilians. Those four years saw the lowest Israeli death toll from terrorism in modern Israeli history. Meanwhile, the West Bankers support for an armed “Intifada” held somewhat constant.
Ending UNRWA’s mandate and fostering peace with more Arab nations seemingly directly impacts West Bank Arabs abandoning terrorism. Conversely, perceived “wins” for HAMAS in battles with Israel breathes new life for armed conflict. The path towards peace is clear: international peace brings peace while international meddling brings terror.
January 6, 2021 was a spectacle in Washington, D.C. when protesters stormed the U.S. Capital building which was convening to certify the results of the presidential elections. The overrun of the capital came just as Democrats won two Senate run-off seats in Georgia giving the party full control of Congress. One person was shot and killed and members of Congress needed to be escorted to secure rooms as the building was put in lock down. A curfew was imposed on the city.
U.S. Capital building stormed by pro-Trump protestors, January 6, 2021
People bemoan that the United States has become a Banana Republic which cannot peacefully hold elections or have a transition of power. They wonder how a powerful and wealthy country could descend into such chaos. Quickly pointing to President Donald Trump as the instigator for the event is a missed opportunity to expose the root causes of the mayhem. The danger of not exploring it is the casual dismissal of needed changes to society that go beyond January 20th when Trump leaves office and when the world moves passed the pandemic, hopefully in the coming months.
The instigating reasons include the notion that there is theft, the normalization of violent protest and the breakdown of trust and respect. All of this in the backdrop of a broader move to extremist views by many Americans and the relatively newer belief that government actually matters.
On Stealing
People become enraged when they feel deeply wronged, especially when it comes to something being stolen. If rights, liberties, lands or votes are viewed as being stripped away, then people will actively resist such wrongs.
President Donald Trump actively fed the narrative that peoples’ votes were being stolen which was the reason he lost the election, with “Stop the Steal” exclamations. He told his supporters to not even bother voting in the Georgia Senate run-off, as the system wouldn’t let their voices be heard.
This is not new, as Democrats often make claims of “voter suppression.” A conspiracy theory came out of Hillary Clinton’s mouth four years ago when she said as she lost “they were never going to let me be president.” Her backers believed her and held “Not My President” rallies during Trump’s early months in office.
The United Nations also promotes the notion of theft when it comes to Israel. It uses racist language that Israelis are “stealing Arab land” as if dirt can be inherently “Arab” (imagine someone saying that Alabama is inherently “white”). It established a special agency, UNRWA, which promises to enable millions of Arabs to “return” to Israel, actively fueling anger at the Jewish State.
Normalizing Violent “Protests”
The world actively promotes Palestinian “resistance” and normalizes terrorism. The 2% War which began in September 2000 killed and maimed thousands of Israeli civilians is commonly called the “Second Intifada” meaning “uprising,” softening the crimes of the murderers. Left-wing media states that Palestinians are only “resorting to violence” even when all their foundational charters and glorification of terrorists are plain to see.
In the United states, when the Black Lives Matter protests burned cities to the ground the media said that the protesters were “mostly peaceful” despite the videos of massive looting and scenes of charred buildings. The public seemingly gave a pass to the anarchy. When anarchists seized downtown Seattle and declared their alt-left caliphate with a concocted flag, the police were ordered to not engage.
Normalization by definition creates a new normal.
The Loss of Trust and Respect
There has been a continued erosion in the trust of institutions in the United States over several years. Blacks and liberals have distrusted the police for a long time but the nature of distrust has broadened and deepened.
The Internet is a great tool in allowing people to connect and find areas of interest but its use has had broad ramifications for businesses and society.
The personalization capabilities of search engines has allowed people to narrowly focus on topics and points of view that interest them. Such model and migration of eyeballs has shifted advertising dollars from television and newspapers to online giants like Google and Facebook. It forced the legacy media to pivot their businesses from neutral providers of information to highly-biased disseminators of propaganda. The media’s business model became #AlternativeFacts. When the Internet giants then followed suit during this election and shut down opinions which it found offensive, there became a deep resentment to all of the media.
Amid this backdrop, liberal society endorsed the idea that people’s perceptions of race and gender trumped science, undermining the foundation of truth. Even language became “weaponized” as people received daily addenda to the dictionary.
As the foundations of language and science were being shaken, woke society came after America’s founding fathers and institutions.
Kneeling for the national anthem, and the blitzkrieg of tearing down statues of Jefferson and Washington and renaming buildings and institutions were taken by many Americans as not protests but a profound disrespecting of America. The nation’s capital building became a symbol to either defend or mock.
A Move to Polar Extremes and Suddenly Government Matters
Moderate politicians have been forced out of both the Democratic and Republican parties for the past twenty years. The primary system has favored those who can activate a loud loyalist base and targets politicians who have preferred bipartisanship. The test of party purity advanced more extreme right-wing and left-wing politicians, who resemble the talking points of narrow slices of extremist ideology fed on social media and the Internet.
As bipartisan politicians leave Congress and state houses, extremist opinions and laws get enacted. This leaves a bitter taste in the mouths of the minority as the majority advances its agenda without fear of being voted out of office. When a blue state sees a red state dramatically limiting abortion access, it passes laws allowing for legal abortion up until birth, essentially blessing infanticide.
Extremism doesn’t exist in a vacuum; each side feeds the other. Both sides see that government matters as they adopt extremist laws so it drives people to the polls, with the 2020 presidential election having the biggest turnout in 120 years.
Path Forward
There is not one single thing that needs to be done to become a more perfect union and a more perfect planet. The change of administration and broad vaccinations that are underway will certainly help, but much more needs to be done, as the storming of the U.S. Capital building has been years in the making.
Leaders must stop promoting false narratives of “theft.” While there was certainly a media frenzy against Trump (as there was in 2016), there is no proof of massive voter fraud. Republicans must loudly denounce Trump’s comments, not just Democrats. In other parts of the world, we similarly need to stop inflammatory language such as saying “Arab land” which undermines a chance for peace and the UN promoting the notion that Israel is a “colonialist enterprise.”
Don’t normalize violence and calls for violence. Watching U.S. cities burn and Palestinians blowing up buses and pizza stores and then excusing those actions as “justice” and “natural protest” encourages more violence. Denounce the violence, arrest perpetrators and strip those who call for such actions of any funding.
Build Trust and Respect. It will be difficult for the media to turn back the tide and become neutral providers of information, and social media’s business model is built on giving people what they crave. As such, it is important that the source of all articles and information be included with articles. People understand that Fox tilts right and MSNBC tilts left and can thereby understand that they are only presented with half of the story. Regarding respect, people must understand that revolutions produce counter-revolutions and consider that a casual disrespect of someone or something will likely come full circle.
Embrace the Center. While people encourage the idea of a “wide tent” and talking to the “other side” it must be acknowledged that the fringe must remain on the fringe and not have seats of power. People in the right-of-center and left-of-center can have constructive dialogues of compromise while those at the polar extremes can only battle. If the extreme right or left are aiming to “primary” an incumbent in your district, understand that a vote for such politician will leave them off any committees of significance in the capital.
The capture of the nation’s capital did not happen in a vacuum and it is incumbent on all of us to take actions to reverse course on multiple fronts.
First One Through 