What A (Jewish) Week
It Can't Be Good For All Of America, Unless It's Good For Us Too
(This article was written originally as my monthly column for Orange County Jewish Life, which is why I didn’t publish it immediately. From now on however, my articles will appear exclusively here on my Substack, and will therefore be much more timely and be published as they are written. Stay tuned for a future article about why I left my magazine job.)
As I write this, it has been exactly one week since the presidential election. Famously, it is difficult to know when you are living through history as it happens. Often it takes the honing properties of time to allow us to see what was trivial and what was truly consequential, and therefore – history. But it’s always really interesting to me when you’re living history and you know it.
That was the case last week because of two separate events: the election, and the Amsterdam pogrom.
Anyone who reads my work knows that I was a passionate advocate for the election of Donald Trump, and just as passionately opposed Kamala Harris’ candidacy. For me, and I believe that this should be the case for all of us, this is the time that we as Jews should be totally ok with being “one issue” voters. We should actually be openly proud that because we have been pushed to a point where our survival is at stake, we are putting our safety and future first by prioritizing Jewish issues.
Why wouldn’t we do that?
So I couldn’t have been happier when Trump won. I am also gratified that a clear majority of Americans voted for the next president, led by my generation (Gen X) who put him over the top. Even better, Jews voted for Trump in greater numbers than any Republican in decades, as did blacks and Latinos. Republicans also held the House and took the Senate. While I believe that this is a real victory for all Americans, and that prosperity, opportunity, and sanity will return to this nation, I am far happier that every corner of our elected government will be standing solidly on the side of Israel.
The pogrom in Amsterdam made it clear that we are under threat worldwide (that is what they mean when they scream “globalize the intifada”), all while hundreds of more rockets (and drones) were launched against our brothers and sisters in Israel, and Jews were targeted in several attacks in America during the same period.
I am one of those people who believes that there is obvious Divine intervention guiding the events that we are witnessing right now. Also made crystal clear for the world has been the eternal nature, resilience, and ferocity of the Jewish people. Our attitude has long been “don’t mess with us, and we won’t mess with you.” A newer saying is “FAFO” (look it up), which only comes into play after “they” mess with us. Well, they messed with us and not only is Israel clearly winning the war (B’H), but the world is being given another lesson in why we are G-d’s people. Trump making a historic political comeback, Israel proving once again that you attack us at your own peril, and yes, the continuing tragedies we face worldwide is not a story that, in my opinion, a rational person can view and see only as a product of randomness.
But to my fellow Jews who bought into the fear mongering, hyperbole, and lies about Trump: today (11/14) he returned to the White House and had a very civil meeting with Joe Biden, in an echo of previous eras when politics could be dirty, but in the end, we all behaved as Americans. As much as I despise Biden, I don’t think that he would have done that, and done it that way, if he truly believed that Trump was a fascist, a threat to “democracy,” or a new incarnation of Hitler. Biden’s previous comments, and those of many other people in politics and the media, were dishonest; they were lies designed to influence the election.
It is even more important for us as Jews to put the passions of the election behind us, and to unite behind what will potentially be the most pro-Israel government in American history.
At the same time, those of you who have already been red-pilled, who understood what the stakes were, and were able to recognize the lies from the beginning, also need to remember that while it’s easy to be buoyed almost to the point of elation by our victory, we also have to be clear-eyed and realize that no non-Jewish politician is always going to put our interests first. We must be prepared for the possibility that Trump may prioritize things other than us.
Which is why the last few days have been a little less thrilling for me. It is much harder to find Israel haters and/or Jew haters among conservatives. Sorry liberals, but as one famous Jew once said “The Times They Are A-Changin’” – except they already changed over the last three decades. It is, without question, the left who harbors and happily supports, the greater number of antisemites.
So as hard as it is to find an antisemite on the right (and I’m not talking about the mostly fictional “far right”), Trump just appointed one as Attorney General. Matt Gaetz is no less a Jew hater than many of the leftists who hate Jews.
Among other things, he once called the ADL “racist.” I am NO FAN of the ADL, but “racism” is not one of their many faults. In 2018 he invited a Holocaust denier, Charles Johnson, to the State of the Union Address. He voted AGAINST the Antisemitism Awareness Act, a bill favored by the vast majority of Republicans, and many Democrats, because he believed that its language, which echoes the IHRA definition of antisemitism (adopted by 43 countries so far), “goes against the Gospel.”
That vote put him in the same company as Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Jasmine Crockett, Pramila Jayapal, Hank Johnson, Summer Lee, Ilhan Omar, Ayanna Pressley, and Rashida Tlaib.
Many of us have been (correctly) pointing out the unwillingness of the current Attorney General, Merrick Garland, to use current civil rights laws to prosecute people harassing and attacking Jews, but now we’re going to just trust that Matt Gaetz will. Why? It makes very little sense.
So if I’m going to be fair, and I always try to be objective my political analysis, you have to be just as blind/indoctrinated as we accuse (accurately) the left of being if we can’t, at the least, be honest about the disappointing nature of that selection. It should also be a reminder that trusting ANYONE other than G-d and each other to be there for us is foolish. If you’re being truly honest, you will admit that if a Democrat had made a similar appointment: we’d be FURIOUS.
That is without getting into Tulsi Gabbard and Vivek Ramaswamy who have both expressed, at best, a willingness to halt military aid to Israel.
In fact, I spent my day today being insulted by many of my acquaintances on social media for daring to criticize any of Trump’s picks. How hypocritical. You can’t respect someone only when you agree with them, and you aren’t demonstrating integrity when you don’t apply the same standards to Republicans that you apply to Democrats.
I am also absolutely not saying that we shouldn’t be happy and optimistic about the Trump win. He will get things going with Bibi and make it far easier for Israel to finally have the decisive victory it needs. Antisemites in the United States will (I’m hoping) finally be subjected to the same laws and social standards as the bigots who target the Democrats’ favored groups. I am optimistic that Trump will use the Department of Education, and Congress, to go after the universities that enthusiastically push hatred of Jews on their campuses.
The lies about Trump wanting to put us in camps, etc. were always idiotic, and I hope that none of you believed them. It was as absurd as the “very good people” lie which some very unethical people continue to push. Trump’s overwhelming record of being pro-Israel, should have disabused anyone with an IQ above 7 that he was ever going to fulfill any of the Left’s worst gloom and doom prophecies.
So, there is a lot to be thankful for, and a lot to be hopeful about. Especially as Jews. But remember that while this is a definite improvement, we have to be vigilant and truly put ourselves first because if we don’t, no one else will.
Never be afraid. Never give in.
Am Yisrael chai.
Joshua Namm is a longtime Jewish community pro, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing, and dedicated to the principle of free speech.