Sein Kampf

This week’s essay was supposed to be about medical ethics; specifically whether or not it is ethical to expedite clinical trials for drugs dealing with such lethal diseases as Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) and Lewy Body Dementia. At about the time I had written the first 1,200 words of the piece (tentatively entitled Are Medical Ethics an Oxymoron?)  a story about the latest asininity coming from the mouth of our FPOTUS came across the wire (as we used to say in pre-Google times) which forced me to change intellectual lanes. Hopefully, the original piece will run next week. And so, instead of Are Medical Ethics an Oxymoron? we move to Sein Kampf (German for “His Struggle”).

Yesterday, the FPOTUS, Donald J. Trump. ,offered an absolutely foreboding message on his Truth Social  alt-tech social media platform warning “U.S. Jews” to “get their act together” and be more appreciative—“before it is too late.” He even claimed that his own approval rating is so high in Israel that he could “easily” be the country’s prime minister. “No President has done more for Israel than I have,” Trump said in the deranged post.  “Somewhat surprisingly, however, our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.”   

What in hell does “. . . before it is too late” mean?  Too late for what?  Is he pissed because increasingly, more and more American Jews are reverting to their Democratic roots, and voting for pro-choice progressives and candidates who favor enacting gun safety laws and shoring up Social Security and Medicare?  Is he warning American Jews that because he moved our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, that we should support him through thick and thin?

"If that’s not an anti-Semitic threat, I don’t know what to call it," tweeted Laurence Tribe, law professor emeritus at Harvard.

Regardless of Trump’s specific meaning - as if even he knows the import of his own words - it is but one more addition to a repertoire of anti-Semitic stereotypes he’s tried to leverage against the Jewish people . . . something he no doubt learned at his father’s knee.  Makes one wonder what his Jewish son-in-law Jared, Jewish daughter Ivanka and Jewish grandchildren (Arabella Rose, Joseph Frederick and Theodore James) think about their זיידע - zeideh - Yiddish for “grandpa.”   

If this is not an anti-Semitic threat, I don’t know what to call it. This is not the first time that Trump has attacked Jews for not supporting him politically or financially, and saying they should back him over policies toward Israel.

A year before his failed reelection bid in 2020, Trump said: “I think any Jewish people who would vote for a Democrat, I think it shows either a total lack of knowledge or great disloyalty."

At a White House Hanukkah party in 2018, Trump told guests that Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen Pence, had great affection for Israel: "And they go there and they love your country. They love your country. And they love this country. That’s a good combination, right?” Of course, what was not said is that Christian Nationalists like Pence firmly believe that in order for the Messiah to return, all Jews must be gathered back to Jerusalem (aka “The Holy Land”) in order to either accept Jesus as their Lord or face immediate extinction. (I for one, will await the coming of the Messiah [for the first time] by doing as much as I can to make this world as sane, peaceful and holy a place as possible for the sake of all people of all religions.)

In going public with his loopy, potentially dangerous post, Donald Trump reveals an anti-Semitic, narrow-minded understanding (or lack thereof) of American Jews. He seems to believe that the single-most important (if not, indeed, only) issue American Jews care about is the safety of Israel; and that therefore, whoever is “best for Israel”, must be the person we will support. This shows a gross misunderstanding. While Israel is certainly an issue of great importance to the American Jewish community, it is by no means the only issue which motivates our vote. As I have been preaching for more than 45 years, check out candidates based on ten or twelve issues (healthcare, climate, voting and civil rights, women, and curbing gun violence among others) facing America. Whoever is, in your estimation, best for America and the world at large will, unquestionably, be best for Israel and the Jewish people.

Just as an anti-Semite can never be good for Israel, so too that individual can never be good for America and all she stands for.

For those Americans who are Jewish, please realize that our future cannot - and never will be - secure in the hands of any individual or party which is incapable of understanding us in the totality of our being and our history . . . that In going public with his moronic post, Donald Trump reveals an anti-Semitic, narrow-minded understanding of American Jews.

Never trust those whose understanding of American Jews is narrow or parochial. Our love, respect and support of and for Israel is just one part of who we are. Our concerns are not always your concerns; the political positions we take are not always the positions you assume we will take. This shows a gross misunderstanding. While Israel is certainly an issue of great importance to the American Jewish community, it is by no means the only issue upon which we base our vote.

To Donald Trump and those who believe that the only thing which concerns American Jews is Israel, remember one thing: המאבק שלנו אינו בהכרח זהה למאבק שלך, Hebrew for “Our struggle is not necessarily the same as yours.”

This is getting extremely serious. Former President Trump, who has made a career out of communicating with his core followers via dog whistles, has begun increasing the decibel level to that of a marching band. And what’s even more disturbing is that none, nary a single prominent Republican, has uttered so much as a sentence - let alone a syllable - of condemnation. How can they live with themselves? Is recapturing then maintaining political power more important than destroying our very system of government?

Is there not a single sane Republican office holder who remembers, let alone can (and will) quote the late Lutheran Pastor Martin Niemöller?

First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.

Copyright©2022 Kurt F. Stone