Donald Trump for years has said that American Jews are voting against their interests. This time around, maybe things will finally change.
Donald Trump tends to be blunt in his statements, and he has for years said that the American Jewish community is voting against its interests. And he is right. While orthodox Jews support Trump by well over 90 percent, the Orthodox make up a relatively small proportion of the overall Jewish community. And there is no question that the larger movements—Reform and Conservative—are far more liberal and left-leaning. Sixty-eight percent of American Jews voted for Biden over Trump in 2020. This is on the low side; the percentage of Jews voting Democratic has historically been higher.
On paper, Donald Trump should be extremely appealing to Jewish voters. His pre-political days were known for his warm relations with Jews and Jewish organizations. Even after he entered the political realm, his daughter converted to Judaism, his closest advisor was her Jewish husband, he always showed warmth towards the American Jewish community and was a staunch supporter of Israel. His moving the US embassy to Jerusalem fulfilled presidential promises dating back to Bill Clinton. Everyone promised. Donald Trump delivered.
The reasons for liberal Jews not supporting Trump are varied. Many do not like him personally. Others are not such big fans of Israel, so whatever he does for the Jewish state does not register on their political scales. Many put their liberal or progressive bona fides before their Judaism. Illegals freely crossing the southern border are more important to them than rockets not falling on Tel Aviv. Put together, they have not embraced the pro-Israel Republican Party as readily as have their Orthodox brethren.
Then came 10/7. The Hamas attacks immediately had an effect on American society. Progressives and self-described liberals—including some Jews—came out against Israel and demanded its disappearance in favor of a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”
Many Jews were shocked by the level of hatred directed at them, both on and off of campus. There was absolutely no question that those involved in violence and demands for genocide of the Jews were all Biden voters or foreign-born Biden supporters. No one associated with university pro-Hamas rallies and encampments, downtown protests, or airport disruptions could be described as a supporter of Donald Trump. This point alone is justification for Donald Trump’s claim that a majority of American Jews vote against their interests. I would imagine that there have been many long and difficult discussions in Reform and Conservative synagogues about BLM and other far-left organizations boycotting Jews because Hamas murdered Israelis. Those who were card-carrying members of the political left found out the hard way that their non-Jewish friends and organizations no longer wanted any association with them. That must have stung.
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While many liberal Jews still saw in Joe Biden a historical friend of Israel, I would imagine that they do not not give that benefit of the doubt to Kamala Harris. She has made some recent comments about understanding the pro-Hamas lunatics and her commitment to Israel was certainly not helped by her skipping Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s speech in the Congress. The seat behind and to the left of the speaker was meant for her. She chose not to fill it. I believe that the percentage of Jews supporting the Democrats this November will be the lowest ever and might actually drop under 50 percent for the first time.
Kamala Harris has one more issue that should be a concern to people of all faiths. She has no children. And this is becoming the trend in Western leaders. There was a time when Mark Steyn pointed out that in the days of May, Macron, and Merkel, not one European leader had a single child. Anyone who has had children knows that the love and concern for children make a person see the world in a different way. Whereas Biden claimed that he was a practicing Catholic while enthusiastically supporting abortion, Kamala Harris represents the religion-free left that wishes to destroy America under the guise of making her better.
Letting in the unvetted poor of the world may seem like a tremendous act of kindness, but this “kindness” is at the expense of those killed, wounded, or economically harmed by the presence of people who have no inherent right to enter the country. The childless leaders have a warped view of their countries and their responsibilities to their fellow citizens. Thus, Kamala Harris as a California prosecutor could early-release violent criminals who went out and killed other Americans. These people are “unburdened” by their destructive actions and have destroyed much of what made America a great and successful country. Rampant shoplifting started in California with the near legalization of theft under $950.
Any American Jew watching Bibi’s address with a split-screen of pro-Hamas protesters burning an American flag should realize that while he may not like Bibi, no one dancing around the burning stars and stripes will be voting for Trump this November. Does he want to vote with the same people who hate him and want him dead? Their hatred is not limited to Israel by any means as shown by their burning of the flag and anti-Israel and anti-US graffiti on local monuments. I hope that the shock of the post-10/7 antisemitic eruption by the American left will cause liberal Jews to join the Orthodox in voting for candidates who support Israel and want to keep Jews safe in the USA.
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