This evening my Dad and I went to the Tikvah Fund in Midtown East where we saw a conversation between British conservative writer and attorney Jonathan Neumann (author of the 2018 book How The Jewish Left Corrupts Judaism & Endangers Israel) and Jonathan Silver, the Senior Director of the Tikvah Fund. The subject of the evening was "Left or Right: What is the Political Future of the Jews?"
Had I attended such a conversation prior to the 2016 election, I would have been in simpatico with the audience. But this was before Donald Trump. After spending many years in Boston and Cambridge as the most conservative person in the room, tonight I was probably the most liberal person in the room. If only the Cantab could see me now.
In fairness, I found Neumann knowledgeable about Jewish political life in the United States, the U.K. and in Israel. He was also receptive to my question about the state of the Democratic Party where it concerns Israel. When I contrasted Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's lovefest with Jeremy Corbyn to Kamala Harris' 2017 visit with Benjamin Netanyahu, Neumann acknowledged that the Democratic Party "couldn't be painted with a broad brush" and that someone like Harris or Michael Bloomberg probably wouldn't reverse Trump's policies where it concerned Israel. Following the presentation, Silver approached me and thanked me for my question.
However, a majority of the audience thought Trump walked on water. I understand this to some degree. Where it concerns Israel, Trump is a significant improvement over Obama not only in jettisoning the Iran nuclear deal and relocating the American embassy to Jerusalem, but in respecting Netanyahu's status and the Israeli populace at large. A certain amount of gratitude is understandable.
But Trump's support of Israel blinds them to his shortcomings. They will rightfully decry Jeremy Corbyn for saying Jews "aren't fully British", but deny the racism inherent in Trump calling Judge Gonzalo Curriel "a Mexican". They understand Rabbi Hillel's first question ("If I am not for myself then who is for me?") but ignore his second ("If I am only for myself then what am I?")
Because of Trump's support of Israel, the vast majority of this audience I encountered this evening believe Trump is a brilliant writer (despite never having written a book much less read one), claim he has nothing to do with Russia, believe a 35 day government shutdown is no different than a one day government shutdown and that the media is hypnotizing people to hate Trump by presenting angry images of him (my Dad actually believes this shit). I am prepared to acknowledge Trump's positive decisions where it concerns Israel, but I will not worship a false idol much less vote for a man I believe to be an indecent human being.
With that said, it is necessary to know what, how and why people think the way they do. Most people who oppose Trump want nothing to do with people who support him. But, like it or not, America voted for him. It is the obligation of Trump opponents to know why this is and find a way to give them a better choice in 2020.
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