On June 26, 1963, John F. Kennedy stood in front of the Berlin Wall and declared, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” The message was simple. All freedom loving people across the globe must stand with residents of West Berlin in their struggle to remain independent and free while surrounded by territory dominated by the Soviet Union.
The title of today’s post goes many steps further. Like many of you, I am outraged by the lies and disinformation spewed by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance to demonize immigrants who were recruited to work in Springfield, Ohio and are legally there under the Temporary Protected Status provisions of existing immigration law. But it is more than sympathy. It is brotherhood. Why? Because just as Donald Trump, during the September 10 debate, put a target on the backs of Haitian by falsely accusing them of inhumane acts, he did the same thing to Jewish-Americans during a speech at an event ironically advertised to stem the rising tide of anti-Semitism in the United States.
Trump pulled one of the oldest tricks in the book from his MAGA hat. If there is anything you do not like, blame the Jews. On September 20, at the Israeli-American Council National Summit, Trump told the largely Jewish audience:
If I don’t win this election – and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens because if 40%, I mean, 60% of the people are voting for the enemy – Israel, in my opinion, will cease to exist within two years.
Let’s start with the facts. Of the 15,590 respondents who made up the exit poll sample during the 2020 presidential election, only two percent identified as Jewish, a subset so small the consortium of news organizations which conducts the poll did not provide a Trump versus Biden breakdown. They explained this with the following footnote.
Subgroups indicated with an n/a were interviewed for this exit poll, but the sample size may be too small for estimates within those groups to be projectable with confidence to their true values in the population.
More importantly, only two of the six swing states Trump lost in 2020 have a Jewish population higher than the national average of 2.4 percent, Pennsylvania (3.3) and Nevada (2.6). The other four are Arizona (1.7), Georgia (1.3), Michigan (0.9) and Wisconsin (0.6).
Dr. ESP, why today? Wasn’t the death of 11 people at the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh already evidence enough that Jews were targets of MAGA anger? Yes, but this was different. The shooter in that case Robert Gregory Bowers acted because he believed the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, a Jewish-based non-profit “likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by and watch my people get slaughtered.” (Source: Bowers post on social network GAB) His anger was directed at what a Jewish organization did, not who they necessarily were.
Trump makes no such distinction. He claims Jews do not appreciate everything he has done for them. And ironically draws on the two most insidious tropes that fuel anti-Semitism. One, Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States. Two, Jews are greedy, money-grabbers who would put personal wealth above democracy and the national interest. He believes the role model for all Jewish voters is his son-in-law Jared Kushner.
That is who Donald Trump believes I should be. And if he loses in November, it is my fault. I am the enemy. And though I cannot be picked out of a crowd by the color of my skin, I wonder if Governor Ron DeSantis, who already is sending his “election police” to the homes of Floridians who signed the petition to put abortion on the November ballot, is also taking names of homeowners who have a Harris/Walz sign in their yard and a mezuzah on the doorpost of their homes.
So today, not only am I a Haitian immigrant in Springfield, Ohio. I am a Mexican-American shopping at a Walmart in El Paso. I am a Black-American at Bible study at a church in Charleston, South Carolina. And I am Amber Nicole Thurman and everyone else who is now a target of Donald Trump’s hatred, lies and lack of empathy. Not because I am a Jew who is now on his “enemies list.” Rather, as a Jew who was brought up in a tradition of “tikkum olam,” the responsibility of all Jews to repair the world, not just for ourselves, but for all humanity.
For what it’s worth.
Dr. ESP