Scott Prosterman
Informed Comment / November 22, 2024
Oakland, Ca. – A small coterie of wealthy Jewish Americans are perversely giddy and glowing over convicted criminal Donald Trump’s election. In contrast, American Jews in less wealthy income groups overwhelmingly voted against the orange authoritarian. Still, he garnered about a fifth of the Jewish vote. How did he con millions of Jewish people into voting against their own interests after his numerous expressions of anti-Semitism? It was, perhaps, by repeatedly insisting, “ … that Israel’s survival depends on his election.” While 79% of American Jews voted against Trump because of his draconian agenda of a White Nationalist Christian Fascist-Theocracy (yes, all that!), many observant Orthodox Jews bought the transparent con because they are one-issue voters.
They bought it because he said of Kamala Harris, “If she’s president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now, …” They didn’t consider the source, and his brazen history of pathological lies. It was a simplification they wanted to believe, because many of them are not deep thinkers, despite their vast wealth and accomplishment. Not all bright people are willing to mine past what they already know, especially those who earn or inherit financial security early in life. Some “conservative” Jewish leaders were insulted by the notion that Israel’s survival depended on one man. But they supported him because of his mythical “pro-Israel record.” But while Presidents Carter, Clinton and Obama restrained Bibi’s worst instincts, Trump promoted them.
Trump is tapping super-wealthy Jews to staff some of his cabinet and agency positions, but also to provide cover for his deeply un-Jewish agenda. His supporting cast of enabling Jews have entered the “grey zone” as defined by Philosopher Primo Levi, which “blurred the lines between collaborator, perpetrator and victim.” The wealthy Jews invested in Trump are more concerned about using Trump to grow their fortunes, than safeguarding Democracy or Judaism in America. They embrace the Evangelical “love” for Israel, ignoring the fundamentalist Christians’ apocalyptic vision of a world without Jews.
They are high-class, willing stooges, enabling an anti-Semitic president, contributing to the moral decline of American Judaism, and abetting the eventual deportations and punishment of minorities other than themselves. Forget about the Biblical commandments to “welcome the stranger into the tent.” (Leviticus 19:33-34, Deuteronomy 10:18-19, Deuteronomy 24:19-22). This group is about erecting barriers and fences around the country club estate.
The most prominent Jewish members of Trump’s close advisers include:
-Miriam Adelson, widow of Sheldon, who continues his legacy, of having financed numerous illegal settlements, and founded Yisrael Hayom, a sensational daily newspaper with even less credibility than Fox News. As with Elon Musk, she contributed $100M to Trump’s campaign, a move made possible by the notorious SCOTUS Citizens United decision in 2010.
-Lee Zeldin served as a New York Congressional Representative from 2015-2022, and voted against almost every environmental regulation before Congress. He is Trump’s choice to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, portending an even greater hostility toward any environmental agenda than Ronald Reagan anti-environment EPA head, Ann Gorsuch Burford; mother of SCOTUS Associate Neal Gorsuch.
-Daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner, author of the disastrous Abraham Accords will return in an advisory capacity. “Kushner runs a multi-billion dollar investment firm tied to Arab states in the Gulf, raising ethical concerns about overlapping with government affairs,” as noted in The Times of Israel.
– Former US-Israeli Ambassador David Friedman remains part of Trump’s inner circle despite his objections to Trump’s embrace of anti-Semitic figures such as Kanye West and Nick Fuentes. Friedman is still pushing hard for a total annexation of all occupied Palestinian territories, and is delighted with Trump’s selection of Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel, who will promote the same agenda.
-Steve Witkoff is Trump’s new Middle East envoy, despite having no diplomatic experience. His qualifications? He’s a golf buddy and made a sycophantic speech at the Republican convention.
-Howard Lutnik is being considered for Secretary of Treasury, though he has no government experience, yet has been tapped to chair Trump’s transition team. A billionaire and finance chair of the Cantor-Fitzgerald investment firm, Lutnik literally ran interference for Trump when visited the gravesite of Hasidic Rabbi Menachem Schneerson, which evokes memories of when Trump’s presence was a desecration of the Western Wall of the 2nd Temple (Wailing Wall.)
-Stephen Miller, author of the diabolical family separation policy at the Mexican border, and ban on travellers from Islamic countries, is the new Deputy Chief-of-Staff. He was a prominent speaker at Trump’s Nazi rally at Madison Square Garden last month, and founded the America First Legal Foundation to counter the work of the ACLU. Miller is unwelcome among all 12 Tribes, but has a seat at the table in Trump’s big tent of sycophants.
Some of these figures contributed to the FC PAC, which placed the Kamala Harris pro-Israel billboards in Dearborn, MI, and the pro-Palestinian billboards in Jewish enclaves of New York and Pennsylvania. They created ads allegedly on behalf of the Harris campaign, which was a brazen legal violation, but so what? Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to entertain any form of ceasefire or truce in Gaza was a brutal form of election interference in the US, since he knew that any progress would reflect well on Biden and Harris. Now with Trump back in power, Bibi has successfully inverted the US-Israeli benefactor-client state relationship, and is comfortable dictating his agenda for Trump to follow, as Vladimir Putin does.
Each of Trump’s picks to head Cabinet and agency positions has been calculated to inflict maximum chaos, including appointing Evangelical Zionist Mike Huckabee as US Ambassador to Israel. This discussion inevitably circles back to the question of why far-right Jews so desperately embrace Evangelical Zionism, when its ultimate intent is to erase Jews from planet Earth, either by conversion or eternal damnation. But the rich Jews such as Ms. Adelson and Kushner and company ignore that pesky inconvenience. Now for the wild card:
For many, the struggle to reconcile political beliefs with our Jewish faith is complex. As we navigate the current political landscape, it is important to abide by the teachings of our sacred scrolls and faith. This means applying what we’ve learned from those sources every day; rather than mouthing prayers and rituals without one’s heart involved. It means living our Jewish values, “walking the walk,” and standing firm against today’s political forces, which seek to undermine democracy, justice, and the rights of marginalized and oppressed people. Trump’s dark vision and agenda, and the wealthy Jews enabling his cruel and dangerous policies; bring a perilous dilemma for American Jews. We must be vigilant, and resist complicity, to safeguard and act out the values that define us as a people. We often think of ourselves as special people with a special victimhood. When we become involved in a primitive gang mentality that hurts other people, we cede any “high ground” that comes along form our victimhood. Israel as a nation under Likud’s leadership has ceded that high ground. American Jews must resist the seduction by Trump and his wealthy Jewish enablers to go along. Some of America’s Jewish leaders are supporting America’s transition away from Liberal Democracy, toward Christian Nationalism with a deeply Fascist twist. We’re supposed to be better than that.
Bonus video added by Informed Comment:
Scott Prosterman is a writer and communications consultant in the San Francisco Bay Area
