Caught in the middle — emojis and the Jews

Emojis don’t say it all, but they are concise and to the point. If I asked you for a descriptive emoji of New York’s new mayor, Mamdani, it would in all probability be a round smiling face. He has mastered the art of the persuasive smile, an attribute that certainly helped him to get elected. After all, it wasn’t his experience. And it certainly wasn’t the wide umbrella under which he embraced all New Yorkers. I know of at least one very large group where a significant number of voters had, and continue to have, increasing doubts. But that warm smile, sincere or otherwise, is powerful, and we, and the mayor, all know that more people are attracted by honey than vinegar.

Why focus on their mayor when most of us are not New Yorkers? Simply because he’s emblematic of the problems we Jews will have in upcoming elections, elections in which we have no good options. Will we stand to the left, in support of Mamdani-like candidates, or will we stand to the right to perpetuate the Trump regime?

I had a friend a long time ago whose winning smile was his personal logo. No matter what he needed to say, he said it with a smile, a smile that sometimes softened a blow and other times warmed a friendly conversation. No matter what the circumstance, that smile was present, providing comfort, solace, or affection. I never, in many years, witnessed him frown or even become overtly angry. Mamdani follows a similar path to winning friends and supporters. It is a masterful technique, and we all saw its effectiveness in the recent election.

Mamdani delivered an eloquent inaugural speech, filled with references to the city’s diversity, including its Jews. He is an articulate and slick orator. It’s difficult to think he’s insincere.

Yet on day one of his mayoralty, he sought to quickly anger many Jews as he approached our issues by negating rules against BDS and antisemitism. Even in today’s times, when some Jews have felt themselves licensed to criticize Israel, serving as their own worst critics, the sting of official government policy steering in that direction is painful.

And Mamdani’s close partnership with AOC and Bernie Sanders, and others of their ilk, adds to our disconnect from the new administration.

As a proud Jersey girl, I was not eligible to vote in the NYC election. But if I had been, I would not have voted for the broad smiling candidate. Although none of the other would-be mayors had much appeal, I would have chosen amongst them, as difficult as that decision would have been. So far, only a very few days into his term, I am convinced that he may seriously fail Jewish New Yorkers. I hope to be wrong.

But there’s another emoji. It features a mane of bleached blonde hair above a frowning face, an angry look, and a vicious soul. This is the face of our president, a lawless paranoid who is also contaminated by his many relationships with antisemites. Too many Jews are threatened by his abject thirst for power at any price. This man is destroying our country as well as threatening numerous other nations, even beyond Venezuela. Greenland. Canada. Colombia. Cuba. He suffers unquestionably from megalomania.

Start by noticing the little things. Who among us would, with no oversight or approval, destroy a portion of the White House, the East Wing, to satisfy a whim, at tremendous cost, to create a ballroom? One day this enormous piece of a historic structure was standing. The next it was not.

And do you favor the vanity he has overseen at institutions like the Kennedy Center? It has become the Trump Kennedy Center to satisfy his oversized, albeit uncultured, ego. Soon there will be many more Trump-designated buildings with impressive titles. Selfaggrandizement is his legacy.

One wonders if the need to overthrow Maduro in Venezuela is a result of his looking into a mirror and viewing his own reflection, a dictator recognizing another dictator.

And now we are at war with Venezuela. How is it possible that we are giving advice and counsel to Russia, urging it to lay down its arms in Ukraine, when we have, without any requisite congressional approval, attacked another country and whisked their government’s highest official away to an American prison? Doubtless none of us are fans of Maduro, but what gives Trump the right for this outrageous attack on an independent country? The answer is simply nothing.

There is no precedent for the Trump government. It trivializes Watergate, which seems like amateur hour by comparison. With this administration we have abandoned our democratic principles and now sink into the mud of anarchy, gross criminality, incredible dishonesty, and disgrace. Their latest pursuit is an attempt to punish a great American hero from West Orange, Mark Kelly. More is coming on this, but to call it a travesty is to dramatically understate. Our town has been proud enough of the Kellys to name a school a few blocks away from our home in their honor. Our pride is unabated and undebated.

So here’s the problem: when there are enemies at both gates, from the Left and from the Right, where do we find justice and tranquility? Can this really be our America?

Rosanne Skopp of West Orange is a wife, mother of four, grandmother of 14, and great-grandmother of nine. She is a graduate of Rutgers University and a dual citizen of the United States and Israel. She is a lifelong blogger, writing blogs before anyone knew what a blog was! She welcomes email at rosanne.skopp@gmail.com

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