President Trump and Jewish support

The contention that President Trump’s support for Israel and his actions against antisemitism eclipse all other considerations is dangerous.

This contention, in favor of Trump, has been ardently asserted as the mantra of his Jewish supporters. It presupposes that his actions relating to Israel and antisemitism are beneficial. Even if the conclusion is accurate, it is worthless if the policies lack reliability, durability, and credibility. Those elements are notoriously absent in any policy of a man who appears to be afflicted with an incurable scruples disorder.

There is no need and insufficient space to detail Donald Trump’s scandal- ridden life. It is a challenge to prioritize his uncivilized conduct, his indecent threats, and his inhumanity. It is appalling that supporters of Israel applaud a man who has repeatedly used Nazi terminology to describe illegal immigrants. “Vermin,” those “who poison our blood,” and an unending string of dehumanizing epithets have punctuated his characterizations of others. He has captured the darkest parts of human nature, which find magnetic attractiveness in the vulgarity of hate and fear. It is difficult to fathom that there are segments of the Jewish people whose memories of our past are so faint that they do not shudder at the use of the same words uttered about Jews that led to a catastrophe that will forever stain human history.

Donald Trump has paraded his incivility. He has trumpeted his inhumanity. His motivations are unconcealed. His Cabinet appointments provide distressing guidance. They include people who have admitted to or been credibly charged with being drug abusers, predatory sexual molesters, rabid conspiracists, racists, drunks, white nationalists, nativists, and if Matt Gaetz had not withdrawn, a rapist. Other than sharing frightful inexperience for their posts, they each possess one unifying trait. Unfettered loyalty to Donald Trump would appear to be the sole prerequisite to a position of power with Donald Trump. Subservience to Donald Trump is paramount to all else. No voice of personal conviction dare be heard, no dissent ever uttered, no inhumanity protested, no vice exposed, no indecency challenged. Fealty to Trump supersedes fidelity to ethics. The only voices in this new administration are those of worshipful power seekers.

President Trump’s fidelity to principles is as secure as his unprincipled reverence of fascists and dictators of every stripe. His relationships with friend and foe blossom or disintegrate as his power finds most fitting. His narcissistic imbalance and his quest for unbridled power have defined his life. The triumph of Donald Trump’s demagoguery is foundational to the new governmental hierarchy of values.

A deformed character cannot provide reliable policy. To rely on a different outcome defies rationality and violates nature.

As Americans our support, or our silence, regarding Trump’s incivilities converts our patriotism into an unsavory invitation for the expansion of his personal tyranny. As Jews and as human beings we should be appalled that the lessons of history are learned by the dictators and forgotten by the victims. President Trump’s unchallenged lurch to totalitarianism has converted well-intentioned supporters into moral eunuchs. His crude invective has made moral depravity a discernible character trait of our nation.

It is impossible to find comfort in the momentary support of Israel by an unprincipled autocrat. Sacrificing posterity for the salve of transient support is foolish. Segregating the impact of Trump’s genuflection to Putin in Ukraine from his support for Israel is incomprehensible. Divorcing the hatred he has disseminated regarding the press, his perceived enemies, and the LGBTQ community (most venally the transgender community) from his actions against antisemitism is a mockery. Distinguishing between his celebration of the now pardoned felons of the January 6th insurrection, which we all witnessed, and his determination to secure our campuses from antisemitism is cynical.

The policies of a heartless demagogue cannot be virtuous. A rancid vine cannot produce healthy fruit. Policies designed by hate, self-interest, and retribution are ruthless. They are also rootless. Fidelity to any policy of a man whose life is checkered with infidelity is folly.

President Trump’s chaotic string of decisions have disrupted our capacity to assess the graver damage being inflicted. The tariffs, the shutdowns, the cutbacks will yield their results, either positive or negative, and policies will change. However, the dismantling of constitutional order, the corruption of judicial power, the empowerment of oligarchs, and the conflicts of interest inherent in every unregulated decision have destroyed the foundational balance of power critical to the functioning of a tripartite system of checks and balances. Historically, freedoms are rarely retrieved once they are lost. Respect is rarely regained once it is squandered. Subservience to a corrupt con man is fatal to democracy.

Those who trivialize the threats of President Trump to democratic freedoms and those who endorse his erratic policies in order to elevate the perceived benefits to Israel may one day be faced with the trivializing of Jewish concerns. Such is human nature. Such is our history.

The devaluation of cherished freedoms, the retreat from worldwide responsibility and alliances, and the rise of authoritarianism in America damage Israel’s hopes for a secure future. The collapse of American reliability and the deterioration of democratic norms are profoundly detrimental to Israel. America is a country increasingly recognized for its submissiveness to the wicked instincts of a despot. The false sunlight in which many still rejoice is darkened by the gratuitous hatred that has been injected into our society by a mean-spirited autocrat.

The danger is clear and present. The future of Israel, the future of America, and the continuing luster of Jewish ethics are in danger. This is not a slippery slope. This is a cataclysmic fault line that undermines the freedoms that have enabled a majestic Jewish presence in America. May God spare us.

Jack Nelson is a longtime resident of Bergen County. For many years he practiced law in New York; now he is a business executive.

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