Where are you, Jews?

Yes, friends, I’m at it again. Why? One reason only. I need to live with myself.

Often I write something light — but then I return to my least favorite topic. I’m right back here, calling it as I see it, and as you should too. This is not arrogance speaking. This is the voice of those far wiser and more articulate than I, those who see the dangers confronting our world today and understanding that if we wish to pass along values to our descendants, and if we wish to salvage any minuscule amount of self-respect that our nation may still have, it is incumbent on each of us to speak, loudly, clearly, and passionately.

Sometimes I receive an email from a detractor, a reader who supports our present and our president. Those writers are, not surprisingly, all Jewish. After all, they are reading my comments in Jewish newspapers. I don’t get hurt feelings from their critiques. I do get mystified. Do they not read their newspapers or watch news on television? Are they totally clueless?

Can we talk about Greenland? Never in my life did I ever imagine that I’d be writing about Greenland, although I have often noted from the window of an airplane that it is huge and seems to go on forever. But suddenly our president decided America must own Greenland, although his rapture is muted by his sometimes strange reference to it as Iceland. He has even suggested a military takeover of the peaceful and sparsely populated island, an alarming signal and an overt step towards the dissolution of NATO. If he were literate, I would suspect he has been reading world history books about imperialism and international warmongers. But he is not, so either someone, maybe Stephen Miller, is whispering in his ear, or he has no idea where such aggression can lead our nation and the world.

He made his needs and wants abundantly clear, embarrassing our entire country in the insane process. He went so far as to write and, without embarrassment, publish a post he wrote to the prime minister of Norway. Just to clarify, Greenland is a territory of Denmark, not Norway, but I suppose Trump doesn’t know that. So he sends off this missive to PM Store saying that since he, Donald, didn’t win the Nobel (he spelled it Noble) Peace Prize, even though he ended eight wars (untrue!) he would no longer pursue peace. In simpleton’s English, if you, Norway, where a small non-governmental committee decides on the annual award winner, unrelated to Greenland at all, don’t give me a prize I covet, then I will abandon movement toward world peace. Truly unprecedented and bizarre.

It seems to me that that document should eliminate his ever being awarded the peace prize, but more significantly, is this how normal people behave? Honestly, do you not find this insane?

I’ve been sitting here thinking that if there’s any way to make those comments normal, I just don’t see it. Certainly it will make the history books. Could it possibly be any less presidential or professional? Do you disagree?

So our president is a tyrant. Why then is so much of the world afraid of him? That’s something else I can’t understand, but obviously it has to do with giving power to someone immensely dangerous, hateful, and paranoid. Why and how he got this power will forever remain a mystery. If you voted for him, blame yourself. True, his second term has made him more dangerous, but the signs were visible even before he entered politics.

He’s not articulate, charming, warm, educated, or even the simplest term, nice! Who could ever previously imagine the level of vindictiveness that he harbors against any official or organization he suspects is antagonistic to him?

Ivy League universities? The press? TV and radio stations? All Democrats, especially Joe Biden? Law firms? Former members of his staff? All being attacked and sued, threatened with imprisonment and subjected to defamatory comments.

He does egregious things. Think about that ballroom at the White House and the newly anointed Trump Kennedy Center. My guess is that the Kennedy name eventually will disappear.

Remind yourselves about his cabinet appointees. Think about Robert Kennedy Jr. threatening your lives, and particularly your kids’ lives. Think about Pam and Kristi and Pete and the whole lot of those immoral and also undoubtedly terrified people, toeing the line in fear of making him angry.

We no longer have a system of checks and balances. Our Supreme Court is clearly far less than supreme. Our Congress is nothing short of pathetic Republican yes-men and -women. There are no brakes. Only fear.

And remember the billions stolen from all of us. In this land we love, no president has ever made such an incredible investment as Donald Trump in becoming president. He will walk away with billions of our dollars.

Please do not remind me about the hostages as your response. Yes indeed, I worried about them, just as much as you did. I am beyond thrilled that they have been returned. I compare Trump’s actions to a broken clock. It’s correct twice daily.

Two of our beloved grandsons fought in the war against Hamas, bravely and with deeply ingrained love for our homeland. May they and all Israel continue their lives in peace.

I would welcome responses from our doctors about vaccinations, and from our rabbis about indecent speech and immorality, and from our teachers about world history, and from our lawyers about the constant attacks against law-abiding citizens, and from all those who agree with my opinion that we are governed by a terrifying despot.

Give peace a chance!

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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