You have to hand it to Democrats: They sure know how to throw a party—for Republicans. All those rockin’ red-state and MAGA-capped Americans were the life of their own party in Milwaukee at their national convention.
In four measly years, Democrats managed to alienate moderates and help transform Republican politics—formerly the province of the monied foreign policy establishment—into the party of the common man.
It has been an epic collapse, a radical departure from the party’s centrist base and a gross misjudgment of what’s on the minds of most Americans.
Trump remade the Republican Party consistent with the jingoistic themes he was marketing eight years ago. He is a marketing specialist, after all. But unlike his failed businesses—like Trump University, Airlines and Vodka—his insight about the soul of America’s heartland succeeded where Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater’s similar appeal in 1964 failed disastrously. Trump placed working-class Americana, with its churches, vet centers, rusted factories, rural flatlands, country music and rodeos, at center stage.
How else could wrestler Hulk Hogan and the president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship speak to America in primetime? Right before Trump himself! Lee Greenwood and Kid Rock serenaded Republican delegates, upstaging traditional Democratic favorites like Carole King, Bruce Springsteen and Barbara Streisand.
Trump may very well regain the White House—especially given President Biden’s decision to accept the inevitable, withdrawing from the race in favor of his widely unpopular vice president, Kamala Harris. Yet, the triumphant return of Trump would never have occurred without the Biden administration endorsing infinite anti-American grievances and exhibiting smug moral superiority—a stubborn willfulness that Americans move in directions they do not wish to go.
Harris is even more representative of a cultural and political backlash that is defining this election.
We have come to learn what should have been obvious: The ruling class and coastal elites may be enamored of Hollywood celebrities, technocrats with PhDs, the patrons of opera and ballet and the drivers of electric cars. But those exotic features of American society do not align that well with the more natural zeitgeist of our country.
This contest between progressivism and populism is proving to be not much of a contest at all. Should Trump prevail, Democratic leaders should force a reckoning and take stock of how they got here.
In hindsight, was it really so important for transgender men to compete for swimming medals against women? Or to lock up January 6 rioters while BLM arsonists and looters roamed free? Or to launch all those political prosecutions against Donald Trump, accusing him of being undemocratic while trying to get states to ban him from their ballots? Or to absurdly insist that the border was secure? Or to proclaim that all America’s problems lie with racism, and that nearly everyone is a racist? Or to turn pronoun usage into a pledge of allegiance? Or to call for unity while demonizing everyone who isn’t entirely sold on Democratic dogma?
In the end, the Republican convention was a pep rally dedicated to all those who believe that America has become unlivable and revolting to anyone once proud to have been born here.
The Republican convention was not a crowd pleaser for everyone, however. It wasn’t just progressives who may have felt left out. For instance, Jews and pro-Israel supporters must have questions. As a general rule, populism, nationalism and large cheering crowds have never been a welcome sight for Jews. An anti-globalist, more isolationist agenda is not a good sign for allies who depend on America’s support—moral, military and financial. America First is one thing; a solitary America that does not stand in solidarity with longstanding partners in fostering democratic stability is something else altogether.
There is no guarantee that Israel’s security, or, for that matter, the protection of American Jews from marauding Muslims will be much of a priority for a Trump administration. Yes, of course I remember the first Trump administration with its Abraham Accords and endless beneficence toward Israel. But that administration looked a lot more like the neo-conservativism of the Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush years—which was intellectually rich with pro-democracy, pro-Israel Jews and others who believed in American exceptionalism and global leadership.
As a senator, J.D. Vance has said all the right things about Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza. In his speech accepting the nomination as vice-president, however, he spoke about America’s senseless involvement in foreign wars and delivery of military aid when beset with so many domestic problems of its own. The delegates lapped up anecdotes about his Mamaw. He knew his audience, a crowd familiar with God-fearing women with profane mouths and households accessorized with firearms.
This crowd was not especially predisposed to Jewish cosmopolitans with their bubbies and books and more agnostic view of the Second Amendment. Were any Jewish grandmothers in Milwaukee at the convention? I imagine they spent the night fidgeting.
Jewish hillbillies, anyone: please call home.
The first Trump presidency was packed with staunch pro-Israel advisers and Abraham Accords architects such as Ivanka Trump, Jared Kushner, Jason Greenblatt and Avi Berkowitz. Nikki Haley was U.N. Ambassador. Steve Mnuchin was Treasury Secretary. David Friedman was the Israel ambassador.
Are any of them coming back? I’d feel a lot better had President Trump selected Haley, Sens. Marco Rubio and Tim Scott, or Rep. Elise Stefanik as his running mate. Will Sens. Ted Cruz and Lindsey Graham be brought into the Cabinet?
Yes, the Israeli-American parents of Hamas hostage Omer Neutra, and Harvard student Shabbos Kestenbaum spoke movingly at the convention about returning the hostages and responding to campus antisemitism. There was a “Bring Them Home!” moment, but it was relatively short-lived and tepid given the boisterousness of the night.
More importantly, neither Vance nor Trump addressed the Israeli-American hostage situation, or the war itself, at all. Trump only said that Hamas would never have massacred Israelis on his watch. That may be true, in part because his Iran sanctions would have bankrupted Hamas’s benefactor. But how will Trump distinguish himself now that Israel is at war, the hostages have spent nine months in captivity, Iran is nearing a nuclear weapon and the world, along with American progressives, keep calling for a ceasefire in Gaza?
On the other hand, with Kamala Harris in the Oval Office, hostility toward Israel, and the disregard of domestic antisemitism, would be unlike anything we have yet seen.
Republicans are no longer the party of neocons and Wall Street financiers. The era of liberal Republicans like Gov. Nelson Rockefeller, and Sens. Jacob Javits and John McCain, is gone.
This is the era where Hulk Hogan will likely tear off his tuxedo at some future Kennedy Center cultural event. That’s not a very Jewish thing to do at all.
Originally published by the Jewish Journal.
