Some critics noted empty seats at American Airlines Center in Dallas this week and inferred that Republicans couldn’t draw sufficient interest for their first-of-a-kind midterm convention.
Leora Levy, a longtime party activist, was among those who stayed away, but it wasn’t for lack of interest. The Orthodox Jewish grandmother needed to cook dinner for Rosh Hashanah, which begins on Sept. 11 at night, and a convention that ended the prior night didn’t afford her ample time to prepare for the High Holidays.
The former Connecticut member of the Republican National Committee drew U.S. President Donald Trump’s endorsement when she ran, unsuccessfully, for a Senate seat. She told JNS from her home, in the northeastern part of the country, that she understands why the party focused so little on Israel and the Iran war during the two-day Texas gathering.
“I understand the political calculation,” she said. “I think that leadership matters, and no matter what issue the president is dealing with, he is leading, and I think he needs to separate his leadership on the war from any domestic politics.”
Trump mentioned the war several times in his primetime address on Wednesday, but all of the other speakers avoided the issue and focused on taxes, immigration and culture.
Iran is “an issue that will affect our country for many generations to come,” Levy told JNS. “It’s very important for our safety that he takes the lead on this issue and that he makes those decisions on Iran completely separate from the domestic political scene and that he makes those domestic political decisions based on their merit.”
Despite the economic impact of the war and its lack of national popularity, Levy thinks Trump’s oil and energy policies are cushioning the blow enough that consumers feel sufficiently confident about the economic situation to keep spending up.
“They’re still not cutting back on other things at this point,” she said. “The goal is to reduce oil prices. With what President Trump has done in Venezuela, what he’s done to boost our domestic production, and his policies are also sort of pulling the rug out from OPEC, and they’re not running the show with oil pricing anymore.”
Born in Cuba, Levy was a child when her family fled Fidel Castro’s communist regime.
She told JNS that “this combination, the Red-Green Alliance, the communists, the Democratic Socialists of America and the Islamists” needs to be defeated in November, not only on moral grounds but also economic ones.
“We’re all dealing with the high cost of living. That’s not easy for anybody,” Levy said.
Some are pressing the administration to talk less about the Iran war, but she made the case that it might be best if people understand why higher costs are necessary.
“I think the American people realize what a threat Iran is, not only to our ally Israel but to our European allies,” she told JNS. “Even though many don’t realize it quite yet, they’re a threat directly to America.”
“They’re not just after Israel,” Levy said. “They’re after us.”
