Given the current climate of antisemitism, I don’t want to dismiss anyone’s valid concerns, but the anonymous article entitled “As a Lifelong Democrat, It Pains Me to Say This” (September 12, 2024) seems quite over the top. Besides the incongruity of someone writing, essentially, “Trust me, because I’m one of you,” and then withholding their identity, the article is full of anecdotes that are blown up into major sociological judgments.
For example, the author cites an article by Joshua Hoffman about Jews being systematically excluded from leadership positions. The data? It turns out that this is a single person’s observation from his own experience. To make sweeping statements about a national “purge of Jews,” I think the author needs to provide a lot more than a few anecdotes.
It seems like this article is principally intended to induce fear and doubt among Jewish Democrats so as to suppress the Jewish vote. It is rather disingenuous to say, “at least don’t vote for Harris,” when this would obviously directly benefit Trump, or rather “that man,” as the author calls him in disgust.
With regard to “that man,” I suspect most Jewish Democrats will remain unconvinced that the situation for Jews or anyone else in this country can be improved by electing a person of atrocious personal character, who has no respect for the law, who has no ability to critically evaluate information, who never met a conspiracy theory he didn’t like, who approvingly reposts the ramblings of racists and nationalists, who feels completely at home riffing on stereotypes of Jews and money or dual loyalty, who explicitly said that Jews “voted to destroy America” and should be blamed if he loses the election, and whose governing philosophy is “flattery will get you everywhere.”
For those who want a government driven by conspiracy theory, confabulation, resentment, sycophancy and grift, Trump is clearly “that man.” For those who want something else, it’s Harris.
