Five Jewish facts you need to know about the final week of the US presidential race
With just days until Americans go to the polls, Nathaniel Frum casts an eye over the race for the White House
With the American election now only days away, news about the election is flooding our airwaves. Stories are coming frequently and fast. Too fast for many to keep track of. From the past week, here are five stories from last week that American Jewish voters should be paying attention to:
1 – In perhaps the most stunning revelation of the election cycle, The Atlantic reported last week that President Trump said during a private conversation while he was in office that he needed generals like Adolf Hitler’s.
John Kelly, the Trump Administration’s longest-serving chief of staff, confirmed that the former president made statements professing his admiration for Adolf Hiter saying the Nazi leader “did some good things.”
Author Department of Homeland Security)
Kelly joins former Vice President Mike Pence, former National security advisor John Bolton, former Defense secretaries Jim Mattis and Mark Esper, former National Security advisor H.R. McMaster, and former Director of National Intelligence Dan Coats in doubting the former president’s fitness for office. This comes on the tails of warnings from former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Mark A. Miley, the nation’s highest-ranking military officer, that Donald Trump is “fascist to the core” and “the most dangerous person to this country”.
When asked about the comments at a CNN town hall, Vice President Kamala Harris said that she believes the former President “is a fascist” and that Kelly’s comments were a “911 call to the American people”. Former President Obama mocked Trump’s comments at a rally in Georgia saying it is a “good rule of thumb” in politics to not praise Hitler.
Former President Trump and fellow Republicans have denied the comments. Senator JD Vance, Donald Trump’s running mate who once compared the former president to Hitler, claimed the stories were not true in a tense exchange with Jake Tapper. Senator Marco Rubio, who in 2018 claimed to be a “huge John Kelly fan”, claimed on Fox News that both John Kelly and Miley are lying.
2 – A Republican Political Action Committee is targeting Muslim voters in Michigan and Jewish voters in Pennsylvania.
In Michigan areas with sizable Muslim communities, the Super PAC portrays Harris as a strong ally of Israel, implying she is strongly influenced by her Jewish husband, Doug Emhoff. Meanwhile, in parts of Pennsylvania with significant Jewish populations, the ads describe Harris as antisemitic, claiming she supports Hamas terrorists.
The campaign is part of a Republican effort to turn support from key Jewish and Muslim voters from Vice President Harris to former President Trump. The attacks seem to be working, at least a little. At a Michigan rally last week, several Muslim leaders endorsed the former President, claiming he wants “peace, not war”.
The super pac, which has ties to Elon Musk and tied to Mitch Mcconnell, has been airing digital ads in the key swing states.
3 – During Former President Trump’s rally at Madison Square Garden, comedian Tony Hinchcliffe made a joke about the Israel-Gaza conflict that some are claiming to be antisemitic. Hinchcliffe joked that: “When it comes to Israel and Palestine, we’re all thinking the same thing: Settle your stuff already. Best out of three: rock, paper, scissors. You know Palestinians will throw rock every time. And also we know Jews have a hard time throwing that paper.”
Other speakers at the event accused Democrats of Jew Hatred and parroted Nazi talking points.The ADL has already condemned the event, issuing a statement on X:
“Political rallies should be about politics and policy, not offensive jokes that denigrate Jews, Palestinians, Puerto Ricans, and other marginalized groups. In a moment when hate has surged and when tensions are high, there’s no place for bigotry or intolerance on the campaign trail, full stop. We expect more and hope for better in these last days before the election.”
While Former President Trump’s campaign claimed they had no knowledge in advance of Hinchcliffe’s comments, the Bulwark is reporting that according to four different Trump campaign sources the Trump campaign approved of the remarks by Tony Hinchcliffe.
4) In a town hall with CNN (which occurred in place of the debate former President Trump withdrew from), Vice President Harris addressed the Israel-Gaza war.
As the candidate continues to try to thread a needle of appeasing the far left wing of her party, along with winning over Jewish voters, her answer left many unsatisfied. Harris claimed that Singer’s death provides “an opportunity to end this war, bring the hostages home, bring relief to the Palestinian people and work toward a two-state solution.”
Many on both sides of the issue found the answer to be underwhelming. Before the event started, it became clear that the Vice President would be pushed on the issue as more than 100 protesters gathered in front of the Philadelphia Democrats headquarters in Philadelphia, demanding Harris commit to an arms embargo to Israel.
Harris’ comments at the town hall, which took place just outside of Philadelphia, did little to reassure those protestors or the large number of Jews who reside in the key swing state of Pennsylvania. When pressed on the issue of losing voters because of the Biden’s administration’s stance on the war by CNN’s Anderson Cooper, Harris responded: “Listen, I am not going to deny the strong feelings that people have. I don’t know anyone who has seen the images who would not have strong feelings about what has happened, much less those who have relatives who have died and been killed”
At the event, the Vice President also was asked a question about the rise of antisemitism on American college campuses. Harris acknowledged the troubling trend and stated that those who commit crimes on behalf of antisemitism must “pay a serious consequence”.
Harris’ full comments on the conflict can be found here:
5 – Former President Trump revealed that he has been privately speaking with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu leading to speculation that the Israeli PM wants the Former President to win in November. Trump has said publicly that the two have spoken at least twice this month.
The former President allegedly told the Israeli Prime Minister to “do what you have to do” in Gaza.
While Vice President Harris claims that she is not worried by the talks, many believe the Israeli PM is hoping for a Republican victory in November. “One of Netanyahu’s milestones is the US election. He is praying for a Trump victory, which he thinks will give him a lot of freedom of movement, which will let him do what he aspires,” Gidon Rahat, political science professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, told AFP.
- Nathaniel Frum is a US-based freelance journalist
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