Letters
Why not to vote for Trump
According to one of your recent writers to the editor, I may possibly be suffering from “Trump Derangement Syndrome.”
I’d like to advise your reader that it’s not a syndrome and it’s not me who’s deranged.
I will not vote FOR Trump merely because of his positions on Israel and because he made a gesture by moving our embassy to Jerusalem.
I will oppose Trump because:
He spread the big lie of a stolen election, which helped undermine people’s faith in the electoral process.
He betrayed his oath to the Constitution on January 6.
He pressured his VP not to do his constitutional duty on January 6.
He pressured Georgia’s secretary of state to alter the vote count and find him 12,000 votes.
He stood by on January 6 while his supporters stormed and looted the capital in an attempt to overturn the results of lawful election.
He is a convicted felon and abuser of women.
He is showing signs of diminished mental acuity.
He would permit the Heritage Foundation to name as many as two more SCOTUS judges.
He would support Project 2025, which would forever change this country.
He represents an existential threat to the survival of this republic as we know it.
Richard L. Ehrenberg
Haworth
Trump left office peacefully and I’m voting for him
Mr. Kaplan (A response and a reply) clearly has a romanticized TV and movie view of how a President should act in public. Most, if not all, Presidents are deeply flawed individuals if you delve into their personal lives. Personally, I would not want my children emulating how JFK, LBJ or Clinton acted when the cameras were not running. Wilson was a racist of the worst kind, Obama knowingly lied, “If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor” and destroyed millions of Americans’ healthcare. Despite their flaws, some were effective Presidents.
Trump left office peacefully, contrary to Mr. Kaplan’s assertions, and told the crowd on January 6th to “peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.” A tiny minority of the large crowd that day became violent, and those that did were convicted and sentenced. Apparently, only Democrats have the right to contest elections, as they did in 2000, 2004 and 2016. Trump, despite his imperfections, is no dictator. I am unaware of any leader in the history of the world who was elected, left office voluntarily and in his 2nd term became a dictator. Dictators seize power the first opportunity they get.
It is also rich to accuse Trump of potentially weaponizing the Justice Department when he and his associates have been hounded by lawfare for years. Name one associate of a Democrat President who was jailed for contempt of Congress in the last 50 years, as has been done to Republicans?
For me, the Democrat party that wants to upend 220 years of American law and tradition by killing the electoral college, packing the Supreme Court and eliminating the filibuster is far and away the greatest threat to our Republic. Democrats have promised to add two new states (Washington DC and Puerto Rico) and continue the importation of new voters to ensure permanent rule. Republicans have no comparable democracy-ending plan. One party rule will only benefit Democrat party apparatchiks. If Trump-hate did not cloud Mr. Kaplan’s thinking, he would recognize the real threat to democracy.
Michael Milchen
New Milford
More reasons not to vote for Trump
Most of the opinions expressed in the Jewish Standard supporting Donald Trump relate to Israel as the controlling factor in the decision-making process.
It is difficult for me to conceive of any choice for president being made without applying any other criteria. At a minimum it should be acknowledged that there exist — at least in theory — odious actions or attributes of a candidate that should not be obscured in making such a decision. There is no need to explore the outer limits of evil or incivility which should crush any other considerations.
Any appreciation of the breadth and expansiveness of Halacha (Jewish law) would recognize that there must be a Jewish ethic that should govern our political decisions. The elements of this Jewish political ethic can be amorphous or uncomfortably ambiguous. Are decency, honesty or compassion considerations for political choices, or are these characteristics merely fragrances which distract from more core considerations? If it is an ethical imperative to vote on only one issue — support for Israel — notwithstanding any other countervailing threat, would we expect (or encourage) those with other priorities to do the same, regardless of how it impacts Israel?
For myself, there does exist a tangible barometer to measure the limits of Jewish ethical pliability. If intellectual honesty commends a conclusion that Donald Trump participated, instigated or prolonged a coup against the transition of power to the duly elected president in 2020, then such criminal conduct should have altered any political support of Trump. Prospectively, the question that any Trump supporter should confront is whether Trump’s success in overturning (by illegal or unconstitutional means) the potential election of Harris next week would alter their support for Trump’s unlawful presidency? Do the unlawful means justify the ends so long as Israel is the beneficiary? Would there be objection if Harris illegally blocked the rightful transfer of power to Trump? Are ethical standards malleable only if it benefits Trump? Would Trump’s unlawful ascension to the presidency be subsumed by his purported support for Israel?
It will soon be known who succeeds President Biden. I remain supremely confident that Harris will concede defeat if she loses, and I am supremely confident that Trump will not concede or accept the outcome unless he is victorious.
I harbor concerns regarding Kamala Harris. Nonetheless, it would be objectively contemptible to support a man who has repeatedly employed unlawful mechanisms in his political and personal life to achieve his ends. Business abuses, financial fraud, sexual assault and depravity, racial hatred, vengefulness and his reprehensible conduct on January 6th all militate in support of an ethic that mandates his rejection.
The notion that Jews — as an expression of support for Israel — endorse a man who has repeatedly and unabashedly exhibited a penchant for wickedness and fraudulent conduct, should be a longlasting stain on our religious conscience.
Sadly, regardless of the political outcome, the rhetoric of this campaign has tarnished our discourse, soiled our political dignity, and darkened the horizons of our ethical imagination.
Jack Nelson
Fort Lee
More reasons to vote for Trump and make our country great again
Thank you for publishing my letter a couple of weeks ago in support of President Trump. However, it was disturbing and at the same time amusing when I received a two page letter addressed to me at my HOME telling me I was wrong, that I was probably being paid to write what I did, and outlining how great Kamala is and why I should vote for her.
The writer did not include any name or contact info because I would love to ask her if Kamala is so great why did the Teamsters refuse to endorse her? The last time they refused to endorse a democratic candidate for President was 28 years ago! Why did the Washington Post and LA Times refuse to endorse her?
If Kamala is so great, why did the Washington Post Opinion editors write “For the Country’s Sake, Vice President Harris Should Step Aside” ( March 15, 2024) or New York Magazine : “The Case For Biden To Drop Kamala Harris” (September 13. 2023). Or Slate: “If Biden Runs Again, He Should Pick a New VP” (November 20, 2022).
The Jewish Standard editors were also astute enough to include a special note directly under my letter stating I was spreading lies. I challenge you to show me those lies. But please address them to this paper and not my home!
Our great country has been derailed by the liberal left wing of the Democratic party. We are no longer at the top or near the top in any of the measurable world standards whether it be longevity, infant mortality, literacy, math scores, happiness, internet access etc. Chronic disease among our children is up and cancer rates for young adults are on the rise. It’s down to wire and time to go out and vote. Let’s make our country great again!
Sam Rappaport
Teaneck
This is in response to Daniel Radin’s piece, “Jews and the Progressive Left,” in the October 18th edition:
Dr. Radin makes some very good points in his essay about the lack of nuance that many on the left have about Israel and the Middle East. However, he also mischaracterizes Ta-Nehisi Coates’ views on the conflict, claiming that Coates “believes Palestinians are the ultimate oppressed class, and with that label comes the permission to do whatever it is that they want to their Israeli oppressors — the Nazi-like nature of October 7 be damned.”
It seems like Dr. Radin has just read other people’s commentary on Coates, rather than taking the time to watch any interview where Coates actually explains his new book, such as his interview with Trevor Noah. Coates actually has some of the most nuanced views than any other writer on the left about this. In the interview, Coates talks about his “horror at October 7th,” and he writes at length about the history of anti-Semitism/Jew-hatred leading up to the Holocaust in his book. You can argue with Coates whether or not Israel oppresses Palestinians, whether it’s not colonialism, but he absolutely does not believe that it justifies October 7th. And just because he has a chapter in his book about the Middle East doesn’t mean he thinks that Palestinians are the ultimate oppressed class, or that Jews/Israelis are the ultimate oppressor class; he has written plenty of times throughout his career about other cases that he views as oppression, not only Palestinians or black Americans.
Centrists like Dr. Radin must be careful not to fall into the same traps of absolutism and inaccuracies that people on the far left and far right fall into.
Isaac Berman
Ho-Ho-Kus
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