You park your car in the driveway and it is stolen overnight. That happens all too often just about everywhere. A few days later the police call to say they stopped a driver who was driving your car. They tell you that the car is in the possession of the police department and if you come down to the car pound with proof of ownership you can take the car back home.
But you tell the police, that, no, you don’t want the car; it’s best to let whomever stole it keep it. It’s only fair and it’s only right, you say. After all, if the person who took the car in the first place would have had his own car, he probably would not have had to take yours. Fair is fair. Right?
The answer is probably not, unless, of course, we are talking about the reelection of Donald Trump. As the situation continues to evolve, there are aspects of this saga that become clearer as the days pass.
And one of those outstanding realities is that Trump’s problem is not the Democrats as much as those in his own Republican Party. It’s akin to what King David said in Psalm 41 — that it is not his enemies whom he is afraid of; from them, he says, he knows he has to hide. Rather, it is his friends whom he has to watch out for. “Even my own close friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread, has lifted up his heel against me.”
News anchor Chris Salcedo on Newsmax asked over the weekend, “All you Democrat Jews, what’s the matter with you? You back a political party that is the home of antisemitism in the U.S., a party that tried to serve up Israel as a sacrificial lamb to the likes of the Ayatollah Khamenei … ” And so on.
If nothing stunning or sensational happens on the level of the Supreme Court over the next few days, it will not be because of quisling types like Chuck Schumer or Nancy Pelosi or even our very own Andrew Cuomo and Bill de Blasio. Sadly, it looks like if Trump goes down and ultimately comes to grips with a loss, it will be because of folks like Attorney General Bill Barr and FBI Director Chris Wray.
He did not need them to tip the scales or make a move that favored him over his competitors. All he needed was for these two men to do their jobs, which for some reason they refused to do, thereby unfairly advocating against Trump and in the Democrat direction by their inaction.
The FBI has had the Hunter Biden laptop for over a year now, with evidence contained therein that connects Biden and possibly his father to suspicious actions, if not overt criminal activity. It’s hard to believe that Chris Wray would do this on his own without coaxing or prodding from powers in the Democrat Party.
Even more shocking is the inaction of Attorney General Barr. For a while after he took over for Jeff Sessions, it looked like he was step-for-step with the president. But then something happened. He appointed a seasoned prosecutor, John Durham, to pursue illegalities committed by former FBI head Jim Comey, his assistant director Andrew McCabe and others in that corrupt circle, but summer, fall, and the election itself came and went and no action was taken that could have damaged the Biden candidacy.
The DOJ then refused to prosecute the leaders of BLM and Antifa who were committing all levels of crimes through the summer. And now there are the irregularities with the election, and in an agency that features an Election Crimes Unit and a Voting Rights Division, still nothing. That is nothing from the AG except a comment last week that Mr. Barr saw no evidence of any widespread fraud in the 2020 presidential election. There’s no choice but to conclude that the fix is in; the Republicans see an opportunity to rid themselves of the people’s choice so they are crossing Donald Trump.
What has become additionally clear is that those whose lives are in politics have had enough of this outsider who, on so many levels, has upset the apple cart, so to speak. Whether Democrats or Republicans, they just do not want to miss this opportunity.
For my part, I’m hoping that somehow it is G-d’s will that Trump perseveres and prevails. I am also realistic, and I know that at present the deck is stacked pretty much against him. I know that so many people reading this now are rolling their eyes, as even the staunchest, though usually quiet, supporters of Trump’s reelection have conceded, largely because they did not want to risk being ostracized for voicing an unpopular opinion.
And interestingly enough, that is part of the success to date of those who lean left in our own Jewish communities. Many have managed to maneuver Trump holdouts as having something wrong with the way they think and that people like that cannot be trusted in other areas of life that require decision-making abilities.
To apply a sports analogy, New York football fans saw absolutely nothing that was indicative of an emotional deficiency if you actually thought the then 0–11 Jets were going to win last week’s game against the Las Vegas Raiders. (The Jets are now 0–12, and though I am a lifelong football aficionado, until last week I had no idea that the Raiders moved to Las Vegas.)
It’s fine and good if you never were supportive of President Trump. But as the Newsmax anchorman said the other day: what is wrong with Jews like us who support a party that abides hurting Israel, tolerates policies that specifically target American Jews by looking the other way as attacks against Jews in our neighborhoods here in New York are ignored, and, even more egregiously, holds members of the House as being in good standing even though they call for Israel’s dismantling and adapt policies that encourage attacks on Jews here and in Israel?
So President Trump has a bit of a rough New York swagger and attitude about him. Do you like Nancy Pelosi’s arrogance better? The House speaker has already admitted that she withheld stimulus money from Americans since May only to do her best to damage Mr. Trump. And don’t be surprised that the new vaccines were withheld until after the election for the same reason and by the same powers that be. So what if 35,000 additional people died during this period? You are hopefully wearing your mask.
I know that if I write here that I am still holding out hope — as the president said last Saturday night in Georgia — that a hero will emerge and salvage the righteousness of our electoral process, some will characterize me as something between wildly unrealistic and a plain crackpot. So I’m not saying that.
What I am saying is that we have to look at what is the best thing for this country and the world. Throughout this process, I’ve always maintained that if we survived Clinton and Obama we will also somehow get through the Biden-Harris administration. But the major difference between then and now is that if you just look around the world today, you will see that there is much more at stake.
Over these last few years, Donald Trump was keyed up on watching out for his enemies. He may have overlooked the designs of his friends.
Contact Larry Gordon at lg5tjt@gmail.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
