It is impossible to underestimate the historic nature of Donald Trump’s victory, an epic personal and political triumph. For the first time since Grover Cleveland in 1892, a defeated president ran again and won a second, non-consecutive term. How rare is this? The only defeated presidential candidate even to run again was Richard Nixon in 1968 (of course, he won). No other defeated candidate has even run again; each loser has been one and done for the past century (except for Adlai Stevenson who lost twice in the 1950’s).
Trump persevered.
Moreover, the United States has shifted from relative stability in its leadership to great volatility. Three recent presidents (Clinton, Bush, and Obama) each served two full terms, the first time in almost two centuries (Jefferson, Madison, Monroe) that three presidents in a row each completed more than one term. The most recent two-term threesome will now be succeeded by three one-term presidents (Trump, Biden, Trump), the first time that has happened since the aforementioned Grover Cleveland (Cleveland, Harrison, Cleveland). These are indeed extraordinary times.
What is even more stunning and unexpected was Trump’s popular vote victory, only the second time in thirty-six years that a Republican outpolled a Democrat in a presidential election (Bush, 2004). Contrast that with Cleveland – to whom Trump will always be linked – who won the popular vote in all three of his elections. Trump did not come close to prevailing in the popular vote in his prior elections. His victory this week is personal vindication, as well as the product of political skills that tapped into something deep in the American electorate that has effected a re-alignment of the American political system.
It is quite unusual for a politician to grow in popularity the longer he is exposed to the public. How did it happen? Reasons abound.
Americans instinctively recoil from limitations on their personal autonomy, so much so that there is no national ID number in the United States such as is ubiquitous in Israel. People resent being tracked by the government, often to a ridiculous extent, another reason the Coronavirus era is recalled so unfavorably by Americans. Most states even prohibit asking voters to verify their identity before they vote. And the woke excesses that Democrats championed (such as men dominating women’s sports – grated on many Americans.
But most elections are won and lost because of the economy, and inflation and rising prices sapped the real income of American workers. Reagan’s rhetorical question from 1980 – “are you better off now than you were four years ago?” – still resonates, and Trump borrowed it to great effect. Americans recalled not just the chaos of the first Trump term, most of it orchestrated by the Democratic resistance, but also its relative peace and prosperity (until the pandemic). Few took seriously the notion of Trump as insurrectionist or dictator.
Of course, Trump benefited also from the turmoil in the Democratic party, especially the forced ouster of Joe Biden which (although everyone knows why) has never been satisfactorily explained, particularly how a president too enfeebled to run for re-election is still robust enough to handle affairs of state. The ongoing coverup of Biden’s debilitation orchestrated by Kamala Harris, the Democratic establishment, and the American media exasperated many Americans, and in the process made a mockery of the Democratic primaries.
Most of all, Trump was blessed with an inept opponent, famous only for failing upwards in her previous offices. She did little to distinguish herself as a senator or vice-president and was noted primarily for checking the right identity politics boxes, and a nervous cackle employed to mask vacuity and, away from the teleprompter, her persistent, halting verbal incoherence.
To be fair, she tried to run an unprecedentedly brief campaign, never having run a really contested campaign before. That she did so well owes more to Trump’s, shall we say, provocative personality. A different Democrat might have defeated Trump handily, although he or she would still be saddled by the immoderation of the Democratic party and the unpopular policies it pursued while in power. A different Republican would have trounced Harris even more soundly as even Trump routed her.
American Jews are stuck in a time warp and victims of their ideological and spiritual confusion. They remain wedded to a Democratic party that no longer represents anything that even remotely resembles Jewish values. Abortion on demand? Identity politics? Judging individuals not as individuals, and not on the content of their character, but solely based on their skin color and ethnic attachment? Moral relativism? Antagonism towards tradition? Schizophrenia towards Israel – assistance and hostility intermingled? Support for Israel – and our enemies?
The good news is there was a sizable increase in the Jewish vote for Trump, although it will not be reflected in the exit polls. I sense that many liberal Jews voted for Trump. Discomfited by the Harris’ flirtation and sympathy with our enemies, they voted for Trump but then could not bring themselves to admit to a pollster – or even to themselves. Obviously, the Orthodox vote for Trump was overwhelming, which bolstered his popular vote total. In Jewish districts in Brooklyn, Rockland County, NY, and New Jersey, the Trump tally was enormous. Once again, those Jews closest to tradition voted in ways that best reflect their deepest Jewish values.
It was wise that PM Netanyahu rushed to congratulate Trump, after being falsely accused of being among the first to congratulate Biden in 2020. (In fact, Netanyahu delayed so long that he was criticized in Israel for that tardiness.)
Israelis are jubilant at the Trump triumph, which should be tempered by the realization that Trump was not elected prime minister of Israel but president of the United States. The interests of our two countries generally overlap but they also occasionally diverge and they will as well in the future. Trump naysayers will then (nay)say “We told you so!” but all that means is that every leader should act in his own country’s interests.
And much depends on who is appointed to senior positions in the new administration. Floated names like Mike Pompeo, Marco Rubio, David Friedman, and others should gratify Jews and supporters of Israel, peace, freedom, and world stability.
Nevertheless, the immediate shift in tone was palpable. Biden’s support for Israel was always “ironclad” and “unshakeable,” in his words, but also heavily contingent on Israel acting in a way that frustrated our war objectives. For all the assistance lavished on Israel in the last year, Iran profited far more from its association with Biden, to our great detriment.
Neither Biden or Harris ever saw the destruction of Hamas as warranted or necessary. They have gone to great lengths (under the guise of concern for “civilians”) to ensure Hamas’ survival to fight another day and they remain enthralled by the two-state delusion in a way that has become pathological.
Biden can do damage to Israel in the coming months, as did his patron Obama. In the waning days of the Obama administration in 2016, Obama pushed through a UN Security Council resolution declaring Jewish settlements in Judea and Samaria illegal. It is not beyond the realm of possibility that Biden will seek another UNSC resolution (as did Obama, thwarted only by Vladimir Putin) demanding the creation of a Palestinian state.
By contrast, the Trump administration went on record as declaring the settlements “not inconsistent with international law” and Trump himself has stated his opposition to the two-state delusion.
If past is prologue, we might have some difficult months ahead, as Biden does have a vindictive side, and he will leave office bitter and dejected, having essentially been overthrown by his own party with his legacy in tatters.
Trump prizes and rewards loyalty. He should remember how most faithful Jews backed him and how Israelis appreciate him, his first term, and his achievements in office. Not least, his victory is a repudiation of the Democratic party’s slide towards neutrality in the Middle East, neutrality defined as seeing both sides – Israel’s side, and the side of those who want to exterminate us. That type of neutrality should be perceived as hostility to Israel.
If Harris had prevailed, then Jew hatred, already mainstreamed in much of American society and among Democrats, would have been incentivized.
We can only hope for the lessening of the rancor in American politics, which has unfortunately become a staple of democracies (in Israel, too). That Trump should be consistently and casually referred to as "Hitler" and his supporters as "Nazis," and his recent rally at Madison Square of reminiscent of the Bund rally in 1939, is beyond the pale.
Shame on the ADL, which has functioned for years as a constituent of the Democrats, for remaining silent. In the past the ADL hastened to denounce anyone who even mentioned Hitler or Nazis in any context with which it disapproved, decrying the “abuse of the Holocaust on the memory of the victims.” A person who, outside the confines of a baseball stadium, even uttered the syllable “Hit…” would be immediately lambasted by the ADL. The ADL’s obsession with locating Jew hatred on only one side of the political spectrum, and its silence here, in service of the Democrats, are embarrassing, and harms Jews. They too, and this too, shall pass.
Donald Trump’s physical survival is near miraculous and his political resurrection is astonishing. It is an opportunity to do important things.
In the best circumstances, the Trump triumph is good for America, good for the Jews, and good for Israel. It brings ultimate victory over our enemies closer, if we have the psychological and political stamina to see it through. Iran and its proxies should be fearful – not that America will attack (it won’t) but that President Trump will provide us with the tools and support to prevail and perhaps even bring about regime change.
With the help of the Almighty, there can be a sea change in the Middle East – a strong Israel, more Jewish and confident, with a military and civilian presence in lands conquered from our enemies who invaded us, and at peace with an Arab world mostly deradicalized and defanged.
And we can pray that this should be a harbinger of ultimate redemption, speedily and in our days.
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Esq. was a pulpit rabbi and attorney in the United States and now lives in Israel where he teaches Torah in Modiin, serves as the Senior Research Associate for the Jerusalem Center for Applied Policy and as the Israel Region Vice-President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, and is the author of the two-volume Chumash commentary ”The Jewish Ethic of Personal Responsibility.”