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| Hostage families behind the President addressing supporters yesterday (Forward) |
These lines from A Tale of Two Cities by the beloved 19th century antisemitic
English author, Charles Dickens, is kind of how I felt yesterday as I watched the
day unfold.
First let me congratulate President Trump for achieving what 4 short years ago was considered by most people to be impossible. Which is being re-elected president of the United States for a second term after losing the last election, denying it, and then on January 6th instigating a violent protest bordering on insurrection. He won the electoral vote as well as the popular vote. I guess the majority of the electorate didn’t really care about that so much.
That is about as big a ‘wow’ as you can get. And a big
message to the Godless amoral progressives who believed the country was moving
in their direction. It clearly is not. Morality is back with a vengeance! However,
even though they lost the election, they are a huge minority. Probably close
to half the electorate. Which is why the country is so divided.
Most people are not on the fence about Trump. They either
despise him or they idolize him. There are those who believe he will either destroy
our beloved democracy and those who believe he will make this country great
again… greater than ever, even.
The haters and lovers don’t get each other. But they
understand even less the small minority of people, like me that see him both
ways. The haters interpret everything he does as evil and the lovers see him as
the restoration of all that is good in America. I see both. And saw it
yesterday.
I think it is safe to say that Donald Trump is not normal. He
is a complicated man whose view of reality is often distorted . As is his view
of justice. At the same time I often see tremendous empathy and compassion expressed
at the pain of some while complete indifference at – or even callousness to the
pain of others.
He is also a bright man who has made a career of negotiating
everything. Which is one of his strengths. Everything with Trump is transactional.
It’s all about making a deal that is to his - or our country’s advantage (as he
sees it). His determination to do what he says he will do regardless of the
consequences is legendary. Caring little about what the media or anyone else including
his own supporters might say about it.
This is what I saw yesterday in all its glory. I saw a lot
of good and a lot of bad. As I suspected I might. And as always the haters and
lover will each disagree with me respectively about the good I see and surely
point out why the good I see is bad or the bad I see is good – depending on which side of
the love hate dichotomy they are on.
Let me begin with the good. The ceremony was pretty traditional, All living presidents were there as well as their wives. (Except for Mrs. Obama. I thought it was disgraceful to see her husband walking in alone while all the other past presidents walked in accompanied by their wives. They were honoring the moment. The tradition. Not the man taking office. Apparently she could not distinguish between the two. Or didn’t care to. Shame on her.)
It was nice to see YU president Ari Berman – an Orthodox rabbi
giving an invocation at the end of the ceremony. This is only the second time
an Orthodox rabbi was asked to do it. The first time it was Rabbi Marvin Hier –
which took place at Trump’s first inauguration.
What was also good to hear was the President declare
something that should be obvious to all but the most ‘woke’ among us. Which is that from now on the US government will recognize that there are
only 2 sexes: male and female. Aside from the economy - issues
like this is why the electorate swung Trump’s way. I was also happy to hear that the
US will return to an energy policy that will lower prices at the pump and
hopefully at the grocery store as well.
Another nice thing that happened later in the evening yesterday was the unanimous vote by the senate to confirm the most pro Israel Secretary of State in US history, Marco Rubio.
The proudest moment of the evening was when I realized that Trump had flown in many of the hostage families to attend his inaugural. After Steve Witkoff addressed the gathered supporters about the president’s role in the ceasefire and hostage release - he asked those hostage families to come up to the stage and shake hands with the president. Which they did and then went up to the stage and stood behind Trump when he next addressed the crowd.
It felt good to see that happen at the very first moment Trump took office. There is not the slightest doubt in my mind that the compassion he expressed for those families was real and ongoing.
On a related note those that might be wondering if Trump will control what happens next in Gaza might be interested in his response to a question about whether he thinks the cease fire will hold. He said he hopes so but he doubted it. And that in any case, it’s not America’s war. That does not sound like somebody threatening severe consequences to Israel if the cease fire is broken and Israel needs to return to war.
The one thing that demonstrates just how distorted his view of justice is - is what happened at the very end of the day in the Oval Office. In a move that surprised me and even some of his strongest supporters including Vice President Vance and Secretary of State Rubio, Trump pardoned every single person convicted of a crime on January 6th of 2021. All 1500 of them. Including those who committed violence against the police.
Even the two racist, antisemitic reprobates who head the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers that were convicted of insurrection against the US government. Something that they actually planned to do. They came locked and loaded. It was not spontaneous. They were pardoned too. Instead of spending the next 22 years they were sentenced to in prison, these insurrectionists get to go home immediately with a clean slate and do it all over again should the occasion arise.
Both Rubio and Vance were recently asked about whether Trump would
pardon the violent criminals of that day. And they both said that ‘obviously’
the pardons would not apply to the violent criminals among them. Only those with misdemeanor offenses
would be pardoned. And that each pardon would be dealt with on a case by case
basis. That didn’t happen. A blanket full pardon for everyone happened.
There is something called TDS – the Trump Derangement Syndrome.
That is how some people evaluate those who vilify everything Trump does regardless
of how good or bad it might be. But what Trump did here is itself deranged.
There is no other way to put it. It shocked just about everyone.
Unfortunately what he did he had every legal right to do as
president. But that’s does not make it morally or ethically right. It wasn’t.
It was sick.
That being said, there is nothing I or anyone else can do about it. So I am not going to waste my time thinking about it and instead look forward to the good side of Trump doing what he does best. His love of the Jewish people and Israel should serve us well. Returning the nation’s values from a state of amorality to morality (Something that is actually missing from his own character) and common sense was sorely needed and I’m glad to see it being restored.
