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| The ‘Squad’ L-R: Omar, Pressley, Tlaib and Cortez (The Hill) |
The President tweeted a taunt commonly used by racists
against people they hate…. telling them to go back where they came from.
Whether that makes Trump a racist or not is a legitimate
question. But what he said surely sounded racist. And that makes that tweet very
unfortunate. I wish he wouldn’t have said that. Just like I wish the President
wouldn’t say a lot of the things he says.
The accusations about Trump being a
racist based on this comment is akin to the accusations that he is an
antisemite based on his comments about the violence laden clash between neo-Nazis and those who protested them in Charlotteville a while back. At the time Trump said there are good people on both sides.
If the President was not
such an obvious Judeophile whose support of Israel is unparalleled, and didn’t have a Jewish
daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren, I too would be hard pressed to
to see him as anything but an antisemite based on that statement.
So why does the President use such language? I believe
that he is unable to express what he is actually thinking - in part because of his limited vocabulary and his penchant to speak (or tweet) before he thinks. To say that he President is inarticulate would be a gross understatement. And as I have said many times, the man has diarrhea of the brain.
That is one of the reasons I could not support his candidacy for President and why I was shocked and dismayed when he was elected. I basically thought I was
looking at the end of the world as we know it. And not in any kind of positive
sense.
I was wrong. I have come to
better understand this man and do not see him as evil. Or even a racist really. Just a tragic caricature of a human being whose behavior and rhetoric is often embarrassing to this country. But his politics as implemented by his policies are a refreshing surprise for someone like me that leans politically conservative.
Be that as it may, this tweet is just the latest in a series
of tweets that distracts people from the larger point that tweet was probably meant to
convey. Which is that these four women are not only bad for
the country, they are bad for the Democratic party, and bad for Israel.
With respect to that last point, I have no issue with those that
criticize Israel. There is room for legitimate disagreement about Israeli
policies without giving up support for the Jewish state. Just like one can
disagree with certain policies of their own country and still be a patriot.
But
in this case 2 (or possibly 3) of these woman are at least as antisemitic as as the President is racist.
This does not excuse what the President said. But by virtue of all
the criticism he is receiving, the women of the‘Squad’ are seen as victims of racism instead
of seeing at least 2 of them as antisemitic.
I have no doubt about
that. Ilhan Omar’s supports BDS … a movement almost universally seen as anti
Israel. Her antisemitic tweets against Israel and American Jews that support it
are well documented. The fact that she apologized or recanted does not take
away from the antisemitism that generated those tweets in the first place.
Omar’s antisemitism is tame compared to Rashida Tlaib. She too is a supporter of BDS. She believes in a
one-state solution and granting the right of return to the descendants of
all Palestinians displaced during Israel’s war of independence. That would in
short order effectively end Israel as a Jewish state - turning it into the Islamic
State of Palestine. She is so anti Israel that even J-Street withdrew their support for her during the election.
And as recently as yesterday, the Jerusalem Post quoted her
saying the following:
“there is continued dehumanization and racist policies by the State of Israel that violate international human rights, but also violate my core values of who I am as an American.”
Cortez is not as blatantly anti Israel. But calling Israel’s clashes with protesters in
Gaza, a massacre certainly raises the
question - since it completely ignores the Israeli side of the issue.
As for Pressley, she is not in that category at all. Her positions
on Israel seem to be in concert with mainstream Democrats. I believe she also
has a good relationship with the Jewish constituents in her congressional district.
But when 3 quarters of a group calling itself the Squad are
antisemitic to one degree or another that is something to take note of and be
concerned about. Especially when they are young, and attractive to the youth
vote in this country. Whose knowledge about Israel is extremely limited - if
they even care.
The young are generally more inclined to be politically progressive since they see progressives giving them almost everything they want for free. Who wouldn’t
want free stuff?
(Well, I got news for them. There ain’t no such thing as a
free lunch. Someone is going to pay for their free stuff. Including them one
way or another even though they don’t realize it yet. But that is off point.)
Which is why Trump’s tweet was so wrong. It makes the ‘Squad’ victims and generates sympathy for people whose views about Israel and the
Jewish people should be abhorrent to all decent Americans.
It is so sad for me when it is someone like Trump who implements
so many of the policies – both foreign and domestic- that I so fully support. Trump is
one of the most polarizing figures in America’s political history. And such an
easy target for his political enemies. A target not limited only to himself personally but
to his policies.
On the other hand, I dread to think what America will look like if one of his Democratic opponents are elected in 2020. Opponents that seem to be tripping all over each other trying to show just how progressive they are - given the influence of progressives
like the ‘Squad’.
What a mess.
