There’s no better feeling in the world than being 100 percent right about something. In a slippery world where everything seems to be debatable — even climate change! — it’s so refreshing to find something that is not debatable, something truly black and white.
The fact that Donald Trump has made vile, racist, sexist, violent and bigoted statements is not debatable. It’s the cold truth, as if I told you that water is a liquid or the Lubavitcher Rebbe was Jewish.
This cold truth has united most of the Jews of America. Whether you’re on the right or the left, religious or secular, the vast majority of Jews (there are always exceptions) will not condone the vile statements made by Trump as he has climbed to the top of the Republican primaries. If you don’t believe me, try getting a Jew to publicly defend Trump’s racist comments. It’s one thing to harbor dark thoughts, it’s another to go public with them.
Trump goes public with them, and this has made us all dizzy.
Saying things like “Muslims won’t be allowed into America until we can figure out what the hell is going on” is not just racist, it’s incredibly stupid. We’re not used to hearing such raw bile from politicians who want to get elected. Talking points that come out of focus groups are littered with inoffensive clichés. If you want to be popular and attract as many voters as possible, the less offensive you are, the better.
So, when we hear such shocking and immoral bile from a presidential candidate, we go nuts. How could we not?
Our revulsion at Trump is making us so dizzy that it is trumping other values, like knowledge, curiosity and understanding. The rabbis and activists who plan to walk out in protest of Trump’s speech Monday night at the AIPAC Policy Conference have no interest in hearing what he has to say. I get it. Moral values are fundamental to one’s identity. If someone challenges these values as blatantly as Trump has, our instinct is to cut him out.
The more Jews study Talmud, the less problem they have with Donald Trump. The less they worry about racism and bigotry and other moral inventions of modernity.
Think Donald Trump is shocking? Try studying Torah. In the Torah, God commands Israel to commit genocide. There’s far more shocking material in Torah then there in a Donald Trump speech. Torah knows no such modern moral categories as racism, bigotry, sexism, Islamophobia, homophobia, etc.
If you are offended by things Donald Trump says, then you will be offended by Torah. If you love Torah, the odds are good you’ll love Donald Trump.
If you think Donald Trump’s comments about Muslims are vile, then you’ll find much of Torah vile. You’ll find much of the Jewish tradition vile.
Trump resembles a typical Israeli politician which is why he is so popular in Israel.
The Jews who are most likely to call Donald Trump’s comments “vile” are the Jews most likely to watch lots of TV and movies and pornography, with content infinitely more vile than what Trump says. Many of these Jews make their living profiting from vile entertainment. The Jews least likely to be offended by Trump’s comments watch the least TV.
Jews who profit from porn, prostitution and gangster rap (not to mention reality TV and other trash) are now offended by Donald Trump? Cry me a river.
Jews studying Daf Yomi this week went through the tractate Kiddushin. Much of the material would shock and appall moderns. I won’t go into details.
The more a Jew or a non-Jew is rooted in something, such as a tradition and a people, the less likely they are to be offended by Donald Trump and the less likely they are to allow the cosmopolitan elites (frequently secular leftist Jews) controlling our media to shape their worldview.
So Jews who have more than 20 sex partners, say things like, “Shiksas are for practice”, take drugs, experiment with same-sex sex, and listen to gangster rap are going to be offended by Donald Trump? Cry me a river.
If Trump is upsetting to delicate Jewish sensibilities, how come Israelis love him? Maybe Trump is only upsetting to wimpy spoiled Jews.