At midnight May 14, 1948, Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and the Provisional Government of Israel proclaimed the establishment of the State of Israel. On that very same day, only eight minutes later, Harry Truman, the Democratic President of the United States, became the first world leader to formally recognize the provisional Jewish government as de facto authority of the Jewish state.
President Truman’s immediate support of Israel was against the advice of his cabinet and senior advisors, and also ignored the fact that many Jewish American leaders at the time opposed Zionism. Yet, in one swift bold political stroke, Truman cemented a symbiotic political relationship between the Democratic Party and American Jewry that has held up for the past 70 years.
President Trump’s recent declaration that the United States recognizes Jerusalem as the Capital of the State of Israel to be followed up with the American Embassy moving to Jerusalem signals the beginning of a historic change between American Jewry and the Republican party. Trump will accomplish this historic change with the Jerusalem declaration and will win over the rank and file of American Jewry; his sights are set on making this transformation a game changing political reality and creating a new bond between American Jewry and the Republican Party. Trump knows that there is a huge gap between what self-declared American liberal Jewish leaders say and do in the name of American Jewry and what the more conservative/rationale/proud of Israel type Jews of America who want to express their love and support for Israel but are stymied by the politically correct movement of progressive and liberal Jews. Critical voices from the Jewish American liberal left include the usual suspects; Reform clergy Rick Jacobs, New Israel Fund’s Daniel Sokatch, JStreets’ Jeremy Ben-Ami who will all slowly find their way to political oblivion as Trump marches onward and wins the hearts and respect of Jews throughout America.
These days, all presidents are locked into a permanent election campaign, which typically begins the day after the previous election. President Trump understands that for the Republican party to hold on to the White House and to continue to have a controlling majority in both houses of Congress, another important segment of the American public other than American Jewry has to be connected with and convinced that their traditional support of the Democratic Party has been nothing more than a politics of dependency, keeping entire communities chained to poverty, street violence, and inter-generational hopelessness.
It was a Republican President by the name of Abraham Lincoln who abolished slavery in America, it was the Republican Party that passed the 15th Amendment and gave African Americans the right to vote, it was the Republican Party that passed the 1964 Civil Rights Act. The first African American Republican was elected to the US Senate way back in 1871, compared to the first African American Democrat who was elected in 1999. Does any even remember that the late Democratic Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd was a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was a young man.
President Trump has brought economic prosperity to America. In the first year of the Republican Presidency, the economic situation of African Americans has improved more than in all of the 8 years of the previous Democratic administration. Traditional Democratic policies such as limiting job growth in the private sector, or supporting teachers’ unions while opposing charter schools condemning poor children to continuing poverty, and worst of all, defending abortion in horrifically painful ways right up to the last hour even though one of three babies aborted in America is black, have all created an understanding that African Americans have been victimized by liberal policies for the last 6 decades. It is no surprise that the most vicious attacks, criticism, and downright nastiness has been farmed out to the Afro-American politicians who belong to the Democratic Party. The Democratic Party has gone into panic mode due to the real fear that they will lose control of their flock and African Americans will begin to assert their political independence and vote for the Republican Party in numbers unseen before in previous elections. President Trump understands that the Democratic Party in harmony with the mainstream media will keep trying to label the President and the Republican Party as “racists”, but due to the impact of social media, and the Presidents direct communication line with the American public through his twitter account, the Democratic race baiting will backfire.
The 2020 elections will be a watershed election that will most likely set the political tone for the coming decades. President Trumps 20/20 vision and ability to pass decisions and legislation that will benefit all Americans, will create a mass migration of voting patterns among American Jewry and African Americans towards the Republican Party.
President Trump has imperfections like us all, but he is genuine, cares about America and Americans and is genuinely empathic, not beholden to anyone or any group. I am reminded of President Harry Truman’s line about how to succeed in the White House: “You want a friend in Washington? Get a dog”. President Trump will overcome the challenges and political minefields awaiting, his perseverance and ability to make inroads with traditional Democratic voters will create the change that we all are hoping for.