Disagreement is nothing new. The genius of democracy is that it recognizes that no one has all the answers. But democracy only works when both sides recognize the common decency in all of us and when political leaders point not to what divides us but to the common interests we share.
Former President Donald Trump is dangerous because he does not recognize these truths, and he does not respect our differences. Instead of working to bring us together, he dehumanizes minorities, whether by threatening to deport Muslims and immigrants or by scapegoating Jews as collectively responsible if he loses in November.
To Trump, Jews are not Americans, not in the full sense. In Trump’s view, we have dual loyalty to Israel and the United States. It’s bad enough that Trump cannot respect honest differences in opinion about whether his policies are good for Israel. That does not bode well for his decision-making ability. But to assume that Jews care only about Israel plays on classic antisemitic tropes and makes Jews less American in the eyes of his followers, putting us in danger.
New York City’s daily newspapers have very different headlines the morning after former President Donald Trump was convicted in the hush money trial, May 31.
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Trump claimed that there were good people “on both sides” after extremists marched in Charlottesville carrying tiki torches and chanting “Jews will not replace us.”
Trump’s attacks on immigrants and his claim that migrants are trying to supplant white voters is a version of the racist Great Replacement Theory—he same white supremacist conspiracy theory that inspired attacks on Jewish Americans (Pittsburgh), Black Americans (Buffalo), and Muslims (New Zealand), which has now become part of mainstream Republican talking points and ideology.
You might disagree with Vice President Kamala Harris on some policy matters, but there are fundamental, bedrock issues that supersede all others, and chief among them are decency, integrity, a recognition of our common humanity, and opposition to bigotry and discrimination. There is no question in my mind that Harris shares those basic values.
Trump not only fails those basic tests, but he denies our common humanity and fans the flames of hatred and bigotry. We saw on Jan. 6, 2021, the violence he incites among his supporters. It’s fascism. There is no other word. And we cannot refuse to use that word, with all it connotes, as Trump and his MAGA movement continue to stoke resentment of the “other” among people who are left behind.
Trump’s stigmatization of Haitians in Springfield, Ohio, is reminiscent of Nazi stigmatization of Jews. Trump stirred up hatred toward Haitians based on falsehoods that depicted these immigrants as not deserving to live in our country. Close your eyes for a moment and think about what the Nazis said about the Jews. Now open your eyes and look at Trump and JD Vance. We have been here before.
In his stumbling debate performance against Harris, the only leader of a NATO country Trump mentioned was Viktor Orban, Hungary’s fascist-leaning leader with antisemitic tendencies. Trump’s admiration of Orban tells us as much about Trump as it does about Orban, who frequently condemns Jews in his speeches.
I will be nearly 100 years old when the next president completes the term we elect him or her to in November. I remember the despair of World War II and the hope and promise of Western democracy prevailing after the war. I remember when we said “never again” like we meant it. Well, “never again” is now. It can happen here. And if we don’t take Trump’s hatred and stated aspiration to become a dictator seriously, it will happen here.
Ambassador Moses led the effort to outlaw the Arab Boycott of Israel, free Jews in Communist Europe, was president of the American Jewish Committee, and is currently chair of the Honorary Board of ANU, the Museum of the Jewish People in Israel. He served as senior advisor and special counsel to President Jimmy Carter, as American ambassador to Romania, and as special presidential envoy under President Bill Clinton. His writings have appeared worldwide over many decades.
The views expressed in this article are the writer’s own.
