Venom unleashed
A vitriolic tsunami has been unleashed following the stunning election results in the USA which well and truly trumped all progressive woke commentators, Hollywood stars and their acolytes.
Michael Kuttner
A sight to behold is the spectacle of entire swathes of Kamala groupies breaking down on TV, tearfully seizing up with uncontrollable grief and blaming everyone but themselves for the debacle.
Universities, including Ivy League institutions, have witnessed frantic faculty and manic management declare a halt to lectures so that witless and hysterical students can engage in therapeutic counselling.
One wonders how the next university-educated generation will impact America as grief-stricken youngsters bewail the fact that a majority of voters had rejected their false idols.
The shameful silence of administrators in the face of poisonous hate faced by Jewish faculty and students is a stark contrast to their concerned responses to distraught and disappointed Harris supporters.
We were confidently assured by polling “experts” and media mavens that all signs pointed to the closest election in recent US history. Trump, these prognosticators assured all and sundry, would be deserted by a majority of voters. They maintained that his uncouth behaviour and unpredictability, guaranteed that the vast majority of voters would “see the light” and cast their ballots for the dream team of Harris and Walz. After all, Biden had claimed, Republican supporters were “garbage” which implied that only those not trashed were worthy of Democratic loyalty and respect.
Even the media and Hollywood stars who were, it seems, paid exorbitant amounts of money to make an appearance and endorse Kamala couldn’t sway the majority of ordinary Americans. How devastating this now must appear to those who live in a make believe bubble world where stardom automatically endows one with infallible political wisdom.
The inevitable blame game is well and truly under way now that the extent of the Democratic Party rout has been revealed.
Rather than serious soul searching, those suffering from “Trump derangement syndrome” are lashing out at those they perceive responsible for rejecting a clearly unsuitable Presidential and Vice Presidential choice. It’s not just the unsuitability of the Harris/Walz duo but also the elitist, far-left progressive policies of the party that turned off a majority of voters from various sectors. Like a lover-scorned, embittered Democrats are busy casting around for scapegoats, of which there are many to choose.
The latest demented suggestions from shattered Harris groupies are that Biden should resign and appoint Kamala as President thus no doubt proving that the plebs and ignoramuses got it all wrong. The other unhinged idea is that a Supreme Court justice should resign so that Harris can take her place.
In the face of this demonstration of denial, the next question that needs to be asked is how the Jewish voters performed and what possible repercussions are likely to ensue.
Any analysis of the voting details is clouded by the political orientation of the organization doing the research. That is why the conclusions vary and reflect the biases of those producing the data. Taking these factors into account, however, there are still clear indications of what transpired.
First and foremost is the undeniable fact that once again American Jewish voters, almost alone among various ethnicities, stuck with the Democrat Party. The inability to sever a genetic umbilical connection is astounding given the stark reality that this time around the party had drifted clearly to the leftist fringes of woke political craziness,
Even more amazing is an unbelievable inability to acknowledge that the Harris/Walz team was clearly not “up to the job.” Despite word salads, inarticulate outbursts of joyful nonsense and a clear lack of commitment in standing by Israel, the majority of Jews stuck with the Democrats.
It is this last point which highlights a disturbing trend.
In a survey taken prior to the elections respondents were asked about their level of support for Israel.
68% of Democrat supporters replied that support for Israel was “too strong.”
81% of Republican supporters replied that support for Israel was “not strong enough.”
Given the lopsided support of American Jews for the Democratic Party, it is obvious that its increasingly anti-Israel drift does not deter them. This corroborates much data which shows that the weaker an attachment to Judaism becomes and the greater assimilation grows the more likelihood there will be of Jews siding with those who delegitimize Israel. One can see this already happening as groups claiming to be Jewish mangle and misappropriate Judaism in order to distance themselves from support for the idea of a restored Jewish homeland.
Interestingly, New York and Pennsylvania were two places where Jewish voters made a meaningful switch from a lifelong love affair with the Democrats.
The other major difference was that US Jewish Israelis who were entitled to vote did so overwhelmingly for Trump and the Republicans. Obviously, those facing daily rocket barrages and terror threats have lost faith in an Administration that threatens arms embargos. They also reject those who demonize Jews living in places where Jewish sovereignty predates the American Revolution.
What aftershocks are likely to occur once the dust settles?
Obviously, President-elect Trump is not beholden to American Jews for his stunning election result. One can only hope that meaningful support for Israel’s lone fight against jihadist terror will not suffer as a consequence. The rising spectre of vitriolic Jew hate combined with anti-Zionist mania needs a firm response. Will the triumphant Republicans rise to the challenge and will the defeated Democrats finally repudiate their increasingly Jew/Zionist hostile base?
We have plenty to worry about during the next four years.
Meanwhile, on the continent of Europe, the virus of Jew hate erupted with full force. In Amsterdam, where not so long ago Dutch Nazi collaborators betrayed Anne Frank and her family, the streets of that city once again rang out with cries of “murder the Jews.” Scenes not witnessed since the German occupation when Jews were hunted down and assaulted took place in the full glare of the media. Despite plans to attack Jews having been circulated on social media prior to the soccer match subsequent media reports attempted to lay the blame for the violence on “Israeli soccer hooligans.”
Eyewitness accounts from those assaults revealed that the police were slow to react, and when they did, their efforts were ineffective. The vast majority who were detained have been released. In the words of an injured Israeli “they (the police) seemed unable and reluctant to deal with the situation.”
A month or so ago, there was a report that some Dutch police had refused to guard Jewish buildings, including Synagogues and the Amsterdam Holocaust Museum, because “they had moral objections.” At the time, police authorities admitted that those objecting were not forced to guard Jewish buildings. A clearer example of kowtowing to a jihadist agenda would be hard to find.
It epitomizes the stark reality that as far as Holland and other countries in Europe and Scandinavia are concerned there is no longer any future for Jewish communities. Similar scenes of physical violence against Jews have already occurred on the streets of Berlin and Paris as well as London.
The Dutch King and Prime Minister have admitted that just as they “failed the Jews during the German occupation” so they have done again today.
Will Jews get the message or will they, like their American brethren remain stuck in a futile effort to rearrange the deck chairs as the “ship goes down”?
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
