(You can also read an OpEd supporting Donald Trump.)
Any presidential election is important – but this election is different from any other election we have experienced in recent history. Instead of explaining why I am voting for Hillary Clinton, I want to share what I have been hearing from friends and family (and some Conservative journalists) who traditionally vote Republican, but this election are voting for Hillary Clinton and not Donald Trump:
- Donald Trump’s campaign has surfaced the worst rise of anti-Semitism that we have seen in decades, perhaps since the end of WWII. Time and time again, Donald Trump has refused to condemn racists and anti-Semites who use his name to further their disgusting ideologies. People like David Duke – head of the KKK – and those alt-right bullies who have attacked Jewish journalists on Twitter (even the very Conservative ones!) with nauseating and despicable Holocaust imagery and “cartoons.” The ADL (whose main purpose is to track and fight anti-Semitism) has called out Trump again and again for aspects of his campaign that encourage anti-Semitism or even invoke it. Trump’s assertion that he marched in the Israeli Day Parade in NYC and has a Jewish son-in-law shouldn’t be enough for our community to dismiss the new public rhetoric where neo-Nazis and white supremacists are encouraged to share and promote their views.
- People say Donald Trump is good on Israel. Scores of conservative/Republican columnists and lawmakers have said clearly that Trump has ZERO foreign policy experience. In addition, his Twitter rampages make it clear that he has no self-control or any understanding of what is needed to be the country’s leader on the international stage. I’d be surprised if Trump understands the difference between Sunni Hamas and Shiite Hezbollah. Then people say well Trump is better than Clinton. Clinton, although somewhat constrained by Obama’s foreign policy while Secretary of State, has a clear and obvious history of standing behind and beside Israel. Clinton has been involved in Israeli/Palestinian peace negotiations. In 2014, Clinton brokered the cease-fire following the Gaza war. An interview with Jon Stewart of the Daily Show after the war in 2014 made Clinton’s stance on Israel very clear. She would not let Jon Stewart sympathize with the Palestinians, particularly not Hamas. She blamed Hamas for the state of Gaza and for the fact that Israel had to respond to the thousands of rockets fired on its people. She called out the destruction of the greenhouses and agricultural industry in the Gush for what it was – pure hatred of Israel. Google the clips – I think you’ll be surprised. Furthermore, Rabbi Menachem Genack, CEO of the Orthodox Union’s kosher division and Rav of Congregation Shomrei Emunah in Englewood, N.J., publicly supports Hillary Clinton and has cited her deep and constant support for Israel. Clinton supports peace only through direct negotiations and opposes the BDS movement. In fact, Clinton wrote a public letter to the Methodist Church when the national Methodist Church sought to adopt a BDS resolution. It was her intervention that helped quash the BDS attempt.
- Prominent national conservative journalists and thought-leaders have publicly declared they are voting for Clinton. But why you might ask? Columnists like David Frum in the Atlantic and Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal all give the same reason. Although they disagree with (almost) every policy Clinton espouses, they acknowledge the following:
- Clinton actually has significant government and public policy experience qualifying her for the office of the President. Trump does not..
- Trump has demonstrated time and time again he has no regard for democracy of the history and tradition of our great country. Bret Stephens called him “a threat to the republic.” David Frum called him “the most anti-constitutional personality ever to gain a major-party nomination for the U.S. presidency.” These are conservative political thought leaders! Republicans who study these issues and politics for a living have concluded that while we could survive four years of HIllary implementing different policies from conservative ones Republicans hold dear, the nation (the NATION!) may not survive four years with Donald Trump as President. That is a sobering observation and you have every reason to believe these people.
- David Frum put it best – “To vote for Trump as a protest against Clinton’s faults would be like amputating a leg because of a sliver in the toe; cutting one’s throat to lower one’s blood pressure.”
- And to all those who keep claiming all of Trump’s “expert” advisers will control him, you all should know that government doesn’t quite work like that. Executives must make decisions and they alone must make them. They may get input and advise, but it’s clear from the campaign that Trump doesn’t take advice from anyone. Just today the news has reported that Trump’s campaign has refused to allow him to post on Twitter. Trump can’t even tweet without oversight. Is that a person capable of being president?
- I could go on and on but I’ll just make one last point – Donald Trump is a lying, immoral womanizer who mocks those with disabilities, those with different backgrounds, and those who don’t fit into his definition of perfection. Morality in our community is paramount. We live by the Torah and so many of our halachos require modesty – in dress, in sight, in language, in composure. Trump’s comments and actions that have surfaced over the last few months have been abhorrent. So much so that I have heard others say they are afraid of their children hearing about any of it, it is to despicable to our way of life as frum Jews. How can we (anyone) stand by and let this person take the highest office in the land. How will be able to shield our children (and ourselves!) from the nivul peh, the continual revelations of immoral conduct, and the lack of respect and modesty with which Trump comports himself? I can’t answer this question and I know many of my other friends can’t either. And for all those who say that Bill Clinton is just as immoral, I might disagree with the premise, but I disagree more with turning away from a real presidential candidate because of what her spouse did. Trump did these things that have been reported on in the news. We, the light upon the nations, should support a candidate whose very essence is the absolute opposite of everything the Torah teaches us? While Agudath Israel can’t endorse a candidate for President, it should be noted that Shlomo Werdyger – Board Chair of Agudath Israel of America – is publicly supporting Hillary Clinton. That says something.
I hope that you will take the time before election day to google and read for yourself the various articles and the clip I describe above. On Tuesday, vote as a Torah Jew and vote for Hillary Clinton.
david P. says
Bringing sources from the ADL to R’ Genack. David Frum in the Atlantic and Bret Stephens of WSJ, and Shlomo Werdyger does sound a bit amusing. Who really do we trust. “das baal hebayis hepech daas Torah”
As an aside, Horav Reuven Feinstein Shlit’a has been quoted in an interview that his father, Harav Moshe Feinstein zatz’al held that foreign policy is not a cheshbon that is made when choosing a candidate.
Akiva Meir Hersh says
1. You are making a False Cause. You bring no evidence that shows a causation between Mr. Trump’s campaign and the alleged rise of anti-semitism.
If you wanted to talk anecdotally, why not point out the rise of anti-semitism that Yidden have endured since the election of Mr. Obama–which would certainly continue under Mrs. Clinton’s Presidency?
2. Many flaws in this argument here: You’re appealing to the popularity of others’ opinions (Bandwagon Fallacy), you’re claiming to know the entirety of Trump’s self control and understanding based on Twitter (Genetic Fallacy) and resorting to ad hominem attacks.
2a. Aside from your flawed arguments cited above, you bring good proofs for Mrs. Clinton. However, those don’t offset anything good that Mr. Trump might do for Israel. A lack of evidence is not an indictment against him.
3. This is a Bandwagon Fallacy. Most of the points below transgress the “Texas Sharpshooter Fallacy” where you cherrypick the data to fit your presumption.
3a. Notice that you make a False Cause argument when you say, “…significant government and public policy experience qualifying her for the office of the President.” Government and public policy experience are NOT qualifications for the office of the president. Grover Cleveland (served two terms), Woodrow Wilson, and Dwight Eisenhower (two terms) were all men elected to the Oval with no prior government and public policy experience. Sometimes not having cookie-cutter experience can be a positive thing.
3b. What you don’t address here, Mr. Cohen, is the egregious and damning statements from Director Comey about Mrs. Clinton’s “carelessness in handling very sensitive, highly classified information”, the ongoing investigation into the Clinton Foundation, the Podesta emails, or CNN’s part in feeding the Clinton Campaign debate questions–which they readily accepted and utilized. Why the silence on your part about these data pieces?
4. These are clearly ad hominem, not logical arguments.
4a.I’m surprised you would try this argument out given Mrs. Clinton’s appearance with Jay Z and Beyonce! Did you know it was reported that subjects were sung about that were mamish the opposite of modesty and 100% immoral? And Mrs. Clinton was listening, clapping and dancing along to it all. There were some phrases that some women would even find–womanizing. Did you let your son watch those shows? Did you and your wife watch?
It seems you have a double standard for nivul peh. And apparently for immorality as well. But then, that’s because anyone wanting to elect Mrs. Clinton to the office of the President needs the logical fallacy of Special Pleading, because she needs all the exceptions to the rules that she can get.
EGS says
See a rejoinder to Rabbi Genack by Jay D. Homnick in the American Spectator here: http://nginx.spectator.org/scholar-shipwrecked-an-unexpected-clinton-sycophant/
David says
A point of clarification. What you stated about Shlomo Werdyger is unequivocally false. His support was issued for the Democratic primary in New York (you can’t switch your party resgistration easily like in Ohio) where she ran agaisnt Bernie. There was no public support for the general election. There is a big difference.