As I begin writing this article, I am watching the United States election vote counts online. A few hours ago it seemed almost certain that once again, Donald J Trump would shock the experts, defy the vast majority of the polls, and pull off another electoral college victory as he did against the mainstream media favorite, Hillary Clinton four (4) years ago in the 2016 election. After all, Trump had clinched Florida and Texas and was leading big in ‘must win’ Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. This was in addition, to Georgia and North Carolina, which still look as if they are going for Trump with 94% reporting each. Then, something began to happen.
Slowly new results started trickling in. These results quickly erased a large, 6 figure vote lead for Trump in Wisconsin. Now with 95% reporting there, Trump is behind a scant 21,000 votes, or just over half a percent. A little later, I watched Michigan go from having Trump in the lead by well over 300,000 votes, to now falling behind clueless Biden by a mere 18,000 votes, less than 1/3 of one percent, with 94% reporting. These are followed by Nevada, with only 6 electoral votes, where Trump and Biden are running neck and neck with Biden leading by only 7,500 votes with 67% reporting.
Here’s the math dear friends: If Trump wins Alaska, North Carolina, Georgia, and Pennsylvania, he will need to win one, yes just one from Wisconsin, Michigan or Nevada to win the election. The fact that he’s behind in each of them right now, doesn’t bode well for his supporters as we watch the odds makers change their tune on whom is likely to be victorious.
Will Trump pull it off again? I don’t know. I bet on him. I bet $1,000 even money, that Trump would win. I made predictions before the virus exported from China, had made any serious impact on the World. At that time, I was ready to bet $5,000 or even $10,000, but there were no takers. The United States was experiencing its greatest economy in the last half century. The military was rebuilt. ISIS was on the run and almost finished. The United States, although ready and able to smash terrorist leaders was not engaged in a war for a change. Israel wasn’t being pressured and Iran was badly weakened from sanctions after Trump ripped up the Iran deal. How could anybody predict what would come?
Trump was putting China back in its place concerning trade. Trump kept his campaign promise to bring back American jobs and to stop America’s trading partners from continuously taking advantage of her. New trade deals and tariffs when necessary were put in place.
Trump promised to represent all Americans, even those who hadn’t voted for him. To Trump all lives mattered long before the darlings of the press who call themselves Black Lives Matter and Antifa, whose greatest contribution to society is attacking police officers and destroying businesses, whether they be black, brown, or white owned. Trump signed the new prison reform bill. Trump helped build up the financially strapped, predominantly black colleges. Trump created investment zones in ghetto neighborhoods and subsequently created more jobs for Hispanics and Blacks than any previous administration.
While all this was going on, Trump kept building the ‘Wall’ and less illegal immigrants could pour into the US, which ultimately would reduce a lot of crime and public funds from being wasted, and US jobs lost. Trump assembled a great staff of assistants and cabinet members, many of them with great qualifications in their professions as well as the business world.
The man from Queens shrugged off the false accusations from the Washington Swamp which consists of lobbyists, politicians, members of the media, and many super large corporations. These greedy, unsavory hypocrites pushed the Russian collusion narrative for over 3 years and then had Congress waste more money on a useless, baseless, impeachment, which the Republican controlled Senate negated, all instead of joining the fight against the Pandemic.
All the baseless lies and biased reporting couldn’t take Trump down. Then came the pandemic and with it, came death and a battered economy. It doesn’t matter that Trump worked with Democrat governors and brought in badly needed beds, respirators, ventilators, and other equipments. Nor did it matter that he banned planes from China to enter the US back in January while Biden, Pelosi, and the other clueless crooks mocked him for it and labeled him xenophobic. Putting aside the huge amount of terrible emails, text messages, and testimony against Hunter and Joe Biden, it is even worse in a way to watch a debate live and to see Biden deny saying things that Trump rightfully pointed out are all on video tape with the dates he said them. Biden scoffed at Trump when he imposed travel restrictions and now he says he never said such things, even though they are all recorded for anyone to see. He could say it and the debate moderator, a good Democrat, didn’t call him to task and simply say, “Mr. Biden, your answer is ridiculously untrue”. Instead, Biden is allowed daily with all of his Democrat friends and supporters to say that Trump is responsible for the Pandemic in America. And…we now see, that no matter the outcome, some of it did stick and hurt a once certain to be victory for the President.
Why did I place a bet on Trump to win even though the situation was tenuous at best? Knowing that the odds were shrinking, I held some hope that there were still enough American left who hadn’t become modern, Western Europeans. Western Europe is finished. They have allowed radical Islam to dictate and control their future. I was hopeful that there were still enough Americans who dared to stand up, speak the truth about liberty, individual rights, and fairness. I held out the hope that the United States would reject socialism as she has for decade after decade as she led the fight against Communism in the previous generation.
I knew that this would be a much harder fight for Trump but there are certain people you either bet on or stay home and don’t bet against them. I remember as a young boy watching Joe Frazier crash a left hook into Muhammad Ali’s jaw in the 15th round in Madison Square Garden in March, 1971. I asked my father why he got up so quickly and fought back even though he most definitely was hurting from the beating of the fight and had no possible way to win the decision? My father explained to me, that it was something special that few people have. It’s a combination of courage, pride, self respect, and the people he feels he’s representing. A book was written about that fight titled, “Loser and still champion”.
Similarly, I saw tennis matches back in the day with Jimmy Connors where he was losing but had the support of the crowd and pushed himself past his normal physical limits to win one of the Grand Slam events. I go back to the US open in Queens, NY, 1983. Connors was past his prime and he was competing against the higher ranked Ivan Lendl. Lendl won the first set and Connors was limping badly. Later it was revealed that his ankle was severely injured and he shouldn’t have continued playing that day. Well, he got the crowd behind him and he mentally broke Lendl down and with it, won the US Open against the odds. I learned, you didn’t bet against Jimmy Connors.
In golf there were a lot of great players in the past generation. However, when someone will ask you who was that best golfer in the late 60s though the 70s, you’ll probably tell them Jack Nicklaus. Why? When the chips were down, there was one golfer in his day that you didn’t bet against and that was Jack Nicklaus. He was the one that could pull off the clutch putt at the last hole to win it all.
Well the brash kid from Queens whose real estate developer father loved his Jewish tenants and business associates, was always the type who wanted to win. Through ups and downs he built a tremendous business. Along the way he fathered 4 children, none whom are alcoholics or addicted to drugs. All are big contributors to various charities and organizations. This is what he taught them as his father had taught him. Donald Trump not only is a big giver to countless charities and individuals, he’s also a person who has an unrelenting desire to fix things. When New York City political bureaucrats couldn’t build the Wollman skating rink in Central Park, he made it a charitable project and built it for way under budget.
For decades Trump criticized many politicians for selling out America’s interests and letting the other side ‘have the ball’. Many times he was asked to run for president, but he declined. He said he would only consider doing it if no one capable would be available to do it and if he would be needed. Well, at 69 years old and with a lot of his company’s activities managed by his children, he decided that America was something he should try and fix. Not for the salary that he donates to charity. Not for the publicity as the whole world already knew who he was. Simply, because he wanted to make America Great Again.
The Jews have a friend in Trump. He signed an executive order against anti Semitism. He freed Rubashkin. He put the embassy in Jerusalem. He recognized Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights. He encouraged the less hostile Arab States to normalize relations with Israel, while at the same time he stopped funding the PA. Recently, he allowed Jerusalem born Jews have their passports say ‘Israel’. This, even though the Jews earlier had lost the case in court.
Now he may lose this election and he may win. In my eyes, taking into consideration all the evil and all of the unfairness that has been used against him and his family since the day he went down the escalator to announce his first candidacy, he will always be a winner. He can hold his head up high as someone who volunteered to try and help rebuild his country and help make the world a better and more just place. If he wins, his country wins. If he loses, his country loses. Therefore, he is a winner.
What does all this mean for the Jews? In Israel, we must be stronger. We must be more independent and be able to stand on our own no matter who is sitting in the White House, Kremlin, or wherever. In the United States, the once Goldina Medina will never be the same. For the Jew, America’s best days are long behind us now. Donald Trump’s victories buy us some time, a little time to go home with planning, with assets still intact, etc. However, what is happening in Europe is happening to America. Jew hatred is in the open from the extreme left and the extreme right, in all colors and shades.
There are those among us who wish to dismiss and forget the 70% to 75% of American Jews who wasted their votes on Biden and the Democrat party. True, they voted against Israel and true, they voted against the rights and Jewish strength in America. Yet, there were many Jews in Europe who condemned Jabotinsky falsely as a fascist and didn’t heed his words to leave Europe before Hitler’s rise to power, to come home and build a country in Eretz Yisrael. There were many and there are still many who scoffed at Rabbi Meir Kahane ztl, when he wrote the book, ‘Time to Go Home’. Well, we are our brother’s keeper. We are commanded to come to the aid of our brothers and sisters, even those who have strayed.
May we learn from these elections and the takeover of the media by a handful of evil people, how fleeting our time is in the various places in the Diaspora. Every home not in Israel isn’t home. No success, no opulence, no political connections, can ever replace the mitzvah (commandment) of Yishuv Ha’aretz.
Thank you Mr. Trump no matter what this election’s outcome. And to my fellow Jews with kipas and without, it’s getting late. It’s time to go home.
