As the father of school-aged mixed-race Jewish children, there is a lot of political news that is very intersectional for me at this point. I am thankful that I had the privilege of telling my daughter that I proudly voted for Kamala Harris. My ten-year-old daughter, whose mother lives in a very red-leaning state, has been asking me questions about Kamala taking away guns and violent immigrants crossing the border because her friends were talking about these topics on the playground. These are not conversations I planned on having with my daughter yet, however, this is the environment that we are in. So you can imagine waking on the morning of November 6, 2024, to an America where young boys at many schools across the nation were taunting girls with the chant “Your body, my choice!” Hearing these taunts on playgrounds is appalling to the parents of many with daughters like myself. It has hit me hard in the feels.
There are fears that this election bears the echoes of Magaret Atwood’s dystopian novel, “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which paints a startling portrait of a totalitarian religious theocracy known as Gilead that takes over America. In this dystopian society, fertile women are forced into sexual servitude as “Handmaids,” as breeders for the elite. The freedoms of the “handmaids” were stripped from them. The novel and subsequent TV series explore themes of oppression under a religious society that erodes individual rights. This offers a cautionary tale for our time as women are losing their rights over their bodies as we see the rise of authoritarianism and attempts to erode personal liberties.
With the overturning of Roe V. Wade, the re-election of Donald J. Trump, a Republican-leaning Supreme Court, and an incoming Republican majority in the Senate and Congress, we live in challenging times for those with progressive values of equality, civil rights, women’s rights, and a more inclusive democracy. An anti-trans and anti-woke agenda that was dubbed a culture war was used as a catalyst to promote the Trump re-election agenda. The Trump campaign spent more than $215 million on anti-transgender rights ads. It can be said that the Republican party is winning this culture war by banning and burning books on critical race theory and LGBTQ+ themes.
Trump recently said, “I will invoke the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to target and dismantle every migrant criminal network operating on American soil.” At the same time, he kept referring to left-leaning democrats as “the enemy within.” He is said to have a list of people he has grievances with that he will use the government’s power to come after. Is this a clear and present danger to the freedoms of those who disagree with President-elect Donald J. Trump?
Trump has threatened to prosecute hundreds of his enemies. Claiming to be a warrior and the justice of those who have been wronged, he has said “I am your retribution.” What is he, “The Batman,” declaring “I am vengeance?” Even suggesting Rep. Liz. Cheney should stand “in the line of fire.”
Even promising to enact mass deportation on the first day of the second term of his presidency. Did we just enter season one, episode one of the Hulu series based on Margaret Atwood’s book “The Handmaid’s Tale?” Or are we going to essentially be welcoming a version of the “Puritan America” part deux? Is this what making America Great Again looks like? “Folie a Deux” is a French term for a shared delusion. Are we living in a shared delusion or a computer simulation as Elon Musk suggests? The joke may be on us, or well those who voted for this agenda and will be sorely disappointed by the outcome.
Trump campaign officials acknowledged that Trump’s Agenda 47 aligns with Project 2025. However, later Trump tried to distance himself from Project 2025. Project 2025 / Agenda 47 has a frighteningly real potential. Project 2025 is a right-wing plan led by the Heritage Foundation, whose aim is to restructure the US Government. It would strengthen presidential power, enact mass deportations, restrict access to abortion, limit LGBTQ+ rights, and offer tax cuts for corporations and wealthy families. The remaking of America in the image of the religious right by Christian nationalists, is underway in a way that will threaten individual freedoms, women’s choice, LGBTQ+ rights, and low-income families.
According to the ACLU, “Project 2025 is a federal policy agenda and blueprint for a radical restructuring of the executive branch authored and published by former Trump administration officials in partnership with The Heritage Foundation, a longstanding conservative think tank that opposes abortion and reproductive rights, LGBTQ rights, immigrants’ rights, and racial equity. Project 2025’s largest publication, “Mandate For Leadership,” is a 900-page manual for reorganizing the entire federal government agency by agency to serve a conservative agenda.”
A large portion of national security advisors have warned against the danger of a second term and yet he’s been given carte blanche. Even Trump’s former Chief of Staff John Kelly said that he fits the definition of “fascist” and that he prefers a “dictator approach.” With Trump going so far as to say “I need the kind of generals that Hitler had.” Are we on a doomsday clock to the demise of American Democracy and the rise of despotism?
The Alien Enemies Act of 1798 that Trump cites as justification for his deportation plans was also used to allow the government to prosecute individuals who wrote or spoke anything “malicious” against the president or the government in the 1800s. The Sedition portion of the Alien Enemies Act allowed for the restriction of speech and press freedoms, it criminalized false statements about the federal government. Handmaid’s Tale here we come.
The last time the Alien Enemies Act was used was during World War II by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, in which he authorized the detention and deportation of German, Japanese, and Italian immigrants in internment camps, which also included some German Jewish holocaust survivors who had left the Nazi concentration camps. Previously, President Woodrow Wilson used it to target German immigrants in World War I. It was primarily used during war times, so there are questions about its use.
Consider that Saddam Hussein and Adolf Hitler won their elections legally. I know this is an extreme comparison but bear with me. With the co-opting of the rich and elite billionaires like Elon Musk offering a million dollar-a-day lottery. The question arises: have we moved into oligarchy, as some warn of the dangers of Trump’s fascist ideations? In Benito Mussolini’s Italy, he orchestrated a Corporatist Economic System that took over the government forcing a fusion between industrial and social structures where the economy was controlled by corporations as a way to diminish worker rights. Elon Musk is already participating in negotiations between Trump and the President of Ukraine, while Vladimir Putin is seeking to meet with Trump before the inauguration. This is dangerously similar to 1940’s Italy.
Questions arise that we must ask ourselves who is the “enemy within” that Trump speaks of and what does he have planned for his list of “enemies?” Will we have the Salem Witch trials again or relive the anti-Communism sentiment of the early 20th century? How can fear of foreign immigrants be such a motivating factor? But will it end there or will it also include anyone seen as an enemy, whom he keeps referring to the enemy within? The idea he may detain and deport people who he disagrees with is a scary idea that part of this country just voted for.
We know these comparisons are not new but they do bear repeating for what we might see due to Trump’s promises for his second term. It doesn’t look like we’ve learned from history because we have a now-elected president who cited the Alien Enemies Act as justification for wanting to enact a mass program to detain and deport illegal immigrants.
Trump’s talk about the enemy within and the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 is frightening when you look at how it was used in World War I and World War ll. But we are not at war so will he be able to implement it? If he is able to implement it, this leads one to ask the question, which episode of “The Handmaid’s Tale” are we in? This is not something I could have imagined. But this is history coming to pass before our eyes. Geopolitics feels like we are on the cusp of World War III, with North Korea joining the Ukraine-Russia conflict, the Israel-Iran conflict, and China’s claiming of Taiwan. We are in dangerous times.
History is repeating itself and America just became one of the potentially most dangerous countries on the planet if this act is used to deport immigrants, possibly detain Trump’s enemies, and the erosion of personal liberty in the name of a culture war. Trump has been given presidential immunity by the Supreme Court and all branches of the government and the Supreme Court are leaning red. One party controlling all branches of government destroys the checks and balances. He will have unchecked power.
How did the left lose an election with Kamala Harris, the most qualified politician in the last century who has worked in all three branches of the government? I posit that one big reason is that she was not selected through a vigorous primary season but selected after Biden’s debate failure. She was the best politician between the two. She couldn’t get through middle America. When the left selects a liberal from California the news media in conservative states demonizes the liberal-leaning states of California and New York as the antithesis to middle America. It was a miscalculation. There needed to be a primary fight and the people selected a nominee. We need to remove super delegates and give people a more direct primary season.
It was also “the economy stupid.” The average person doesn’t understand the delayed effect of policy. In general, when a law is enacted it takes approximately two years or so give or take before the new policy will impact the economy. For example, we saw the impact of the tariffs that Trump implemented in 2018 began to have an impact in 2020 at the start of the Biden administration. One mistake that Biden made was to keep some of the tariffs in place which continued the inflation that started with Trump.
Many people do not understand that Trump’s tariffs will cause inflation. Tariffs are always paid by US companies that import goods not by foreign companies, it’s meant to stimulate the purchase of local goods by US companies. It is a penalty on US companies that import foreign goods. It is not a foreign penalty, just like the wall, Mexico didn’t pay for it, we did. Unfortunately, people believe in the immediacy fallacy.
How could the poor fall for the message of the monied elite advocating for socialism for the rich, all the while taking away individual rights, dismantling the social safety net, and giving trickle-down tax breaks to wealthy corporations, that never seem to trickle down? The elite media gets them to vote against their self-interest in the hope of getting rich. Tariffs are paid by US companies, not foreign companies, and cause inflation.
We saw the Stop the Steal lies of the 2020 elections sentiment that led to the January 6 insurrection, fake news stories, and propaganda abound. For example, on an episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast over the weekend before the election, Elon Musk stated without any evidence that it was “Amazing how many at Diddy’s party support Kamala.” This is a wild claim when Trump has known direct connections to Jeffrey Epstein who he considered a friend which reminds us of what the Atlantic called the “Great (Fake) Child-Sex-Trafficking Epidemic” that was invented by Q-Anon in 2016.
As we cringe with concern at the rise of potential signs of a budding oligarchy and the influence of the rich monied elite on elections, we get a $1 million-a-day voter sweepstakes that Elon Musk’s political action committee was hosting in swing states exerting undue influence. As Iran, China, and Russia engage in disinformation campaigns seeking to influence the US election and sow discord furthering the national divide we find ourselves in our information silos on social media.
It was a perfect storm! There were some echoes that there was a shift fueled by the federal response to Hurricane Helene may have caused a rural shift towards Trump. According to ABC News, Trump won the counties hit by Helene and Milton, feeling that the federal response is through some organizations such as FEMA. Some states that were impacted by the Hurricanes, like North Carolina, broke for Trump by 62% even though he denies that climate change is causing an increase in extreme weather. According to a YouGov and CBS New Poll in October, 49% of the respondents disapproved of the Biden administration’s handling of the hurricanes.
Another misstep was the far left mishandling the student protests over the Israel-Hamas war, their response to the Oct 7th Nova Music festival massacre, and the murdering of families living on the Kibbutz in Israel, by not calling for all the hostages to come home while supporting Hamas, including the 4 Americans who are still held hostage. Seeing pro-Hamas protests on campus incited some in middle America to feel more comfortable voting for Trump and leading some to favor his ideas of another Muslim ban as a reaction to the protest.
Trump is a close ally of Benjamin Netanyahu and has framed himself as the protector of Israel, saying Israel should be able to “finish the job” of removing Hamas. His support for Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and stronger dealing with the terrorist organization and peace through strength. Some have suggested that Netanyahu delayed a plan to end the war with Hamas until after Trump’s win, according to some Middle East officials. Additionally, the impact of Christian Zionism on the election can be seen by groups like “Believers for Trump” and the “Faith and Freedom Coalition” as a response to the conflict between Israel and Hamas as a result of the October 7th attacks, which has led adherents to pledge their unconditional support for Israel.
Yes, Palestinians deserve to have their own state beside the state of Israel, to share the land between the river to the sea with the indigenous people, the Jews, and to have their own self-determination, without terrorist organizations like Hamas harming civilians. College campuses and schools across the country have become less safe for Jewish faculty and students alike due to how the Left handled the Hamas campus protests.
Some Arab Americans deserted the Democratic party over the Israeli-Hamas conflict. According to the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), only 50% of Muslims backed Harris compared to 2020 when nearly 70% supported Joe Biden. The Associate Press Votecast survey disputes the CAIR statistics claiming that 63% of Muslims’ vote went to Harris, which would be a smaller decrease from 2020 than they claimed. In Dearborn, Michigan alone though Trump won more than 42% of their vote, which is 12% higher than the 30% he received in 2020.
The chair of the Republican National Convention, Michael Whatley, stated “Let me just tell you, as long as I’m the chair of the RNC, we are absolutely pro-life, we are pro-family, and we are pro-Israel.” Of the Christian groups that support Israel, Protestants are among the staunchest. According to some polls, 60% of them oppose any arms restrictions on Israel, while 64% see the conflict with Hamas as justified.
Despite Whatley stating that “No president has ever done more for Israel than Donald J Trump,” more American Jews have voted for Kamala Harris. According to the Jewish Chronicle “One poll says 79 percent of Jews voted Harris; another says the figure was 67 percent” article titled ‘Exit polls and analyses tell different stories on how American Jews voted.’ Further, they assert “If accurate, the result would still be the lowest proportion of Jewish votes for a Republican presidential candidate in 24 years.” However, some question the legitimacy of the Fox News election day voter analysis.
Donald Trump stated, “Anybody who’s Jewish and loves being Jewish and loves Israel is a fool if they vote for a Democrat.” However American Jews disagree with Trump’s views as the support for Democratic ideals still remains strong within the American Jewish community. In Israel, Trump’s election is being celebrated as a win for the State of Israel. In 2016 Trump got 24%, in 2020 he got 30% of the Jewish vote, and the lowest amount of support according to some estimates being 21% in 2024. According to a consortium of news organizations, despite Donald Trump insisting that Jewish voters who support Harris should have their head examined, it is estimated that 79 percent of American Jews said they voted Democratic.
The Jewish vote is not monolithic. For example, Jewish American politician Chuck Schumer’s advice to the admin of Columbia University to ignore criticism of campus antisemitism, which angered Jewish organizations, and even Bernie Sanders, has made points that Netanyahu could do more to protect innocent life and make a deal to get the hostages home. The real pain of Muslim families of Palestinian descent is real and is just as real as the pain that Israeli families who lost their lives on Oct 7th felt. The problem is canceling each other out, not listening to each other, and fighting for “either-or” instead of “both and.” The goal is to find a peaceful solution and bring the hostages home, not extended war.
However, there are some cracks in the Jewish support for the Democratic ticket. Some analysis shows that in New York Harris won 54% of the Jewish vote to Trump’s 46%. While in Florida Harris got 56% and in Arizona, Harris got 61%. There has been a small erosion of Jewish support for the Democratic ticket in some key swing states. States like Florida and Arizona may have contributed to the perfect storm of circumstances to hand Trump the white house so decisively.
In my opinion, only a candidate with a populace message like that of Bernie Sanders would have been disruptive enough to win this election for the left with all the factors that came as a counter to Trump’s populism. Trump has won against two females and lost against one male. Trump’s populism speaks to a part of America that still holds to male chauvinism that manifests as misogyny. It is my view that a candidate with a populace message like Sanders may have struck the right tone with America in this current moment. At this time it has been said that we have more in common than we don’t, we need to unite and heal as a nation. For those like me who want to fight for a better future for their daughters, the resistance begins now. Living in California, with the 5th largest economy in the world, we will be a stalwart in the resistance against the MAGA right-wing agenda. Gov. Gavin Newsom has already called a special session to fortify California against Trump’s new term protecting progressive values such as women’s right to choose, LGBTQ+ rights, and social security. The resistance is now.
We need to be a vanguard against America becoming “The Handmaid’s Tale.” The progressive left needs to do soul-searching on how they lost a share of the black and Latino male vote and how they are losing the culture war. The democratic party may need to move to the more populace message propagated by Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as some evidence shows. People are looking for disrupters who don’t tow the party-line. The democratic party has catered to the monied elite instead of the workers who made the democratic party strong. I trusted in the progressive nature of society. I realize that was a fallacy, I am awake now and will become more active I’mthan before. We can cry now, and organize later. It’s time to heal, focus, and prepare for the fight we will have for the next four years. I always knew with the election of Barack Obama we would see a ten to twenty-year period of resistance as people push back against change.
The debates over whether the change should be now or progressive over time go back to the early days of the civil rights movement, and even further back to the fight for freedmen in the South after emancipation. Back to the debate between American sociologist W.E.B. Du Bois who advocated for vocal protest and immediate reform through higher education by the “talented tenth.” And Booker T. Washington who in the Atlanta Compromise advocated for a more gradual approach with vocational education and economic advancement as the way forward. We must fight on, progress is a slow march, and overtime is done incrementally. We must fight for change now, and push for necessary government reforms, but also understand we are pushing against a larger machine and have to consider the long-held views of people that require time to change.
