It was depressing reading the letters in the April 20 issue of The Jewish Week defending President Trump, whose words and deeds are so antithetical to Jewish values.
This is a man who lies constantly (The Washington Post documented more than 2,000 of his untruths, from misstatements to wild exaggerations to outright lies, in his first year in office). He’s earned so many Pants-on-Fire designations [from the fact-checking organization PolitiFact] that he’d best wear anti-inflammatory [flame-retardant] pants.
Rather than welcome strangers, he works to bar them, and advocates policies that break families apart, boasts about everything he’s ever done, notably how he’s abused women and disparages anyone who doesn’t totally agree with him or fails to compliment him. An equal-opportunity insulter, he vilifies individuals, ethnic groups, institutions and even allies like a schoolyard bully; he invents offensive nicknames for those he views as opponents.
He backs shady-dealing cabinet members, some of whom would abolish safeguards for citizens and our planet. He has constantly urged the resignation of his attorney general, himself no moral high-grounder, who did the ethically correct thing and recused himself from the Russian probe. And on TV, Trump even mocked a physically handicapped reporter.
In desperation as a last straw (no pun intended), Trump defenders bring up the Bill Clinton scandal, as if that exonerates President Trump. As Trump has ended some of his tweets: “SAD.”
I implore all his supporters, notably fellow Jews, to stop defending him.
The New York Jewish Week brings you the stories behind the headlines, keeping you connected to Jewish life in New York. Help sustain the reporting you trust by donating today.
