Tag Archives: Donald Trump

December 27, 2016

Never Defend the Indefensible

By davidgroen1

World Leaders Gather In New York For Annual United Nations General Assembly

I have spent the past year, over the course of the US Presidential election cycle speaking out against the concept of what many might call the concept of defending the indefensible.  I take pride in being anything but a hypocrite.  So much so that I sometimes have views that are not in line with where I appear to stand politically. Therefore I can no longer keep silent regarding the current administration’s recent stance regarding Israel and the United Nations condemnation of the only true democracy in the Middle East.

This piece is not about Donald Trump, so I will only refer to him this one time, merely to make a point.  Those who have read my work over the past year or so are fully aware that I did not support him.  I found it bizarre and a bit scary when his supporters defended words and behavior many of us saw as indefensible. I can not be sure of what kind of person he actually is, but as president, to be blunt, I just don’t like him.  That being said, when I speak of dislike, my feeling towards the United Nations is on a different level.  So as I sit here and realize that my president, a man I voted for, has chosen as one of his last acts as leader of the free world to align himself with this bastion of corruption, I find myself in the position where I can not and will not defend the indefensible on a level far greater than any over the past year.

Ironically the issue, at least in my opinion, is not so much in the details.  There are many people in Israel who are opposed to the settlements.  There are also many people who believe the only real solution to the conflict is a two state solution.  But that’s not the issue. What is more significant here is the condemnation by the United Nations and the lack of loyalty and support the United States has shown to Israel in not only not obstructing this condemnation, but very possibly being a driving force behind it.  The United Nations has made a very lucrative business out of criticizing and condemning the Jewish State.  While nations have murdered and tortured their citizens, while terrorist groups have begun to form in various parts of the Middle East, and nations like Iran have called for the death and destruction of Israel and the United States, the United Nations has encouraged and arguably promoted the idea that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians.  For any United States government to do anything other than oppose this, truly falls in the category of indefensible.

Just as a lie of omission is  still a lie, an abstention by the United States at a United Nations vote of this significance is the same as a show of support for the vote.  I truly believe Israel will get through this, but that doesn’t take away from the fact that it is a clear act of disloyalty towards an important friend, and if it is personal and based on the relationship between President Obama  and Prime Minister Netanyahu, it is far worse than that. It interferes in Israeli politics in a manner not too dissimilar from a foreign government hacking America’s political parties and possibly influencing the election.  It tells the Israeli people, I don’t like the person you elected through your democratic process and subsequently as a result I am turning my back on you as I walk out the door.

This is not about being a Liberal or Conservative.  Alan Dershowitz, a man as liberal as anyone in the public forum has spoken out against this without any filter, and clearly feels the same sense of betrayal so many of us do at this time.  This is about how to treat a friend and knowing and acknowledging the difference between right and wrong.  Israel is a nation of equality.  A nation where people of all religions, races, nationalities and orientations have the opportunity to live in peace.  If an outgoing president and an international body decide to end the year attacking Israel instead of going after the real manifestations of evil in the world, this becomes nothing other than a vendetta, be it political, racial, or as many believe in this case, personal.  Regardless of the motivation it is an act that is truly indefensible.

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November 19, 2016

Is ridiculing feelings like Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet? Not in my America

By davidgroen1

menow

 

We all know the saying, “As American as Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet”.  I always liked that saying, because although I’m not a car guy and Apple Pie isn’t my favorite thing in the world, at least those 3 things, I do like baseball a lot,  have the ability to contribute positively to people’s lives.  So if Apple Pie and Chevrolet are to be associated with things very American, that only stimulates and strengthens my patriotic impulse.  Unfortunately in the time passed since the election, it appears that a large segment of society thinks there is something else that is the American way, and that is the ridiculing of feelings.

I am white, I am Jewish, I am straight and I am male.  So in all fairness, as much as I genuinely am not pleased with the outcome of the election, the worst of Donald Trump’s campaign statements and his new administration’s potential upcoming policy agenda, at least on the surface won’t impact me directly.  So if I would speak constantly of ongoing sadness and despair, although I would have every right to feel it, I could see the rationale in calling me a cry baby.  But what about those, potentially at least, who feel they will be directly impacted?

The LGBT community has watched as the country has elected a ticket with a Vice President formerly in favor of using HIV funding for conversion therapy and once signed a bill to jail same sex couples in Indiana who applied for marriage licenses.  Are gay people whiners if they express concern and even fear?  Is the cast of Hamilton really harassing the Vice President elect as stated by the President-elect Donald Trump because they use their platform to first welcome him to their show and then call on him to be a public servant for all Americans? Are the feelings of people whose lives could get directly impacted by policy or attitude wrong for having feelings? Not in my America?

What about law-abiding, patriotic American Muslims.  And yes, for those of you on the right rolling your eyes and wondering how a proud Jewish man and proud Zionist could say such a thing, there are significantly more of those types of Muslims in the country than there are terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.  Are they wrong for being scared?  Are they wrong for feeling fear of the backlash caused by comments by the President-elect  and his new National Security adviser during the campaign?  Are they wrong for feeling as though they are being made to feel less than welcome in what is also their America?  Is it OK to see them as a threat merely for being born into the religion they were born into?  Not in my America?

But no other group has been made to feel more deeply isolated and frightened by what has taken place during this election cycle than the Latino community.  Addressing those Mexicans who are murderers and rapists in a way that left it open to be interpreted as all Mexicans, rallying people behind the building of a wall between the US and Mexico, and most significantly garnishing support by proposing rounding up all undocumented aliens and deporting them, was all it took to create an atmosphere of fear and despair in much of Latino America.  This is about much more than Donald Trump’s campaign rhetoric.  This is also about how so much of the American public took to the rhetoric.  Blaming undocumented immigrants for your poor lot in life is at best a precursor to a dangerous racist society, at worst the creation of it.   So I ask you, were Latinos who were shaking and crying the day after the election crybabies and whiners?  Not in my America.

I have often said that you can dispute facts but you can not dispute feelings.  Someone is not wrong for how they feel.  Their feelings may be based in the perversion of fact, but questioning the legitimacy of feelings is as illogical as saying someone is wrong for liking Pizza or Star Trek.  People like what they like and feel what they feel.  Furthermore, when a large segment of society feels a certain way, especially when those feelings are based on things they have consistently heard for over a year and a half, who is anyone to ridicule those feelings?  Are people who have been the basis and so much of the foundation of Donald Trump’s success wrong for feeling targeted?  Not in my America.

Just as we should not ridicule the feelings of those decent people who chose Donald Trump because they found him to be the best choice moving forward, so too we should not tolerate the ridicule of the people who are not happy with the result.  Particularly those who feel their lives might very well be negatively impacted.  You might say that protesting will do nothing positive and may just make it harder to move forward.  I understand that viewpoint. Rioting and causing damage to property and loss of life should be met with harsh and immediate punishment.  Without question I get that.  But is ridiculing feelings as much a symbol of this great country as Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet? Not in my America.

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November 17, 2016

When Muslims save Jews

By davidgroen1

israelfootballassociati-1

An interesting thing happened today.  A predominantly Muslim country potentially saved the lives of many Jews.  Israelis no less.  Yes, you read that correctly.  Kosovo police thwarted an attack on Israel’s international soccer team reportedly planned by members of ISIS from Syria. This turn of events, one that causes a collective sigh of relief and for those who believe in a higher power a show of thanks to God up above, also has very relevant and majorly important significance in a country not directly involved.  That country being our very own United States of America.

Over the years I’ve been anything but moderate in my approach towards Islamic extremism.  I have no problem recognizing the danger of the aggressive and violent approach taken by too many elements in the Muslim world.  I have zero tolerance for those who are murderers in the name of a so-called cause and I recognize the vicious hatred and venom towards Israel from much of the leadership in the Muslim world. That being said, I also not only recognize, but believe wholeheartedly that the greatest majority of Muslims, regardless of how they actually feel toward Israel and the west, do not want any part in violence towards anyone and just want to live a peaceful and productive life.  In fact, I would go as far as saying that what took place in Kosovo is evidence to that fact.

Since the election of Donald Trump as President-elect of the United States, the status of Muslims in America has been very much in the forefront.  I get it. I honestly do.  I have often said that although most Muslims are not terrorists, the majority of terrorist attacks are conducted by Muslims.  The safety of innocent people is a major responsibility of any government and actions need to be taken to see to it that all that needs to get done does get done.  However, an attack on an entire people or religion is not only immoral and reminiscent of tyranny from the past, it’s a bad strategy.  The events in Kosovo bare this out.  In the name of fairness and objectivity, when you listen carefully to Donald Trump’s words and proposals, he never goes after all Muslims.  What he does however is target the problem as being a Muslim problem, which if done correctly and with a degree of tact would possibly have tremendously positive effects, but when done with mere soundbites causes a large percentage of people to see the entire Muslim world as a threat.

I don’t make a habit of defending Muslims.  As a Jew and a Zionist I’ve had plenty of justified anger towards many Muslims over my lifetime.  However, I also don’t believe in going after one group of people merely because of what they are, and if only from a pragmatic sense, it’s stupid.  Setting aside the fact that I personally base who I like and who I call a friend on how they are personally, if the entire Muslim world gets alienated, even if it’s a result of interpretation of Trump’s words as opposed to their actual meaning, the rest of us are indeed not better off or safer as a result.  My fellow Jews who think otherwise need look no further than Kosovo, where a police force of a population mostly consistent of Muslims did the right thing and stopped a potential massacre of Israeli soccer players.

There is a middle of the road, and throughout history that middle has always achieved the best results, not an extreme ideology in any one direction.  There is indeed safety in numbers, and if there are large numbers of Muslims who want to live in peace, a fact that any reasonable individual knows to be the case, then working with them will get us a lot further than alienating them.  The argument that “Trump didn’t say that”, isn’t enough anymore. As President-Elect he has a responsibility to how his followers interpret his words, and if he does not recognize that, even if his intentions are good, the damage caused will result in him failing tragically, for everyone, including those that support him.

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November 15, 2016

The Correct way to Fight: No matter what side you’re on

By davidgroen1

john-birch-society-american-flag-hero-e

Clearly much of the he said she said we’ve been consistently exposed over the past few years has had very little to do with the election.  In fact I dare say in many cases it didn’t even have anything to do with discontent towards the political system.  Is the system flawed at best, failed at worst? Most definitely.  But that does nothing to explain those who are expressing anger in ways that do nothing to help move us forward.  On both sides. Yesterday I listened to an interview with NBA Hall of Famer and author Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who when asked what he felt about the protests responded by saying something to effect of, to make change we must use the political platform and that taking to the streets will do almost nothing to create actual change.  Many are expressing their anger and their fears and I get that.  To do so violently however, shows this is more about personal anger and exploitation than it is about change.

That by no means is the only thing going on here though. The amount of hate I have witnessed since the election from people who should be happy, after all their guy won, is besides being disturbing, very revealing and enlightening.  You see,  many people hate just for the sake of hating.  Many people take their own personal frustrations and anger out on anyone they can, and whether their candidate wins or loses, the candidate they say will fix all their ills, these people are still angry and miserable.

I had 2 very interesting incidents take place in the past 24 hours.  The more positive and encouraging one was with a relatively new friend, a retired New York City policeman and avid Trump supporter. Since the election almost every one of his emails to me, whether they were his view or the views of others, were focused more on a joy and relief towards the outcome of the election.  Although I don’t share his glee and optimism, I do however appreciate how his general approach since the election has been one more of excitement to the future, not a continuing rebuke towards half of the country.  Something both sides should stop.  He expressed to me that my accolades towards him may be somewhat misplaced, but when he said the following,  “MY ANGER IS FUELED BY A LOVE FOR THIS GREAT COUNTRY AND ITS PEOPLE”, I responded by saying to him, I have issue with the people who are just angry for the sake of being angry and are narcissists exploiting the political climate. So accolades remain in place.

The other incident tells another story.  It involves someone I first called a friend in my teens and someone I reconnected with over the past 5-10 years.  Over the years this person has expressed a total lack of tolerance for anyone holding a different view, to the point of accusing Jews such as myself with different views from his as being as dangerous as those who clearly want to kill the Jewish people.  Despite how offensive that concept is to me, I remained close enough to at least view his remarks and occasionally interact. When I expressed a view that I was willing to show objectivity in the name of fairness and what is good for the country, even though I was on “the other side”, I got the following response.  You’re right: a candidate with openly close anti Semitic and anti Zionist aides, advisors and financiers would have been better, David.  There is no other side , just like there is no other side of a cliff. One side your on the cliff and the other side is off the cliff. Voting for Jew haters would be the latter, especially from a child of Holocaust survivors. Attack you ? Pshaw, nothing I could say could undermine you more than your own actions.  

Soon after this post I chose to unfriend this individual.  Why? Not because we held different political views, not because he was almost vicious in how he expressed them when the stakes were at their highest, but because even now, when for all intents and purposes he got the change he wanted, he still spews angry venom, and at this stage of the game it is clearly more about his personal and deep anger than it is about ideology, and I have no desire for that in my life.

That being said, I also have no use for criminals.  If you vandalize stores, attack law enforcement or take violent action against any fellow human being, your protest means nothing to me.  You are not fighting for any cause other than to fight.  I have always felt that fighting for a purpose is not only justified, it is often righteous.  Fighting as a means of releasing anger or hate or merely out of the love of fighting is the furthest thing from righteous. It’s more often than not meaningless and destructive.

I urge all people to continue to fight for what they believe in, as I intend to.  What no one should tolerate is a fight fueled by hate and anger, for whether it comes from the left or the right, that fight ends in destruction and often catastrophe.  Unite, express and fight, but do so with respect and love for your country and fellow human being, and in doing so your fight will have more meaning and purpose.

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November 7, 2016

Open Letter to the American voter on the Eve of the Election

By davidgroen1

menow

Dear Fellow Americans,

Although many reading this may know where my vote is going, this letter is about something far more important than anyone’s personal choice for the next President of the United States.  On November 8, one of the cornerstones of American freedom and democracy takes center stage as the people go to the ballot boxes and choose their next Commander in Chief. There is no question that this day, a day that is always vital, is even more critical in 2016.  However, what possibly separates this election cycle from so many others is that as crucial as November 8th is, a very solid argument can be made that there is a day far more important, and that is the next day, November 9th.

Even many staunch supporters of Trump and Clinton feel that the country is in big trouble. Many feel that this election is an embarrassment.  The world has been watching and they love to say that we Americans have made fools of ourselves with our choices and our attacks on each other. Well I am here to say otherwise.  I am writing this letter to all Americans who genuinely want a better country. As critical as the choice is on November 8, and as uncertain as our future is, we as Americans have a choice that is even more critical than for who we cast our ballot.  That choice is whether or not we are prepared to work together as a nation in support of the next president.  That choice is to show the rest of the world who we really are, not who they like to believe us to be.

I know how the biggest critics feel about Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump.  It’s been well-documented, highly publicized, and discussed ad-nauseum.  But on November 9th, assuming the election has a clear enough outcome to declare a winner, people all over the great United States have an opportunity to heal the nation.  To continue bashing the other side and sit back and type nasty comments online and come up with silly names about the candidate you didn’t want after the election, will just prove the naysayers right.  When the Supreme Leader of Iran uses this election to declare that America’s choices and behavior during this election proves Iran to be right, it is our responsibility to use November 9th to prove how wrong he actually is by showing how right the American system is.  Show the world that peaceful democracy and a free society creates dispute, but ends in peaceful coexistence.

I’m reminded of my father, may he rest in peace.  I won’t speak for my siblings, but in my case, when my father was vehemently opposed to one of my life choices he would push very hard to do things the way he felt I should do them.  Would he get mad at me if I wasn’t seeing it his way?  If the issue was important enough, most definitely. Would he make it very clear that he felt I was making a mistake? Unquestionably.  However, those times when I chose not to listen, once I made the choice, even if he was unhappy with my choice, he supported me in my decision.  Sometimes he was right, sometimes I was, but every time I came out loving him even more.  Why?  Because when it’s important enough to you and those you care about, you may show passion for your choice, but the true indication of love is to continue to show support whether or not someone listens to you or not and regardless of whether or not they share your passion.  I got that from my father.

On November 9th Americans have an opportunity to show their true love of country. Granted it will be easier for those on the side of the winner, but the opportunity exists nonetheless.  The winning side must be prepared to genuinely welcome the other in building and healing the country.  Although each side has different philosophies on how to move the country and the world forward, a totally one-sided agenda from the winning party’s candidate will alienate too many others who voted for the opposition, and nothing will be more important on November 9th than a country moving towards unity.

It is a common thing in life for people to blame their problems on others.  Humanity does that on an individual level and as a people.  The truth is that many problems can be resolved by doing what is right and working hard towards making things happen.  This election is no different.  As important as it is, upwards of at least 40% of the voting populous will not get the candidate they want. These people will be left with 2 choices. Continue to fight the opposition and set this country back decades with more infighting and obstruction, or join forces and find a middle ground most, if not all people can agree on.

There is a populous movement in this country.  This populism has taken form on both the conservative and liberal side of the aisle.  There are some fundamental disagreements on policies.  That being said the overall lesson to be learned by the populist movement is that the people are more involved than they have been in the past.  But involvement is not enough.  This involvement must coincide with responsibility, and that responsibility is towards the common good, something that can only be reached by working together and yes, supporting your next president regardless of who gets elected.

As easy and therapeutic as it will be to insult the President-elect if that person was not the one you voted for, like so many other things in life the right thing to do is not always the easy thing to do.  So it comes down to this.  I don’t care if you hate one candidate so much that the very though of them becoming the next president makes you sick to your stomach.  What I care about is the future of this country and the rest of the world, and regardless of who wins, for better or for worse we are far better off if we support our next president.  That is something I will do.  Not because I consider all options to be acceptable, but because the only way this works is if we get behind that president and grow together as a nation.  If we do not do that then all of this will have been for nothing.  To me that is far less acceptable than my candidate losing.

Fight for what you believe in.  Fight for what you feel is right.  But at the end of the day do what it right for your country, and that means supporting its leadership, even if it wasn’t the leadership you chose.  Tomorrow I will support my candidate. On Wednesday I will support the next President of the United States.

But first get up tomorrow I will do what I hope all of you will do.  I will get out and vote.

Sincerely,

David Groen

 

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July 26, 2016

And my Vote goes to…

By davidgroen1

trumpclinton_0

MY CHOICE FOR PRESIDENT IS…

As the Democratic National Convention gets underway, we know one thing for sure. November will be historic.  The citizens of America will either elect a businessman from New York, a man with no formal experience in politics or, for the first time in the nation’s history, a woman as President of the United States.  There have been times in the past when the candidates of one of the parties was somewhat more obscure, or at the very least less high-profile, but this year without question, name recognition is not an issue. Everyone knows who Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are?  Or do they?

I don’t want to use this forum as a means of showing my support for one candidate by trashing the other, but in this election the majority of voters are at least somewhat impacted by that which they do not like about the other.  It’s very much about spin.  Take the most extreme supporter on either side and there is nothing the opposing candidate can do that will be seen as OK.  However, there is one glaring difference in my estimation. We can at least claim to know the worst there is to know about Hillary.  But what about Trump?  Somehow people have come to believe that a millionaire businessman, the owner of hotels, private jets and helicopters, is somehow a regular guy, a man of the people. They look at me with a straight face and say they won’t vote for Hillary because she is a liar or corrupt.They actually allow themselves to believe that Donald Trump has gotten to where he is out of sheer brilliance and hard work.  I won’t sit here and prosecute the case against him, but really?  If you believe that I have a great university you should attend. It will make you rich.

I know the criticisms against Hillary and I will openly admit that I don’t like everything about her, but do I have a far greater amount of confidence in her ability to lead this country in the right direction than Donald Trump?  Without question I do.  Was Benghazi a tragedy?  Of course it was.  Could things have been handled better? Maybe, probably, I don’t know. But I do know that under George W. Bush 13 embassies were attacked and 60 people were killed.  We’re America. We are hated by those who want to take what we have or change who we are.  We are targets and will remain targets as long as there is evil in the world.

I don’t like the Iran deal.  Never have, likely never will.  But even if I am to see it as a total attack on Israel, which I don’t necessarily do, I see it as President Obama’s deal not Hillary Clinton’s.  To say a Secretary of State is wrong for working towards the goals of her boss doesn’t make him or her complicit in the outcome of the goal, good or bad.  It makes them a loyal servant to the Commander in Chief.  I am also comfortable to go on record and say that in areas I disagree with the president, I believe him to be more someone trying to save the world, sometimes naively, rather than someone trying to bring anyone, including Israel, destruction.

Emails? Sorry. I am not even going to make a case as to why this is not enough reason for me to vote for Donald Trump over Hillary.

People say that Donald Trump is preying on the fears of the people.  That is partially true. Sadly I believe he is also exposing the stupidity of many.  I would never say that all people voting for Trump are stupid, many are highly intelligent, but I do believe he is counting on the vote of those that are stupid. If Hollywood made a movie, and the day after the Democratic National Convention started the Republican nominee’s best response to what he saw was calling the Democratic nominee Hillary “ROTTEN” Clinton, people would have assumed we were watching a Mel Brooks satire.  But no, this really happened, and it happened from someone people still take seriously.  Someone who made fun of Carly Fiorina’s face, likened Ben Carson to a child molester, called his opponents names like Little Marco and Lyin Ted, mocked a handicapped person, called Mexicans rapists, called for a ban of an entire religion, said John Mccain wasn’t a war  hero because he got caught, and yes, even spoke about the size of his penis. This man is somehow considered to be more qualified than Hillary Clinton?  Really?

As a Jewish man and a Zionist I say this.  Many reading this see history and see Roosevelt and Churchill as great men.  I won’t sit here and necessarily challenge that.  Had they not led the world to victory against Adolph Hitler it is possible that western civilization as we know it would not exist and all we know as Jews would be gone.  But before we judge people on a standard of perfection, or even good or bad, ask yourself how many Jews might have been saved had they destroyed the railroad tracks leading to Auschwitz and other concentration camps.  If FOX News were around then, FDR might have been held accountable to the point of prosecution, Thomas Dewey might have been elected, and Harry Truman would never have become president.  Who knows how World War II would have ended?  I am not saying FDR and Churchill were perfect or the biggest fans of the Jewish people, but their jobs were to be leaders of the US and Great Britain, and that they were, in exceptional manners.  We have every right to demand our leaders don’t hurt our cause, but we also must realize we are electing a President of the United States, not a president of the Jewish people, and we must therefore expect that president to do what they deem best for the country.  Furthermore, before Jewish supporters get all excited about a Trump presidency merely because his daughter converted and he speaks harshly about Muslims, keep these 2 things in mind.  When Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu criticized Trump for his anti-Muslim rhetoric Trump punished him by cancelling his trip to Israel.  Also keep in mind how Trump plans to reconsider aide to our allies, including Israel.

The point is, no matter who you are or where you come from, whatever good you believe you are hearing about Donald Trump, he’s only telling you to get your vote.  Yes, you can say that about all politicians, but don’t tell me how different Donald Trump is from the establishment.  He funded the establishment, including the Clintons, for decades.

I don’t buy into the fact that a Hillary Clinton presidency will be 4 more years of an Obama presidency.  If anything I believe it is more likely to be closer to being 4 more years of a Bill Clinton presidency, and that would be just fine by me.  I honestly don’t know how good of a president Hillary would be, but I feel that her demeanor, her experience and her intellect is enough to make me very comfortable in giving her my vote.  I think her choice of Tim Kaine already shows she is making choices based on her agenda as opposed to the demands of others.  I think she is ready to be president today, as opposed to her candidate who will never be ready to be president.  Besides the fact that I’ve always been offended by the implication that America isn’t great, merely for the benefit of a slogan, I also know that Donald Trump couldn’t even make Atlantic City great again.

I know that many reading this find it hard to believe that I, someone who has always been so outspoken about the security of Israel could support Clinton over Trump, but guess what?  I find it hard to believe that you don’t.  You might be able to legitimately raise questions about her, but to me that doesn’t mean voting for Trump, someone who repeatedly shows signs of being a global menace.  I’ve seen and heard enough bad from Trump to not vote for him while seeing enough good to vote for Hillary, and that is what I intend to do.  What good you ask?  In this political climate don’t count on answer, because most people asking won’t accept my answer anyway.  You vote your conscience and I’ll vote mine and I’ll accept you for your choice whether you return the favor or not.  After all, that’s the American way.

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July 21, 2016

Meet the new King of the Republican Establishment

By davidgroen1

trump-GOP-575x323

Let’s be honest. Most people wouldn’t even look at someone if they attacked their parent or spouse in the way Trump did to Cruz’s wife and father. Calling an American judge of Mexican descent unqualified because of his heritage, Trump saying he would force the military to take actions deemed as war crimes and accusing Cruz’s father of being involved in the Kennedy assassination are all examples of comments made by the Republican nominee after the pledge taken by his opponents to support whoever wins the primaries. But let’s be tell it like it is. What people are really showing is that they are backing their new ESTABLISHMENT candidate Donald Trump, who not only didn’t fight the establishment, he manipulated it to his benefit. So congratulations on your candidate who I may very well win, and continue to vilify Ted Cruz who actually is anti-establishment, one of the reasons he is hated. Personally, and this is coming from a social liberal, I found Ted Cruz to be refreshing and commend him to have the strength of character that typical politicians like Rubio, Walker and Ryan didn’t have.

What Ted Cruz magnified last night, at least for people willing to see it, is the difference between pandering to people’s fears and paranoia and actually bucking the establishment. My socially liberal views always held me back from being an all out Cruz supporter, but I will say, as someone who always has appreciated him for his unapologetic support for Israel that today I have more respect for him than I’ve ever had.  I know that’s an unpopular view, particularly with Trump supporters, I’m not one anyway, but what other Republican politician has presented himself in a more dignified way in opposition of Donald Trump? John Kasich has stood strong but done so in a passive-aggressive manner that has made his defiance somewhat irrelevant.  But what Ted Cruz did in standing firm on what he believes in, exercising his right to free speech and not caving to the pressure from the establishment, shows that there is a genuine side to him.

What Ted Cruz proved last night was that once again the establishment has won.  About a year and a half ago I predicted the election would be Clinton against Bush.  When the primaries began and Trump started making waves, I insisted the establishment wouldn’t let  him win.  But I was wrong.  Why? Because the Republican establishment outsmarted all the Republican voters looking for an anti-establishment candidate.  Rather than forcing in their establishment candidate, once they knew there was no stopping what was happening, they made the candidate the establishment and blended with him.  Since Trump is really only about winning and gaining power, he bought right into it.  Now enter Ted Cruz who comes along and shows that he still isn’t the establishment and he is verbally destroyed by what else, the new Donald J. Trump Republican establishment. Excuse my vulgarity, but outsider my ass.  Trump presented himself as an outsider, gained popularity and wiggled his way from the outside to the inside and changed the Republican Party forever.  Whether the Republicans want to admit it or not, Donald Trump is the new King of their establishment, not the destroyer. At least for now. I hope Trump does a great job should he get elected, but besides hoping he doesn’t get elected, should he fall on his face before or after the election, years from now now there will be Republicans who will admit their party got hijacked and Republicans who will deny it.  But love him or hate him, no one can ever say Ted Cruz didn’t tell you so.  And now the Republican establishment, led by one Donald J. Trump hates him for it.

There is one other possibility, and that is that every “controversy” of the convention has been orchestrated.  As the old saying goes, “made you look”.

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July 6, 2016

In Defense of Trump; from a Never Trump Jewish guy

By davidgroen1

Donald+Trump+Hillary+Clinton+Star+of+David+Full

I write this as a Jewish man, not as a voter.  As a voter I have absolutely no intention of casting my vote for Donald Trump.  There are many qualities he displays, all qualities discussed in the media ad-nauseum that makes me not only not want to vote for him, but fearful at the prospect of his presidency.  Trump is many things that are abhorrent to many American voters.  I will not only not dispute many of those criticisms, I will very likely agree with many of them.  But the one thing I will dispute is the notion that Donald Trump has displayed anything resembling anti-Semitism.

I personally do not believe Donald Trump is a racist or bigot of any kind.  I believe he says some very irresponsible and thoughtless things that are not only insulting but potentially very damaging as well.  I also believe his incendiary comments resonate strongly in a very racist element of American society making them potentially very dangerous. As president these comments would carry even more force and would subsequently have an even more damaging impact.  That being said, even as someone very sensitive to attacks of any kind on my religion, I did not find the tweet with the star calling Hillary the “most corrupt candidate ever” to be a racial slur or an indication that Trump has a problem with the Jewish people.

There are many factors that point to why this is not the case.  The most obvious would be the fact that Trump’s daughter Ivanka converted to Judaism before marrying her husband, Jared Kushner, who has a strong and positive relationship with his father-in-law.  The next fact is that as much business as people have done with Trump, as many companies as he has owned and as many people as he as employed,  if Trump was a racist of any kind, including an anti-Semite, we would have known this long before he ran for president.  And that is not because his activities have gone under the radar. There has certainly been plenty of buzz showing him to be a heartless and self-serving business man. And finally, and this is just simple logic, with an ad designed to bring attention to the Trump campaign’s stance that Hillary is too corrupt to be president, why would they deflect attention from that message by going after Jews.  The answer is that they would not. The truth is that what the star represents, and I refer to it as the star rather than the Star of David because I do not believe it was meant to represent a Star of David, is more stupidity and carelessness than bigotry and racism, and as a proud Jew I can forgive that, at least from a personal and ethnic standpoint.

Unfortunately the tweet does represent much of what is wrong with the Trump candidacy. Just because it is not anti-Semitic, that does not mean it is acceptable. The lack of understanding and preparedness that this represents is very much  part of the reason I am a Never Trump guy, but as a Jewish man I don’t hate him, I merely hate him as a voter.

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May 18, 2016

How Emotion has taken over Politics

By davidgroen1

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Let me start by putting all my Trump supporting “friends” at ease.  This is not a trash Trump post. It is also not a trash Hillary post. I won’t even be trashing Bernie, despite my serious issues with his policies towards Israel. Actually, hold that thought.  I take that back.  I might trash Bernie a little. You see, the point is that to many people it makes no difference what these politician’s policies actually are.  What ultimately matters is who we like.

I start with a bit of disclaimer.  A friend of mine who has been around for many election cycles and has met numerous politicians, candidates and even presidents over the years told me that every election he’s ever seen was decided by who people like more than by the candidate’s policies.  That being said, personally I’ve never seen anything like what we are witnessing this year.  It’s so bad that if Clinton and Trump would do exactly the same thing the reactions would be completely different based on who people like.  Trump knows it.  We all assume he was joking when he said he could shoot someone on 5th Avenue and his supporters would still support him, but we all now know this is true.  Of course I don’t believe for one second Trump would shoot someone on 5th Avenue, he’s more likely to take them out back and do it on Madison Avenue (just kidding), but those who support him wouldn’t care either way.

It’s not just Trump supporters by any means.  I’ve seen numerous discussions take place between staunch Conservatives and Hilary Clinton supporters, and when they ask them about the deaths of 4 Americans in Benghazi and hold her responsible, her supporters never come back with a factual response.  They either say it doesn’t matter, there was nothing she could do, or that they don’t care if she made a mistake, they still support her. I’m not discussing her culpability in the matter, and I am not saying whether there is or is not a factual response, but if you support her and that is your answer, it’s not about policy, it’s either about personality or habit.  By habit I mean voting for someone because they represent the party you stand behind and you could never vote differently no matter what your candidate says or does. But let’s be honest. If you didn’t sufficiently like the candidate, that would most likely trump (pun intended) your usual habit.

A friend of mine in the sales world once said, “people buy with emotion, then justify it with logic”.  It would appear most Americans vote the same way.  Case in point, here are some of the most common terms of the day

“I love Trump”

“I hate Hilary”

“I hate Trump”

“Feel the Bern”

“I love Hilary”

“Trump scares me”

“I like Trump”

“I like Hilary”

“I like Bernie”

These 9 terms are indicative of what drives a large portion of the American electorate as  we sit here today May 18, 2016.  Don’t believe me?  Watch “Waters World” on the “O’Reilly Factor” just one time and you’ll see how a large percentage of people who choose the president think (using the word think very loosely).  And those are just the dumb ones. Want to hear a smart person sound really stupid? Turn on CNN and listen to Kayleigh Mcenany, Georgetown graduate who studied politics at Oxford University and Donald Trump surrogate. Surrogate is different than supporter. Supporters don’t need to sound smart, surrogates do.  The best way to describe Kayleigh Mcenany’s support for Donald Trump is to imagine him tweeting something to the effect of, Kayleigh Mcenany is an ugly cow (I use that as an hypothetical because she’s actually quite attractive).  I am fairly convinced that her response would be something like this.  I believe what Mr. Trump was trying to say was that he loves his wife Melania very much and that she is the most beautiful woman in the world.

You see, in this election cycle it doesn’t matter to the people what you say or what you’ve been accused of doing, all that matters is if you like them.  I’ve heard people who love Israel say they like Bernie Sanders in the same sentence.  Why? Because he’s a charismatic old dude from Brooklyn and they like him. It certainly can’t be because of his approach towards Israel, an approach that could facilitate its destruction. Then again, why listen to me.  I’m just saying that because “I hate Bernie”.  I’d add that to the list but it’s not a prevailing emotion. Most either like him or don’t take him seriously. I as a Jew and a Zionist feel strongly about him because of a stated policy approach.

Since I have my moments when I both like and don’t like Trump and Hilary, I’ll leave my personal feelings (other than my disapproval for Bernie) out of this.   I will say this in defense of everyone, myself included that base their support or lack of support on emotion.  There’s nothing wrong with voting for someone who makes you feel good about life, the future, and the country you love, or at least like.  Just admit it.  Don’t try so hard to pretend it’s because of policy when we all know that most candidates main policy issue anyway is just getting themselves elected.  Pick who you like, hold your breath, and hope you’re right.  And while you’re at it don’t insult someone who likes something or someone different than you do, because there is no right and wrong when it comes to what someone likes.  That would be like someone telling you they like Pizza and responding “your wrong”. Those of you who will say that is very different may be in that minority that does pick a candidate based on policy or claims to because they are justifying their emotional choice with logic, but let’s face the facts.  Elections are popularity contests, not referendums on judgment and experience.  And my friend is probably right.  It’s probably always been that way.

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May 7, 2016

Establishment or Dissent. Which one is it?

By davidgroen1

mitt_romney_speech_on_donald_trump

I’m struck by the hypocrisy coming out of the Trump camp.  In fairness, the “camp” I am referring to is not so much Donald himself but those who support him and seemingly gravitate to the term of surrogate.  Having spent an entire year hearing how Trump is anti-establishment, and following his success among voters sick and tired of the usual ways of Washington, I wonder by what right do Trump’s people insist that all Republicans should back their candidate?

I’m not questioning the legitimacy of his candidacy, solely based on the fact that he got to where he is through a Democratic process, but to aggressively demand that the likes of Romney, Ryan and the Bush’s have some sort of obligation to support him now that he is the presumptive nominee is opportunistic hypocrisy at its worst.  It’s almost like Trump’s surrogates are saying, “we won, now fall in line whether you like it or not”.

This issue does a lot to crystallize the major issues people have with the specter of a President Trump.  As one who is not convinced he is actually a racist demagogue but still potentially very dangerous, I see this issue as a very clear indication of what we might be looking at should he ascend to the position of leader of the Free World.  A presidential candidate’s benefits and dangers are not merely based on their words or actions but very much based on the impact those words and actions have on their supporters.  Trump’s responses to those who choose to not support him are very much what they’ve been throughout his campaign, mocking ridicule and name calling.  As non-presidential as that might be it’s not dangerous per se.  But his surrogates grab the torch from him and then take a different approach.  They go on the attack against those who choose not to support him, taking the approach of almost bullying them into changing their positions. It’s just a matter of time till the names of those Republicans not supporting him will be spoken of by Trump’s surrogates with the same venom they have when speaking of the Clintons or President Obama.  But what is the deal here?  If they are so anti-establishment, how does it make any sense for these surrogates to claim wrongdoing on the part of the establishment types unwilling to support their candidate?  If you are anti-establishment how can you demand the establishment concede? It’s one or the other, make your pick.

I know it’s a free country, for now at least, and that no laws are being broken when Trump’s followers go on the attack against his opponents, but the climate being created is a volatile one at best, and just like in international conflicts that are deemed powder kegs, the slightest misstep or out of the ordinary event could cause a disaster.  Trump might really love Hispanics, not just Tacos, but the danger in his candidacy remains, not just because of him but because of those who follow him.

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