JERUSALEM (JTA/Binyamin Rose) — Only 6% of voters who cast ballots for Barack Obama in 2008 voted for Donald Trump in 2016. I’m one of them.
Join our WhatsApp groupSubscribe to our Daily Roundup Email
Political affiliation played no role in my decision. I’m a registered Democrat who often votes Republican. I was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in North Jersey. We cried when Richard Nixon defeated Hubert Humphrey in 1968 and exulted when Ronald Reagan routed Jimmy Carter in 1980.
This year poses a fresh dilemma.
President Trump has proven himself as a consistent supporter of Israel. We feel an affinity to the president’s cadre of Orthodox Jewish advisers, including Jared Kushner. Jared’s father, Charlie, was my high school classmate at the Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, New Jersey. The Kushners wore their commitment to Jewish causes and Israel on their sleeves.
I also became professionally acquainted with Joe Biden in the 1980s, interviewing him at length when he was Delaware’s junior senator and I served as news director at WDOV-Radio in Dover, Delaware. I always found Biden well-versed in both domestic and foreign policy, with nuanced views on the issues. We’ve lost contact over the years, but no one can convince me Biden’s morphed into a reckless socialist.
I’m only one man, one vote. But in my current role as editor at large for Mishpacha Magazine, the most influential Orthodox weekly with a quarter of a million readers globally, I’ve kept my finger on the pulse of that community since 2004.
Our readership is overwhelmingly pro-Trump. That doesn’t mean they like everything he says, or how he says it. As Sen. Lindsey Graham once put it, the president is a street fighter. But Orthodox Jews see Trump as their man on the street, standing up for causes they believe in, including Israel and religious freedoms by appointing conservative judges to federal courts.
A Nishma poll taken in January 2020 showed some 56% of the ultra-Orthodox and 29% of the Modern Orthodox voted for Trump in 2016, and his approval rating had risen to 68% among the ultra-Orthodox and 36% amongst the modern Orthodox earlier this year.
Recent events have only solidified Trump’s standing, despite the coronavirus pandemic, which most Orthodox Jews view as primarily a health issue and not one that politicians can solve. Biden can critique Trump from the basement of his Wilmington, Delaware, home all he wants, but he can’t prove retroactively that he would have done better.
Aside from catching COVID-19, the two outbreaks Orthodox Jews fear most are a breakdown of law and order, and rising anti-Semitism.
To an extent, the two dovetail.
American Orthodox Jewish voters are concentrated in and around major cities, where Jewish institutions have spent millions of dollars since 9/11 on security upgrades. We have watched in dread as this summer’s legitimate demonstrations against police brutality against Black Americans quickly gave way to rioting and looting, with big-city mayors looking the other way. Jewish businesses were targeted at a time when Orthodox Jews, with their unique dress, are already on edge, having been singled out for beatings and assaults in increasing numbers in recent years.
Neither Trump nor Biden can wave a magic wand and provide redress for hundreds of years of grievances. That’s a formidable task for the next administration, and probably many presidents to come, no matter who wins this year. But in the meantime, we must feel safe at home, on the street, in our synagogues and yeshivas and at our places of business.
Law and order must be restored. Police should be retrained and reeducated, not defunded. Biden does not support defunding, but Orthodox Jews view the Republicans in general, and Trump in particular, as ready, willing and able to deploy federal resources to restore order. As a senator, Biden championed law and order; however, candidate Biden now walks a tightrope with his party’s progressive wing that tolerates the mayhem.
There are other societal issues that explain why Orthodox Jews have cast their votes in larger numbers for conservative Republicans, such as the family values championed by Ronald Reagan and the Bushes. We believe that marriage is a holy bond between a man and a woman. We also support government funding of secular studies curriculums within parochial schools, as many Western countries do. On those issues, we often have more in common with Evangelical Christians than our fellow Jews, who vote overwhelmingly Democratic, and favor Republican presidents who will appoint more conservative justices to the Supreme Court.
I haven’t even mentioned Israel yet, or Iran. These were bigger campaign issues in 2016 than in 2020, but suffice it to say, President Trump has amassed a strong record of solid support for Israel. He has restored sanctions on Iran, moved the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, and recognized Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights. Let’s not forget his United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who took on the entire international community at the UN over its obsession with Israel.
Trump’s “deal of the century” for Middle East peace has flaws and faces stiff challenges, despite optimism over the flowering of diplomatic relations between Israel and other Arab nations. But in the minds of many Orthodox Jews, for whom the biblical borders of Israel are sacrosanct, 30% of the West Bank under Trump beats the 4% that Israel was left with under the Oslo agreements that President Obama supported and that a Biden administration would likely revive.
While I noted earlier that some 80% of the ultra-Orthodox voted for Trump in 2016, what about the 20% who didn’t?
One answer is that many are disturbed by Trump’s divisive rhetoric, and the consequent deterioration of public discourse, opening the door for a major uptick in anti-Semitism.
Yes, political dialogue has descended to gutter level. Trump bears his share of the blame for that. Judaism has laws for kosher speech, just as it has for kosher food. Jewish law forbids the use of derogatory nicknames. We’d like to see the president eliminate the name-calling from his political lexicon.
Trump’s diatribes have emboldened far-right extremists and white nationalists. At the same time, Democratic progressives have ramped up their anti-Israel rhetoric, supporting the BDS movement under the banner of free speech. Both parties are guilty of fomenting anti-Semitism. But for an Orthodox Jew, what’s the bigger present threat? A far-right extremist in a distant rural town, or a looter in a Jewish neighborhood?
Anti-Semitism has been alive and kicking for centuries. I haven’t seen any recent polling of KKK voters, and I don’t expect to, but it’s a safe assumption that most vote Republican, whether or not the candidate’s last name is Trump. To label Trump a white nationalist because some of his supporters are is as unfair as branding Biden a socialist because some progressives in his party speak approvingly of aspects of Fidel Castro’s regime.
In the final analysis, among America’s Orthodox Jews, a primary fear propelling support for Trump is the rise of the progressive left. Many Orthodox Jews are pessimistic about the future of their cities and the country as a whole should the progressive agenda be enacted, with its very real potential to transform America into a much more hostile place for religion.
They see Trump as a defender of the values they hold dear, and for them, a vote for Trump in November is a vote to keep the Orthodox Jewish lifestyle viable in the United States.
Binyamin Rose is the Editor At Large of Mishpacha Magazine, the dominant media influence on America’s Orthodox Jewish population today. Based in Jerusalem, Binyamin has traveled to 26 countries to interview leading newsmakers and politicians worldwide.
there are MILLIONS of Yidden that support Trump for obvious reasons – it’s the silent majority
He freed Rubashkin!!
One doesn’t need a long analysis of why to support Trump, there is one overriding factor and it can be summed up in one sentence
He’s not Joe Biden and his disgusting Anarchist henchmen.
זה לא מאהבת מרדכי אלה משנאת המן
no way 1/4 million people read the mishpacha! seriously!
Excellent article and true.
Where i and many disagree is about Israel. I don’t vote for a president based on his policies toward Israel.
True that we must be concerned about the safety of Jews wherever they live including Israel. But the Torah forbidden state of Israel is not my country therefore a presidents policies toward Israel should not really concern Torah observant Jews.
Our country we are yearning and pray we should be returned to is Eretz Yisroel through Moshicah.
Why do we have to be so apologetic why can’t we just vote for what’s good for our community! The same way the black community votes for what’s good for them! Trump score for the orthodox Jews
Vote for Biden and you get anarchy socialism and utter destruction of this entire country the same way that Cuomo.and Deblasio.have turned New York into a lawless crime infested city.
That is what the Democrats specialize in.
Well said vote for trump besides he has Jewish grand kids
The Democrats are the party that endorses Jew haters. The democrats are the party that supports banning religious freedom. The democrats are the party that supports prosecuting anyone who doesn’t support their radical anti Torah agenda. The democrats are the only party that doesnt have room on their party for anyone who doesnt support their radical abortion and gay marriage agenda. The democrats are the only party that supports the rioting looters. The democrats are the only party that supports illegal aliens over US citizens. The democrats are The only party that wants to tear down our history while elevating a vile criminal to sainthood just becaus he was murdered by a cop. The Democrat are the only party that support the terrorists who wish to destroy Israel. How any frum Jew can vote for the Democrats let alone support them or be a member of their party I have no idea.
Every one is voting for for trump 2020
Even Satmar who are against Zionism ( have a lot of friends there) are for Trump because the other side is against religion, moral ,low in order & everything in-between .Trump is for what’s right Biden &his handlers are for all what’s wrong!
I am voting for President Trump simply because I have no idea what his opponent stands for or will do once elected. Mr. Biden has not had a single rally or town hall meeting. His insistence that he’s trying to stay safe and therefore staying in locked up in his home, just doesn’t cut it for me. President Trump was not my first pick. I voted for Mike Huckabee in the primary and then was hoping that Ted Cruz would win, but it wasn’t meant to be. I think President Trump has done a fine job and I don’t see any reason why not to give the incumbent another 4 years. I don’t think Mr. Biden is an evil or bad person. I just don’t know any information about him or his policies. Very troubling. The DNC has done a terrible job in promoting their candidate. Something is not right. If Bloomberg, or someone of his management caliber, was the candidate, I might of thought twice.
Trump vs. biden?
No. This is trump vs. kamala (קמלע = עמלק)
No one is expecting biden to last more than a few weeks into 2021… if he makes it that far before going completely blank.
Donald Trump is the poor man’s idea of a rich man, the idiot’s idea of a smart man, the cowards idea of a strong man, the Evangelicals idea of a great man, the criminals idea of a friend, and the fool’s idea of a leader. His lies and use of autocratic
A man who condones white Supremacists who chant “Jews will not replace us.” There is nothing pro-Israel or pro Jewish about Trump. Trump is pro-Trump, and everyone else is irrelevant to him. He is a danger to all our democratic norms and willfully breaks the law as do his many surrogates. He is the opposite of a law and order president as he doesn’t think any US law applies to him. The sooner you realize that FACT THE BETTER FOR OUR DEMOCRACY
According to Stuart Stevens No incumbent who trailed after convention has been re-elected since 1948. Things can change but the race seems very stable.
“Today, 43 percent say the country will be less safe if Trump is reelected. Just 32 percent say it will be safer. “
There are people that care about the country, rule of law, (not Trump’s version) the Constitution
You shall not steal
You shall not commit adultery
You shall not covet
You shall not bear false witness
You Obviously do not take seriously when you learn IF you learn, BM, Kamatza bar Katmza, Sotah,
Gittin , Avos and much much more. Haughtiness and name calling is the lowest attribute in a person, and those who enable him will follow in GEHINOM> So vote a support who you wish in Olam Hazzeh, but no amount of tshuva will help you on R”H.
I voted for Trump in the last election and will do so again. Biden is a fool who has done nothing for the past 40 years in politics. He is being used by the Dems. simply to get their liberal agenda through. America will be unrecognizable if Biden is elected.