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JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT. |
| WHAT’S DRIVING THE AMERICAN JEWISH CONVERSATION |
| | | Today: North Carolina elects its first Jewish governor, Orthodox voters boost House candidates, Israelis protest after Netanyahu fires defense minister, recalling Quincy Jones’ Holocaust movie, and remembering Jewish philanthropist Bernie Marcus. |
| | | | Former President Donald Trump at an election night party in Florida. (Getty) |
| Trump returns to power
Donald Trump’s historic win as 47th president of the United States begins a new era of uncertainty for many American Jews. Exit polls from Tuesday night found that 79% of Jews voted for Vice President Kamala Harris, despite frustration among progressives over the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s ongoing attacks in Gaza.
About 21% of Jews voted Republican, according to the polls, the lowest proportion of Jewish votes for a Republican presidential candidate in 24 years. Republican claims that Jews would flock to their candidate because of Israel or antisemitism did not pan out.
Trump has repeatedly said that Jews who vote Democrat should “have their heads examined,” leading to accusations of antisemitism and uncomfortable conversations about loyalty.
Trump’s “domestic priorities do not match those of most American Jews,” reports Ron Kampeas. “He plans mass deportations of immigrants and social policies that would favor Christian influence in government.”
Devastated Jews may not feel ready to move forward, writes our columnist Emily Tamkin, but our tradition shows us how. “The only way we are going to get through this is with each other. What comes next will, in all likelihood, be very hard,” she writes, adding: “In this country, in the face of a new leader who will certainly resent a majority of American Jews for not backing him, we speak up for one another.” Read her essay ►
How will Trump’s win impact Israel?
Trump’s “America First” strategy appears to signal a shift away from the traditionally strong U.S. presence in global affairs. Since the Hamas attack in 2023, the Biden administration has given a record $17.9 billion in military aid to Israel. Trump has a strong, but fickle, bond with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu was the first world leader to congratulate Trump. Hamas said it would judge Trump on his “positions and actions towards the Palestinian people.”
Trump’s win may come with a potential upside for the crisis in the Middle East, argues our Tel Aviv-based columnist, Dan Perry. “Trump’s aggressive, zero-sum approach to foreign policy, particularly toward Iran, might be precisely what is needed to confront and contain actors in the region who have grown accustomed to making a mockery of Washington’s delicate and often ineffective diplomacy.” Read his essay ► |
| | Gov. Josh Shapiro campaigns with Vice President Kamala Harris in July in Philadelphia. (Getty) |
| The Shapiro factor
Trump won in Pennsylvania, the swing state that carries the most electoral votes. Ever since Harris chose Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz to be her running mate in August, Democrats have wondered if bypassing the popular Jewish governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, would cost her the Keystone State.
“If Kamala had chosen Josh Shapiro this night might have gone very differently,” writer Daniella Greenbaum Davis posted on X. Pollster Frank Luntz also said that picking Shapiro would have helped Harris win the race. Alyssa Farah Griffin, a former Trump administration official who now co-hosts The View, said having Shapiro on the ticket “would not have overcome these insurmountable odds, but he almost certainly would have gotten the Harris ticket closer to the finish line.”
Also in Pennsylvania: Horses and buggies were seen at polling stations, where newly registered Amish voters came out in unprecedented numbers. “They just want government to stay not only out of their businesses but out of their religion,” said U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker, Republican of Pennsylvania. (NY Post, PBS) |
| | “My Jewish faith teaches me that we’re all children of God, that we all can make a difference in our communities,” said Josh Stein, who will become North Carolina’s first Jewish governor. (Getty) |
| New Jewish governors
North Carolina elected Josh Stein, the state’s attorney general, its first Jewish governor. Stein defeated Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson after revelations that Robinson identified as a “Black Nazi” on a pornography message board, along with other troubling online activity. Stein and his wife, Anna Harris Stein, have three children and are members of Temple Beth Or, a Reform congregation of about 500 families in Raleigh. Stein also coached a JCC soccer team.
Journalist Melissa Weiss helpfully pointed out that, with Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Josh Green in Hawaii, now “6% of the country’s governors are Jewish guys named Josh.”
Matt Meyer, a county executive who has been to Israel three times and had a family tradition of giving tzedakah instead of gifts on the eighth night of Hanukkah, was elected governor of Delaware. He will be the state’s second Jewish leader, after Jack Markell, who served from 2010 to 2017. |
| | Supporters of former President Donald Trump at a Republican watch party Tuesday at Mike's Place bar in Jerusalem. (Getty) |
| And in other races… Rep. Adam Schiff from California won the vacant Senate seat left by the death of another Jewish Democrat, Dianne Feinstein. (JTA)
Businessman Craig Goldman won his House race in Texas, “bringing the number of Jewish Republicans in Congress to three for the first time in more than a decade.” (JTA)
Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, the only Palestinian American in Congress, won a fourth term in the House. (Axios)
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican and a self-described Christian nationalist who has been criticized for her use of antisemitic tropes, cruised to a third term. (Times of Israel)
Elsewhere on election day… Americans who cast ballots in Tuesday's election were almost evenly divided over U.S. support for Israel, according to early exit poll results: 32% said the support is too strong, 30% not strong enough and 31% about right.
Antisemitism and Israel were on the minds of many of the people casting ballots at a Los Angeles shul-turned-polling place. “If you had told me two elections ago that I was going to vote for Trump, I would have said you’re crazy,” one voter told our Louis Keene.
In Jerusalem, over 150 Israelis ushered in the U.S. election Tuesday night with hot dogs, onion rings and live Dixieland jazz.
Watch: Outside Zabar’s on the Upper West Side, a Jewish voter asked, “I wonder why we can’t all live under one big tent.”
We want to hear from you: What is your reaction to election night? Send us an email and let us know! |
| | | | | | Thousands of Israelis gathered Tuesday night to protest the firing of the defense minister. (Getty) |
| Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu fired defense minister Yoav Gallant on Tuesday, a controversial move as the country fights wars on multiple fronts. Gallant, the Israeli minister most trusted by the Biden administration, has been a vocal critic of Netanyahu over the war in Gaza and domestic political issues. Thousands of protesters took to the streets after the announcement. Netanyahu previously fired Gallant in March 2023; protests at that time forced Netanyahu to quickly reverse that decision.
CNN anchor Bianna Golodryga wrote on X that “Election Day is the only day where this wouldn’t dominate headlines” and when American officials could be distracted.
Opinions… “By prioritizing short-term political gains, Netanyahu has isolated Israel at a time when it needs its allies most,” writes our columnist Dan Perry.
“The staggering recklessness of this act should not be understated,” writes Michael Koplow of the Israel Policy Forum. |
| | | | Quincy Jones at the 1993 Montreux Jazz Festival. (Getty) |
| Music man
Quincy Jones, the legendary music producer who died Sunday at 91, worked with Ray Charles, Dizzy Gillespie and Michael Jackson. He was nominated for 80 Grammys, and scored dozens of films — including 1964’s The Pawnbroker, which was the first U.S. movie to discuss the Holocaust from a survivor’s point of view. The film showcased Jones’ “seemingly endless inventiveness,” writes our culture critic Benjamin Ivry. Go deeper ►
Plus: André Aciman’s new memoir explores life in a constant diaspora. “I am not a red person or a blue person; I opt for the spectrum,” he said. “I’m a profoundly divided soul.”
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| | WHAT ELSE YOU NEED TO KNOW TODAY |
| | Bernie Marcus at a Home Depot store in 1998. (Getty) |
| Shiva call ► Bernie Marcus, the co-founder of the Home Depot who donated more than $2.7 billion to charity, including many Jewish and Republican causes, died at 95. “His work supported, and in some cases transformed, American Jewish life, the State of Israel, American politics, medicine and his adopted hometown of Atlanta, where he donated $250 million to create the Georgia Aquarium, the largest aquarium in the United States,” writes Nira Dayanim of eJewishPhilanthropy.
On campus…
🇵🇸 There have been far fewer pro-Palestinian protests this semester at the University of California, Berkeley. “People are burned out. They’re tired,” a student activist said. (Politico)
🇦🇺 Police in Melbourne are investigating an incident in which two men on a tram yelled “heil Hitler” at five Jewish students from Beth Rivkah Ladies College. (Guardian)
And elsewhere…
🥇 A 13-year-old Israeli jiu-jitsu fighter won the gold medal “after his Emirati opponent, upon initially winning the final match, made a hostile throat-cutting gesture toward the Israeli delegation, leading judges to disqualify him from the competition.” (Times of Israel)
♟️ A popular online chess playing platform is fielding complaints after a report revealed that thousands of account names include the word “Nazi” and that some users are changing their profile pictures to Hitler or swastikas. (Times of Israel)
🇦🇷 While swearing in Argentina’s new foreign minister — Gerardo Werthein, a Jewish businessman — Argentina’s president, Javier Milei, compared him to Abraham and spoke about the weekly Torah portion. (JTA)
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| | | | | A large billboard on the side of a Jerusalem hotel congratulated Trump on his victory. “I’m not going to start wars,” Trump said in his victory speech early Wednesday morning. “I’m going to stop wars.” |
| Thanks to Louis Keene, Jacob Kornbluh, Arno Rosenfeld, Jodi Rudoren, Samuel Eli Shepherd and Talya Zax for contributing to today’s newsletter, and to Julie Moos for editing it. You can reach the “Forwarding” team at [email protected]. |
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