Trump has certified the bigoted extremes in America, and it will be fascinating to see how things play out next year after Trump's recent feast with antisemites. After the midterms, many Republicans of all stripes began disassociating with him. Still, many people overlooked the former president's fanatics in prejudiced spaces on the far right for too long.
Many Jewish allies are now cutting relations with Trump and acknowledging how Trump supports Jew-hatred and Jew-haters. During the last few years, we have witnessed many Republicans disregard the bigoted fringe because of the Trump administration's pro-Israel policies.
Kanye has already been denounced for making antisemitic remarks, and Nick Fuentes is an outspoken antisemite and Holocaust denier. However, things are getting eerier, if that's even possible. Last week, Trump dined with Ye and Nick Fuentes at Mar-a-Lago in his Palm Beach castle. According to a recent video on Ye's Twitter account, Ye asked Trump to be his 2024 running mate and demanded to know why Trump did not free the January Sixers.
As we cruise into 2023, still processing 2019, I wonder how much longer people can excuse the abetting of bigotry by political leaders. I am happy to see more Jewish figures and organizations speaking out and distancing themselves from Trump, but it should have happened ages ago. There should be no support behind political leaders who mainstream and legitimize hate.
Trump says he has no bond to the bigoted far right, but we never hear him repudiating their energy and hateful messages. Neo-Nazis are back on Twitter, and many accounts banned for bigotry have been reinstated after Elon Musk became the new owner. However, Ye is still upset with Elon for not permitting Alex Jones back.
A long time ago, I felt like Obama symbolized the fall of one of the last barriers of racism. You'll have to forgive me. I was young and naive, and I had witnessed a cyber movement by young people around America that did what was supposed to be impossible. We were making significant progress. And lately, it's been feeling like the 1930s all over again.
Many Jews did not criticize Trump for not banishing racists and antisemites when he was in office because Trump sent the right-wing Israeli government of Benjamin Netanyahu so many gifts. Trump pressured the Palestinians, moved the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, and released the tension to dismantle Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Many held their noses and voted for Trump because of specific issues. Now we continue to watch the backlash produced by deals with autocrats and criminals. The situation reminds me of the famous quote from Martin Niemöller:
Martin Niemöller
It's bizarre to think Trump may have another shot, but we all have the attention span of a goldfish now. He has insulted the disabled, women, Asians, African Americans, and the Latin community. Not to mention attempting to overturn the people's will and encouraging the storming of the Capital.
Trump showed us his true colors a long time ago.
We all remember Trump's comment about "fine people on both sides" at the racist and antisemitic "Unite the Right" march in Charlottesville, Virginia, in 2017, which was deadly. Liz Harrington, Trump's spokesperson, recently said Trump is the most pro-Israeli president we have ever seen, and he will not decline dinners with Kanye West.
Suppose we are trying to save democracy next year.
In that case, we cannot look past a politician's evil character because of favors—one of the most damaging, dangerous threats to our democracy. Many of us are survivors and we can't afford to let history repeat itself, and the only way that happens is if people understand it.
We can't undo the morally bankrupt, and voting for a politician spreading the seeds of hate and division negates the values and moral certainty that many religions teach. When I think about our country, justice, and our future, I remember something James Baldwin said:
"Well, if one really wishes to know how justice is administered in a country, one does not question the policemen, the lawyers, the judges, or the protected members of the middle class. One goes to the unprotected - those, precisely, who need the law's protection most! - and listens to their testimony. Ask any Mexican, any Puerto Rican, any black man, any poor person - ask the wretched how they fare in the halls of justice, and then you will know, not whether or not the country is just, but whether or not it has any love for justice or any concept of it. It is certain, in any case, that ignorance, allied with power, is the most ferocious enemy justice can have."
The work of James Baldwin and Angela Davis reminds me that instead of depicting history as the work of heroic individuals, we must always consider "our potential agency as part of an ever-expanding community of struggle."
We should spend less time discussing specific individuals and better time pondering well-organized mass movements, concocting a campaign based on ethics that serve the community instead of selfishness and individualism.
The existing political parties have let us down in so many ways, and it's become more apparent that we need an antiracist, feminist workers’ party. In Freedom is a Constant Struggle, Angela Davis says we need a party that can be more effective in fighting against the shared social crisis of disinformation and manipulation.
In his new book, The Persuaders, Anand Giridharadas says the right deeply understands people and knows how to answer questions about our suffering. The left has facts, figures, and reasoning they hope will change people's minds. But what matters the most is what many Black feminist thinkers say, 'People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.'
It sounds cliche, but we must stand up for each other and come together in 2023. We have to pick leaders who exude the best of every kind of American and make sure this country is a place where freedom is for everyone without exceptions. Spiritual warfare is always abundant, but unity, peace, and more civic engagement should be a part of everyone's new year's resolutions.
As we experience all this loathing and thoughtlessness on steroids, I always remember my grandparents telling me to starve the ego and feed the soul. We are nuanced people, sometimes in a state of failure, but that’s what it means to be human. I hope we calculate how to coexist and avoid mass extinction and World War III. I pray 2023 will be a time for potential transformation during this gap between known worlds and shifting grounds.
This is when ancient wisdom matters the most.
Happy New Year!