Christians frequently speak and write about the “Antichrist.”  They are describing people who are the antithesis of Jesus and what he taught.  But also a separate being who is in opposition and a pretender to their Jewish savior.  Jews, ourselves, don’t have one specific “anti” with so many great candidates for the dishonor.

Among the top American contenders is Donald Trump.  When I think about virtually everything my parents taught me about being a good person and a good Jew, Trump shapes up as the quintessential and possibly singular polar opposite.

Jews vote, virtually always.  They won’t be the focus of any rational voter registration or get-out-the-vote drives this fall.  Trump can count on them getting out to vote against him by a two to one ratio or better in the Harris/Trump contest that has started in several states and runs through November 5, 2024.  That’s likely to be a whole lot worse for you Donald than the mere 40 percent at which you say “Jewish people would have a lot to do with a loss” for you.  Indeed, if that’s prescient Donald, you are dead meat, neither Kosher nor Halal.  Because my Muslim sisters and brothers despise you as much as the vast majority of Jews do.

Jews live in large numbers in those Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Minneapolis suburbs, where a few thousand vote difference may determine the outcome.  These burbs are and have been home to thousands of prominent Jewish liberals.  Arlen Specter, Ed Rendell, Josh Shapiro, Golda Meir, Herb Kohl, Al Franken, Tom Friedman and the Coen brothers spring to mind without me duck – duck – going.

The Coen Brothers

Among all the groups claiming to be the backbone of the Democratic Party and sine qua non for a Harris/Walz victory, it is the small but reliable and pervasively liberal Jewish electorate that often makes the difference.

In 1960, when 77% of Protestants voted for Nixon and 80% of Roman Catholics for Kennedy it was the almost 90% Jewish vote that delivered Kennedy a razor thin win.  Jews voted 71% for Clinton-she, 80% and 78% for Clinton-he, 78% for Obama in 2008 but “only” 69% for him in 2012.  Showing the Jewish vote is not reflexive, but highly discerning and responsive to the strength and weakness of specific candidates.  There and then the revulsion toward John McCain’s running mate, Sarah Palin, and the substantially better response to the substantially stronger Romney/Ryan ticket.  Same with Jimmy Carter who got 71% of the Jewish vote in 1976, but plummeted to a record low 45% in 1980 (Reagan got 39% and Anderson 15%) after Jimmy brought his born-again talking points into the Whitehouse (anathema to Jews) and displayed some of his thinly veiled antisemitism.[1]  Jews went a full 90/10 for Lyndon Johnson and against Barry Goldwater, despite the Arizona senator’s Jewish name and heritage, because the former was a Democrat, a liberal and recently a civil rights champion of champions.

James Schlesinger

So, if you are anywhere near right about the Jewish vote weighing heavily this year, then anti-Jew Donald, you’re fucked, pardon my Yiddish.

[1]   When asked why his cabinet was the first in decades without a Jew, Carter named three in the cabinet he considered Jewish.  Harold Brown and James Schlesinger who both had converted to Christianity and Michael Blumenthal whose parents had converted to Christianity before he was born.  Jews recognized this “once a Jew always a Jew” philosophy from the Nazi regime.