And that is just the tip of the iceberg. His campaign rhetoric this time around has gone from bad to worse. Instead of focusing on issues that clearly give him an advantage over Harris, he has chosen to just smear her with a variety of hateful invectives that have zero to do with the issues most Americans care about. And this doesn’t even speak to what he has said he will do to his ‘enemies’ after he is elected. Nor does it include his many other lewd comments about women or what he could do to them at will because of his celebrity.
Nor does it address his appeal to racists, bigots and even antisemites. Or his claims immediately after the last election that it was stolen from him. Or his constant harangue attempting to overturn the results of the election. Or his encouragement of supporters to protest it on that fateful day on January 6 when congress was to certify those results. Some of those protesters thought it should include an insurrection if they could not overturn the election results any other way. The list goes on.
Trump is the one person I do not want to ever see leading the country again. He is a role model for everything a president should NOT be. A vindictive self absorbed megalomaniac who will do whatever it takes to get his way and push aside those who even dare to disagree with him.
Kamala Harris is nothing like that. She has never used profanity at one of her rallies. While she has her baggage to contend with, she looks like Gandhi compared to Trump. Those who criticize her for smearing Trump by saying he is not fit to be president, are criticizing the truth. At least as far as his rhetoric is concerned.
Does this mean that I think Harris would be a better president? In many ways, yes I do. She will dignify the Oval Office, not degrade it – as would Trump by his mere presence.
At the same time, there is one issue that prevents me from supporting her. I am not sensing that her policies will be favorable to the Jewish nation. There have been many instances that indicate she will be a lot more ‘even-handed’ with respect to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Despite her constant pledge that she will always give Israel what it needs to defend itself, in the same breath she has strongly hinted that she will not tolerate the kind of mass civilian casualties suffered by Palestinians in Gaza. Which she seems to attribute entirely to Israel. Or more precisely, Netanyahu.
Her sympathy for Palestinians may be genuine. But she is blaming the wrong party for that suffering. She has not given any indication that the fault of all of those ‘innocent’ Palestinian deaths in Gaza (and now Lebanese in Lebanon) is the direct result of Hamas and Hezbollah . While admitting that Hamas began the war and that Israel has a right to defend itself, she nevertheless believes that Israel cannot do so at the cost of so many Palestinian casualties.
Even if she was right, she has not suggested how Israel is supposed to otherwise defend itself? If Hamas deliberately places themselves in highly populated and sensitive areas like schools and hospitals, how are they going to avoid civilian casualties? By definition the way any country defends itself against being attacked is to ‘take out’ the attackers! What is Israel supposed to do that would achieve that goal without killing the people Hamas deliberately lays out in front of them? By constantly insisting on a cease fire she is telegraphing what she might do once in office. Which is to pressure Israel to stop fighting Hamas. That will surely lead them to reconstitute their numbers and resupply the weapons they get from Iran..
Hamas and Hezbollah don’t care that all their leaders have been killed. Nor do they care how many innocent Palestinians or Lebanese are killed. They keep firing rockets and sending deadly drones into Israel. Resulting in retaliation by Israel that causes more death and destruction for them than thier rockets and drones do to Israel.
Harris doesn’t want to see any of that, apparently. All she sees is Palestinian and Lebanese death and suffering via Israeli airstrikes. She will not have it. I believe that when she gets into office, she will put a stop to it. and force Israel to cease fire before the job gets done.
Harris gave another indication of that misplaced sympathy at one of her rallies recently when she was challenged by a Palestinian sympathizer to call what Israel is doing - genocide. While she didn’t say it is, she did not deny it either. After that protester lost control and was ejected, Harris continued to justify his claims, saying ‘it’s real.’ ‘Listen, what he’s talking about, it’s real…’
Well death and suffering of Palestinians and Lebanese IS real. But the implication that it’s entirely Israel’s fault and must be stopped is not only false, but could end up hurting the Jewish state and helping its enemies.
It is because of this one issue, I cannot see myself voting for Harris either. The welfare of my people is much too important to me to leave it to the machinations of someone whose sympathy is so misguided.
So this is my dilemma. I don’t agree with Harris’s agenda on many issues.. But considering who and what her opponent is, I would still vote for her. She will maintain decorum and dignity to the Oval Office whereas Trump will do the opposite - as his current rhetoric clearly suggests. On the other hand when the welfare of my people are at stake, that issue overrides everything else.
Both alternatives are unacceptable.
I keep thinking - maybe Harris won’t be as bad for Israel as her recent comments suggest? Maybe she says those things to gain votes in battle ground sates with high Muslim populations. Maybe she will be no worse than Biden after she is elected?
Will Trump be as supportive of Israel in a second term as he was in his first? I haven’t really heard much about what he will do in this regard so far in this campaign. Trump like to deal. Maybe he too will force some sort of settlement deal that will not be to Israel’s advantage.
On the other hand maybe all that trash talk is just that. Trash talk. And that will not be how the Oval office will be run. Maybe he will be no different than he was last time. And his polices - which I mostly supported - will be the same. Policies that were very pro Israel. I don’t know.
I do not remember ever being this perplexed about an election. And I have no clue what to do.