It’s not very often that I am disappointed in two different lines on my resume on the same morning, but an article about Bill Kristol’s effort to put up a third party candidate written by my 2x former boss David Horowitz and published by my former writing home Breitbart is nothing short of disgusting. My objection has nothing to do with Horowitz’s rejection of Kristol’s third-party effort. I even agree with his stance that the only thing a third-party candidate will do is make Hillary Clinton POTUS. However Horowitz and the Breitbart editors could have made the point without using “Renegade Jew” in the headline and using Kristol’s faith as a key reason why the Weekly Standard editor is wrong, especially since Kristol’s objection to Trump is not based on where he prays.
For most of the primary season, Breitbart.com has invited ridicule because of its over the top pro-Trump stance, to the point of when one of its reporters was man-handled by Trump’s campaign manager, they took the campaign manager’s side (causing some staff to resign).
In his piece Horowitz builds a logical case by shooting down Kristol’s reasons for rejecting the de facto GOP nominee many of which I agree, but then out of the blue finishes with:
I am a Jew who has never been to Israel and has never been a Zionist in the sense of believing that Jews can rid themselves of Jew hatred by having their own nation state. But half of world Jewry now lives in Israel, and the enemies whom Obama and Hillary have empowered — Iran, the Muslim Brotherhood, Hezbollah, ISIS, and Hamas — have openly sworn to exterminate the Jews. I am also an American (and an American first), whose country is threatened with destruction by the same enemies. To weaken the only party that stands between the Jews and their annihilation, and between America and the forces intent on destroying her, is a political miscalculation so great and a betrayal so profound as to not be easily forgiven.
Well Mr. Horowitz, I am a Jew who wrote about political and Jewish Issues for you at Newsreel.com and TruthRevolt.org. I have been to Israel, and can’t believe how such a bright man can be so clueless about so many things including Zionism. Don’t you read what’s written on your own sites?
By the way, it has never been a contention of Zionist thought that with the creation of Israel antisemitism would go away. Instead they believe has always been with the creation of a Jewish State of Israel, Jews would be in a position to defend themselves.
It is true that terrorists and terrorist supporting states have openly sworn to exterminate the Jews. And like you I am American (and an American first), whose country is threatened with destruction by the same enemies. Sadly, the U.S. has problems with Jew-hatred also including Hillary’s adviser Sidney and his son Max Blumenthal and an article called Jewish Renegade is wonderful click-bait for those who aren’t friends of the Jews.
But you start your argument by saying you are an American first and then trash Kristol because by objecting to Trump he is hurting Israel–that’s disingenuous. In fact your entire thesis out of line because Kristol has never said his reason for a third party candidate was based on his faith.
There are many reasons why friends of Israel should object to Hillary Clinton, especially Jews. In fact I have been trying to spread the word about her hatred of the Jewish State and Jewish faith for years. But there are ways of convincing people, and even though you disagree with him, calling Bill Kristol traitor will not convince other Jews to vote for Trump. However even if we disagree with Bill Kristol, the man is an American patriot who has fought for conservative issues (and Jewish issues) his entire adult life. He is not a traitor to his country or his fellow Jews because he opposes Donald Trump. As Ronald Reagan said, Ronald Reagan said “Somebody who agrees with me 80 percent of the time is a friend and ally, not a 20 percent traitor.”
Bill Kristol is a renegade Jew, not because he rejects Trump, but because (like you and me) he is both Jewish and conservative. I don’t know how observant you are, but an observant Jew I cannot put into words the scorn I receive because of my politics, every time I attend Synagogue or some other non political Jewish event.
While Israel is an important issue, for most Jews see themselves as Americans first (just like you David, and me). Besides for some strange reason Hillary is seen as pro-Israel. While based on his AIPAC speech, Donald Trump may have gotten his pro-Israel sh*t together, it wasn’t that long ago he was saying he didn’t think Netanyahu wanted peace.
To be honest part of the reason why Hillary has such a large piece of the Kosher pie is their rejection of Donald Trump, rather than support for the former Secretary of State. The Jewish rejection of Trump is probably based on his in-artful statements about Mexican, Muslims, and women, more than any of his policies. When Donald Trump makes those type of statements about others, well it kind of reminds us Jews of the way many in the world still talk about us.
David if you truly want to help Trump win the election you should focus on what many (including our fellow members of the tribe) see as Trump’s intolerant or bigoted statements. I honestly do not believe that Trump is a bigot, more likely he says anything he can to dominate a news cycle. On the other hand while probably unintentional your click bait title and inappropriate Jewish reference when talking about Bill Kristol, you have whipped up more intolerance of Jews than many of Trump’s statements have whipped up about others.
As for me, I happen to agree with you that a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for Hillary Clinton. The only thing a third party candidate accomplishes is providing emotional cover for those who don’t want to vote for Trump but bring themselves to vote for Hillary Clinton. Not voting for president has the same effect. IMHO if someone whats to make Hillary Clinton POTUS they should have the guts to vote for her.
As far as my vote, as bad as Trump may be, he is still better than Hillary Clinton. Clinton is a statist who someone looking to take away more of our God-given rights, someone who has played fast and loose with our most precious national secrets, used the State Department for crony capitalism, and someone who will make friends of Israel long for the good old days of Barack Obama. I am no way a Trump fan but at his worst he might be as bad as Hillary. But to be honest I believe he will be marginally better. So when it comes to voting for president in 2016, I will probably do what my friend Kurt Schlichter advised in a recent Town Hall column, I Am Going To Vote For Trump Though It Makes Me Want To Projectile Vomit. But I will never say Bill Kristol is a traitor to America or the Jews just he decided to vote differently than me. Heck if that was the case I would be outing the 70% of American Jews who voted for Barack Obama (twice)
Note: Ben Shapiro, my editor-in-chief at Truth Revolt also objected to the Horowitz article. He came at the article from a slightly different point of view than I did. And like almost everything Ben writes, his take is a must read. Click here to go to his take.
