Biden Makes the Republican Jewish Coalition and Jexit Obsolete
Or, Beware of False Political Messiahs in 2023
When organizations lose one of their main reasons to exist, they face the reality that they are no longer needed.
That’s the case with the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) and Jexit, which describe their missions as trying to convince American Jews, who have overwhelmingly been Democrats since WWI, to become Republicans.
Their messages tell American Jews that the Republican Party is better suited and dedicated to demonstrating their values, while also being a staunch supporter of Israel. Both claims are baseless, especially after the historic public support and military aid provided by President Joe Biden to Israel following the Hamas attack on Israel that started on Oct. 7, 2023.
Jews Have Been Predominantly Democrats for Almost 80 Years
First, the Republicans have never been the party supported by most American Jews. Surveys on World War I show that American Jews were overwhelmingly Democratic. This goes back to the first significant emigrations of the 20th century when new emigres were more fully integrated into urban centers with Democratic political structures, as opposed to Republic policies that wanted restricted immigration.
Republicans Would Not Be Better For Israel
The central and unfounded theme of the RJC and Jexit is that Republicans would be better for Israel than the Democrats.
Even before the Hamas attack in Israel, Republican policies towards Israel have had two highlights—the Abraham Accords, and moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem. In both cases, these moves were done after the Jewish billionaire Sheldon Adelson exercised the muscle of his $200 million contribution to the Trump presidential campaign. Without this money, there is little evidence Trump cared about these issues. However, his astute son-in-law, Jared Kushner, smelled the money and most likely told Trump to entertain Adelson’s requests for an easy donation.
There is really no reason why the RJC and Jexit exist except to distract and divide the American Jewish community over a baseless claim that Republicans would be better for Israel.
Both groups may also be confusing the support of Christians and Evangelicals, who both have deep pockets, for their support of Israel. But the powerful Republican base of Evangelicals likes Israel because of the New Testament prophesy that Israel must be in the hands of the Jews in order for the Second Coming to happen. Another event needed for the Second Coming to happen is the presence of red heifers in Israel, and thanks to a Texas cattleman, those cattle are already there.
But another part of the story, and one which should be of the most concern to Jews, is that when the Rapture arrives, Christians will be elevated to heaven, and the Jews, the non-believers, will die.
Jews should take note of this: “The Rapture is an eschatological position held by some Christians, particularly those of American evangelicalism, consisting of an end-time event when all dead Christian believers will be resurrected and, joined with Christians who are still alive, together will rise “in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air.” Note that it says “dead Christian believers.”
The prophecy also says: “The Saviour’s coming will be literal, personal, visible, and worldwide. When He returns, the righteous dead will be resurrected, and together with the righteous living will be glorified and taken to heaven, but the unrighteous will die.” This discussion can lead to a theological quagmire, but for many Evangelicals, there is a distinction between Jews and Israel and Israel without Jews.
More Lies About Trump from Jexit
For mainly self-promotion, Jexit offers the unfounded claim that “there has been no greater friend to American Jews and the State of Israel than fmr. President Donald J. Trump,” a Jexit member said. Then, Michelle Terris, the co-founder of the Jexit, creator of “The Trump Towel,” and co-chair of the Jews for Trump Coalition in the 2016 election, said that U.S. support for Israel was eroding.
She then said that Jexit is “deeply concerned that many Liberal Jews in America do not recognize the fmr. President’s history of accomplishments in supporting” the Jews in the U.S. and Israel.
This is an odd statement, considering that Trump has also entertained white supremacists. In the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville that resulted in one protester’s death, Trump said there were “good people on both sides.” Republican candidates at the local, state, and national levels, who take their messages from Trump, also attack Jewish philanthropist George Soros as a code word for Jews, Republicans, and Democrats. 
Jexit also makes the absurd claim that “the Democrat party has abandoned them and Israel. JEXIT believes that much of the core of today’s Democrat party is anti-Israel, antisemitic and anti-American.”
Their website also says, “The Democrat Party has turned its back on Israel.” All of these main reasons for Jexit’s existence are unfounded. The group also says it intends to promote “Judeo-Christian values” to the Jewish people.
Aside from that tit-for-tat political rhetoric, Republican policies proceeded along the traditional bi-partisan support in Congress that Israel has enjoyed for decades.
What is different under Trump was that Republicans, including many conservative Jews in the RJC and Jexit, focused their wrath on about a half dozen progressive Democrats, including two of Arab descent, who made comments favoring the Palestinians. Republicans pounced on these comments and extrapolated them into an anti-Israel policy shared among Democrats that did not exist. These same Republicans also disliked Barak Obama for his stance on Israel and his open dislike for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a belief that has been shared by Biden and thousands of Israeli citizens.
True to form, Trump exploited this. In 2019, he said Jews who voted for Democrats were “disloyal to Israel, according to a report in the New York Times.
Trump, the leader of the Republican Party, has a long history of making anti-Semitic statements. Before being elected, Trump did the following, according to an article in Vanity Fair:
- In a speech before a Jewish group, Trump inferred that Jews buy off politicians;
- He has tweeted an image of Hillary Clinton’s face atop a pile of cash after the Star of David and the phrase, “Most Corrupt Candidate Ever!”
- Trump released an ad featuring the faces of influential Jewish people with a voiceover about them being part of a “global power structure” that has “robbed our working class” and “stripped our country of its wealth.”
- After Trump was elected, he refused to condemn neo-Nazis. In August, he accused American Jews of being “disloyal” to Israel by voting for Democrats.
- At the Israeli-American Council in Hollywood, Florida, Trump used many of his anti-Semitic messages by citing the old cliché about “dual loyalty.” Trump said there are Jews who “don’t love Israel enough” and repeated the stereotype about Jews and money, telling the group: “A lot of you are in the real estate business because I know you very well. You’re brutal killers, not nice people at all,” he said.
- In the first presidential debate in 2020, Trump told the Proud Boys, a white supremacist hate group involved in the Charlottesville, Virginia riot in 2017, “to stand back and stand by! But I’ll tell you what, somebody’s got to do something about Antifa and the left.” This was the first time a presidential candidate endorsed an extremist and violent right-wing group. (See video.)
- 2018, on a European visit, Trump privately told his chief of staff, John Kelly, “Hitler did many good things.”
- In October 2022, Kanye West, using the name Ye, wrote on Twitter: “I’m going death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE[…] You guys have toyed with me.” Ye added that “the Jewish media blocked me out” and “Jewish people have owned the Black voice.” On Nov. 22, Trump invited West to dinner at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida. West brought Nick Fuentes, founder of “America First,” a white supremacist group. On Oct. 30, 2019, Fuentes made a “joke” about the Holocaust, casting doubt on its occurrence while comparing Jews incinerated in death camps to “six million cookies” burned in an oven. Then, on May 24, 2021, Fuentes stated: “I don’t see Jews as Europeans, and I don’t see them as part of Western civilization.”
- In October 2022, days after the Hezbollah attack on Israel, Trump said Hezbollah “is very smart.”
- Tim Scott, a Texas Republican running for president, said that after the attack on Israel, Biden had blood on his hands” and that the attack was an excellent opportunity for Republicans to gain support from Jews and others who support Israel.
Republicans Are Not Better for Jews or Average Americans
All of these blatant lies by Jexit and other Republican groups pushing that Republicans are better for the Jews should be condemned for lying to the Jewish community.
Republicans have been the party of anti-Semites going back to World War II when top Republicans pushed the America First message and worked against raising quotas for European Jews fleeing Hitler.
It’s no wonder that a 2021 survey by the American Jewish Committee, a nonpartisan group that conducts public opinion research about the Jewish community, found that 68% of Jewish voters reported casting their ballots for Biden in the 2020 election.
The RJC and Jexit are opportunist groups who either want to preserve tax breaks for their wealthiest members or are ex-Trump promoters, such as those in Jexit, looking for ways to make extra cash. The RJC and its large contributions may also have played a role in supporting the insurrection.
Aside from policies that preserve their tax breaks, it’s impossible to imagine why they would endorse the current field of Republican candidates who are mostly election deniers or who said they would support Trump, a man who attempted the nation’s first coup, was impeached twice, is a convicted rapist, adulterer, tax cheat, liar, deadbeat, and who faces about 90 indictments in numerous state and federal lawsuits.
If Jexit and the RJC think Trump reflects Jewish values, they must review 2,000 years of Jewish history. Men like Trump are not even close to being mentioned as a person who embodies the Mosaic tradition.
However, Jews have been presented with false religious Messiahs before, but never political ones. In Jewish history, numerous false Messiahs have emerged and faded. However, Laura Arnold Lehman, professor of English and Humanities at Reed College, writes that religious messianic figures “tend to appear at moments of despair and upheaval.” Right-wing Republican Jewish political groups, like Jexit and the RJC, may be active now because of the despair and upheaval in the Republican Party. Maybe, this is the best way to explain why these purposeless groups exist today.
