Did Republican Jews Help Bolster Anti-Semitism?

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It looks like the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), the lobbying group that was one of Trump’s largest financial supporters, was indirectly supporting anti-Semitism when they supported Trump during his entire term.

Not only did they support Trump’s anti-democratic political agenda, but the RJC also bankrolled an attempted coup against the US government.

And now, the RJC claims they did not know what was going to happen after they spent hundreds of millions bolstering Trump’s right-wing agenda.

Why Would the RJC Support Anti-Semitism and Violent Nationalists?

Any American adult who followed the ascent of Trump and his presidential administration knew to some degree that an essential part of his voter base was a nationalist, racist, white supremacist. And as a byproduct of those malign engines, they are violent nationalists.

This has been a part of Trump’s core following for his adult professional and presidential administration for the past four years.

His beliefs and, more importantly, the closest advisors who publicly provided advice were omnipresent. They are still giving him advice today.

So, it is shocking to find that Trump’s most prominent financial supporters, some of whom gave his political action committees millions in contributions to advance his cause, were Jewish. Most were members of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC).

While many Jewish groups pursue tikkun olam, repairing the broken world, the RJC and its focused contributions worked full-time to disrupt US political institutions.

The question is, why would American Jews, many of them billionaires and astute business people, donate money to a man who has direct links to groups that foster anti-Semitism?

Why would the RJC and Adelson willingly and repeatedly give Trump and his Republican party money and moral support, to whatever degree, to various groups, some of them violent, who have denied the Holocaust and conducted violent attacks against Jewish institutions?

What was the goal of these wealthy Jewish contributors who, to some degree, have directly funded campaigns against the safety of unsuspecting fellow Jews that could be conducted anywhere in the US?

Serious Questions About the RJC’s Role

This is a serious political, ethical, and potentially Talmudic question.

This problem affects almost every individual Jewish family and significant US Jewish organizations. In 2019, Jews in the United States suffered the most important number of anti-Semitic incidents since the Anti-Defamation League began collecting records 40 years ago.

This is also a question most Jewish institutions will not publicly answer.  The reason is that the same large contributors to Trump and his Republican party are also significant contributors to Jewish charitable and educational organizations worldwide.

When fundraising is challenging, these groups will not criticize Sheldon, Miriam Adelson, Bernie Marcus, Jeffrey Yass, Paul Singer, Steven Schwarzman, or others in the RJC. (The Adelson’s are Trump’s largest individual contributors, with $75 million in donations.) They are all donors and funders, to whatever degree, to Trump’s white supremacist followers and their beliefs about anti-Semitism.

Worse, the top executives at the nation’s most prominent Jewish organizations knew about this dilemma. Still, because they were receiving contributions from these same wealthy Republicans, they could not publicly criticize their political actions, even when they knew they were working at cross-purposes. They were on opposite sides of the spectrum: One group was raising money and working to combat anti-Semitism, while the RJC was, to some degree, encouraging, financing, or providing moral support through Trump and his Team Party Republicans to groups that were white supremacists.

This situation has created a significant ethical and financial dilemma inside these organizations. It raises the question: How do you take much-needed money from ethically compromised people who put their self-interests above their neighbors?

The current situation is akin to a fireman who is an arsonist during off-duty hours. He starts fires and then fights fires. He benefits in the process, but at what price does he benefit the overall community?

Wealthy Donors Will Deny They Knew Anything

At this point, we will hear that the large donors to Trump did not know about his anti-Semitic links.

That is not believable, especially after Trump supporters stormed the US Capitol with confirmed law enforcement links to hate groups.

These successful business people have extraordinary abilities and resources to gather facts and intelligence about competitors, employees, investment strategies, and business takeover candidates. 

So, for us to believe that these significant contributors could not read reams of reports generated by the ADL, B’nai Brith, Southern Poverty Law Center, FBI, the American Jewish Committee, United Nations, U.S. State Department, and others about the connections and goals of the various white supremacist and anti-Semitic groups that emerged and grew during Trump’s presidency is not credible.  A simple Google search would have produced the results.

Yet, many of these same wealthy contributors will feign ignorance of Trump’s connections to racist groups, many of which promote anti-Semitism. This response is an insult to our intelligence.

People Can Contribute To Any Political Cause

Of course, Americans of any religion can contribute any amount to any political cause. That’s an American right.

People contribute to political candidates and parties for a few reasons:

• They like the candidate;
• They like what the candidate and the party stand for;
• They want to be involved in the electoral process;
• They want political access for ego, business conduct, or favors (special tax treatment, etc.).

Those in the Republican Jewish Coalition, the major national Jewish group making donations to Republicans and Trump, have members who also embrace the goals listed above.

Yet, one of their main goals is to make donations that will alter US policy towards Israel. This goal differs from most other major political groups with a religious affiliation. After all,  Catholic groups that contribute to Republicans do not favor special treatment for the Vatican or other Catholics worldwide.

But the focus on the RJC and its main contributors, Sheldon Adelson and Bernie Marcus, among others, raises the very uncomfortable and ancient issue of dual Jewish loyalty and whether the AJC’s contributions were made to bolster pro-Israel State Department policies.

This was undoubtedly a reason for Adelson’s enormous largesse. But the RJC’s contributions also advanced Trump’s despicable domestic policies. His policies included anti-immigrant actions, voter suppression, anti-environment, political disenfranchisement, and family separation plans.  All of these are antithetical to Jewish values.

The RJC made these enormous contributions even when they knew Trump was attracting and encouraging racist and anti-Semitic elements into his administration and voter base.

This is the central question that demands an answer.

Anti-Semitism is Too Sensitive for Public Discussion

As noted earlier, discussing this topic will probably not happen publicly by the nation’s largest Jewish groups. It is too politically, ethically, and financially sensitive. 

This is understandable. These organizations need donations from wealthy Republican Jews. They also don’t need the tsoris of revealing what was said in sensitive debates about whether they should take money from fellow Jews who advanced to whatever degree, anti-Semitic rhetoric and actions against other Jews.

The Capitol’s attack by violent right-wing groups benefitted from the millions in donations from the RJC. That group does not respond to questions, so it is the responsibility of other Jewish organizations to address this problem publicly.

At the least, the RJC and its members should make amends to the national Jewish community, including the elderly, Jewish day school students and their parents, and Jewish college students on campus, who are all now more afraid for their safety. There are also reports that the fear of anti-Semitic attacks has mental health ramifications. These groups are now more personally vulnerable for displaying their Jewish symbols and generally more insecure.

All this happened because some Republican Jews, many of them billionaires, had their own political,  business, and social agendas that put the larger Jewish population at risk for months and possibly years into the future.

There may be no organizational or social solution to this problem. It may have a Talmudic answer, but that is for the religious and lay leaders to decide.

However, Trump has disrupted the American political process for years to come. Even worse, so have Trump’s most generous and selfish Jewish supporters.