Sunday, May 06, 2018

Why People of Faith Stick With Trump (Jewish Week)

" . . . while Trump’s behavior is often indefensible, it isn’t as simple as that. Like most things in life, politics is a series of choices. Religious Trump supporters are doing the same thing every other group does: weighing the costs and benefits of backing a candidate and making a rational choice that does the most to advance causes they believe are of the greatest importance."

. . .

For Evangelicals, the key issue in 2016 was religious liberty. They felt Hillary Clinton’s election would mean the appointment of more liberal judges and federal bureaucrats that would, piece by piece, dismantle their First Amendment protections, driving them from the public square as their views on social issues were rendered anathema by an intolerant popular culture.
. . .

The same test applies to Orthodox Jews, who are, as Rosenblatt notes, more engaged with Israel than other Jews. There was little reason to think Trump would be a strong supporter of Israel or keep promises like moving the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. But those who believed he would were right. If you think the safety of Israel is the most important issue, then the trust placed by his Jewish supporters in Trump has been amply rewarded. They would not be tempted to swap him for a good family man — like, say, Barack Obama — who believed in more “daylight” between Israel and the United States and sought to appease Iran.
. . .

Read the rest here.

1 Comments:

Blogger Shanah said...

I am not right-wing but I will say that Trump's decision really surprised me, very pleasantly so. Hopefully this sets the tone for the future.

Mon Jul 16, 02:31:00 AM 2018  

Post a Comment

<< Home

<< List
Jewish Bloggers
Join >>