It’s Time to Speak Up

I’ve avoided talking much about the Trump Administration since January 20. It’s time to speak up. Time for everyone to speak up.

Many of us in the political center and left in America have been watching in stunned silence since January 20 when Donald Trump was restored to the office of President of the United States.

Almost everything the Trump Administration has been doing is in direct opposition to not only liberal values, but American values, and Jewish values. Team Trump is driven by a vision that will American billionaires richer, that will leave almost all of the rest of us poorer, financially, physically, and spiritually.

I doubt examples are needed, but here we go:

• Dismantling climate protections. Withdrawing from the Paris Agreement and promoting the use of fossil fuels will increase global warming and degrade air and water quality. Shrinking federally protected lands to support extractive industries destroys recreational land that is intended to benefit all of us. Who benefits? The billionaires who pump the oil and the billionaires who run the big companies that benefit from cheaper energy. Who is hurt? All the rest of us. Making gas fifty cents a gallon cheaper is not worth the price. The Jewish tradition tells us that we were placed here to take care of the world, to be a guardian, not to destroy the world. As is written in Ecclesiastes Rabbah, if you ruin the world, who is going to come after you to restore it?

• Pushing a racist agenda. Both the plan to deport millions of immigrants (not necessarily illegal immigrants) and the immediate shutting down of DEI programs are driven by a white supremacist world view that sees women and brown people as a threat. I’m not a fan of how far DEI and woke culture has gone – I think it needed to be dialed back. But claiming that the horrific mid-air collision between an airliner and a military helicopter in Washington was because of DEI is ridiculous, and an insult to the many highly qualified women pilots and flight controllers. We are taught that we are all created in the image of God, we are all equally precious in the eyes of God, and we are taught to love the stranger, and be kind to the stranger, for we know what it’s like to be strangers in a land not our own. If we expel the brown immigrants, who is going to harvest our crops? Maybe some of Trump’s billionaire buddies are working to use robots and AI to take over those jobs, undoubtedly costing the consumer more along the way.

• Shredding the social safety net. Here’s a headline from a few days ago: “To Pay for Trump Tax Cuts, House GOP Floats Plan to Slash Benefits for the Poor and Working Class.” That’s about as direct a message to help the rich and screw the poor as you can get. In the Jewish tradition we are responsible to help our less fortunate brethren. It’s not that poor people have a right to handouts – it’s that everyone has a responsibility to take care of others.

• Shuttering USAID. The Trump Administration is slashing foreign aid. While it is true that charity begins at home, it is also true that we are not exempt from others far from home as well. America’s foreign aid programs have generated tremendous good will for America around the world, and have saved millions of lives. Could they be run more efficiently? Could aid be better targeted? No doubt. But stopping all aid is truly throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

But the biggest thing Trump and his minions are doing that is a threat is ignoring the rule of law. Trump is creating an “imperial presidency” that the founding fathers were afraid. There is a reason we have three branches of government: they are supposed to act as checks and balances on each other. Republicans are terrified of taking on Trump, so Congress is neglecting its fundamental duties. By law Congress controls the purse strings. Trump is blatantly ignoring that, and is refusing to spend money that Congress authorized. He does not have the authority to do that. He doesn’t care. Inspectors General are supposed to be independent watchdogs accountable to Congress, not to the Executive Branch. If the President wants to fire an IG, they have to have good reasons, which are submitted to Congress with 30 days’ notice. Completely ignoring the law, Trump summarily fired 17 inspectors general.

This is also very contrary to Jewish teachings. The Torah tells us no one is above the law, not even a king. A king was to have a copy of the Torah with him so that he or she would remember their obligations.

And the Republicans in Congress are too afraid of Trump to insist he follow the rules. Pete Hegseth’s sole qualification to be Secretary of Defense is that he is a Trump loyalist. He is the least qualified person in that role in the history of the United States. Even Mitch McConnell, who rarely shows any backbone, voted against him. Where were the other Republican Senators?

We are left with the Supreme Court – now leaning heavily to the right—as the only branch of government standing between us and a dictatorship. God help us.

Trump was elected to make certain changes, whether you like those changes or not. But whatever he does must be done within the rules of the Constitution and the existing statutes.

It’s time to get over the shock. It’s time to speak up. Rabbis, priests, ministers cannot remain silent. It only took Hitler 53 days to take over Germany. We cannot, must not, be complacent. The Jews in Germany also felt “It can’t happen here.” It can.