In the closing weeks of the recent political unpleasantness, the Trump presidential campaign made its big pitch to Jews with a television commercial featuring three fearful middle-aged ladies whose imaginations must have run amok.
Donald Trump, they agree in the 30-second spot, will “keep us safe.”
They must have missed that little speech where Trump said he’d blame the Jews if he lost his bid for the White House. Turns out, he won. But the three nervous women might have saved their breath for all the puny impact they had.
Trump’s victory came without much help from the Jews, who voted for the Democrat, Kamala Harris. She got nearly 80 percent of the Jewish vote. Must have been more Jews paying attention to Trump’s usual bile than those who were moved by his commercial pitch.
“Did you watch the news lately?” one of the three ladies in the commercial says. They’re sitting across from each other in a little booth at a deli. “Israel’s under attack. Anti-Semitism’s like I thought I would never see.”
“Did you hear about Samantha’s boy, Max?” a second woman replies. “He got spat on. I mean, that’s scary.”
“And what about Kamala?” says the third woman. “She’s busy defending ‘The Squad.'”
“Oy vey,” says one of the women, in case you were still wondering if the ladies are Jewish.
“You know,” another woman says. “Trump, I never cared for. I never voted Republican in my life. But at least he’ll keep us safe.”
Oy vey, indeed.
The same Trump who said there were “very fine people” on both sides of a racist, anti-Semitic rally the first time he was president — he’s going to keep “us” safe?
Well, at least the three ladies reminded us of a couple of things. They’re telling us that it’s OK to push aside all family history and all tribal instincts, which are powerful.
The Jews haven’t favored a Republican presidential candidate (Warren G. Harding) since 1920. That includes their votes against Trump, who only got about 30 percent against Hillary Clinton in 2016 and Joe Biden in 2020.
You can go through the years of American presidential politics, and the results are always the same. Win or lose the election, the Democrats win big — usually 70 percent or more — with Jews.
On Capitol Hill, meanwhile, there are nine Jewish senators, all Democrats, plus Independent Bernie Sanders. There are no Jewish Republican senators.
In the House, 25 Jewish Democrats. Two Jewish Republicans.
And what are the prospects for another Trump presidency? Well, among his promises, Trump says there will be mass roundups and deportations of immigrants. That should make some pretty emotional imagery as thousands are arrested and forced into compounds before banishment.
It might even remind some people — and not just the Jews — of Europe in the 1930s when the mass roundups were just the start of humanity’s darkest hours.
A former Baltimore Sun columnist and WJZ-TV commentator, Michael Olesker is the author of six books, including “Journeys to the Heart of Baltimore” (Johns Hopkins University Press) and “Michael Olesker’s Baltimore: If You Live Here, You’re Home” (Johns Hopkins University).
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