What does Dr. Phil think about self-interpretation?
Not as much as wanting us to like Trump
The landslide that wasn’t: Phoebe Maltz Bovy on Jewish American loyalty to the Democrats despite the allies aligned against them
If one were going by discourse, vibes, ink spilled, things of that nature, Donald Trump would have won the Jewish vote in the U.S. presidential election, no contest. The keffiyeh-wrapped anti-Israel far-left, a major force elsewhere in the West, hadn’t made many inroads in the U.S., until all of a sudden it had. University campuses and literary magazines embraced the omnicause, a fusion of preexisting social justice causes now spearheaded by an effort to Free Palestine. Sure, Kamala Harris has a Jewish husband and was hardly affixing a red triangle to her personal brand, and was viewed as too pro-Israel by some. But American Jews, like Jewish people elsewhere, had soured on the left. Right?…
Don’t heart Huckabee: The danger of bringing evangelicals into the Middle East conflict
President-elect Donald Trump has confirmed several planned appointments for next year. Aside from numerous cabinet members was the incoming ambassador to Israel: Mike Huckabee, a Baptist minister and former governor of Arkansas. While there’s no rule that American ambassadors have to be Jewish, it’s unusual for a president to nominate one so evangelical in their Christian beliefs. Trump has promised Huckabee will bring “peace to the Middle East.”
But if you ask the hosts of Bonjour Chai, they’re skeptical. Huckabee exemplifies the Christian Zionist viewpoint of being intensely pro-Israel—not for the sake of Jews, but for the sake of bringing about the return of Jesus and, in turn, the death of Jews and Muslims alike while believers in Jesus ascend to heaven. With that in mind, should Jews be celebrating or worrying about Huckabee’s appointment?
Blake Smith considers the perspective of Phoebe Maltz Bovy in this piece at Tablet.