I am not a Trumpkin and I am certainly not a Vulgarian.
These are words which have been used for anyone that supports Donald Trump. I assume that a Vulgarian is a cross between a Vulcan and a Hungarian. Not sure what a Trumpkin is, but it sounds like a character left on the editing room floor from one of the Hobbit movies.
I can assure you that I am neither.
Let’s get some perspective here. I have read several columns from Jewish writers, socalled “thought leaders” and even rabbis regarding Donald Trump. I have had it, I am mad as hell and I won’t take it any longer.
For the record, Donald Trump originally was not my first choice or even my second. In life, however, we all have our little private guilty pleasures. Watching Donald Trump trounce all of the stiffs that the Republican Party threw at us has endeared him to me. I am now admitting this publicly. I have thoroughly enjoyed at least the entertainment value of seeing someone, anyone actually fight back. OK, I am angry, I am white and I am Jewish, so I am now in a new category for Democrats to scoff at. AWJs or Angry White Jews. Democrats love their acronyms.
The Donald is a street fighter. I lived through the last two elections where we have all fought the war on women ( I have post-traumatic stress disorder from that , it was brutal) to being called a racist for daring not to like or accept and to publicly criticize our first black President.
Supporting Trump today feels the same as not supporting Obama when he ran initially. If you didn’t support Barack Obama, you were a racist. If you now support Trump, you are a racist.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. (AP/Charles Rex Arbogast)
That is why, when you speak to people who are educated and Jewish, and you mention Trump, they look at you like they are waiting for the secret handshake. They are like the Marranos, the secret Jews of Spain. They say things like, well, I don’t like some of the things that he says about banning Muslims, etc. BUT that is when you know who they really support.
I completely understand the problem with The Donald. Trump looks like and is at times a bully. Remember, he is a rough, tough, grizzled New Yorker. He works with some of the toughest negotiators, and business people in the world.
I was part of “the anybody but” Barack Obama movement in 2008 and 2012. I did as much as any Ohioan could do to promote Mitt Romney for president, even though I had reservations about anyone named Mitt becoming President. I would put Mitt right up there with Biff, spud and other names that are hardly presidential.
I cheered during Romney’s second debate when he actually trounced an unprepared, arrogant, burnt-out looking president only to see Romney lay down during the last debate and not go after the president on his …. prevarications, untruths, exaggerations…. OK, his lies.
I watched as Senator McCain turned down Joe Lieberman for VP candidate and instead picked a barely intelligible candidate in Sarah Palin. I liked her but cringed every time she spoke.
Trump is a self-acknowledged counter puncher. That would be my preference – to fight back when being attacked.
Let’s get a few things straight here about the Donald.
Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. (AP/Molly Riley)
He is pro-Israel. He has surrounded himself with Jews. He grew up with Jews, has Jews in big positions within his company. His daughter is a Jewish convert married to an orthodox Jew. Is that Jewy enough for you?
He was given a standing ovation at the Republican Jewish Coalition event last fall. I was there. I personally spoke to Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post (“Trumpkins and the Jews” is her latest column) after Trump’s speech at the RJC. She asked me if I thought that what he said was anti-Semitic. I told her emphatically, no. He sounded like he was among friends (which he literally was). Did he choose his words wisely? He speaks extemporaneously, as opposed to a Rubio, who used a canned prepared, written speech. Trump takes risks by doing that, but he looks human.
His comments about renegotiating deals (context was the Iran deal) was a funny line that one would say to people who he loves while having cocktails. When he said that most people in the room have renegotiated deals, it was met with a smattering of laughs and boos. Who are we kidding? The audience was filled with wealthy Jews, many of whom have a personal and/or business relationship with Trump. It was absolutely not anti-Semitic. It felt like a fellow New Yorker, a Jew speaking among friends.
OK, so Trump says some “interesting” things.
No, I do not believe that he will send all illegals back to Mexico. No, I do not’ believe that he is anti-Mexican. Yes, there are rapists, murderers, drug dealers coming across our own porous border, and those are just the leaders of Latin American countries who come to visit …
No, we will not be barring Muslims from entering the country. We all know, however, that there is a serious problem with letting in a group of people that includes those who want to kill us.
All of these things are coming from a person who doesn’t have an ingrained political filter that those who are perpetually running for office do.
Many will protest publicly about the proposed ban on immigration on Muslims, but when they are alone with that button in the booth, they are going to remember the past seven years. Seven years of denying that there is a problem with Radical Islam. Seven years of abusing the rule of law.
Donald Trump is an equal opportunity abuser. He is a grizzled New York street fighter. I understand the style.
In today’s political climate, many of our most beloved presidents would not last 10 minutes.
President Barack Obama. (AP/Jacquelyn Martin)
Is Trump a narcissist? Let’s put it this way, like the song, He is so vain that he probably thinks this column is about him. Are you going to tell me that Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton and most other overly ambitious people aren’t?
I got a lot of abuse from some of my friends when I publicly spoke about Barack Obama’s troubling associations with people like Reverend Wright. Guilt by association, they screamed… Not acceptable.
Fast forward seven years. Now many on the left point out that David Duke supports Trump. What hypocrisy to compare that to Barack Obama sitting in the pews of a church (Reverend Wright) where the leader spewed anti-American, anti-Israel and anti-Semitic hatred for over 20 years! I guess guilt by association is only valid if you are a Republican. It should be noted that Trump has never met or associated with David Duke. Trump supports legal immigration and good border control. No comparison here. Trump didn’t attend any KKK rallies and then deny that anything bad was said there.
So here is the main, overriding reason, in my opinion, that Trump has resonated with the masses and secretly with the classes: HE LOVES OUR COUNTRY. That is the beginning and the end of it. For the past seven years, many of us have felt that we didn’t have an advocate as president of the United States, but that we had a president who fancies himself to be the world leader.
Does our current president really have all our best interests at heart? Does Hillary Clinton, with her billion dollar slush fund … ooops, I mean charitable foundation funded by a who’s who of world creepos, really have our best interests at heart? Are you really going to tell me that Hillary is eminently qualified to become president because she traveled the world and racked up frequent “liar” points, as she raised money for her “foundation” while being secretary of state? Sorry I am not buying it.
Besides, we know what happened when the phone rang at 3:00 a.m. for Hillary during the Benghazi crisis. She threw the alarm clock and went back to sleep.
So for the record, I am not a Trumpkin. I have some Hungarian in me, but I am not a Vulgarian, and given the choice between Hillary and The Donald …. Let’s put it this way. I would vote for an amoeba over Hillary …
