There will come a moment for reconciliation, but this is a moment for harsh clarity. Harsh clarity, and action.
Pastor Mark Burns gave the benediction at the #RNC Monday. There was no room for a Jew in his America, no room for a Muslim in his America, no room for an Atheist in his America. Perhaps there isn’t even room for many Christians in his America. There is, in fact, no America in his America.
Melania Trump spoke at the RNC last night. She outright stole Michelle Obama’s speech about her husband from eight years ago. Furthermore, as Shaun King put it so well:
“What’s wild is that this came on the same night where Republican Congressman Steve King said he couldn’t think of any great parts of civilization created by people of color. Here we have a white woman stealing something great from a Black woman.”
This is worse than irony. This is theft.
There is endorsed homophobia within the GOP platform at the RNC, and imagery generated by white supremacists at the RNC. I’m not sure how the Republicans have allowed this to happen, and what they hope might be the future of the GOP, but those questions will have to wait. We do need a conservative voice for a robust democracy. Stephen Colbert did a great service to America today by hijacking the microphone at the RNC and responding to Trump in the most appropriate way: clownish parody.
Today, as a patriotic American Jew, I am committing to doing everything I can to not cede my country to a magnet for all this wrongness. For those who will see my active support for Hillary Clinton as partisan, I ask you to watch the video below. Consider how one certain Galilean Rabbi would respond to the hatred being given American airtime. And act accordingly.