The neon lights of Las Vegas seemed dim compared to the fire burning in the eyes of attendees at the 2024 Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual Leadership Summit at the Venetian Hotel. For the second year in a row, I stepped into a realm where the Star of David and the GOP elephant danced an uneasy tango. A community wrestling with its conscience, trying to reconcile deeply held beliefs with political realities that seemed to demand impossible choices.
Norm Coleman, the RJC’s National Chairman, galvanized the crowd and set the tone early at the welcome dinner Wednesday night. “Ladies and gentlemen,” he declared, his voice carrying the weight of history, “we’re at a moment of inflection. We can continue down with four more years of darkness or return to four years of light.” The crowd hung on every word, hungry for reassurance in these uncertain times. But even as they nodded and cheered, I sensed the unspoken questions lurking beneath the surface, like sharks circling in dark waters.
Mike Johnson, once a constitutional lawyer and now Speaker of the House, echoed the need for moral clarity. “It’s as if they don’t understand that Iran and Hamas are the actual enemy and have to be dealt with appropriately,” he said, his legal mind distilling for us the complexities of Middle East politics. Johnson didn’t pull punches when it came to the situation on college campuses. “Nineteen hundred reported antisemitic incidents on campus since October 7. A 700 percent increase. Forty-four percent of college students don’t feel safe.” The numbers hung in the air like an indictment of a system failing its Jewish students.
Governor Greg Abbott from Texas stood out for two reasons. First was his security and legal approach to protests on campus. He had his resources in riot gear and cleared out protests in one day. This was equally saddening because it reminded the audience that many democratic run cities and universities simply made choices to allow the protests to continue unabated. Second was his economic response to the BDS movement. “If your business participates in BDS and boycotts Israeli businesses, then you cannot do any business with the Texas government.” His not-so-subtle point was that Republican leaders don’t just talk the talk and promise platitudes. They take action and manifest results that matter.
Fox’s Mark Levin, “The Great One,” set the room ablaze early on Thursday morning by declaring “I’m not running for any political office so I’ll say what I have to say.” He is a best-selling author, and riveting, passionate speaker using his righteous anger like a blowtorch through butter. “Israel has the right to kick the… out of Hamas,” Levin growled. He painted a stark picture of the choice facing voters. “The election is no longer about white paper policy differences. It’s freedom versus tyranny. That is the choice.”
“For Jewish Americans, it’s an even more dire choice,” he continued. “It’s not going to stop, this spreading cancer of antisemitism. It has a home in the Democratic Party.”
As Levin spoke, the crowd was easily captivated. He said out loud what many had only dared to think. “Jews today who vote Democrat, there’s a common theme,” Levin said, his voice dropping to a near-whisper. “‘We never thought it could happen.’ No free country ever thinks it could turn into the third Reich or a communist regime. And more than once, the parties voted for the policies that took away their freedoms.” The room was silent, absorbing the consistent messages about security, antisemitism, and immigration, the weight of history pressing down on every shoulder.
To close the Thursday morning session, Donald Trump made his appearance via satellite on screens large enough to make the luchot look like Post-it notes. “I will work with you to make sure Israel is with us for thousands of years,” he promised, like a balm to souls scarred by centuries of persecution. “You’re not going to have an Israel if [Kamala Harris] becomes president… Israel will no longer exist.” It was classic Trump – part prophecy, part threat, all spectacle. But in these troubled times, spectacle sells.
Ultimately, these were the top themes discussed by the speakers:
- Antisemitism, especially on college campuses.
- Unwavering, non-negotiable support for Israel’s security.
- Hamas, Gaza, and Iran’s threat to Israel and the West.
- Lowering taxes and beating inflation.
- Immigration and border security.
- Education reform including CRT (critical race theory).
- Foreign policy blunders and projecting weakness on the world stage.
- Religious freedoms.
- The Democratic Party we grew up with no longer exists.
Even as the litany of speakers painted a depressing picture of existential threat and economic meltdown, there were still some other elephants in the room that could affect the outcome of the election. Those uncomfortable truths no one wanted to address directly – still lumbered about, impossible to ignore.
The first elephant wore a sign that read “Women’s Rights,” a reminder of the complex dance between religious conservatism and personal freedom that many voters grapple with. Trump had tried to sidestep it, declaring abortion a state issue now. But for many, especially the women, it isn’t so simple. Trump’s court overturned Roe V. Wade thus opening the door for a possible federal ban (which Trump denies he will pursue). Plus, women just don’t want to forgive him for doing the unthinkable.
The second elephant bore the date “January 6th” on its hide, a constant reminder of a day that had shaken American democracy to its core – maybe because the media has been successful at painting a convincing portrait of a President who didn’t act quickly enough to suppress the peaceful rally that turned into a riot that then became violent. This is not to say that this day isn’t a scar on the body of the United States. It was a terrible day gone wrong. And four years later, it’s a leading contender for a swing voter to cast a vote one way or another.
And the third elephant? Well, that is Trump himself. Not the policies, mind you, but the man. The tweets, the insults, the never-ending drama. The man who as many would say “can’t get out of his own way and just be nice.” For some, they are super fans (Trumpers) and they gladly buy into all of what Trump brings to the table. For others, it becomes more of a moral compromise worth paying for a strong policy on security at home and for Israel. As one person said, “We’re not electing a saint,” he said, his tone matter-of-fact. “We’re choosing a leader who will protect Israel and combat antisemitism. Most everything else is secondary.”
I made efforts to sit with what I consider to be brave and heroic university students from different parts of the country. In some ways they have it the toughest. It can’t be easy for them to walk the gauntlet of protestors on their way to class and the library. “You have to understand,” one precocious student said to me, “antisemitism isn’t just a ‘Jewish issue.’ Think about it, when a society starts targeting Jews, it’s never just about Jews. It’s the first step in a larger erosion of rights and freedoms. Today it’s us, tomorrow it could be any minority group, any individual who doesn’t fit the norm.”
She is right. History has proven time and again that antisemitism is often the harbinger of broader societal decay. Another college student echoed similar feelings. “So, when we talk about combating antisemitism, we’re not just fighting for Jewish rights. We’re defending the very principles of freedom and equality that America is supposed to stand for.” And which, sadly, it looks like the current administration is not handling well. Shabbos Kestenbaum, of Harvard notoriety and congressional hearings testimony, brought all this sentiment to a climax when he revisited Ronald Reagan’s speech describing how the Democratic Party left him.
One of the takeaways from the RJC is the very simple fact that Republicans come together to support America and Israel. This is comforting in ways that are very hard to describe to someone like Eli Beer, the CEO of Hatzalah in Israel, who flew in with survivors from the terror attacks. As much as it helps people in America to meet the people they have been supporting and praying for long-distance, it’s equally validating for the people in Israel to meet the Americans too.
What becomes clearer after the constant refrain from politicians of their support for Jews in America is that their declarations and actions are not just about protecting Jewish communities – though that is certainly at the foundation. The support is also about protecting the very fabric of American democracy. Antisemitism is the modern-day litmus test, the early warning system for a democratic society’s economic prosperity, long-term health and religious freedoms. The speakers envisioned a vision of America where all could live freely, where the targeting of one group wouldn’t be tolerated because it threatened everyone.
Could this be the message that bridges the gap for undecided voters and overcomes those three massive elephants? The idea that in protecting Jewish Americans, we protect all Americans? That in fighting antisemitism, we fight for the soul of the nation itself? Could this message transcend party lines and speak to core American values. Whether it would be enough to sway those grappling with the other “elephants in the room” remained to be seen. But it certainly added another layer to an already complex political calculus.
