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Why I'm Voting Trump as a Lifelong Democrat

In a remarkable opinion piece published in the Jerusalem Post, former Democratic Congressman Peter Deutsch (FL) explains why he is publicly supporting Donald J. Trump for President:

There is no one who can question my lifelong loyalty to the Democratic Party but on November 5, 2024, I will vote for Donald Trump for president of the United States. This is not a decision I take lightly but it is a decision I am 100% convinced is the correct decision for the United States, my children, my grandchildren, and the world.

 

…In Congress, I was a loyal ally to former House speaker Nancy Pelosi and Sen. Chuck Schumer, rarely/never bucked my party or the leadership, and served as a delegate to two Democratic National Conventions.

 

…Somewhere along the way, however, my Democratic Party – the party I served faithfully for nearly half a century – left me. I oppose illegal immigration and transgender students competing in high school girls' sports, and just as Democrat Bill Clinton supported as president, I favor school choice.

 

But there is one policy that is the driving force behind my endorsement of former president Donald Trump and that is his position on how we engage Iran. I vehemently opposed President Barack Obama's Iran nuclear deal in 2015. The Trump administration abandoned the Obama posture toward Iran and instead enforced tougher policies on that terrorist state.

 

Trump implemented sanctions against Iran that constrained the Iranian economy to the extent that Iran could not finance its terrorist proxies including Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. The Biden-Harris administration, however, completely reversed the successful Trump containment policy.

 

…The world is a very dangerous place, a result in part due to the Biden-Harris foreign policy. I fear it will become far more dangerous if Kamala Harris takes the wheel and is elected the 47th president. Under president Trump, the United States experienced four years of peace and prosperity. We can expect the same in the next four and a second Trump administration.

Read and share this article.

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House Speaker Mike Johnson: Remembering October 7

On October 7, we were honored to host a national webinar and a live event with House Speaker Mike Johnson. See the recorded webinar here.

 

The Jewish Insider reported on the virtual event:

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said on Monday that the Oct. 7 Hamas terror attacks serve as a cautionary tale against appeasing Iran and other US adversaries funding terrorism.

 

Johnson made the comments while offering his reflections on the one-year anniversary of the attacks and the lessons he had since learned during a virtual event organized by the Republican Jewish Coalition. The discussion came ahead of Johnson's appearance at an RJC event in Las Vegas, Nev., to commemorate the anniversary.

 

"The first lesson is that we can never let our guard down. We cannot take antisemitism and terrorism lightly. We know that there are barbarians who will do terrible things, and they have to be met with an appropriate level of force because we have to defend what is good and right," Johnson told RJC CEO Matt Brooks and former Sen. Norm Coleman [RJC National Chairman].

 

… "The other thing we've learned is that we know that our enemies will exploit weakness by America. This is the problem; you cannot appease terrorist regimes. You cannot play this halfway as some of the leaders have been doing here over the last year. You have to call a spade a spade. You have to speak with moral clarity, conviction, and consistency about this because we have to stamp this out," he continued. "That's a really important lesson to remember."

Afterward, Speaker Johnson addressed hundreds of people, in person, at the Young Israel Aish synagogue in Summerlin, Nevada, a suburb of Las Vegas. CBS News Channel 8 reported:

The Republican Jewish Coalition event on Monday inside Young Israel Aish HaTorah included community leaders, rabbis, and elected officials. With standing room only, [Speaker Mike] Johnson was welcomed to speak in front of the crowd assembled to observe the Oct. 7 attacks anniversary.

 

"This is a very important moment for America and for Israel," Johnson said. "I am so comforted to know that we're in it together and that we are on the right side of history."

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported:

"I am brokenhearted," Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks said. "I am broken. I am angry. I am not OK, and I suspect many of us sitting in this room today, we are not OK. But we are here together."

 

House Speaker Mike Johnson also spoke about the anniversary and called for unity against antisemitism.

 

"There are barbarians in this world, and they will do evil things, and they have to be met with an appropriate level of force," Johnson said, receiving applause from the crowd.

The Nevada Independent reported:

Republicans such as Johnson — the most powerful person in the GOP-led House of Representatives — have criticized Biden for insufficiently supporting Israel.

In his remarks Monday, Johnson said Biden has shown weakness on the global stage — something Trump would restore.

 

"Our adversaries fear Donald Trump," Johnson said. "When America shows weakness on the world stage, our adversaries, the enemies of freedom, take advantage of this."

 

He also strongly condemned protests that took over some college campuses this past spring, specifically the one at Columbia University in New York…

Other speakers at Thursday's event include Las Vegas Rabbi Yitz Wyne and RJC CEO Matt Brooks.

Republicans Reflect on October 7

Leading Republicans shared their thoughts on the first anniversary of the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks. Click here to see the video featuring House GOP Chairwoman Elise Stefanik, RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, and Senator Tim Scott.

Dave McCormick and other terrific RJC-endorsed Senate candidates need YOUR support to win in tough, game-changing races around the country.

 

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Kellyanne Conway Election Analysis

Yesterday, the RJC held a pre-election webinar with Kellyanne Conway. She was President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign manager, and a former senior counselor to President Trump. She is a respected political consultant and pollster.

 

Kellyanne said that "vibes are not votes" and that Vice President Kamala Harris is an unserious person who has been coasting for three months on being NOT-Joe Biden and NOT-Donald Trump, neither of which is a substantive answer to the questions of who are you, and what would you do as President?

 

Kellyanne gave us a fascinating rundown of the key demographic groups and the key states that are going to make the difference in this election. President Trump, she said, doesn't have to win a majority of votes in groups like Jewish voters or Hispanic Americans to win the election, he just needs to do better than the usual Republican numbers in those sectors.

 

On foreign policy, Kellyanne points to Iran, a clear and present danger, as a key issue that pushes people to consider voting a certain way.

 

Watch the recorded webinar here for all of Kellyanne's insightful comments.

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We are proud to celebrate and thank this outstanding volunteer for contacting the most Jewish potential voters through our phone banking and door knocking programs.

 

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RJC in the News

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Will the Israel-Hamas war determine the outcome of the Pennsylvania election?

The Hamas attack against Israel a year ago Monday and the ensuing war in the Mideast has shaken both Jewish and Arab American voters, potentially playing a decisive role in tight races for the White House and US Senate in Pennsylvania.

 

Ongoing fighting in the Middle East has ensured the war will remain on the agenda of the 2024 presidential election during the final weeks of the campaign.

 

…To attract those voters, Republicans point to [Donald] Trump's record on Israel; as president, he moved the Israeli embassy to Jerusalem and negotiated the Abraham Accords among Israel, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, then obtained agreements with Morocco and Sudan.

 

…Republicans said they also believe that increased antisemitism will drive Jews to the GOP. The Anti-Defamation League reported 8,873 antisemitic incidents in the US last year, with 5,204 incidents occurring between the Oct. 7, 2023, attack and the end of 2023.

 

"We see it in the polling," said Sam Markstein, a spokesman for the Republican

Jewish Coalition. "This is deeply personal. It's deeply visceral for Jewish Americans."

 

…Last month, Trump told the Israeli American Council: "If I don't win this election — and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens — because at 40% it means 60% are voting for the enemy,"

 

The American Jewish Committee called such comments "outrageous and dangerous."

 

Mr. Markstein said Trump was just saying the obvious — that he will lose without Jewish support. "It means Jewish voters matter, especially in these key battleground states," he said.

 

The Washington Times: Warfare in Middle East sends shock waves all the way to Harris' presidential campaign

Iran's missile attack against Israel on Tuesday roiled the US presidential race… Former President Donald Trump said [Joe] Biden and [Kamala] Harris have left the US rudderless and the "whole world is unraveling."

 

"We have a nonexistent president and a nonexistent vice president, who should be in charge, but nobody knows what is going on," he said at a campaign stop in Wisconsin. "No one is in charge of our country."

 

…The Republican Jewish Coalition [said] that the chaos belongs to the Democrats.

 

"Kamala Harris owns this mess as a vocal champion of the disastrous Iran nuclear deal, which allowed Iran to develop ballistic missiles — the same missiles used in today's attack on Israel," said Sam Markstein, RJC's national political director.

Click Here to Help Civilians and Soldiers in Israel

Short Takes

On the one-year anniversary of October 7 — let Israel win
Jewish Policy Center Senior Director Shoshana Bryen writes: "Here is the lesson: When security forces abandon physical property for 'agreements' without a military victory, or at least binding enforcement, the enemy wins. That would be Hamas, Hezbollah, the PA, the Houthis, ISIS and the Muslim Brotherhood. Oh, and Iran."

'Not a thing that comes to mind': Vowing new way forward, Harris says she wouldn't have done anything different than Joe Biden
The Washington Free Beacon reports: "Having spent the last several months promising 'a new way forward' while pretending the Biden-Harris administration was not currently in power, [Kamala] Harris failed to identify a single thing she would have done differently compared to President Joe Biden. 'There is not a thing that comes to mind,' she said. 'And I've been a part of most of the decisions that have had impact.'"

The real lessons of Oct. 7 must not be ignored

Jonathan Tobin writes: "This is something that ought to be clear to all Americans by now. Oct. 7 should have ended the debate about two states and the peace process for the foreseeable future… At the moment, the only debate about Israel that is relevant is the one that the pro-Hamas mobs that took over America’s streets and college campuses since Oct. 7 have been wanting to have: whether one Jewish state on the planet is one too many.

 

…And so, it is incumbent on Israelis and friends of Israel elsewhere to stop bickering over peace plans or pretending that Israel should be “saved from itself,” as former President Barack Obama believed it should.

 

In the absence of a complete transformation of Palestinian society that is nowhere in sight, any advocacy for a Palestinian state in the post-Oct. 7 world from those who claim to support Israel is a unique form of delusionary thinking.

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The officers and staff of the Republican Jewish Coalition wish all of our members a happy and healthy new year! G'mar chatima tova!


Watch your email box this Sunday for the next edition of
"Notes from Norm."

 

13

Oct.

Battleground States: Door Knocking

Join us for EVERY SUNDAY for door knocking and phone banking. Help us reach voters in Georgia, Pennsylvania, Nevada, Michigan, and Arizona!

More Info

 

14

Oct.

Webinar: "The Jewish Community at a Crossroads" with Amb. Nikki Haley

Ambassador Nikki Haley will join the Republican Jewish Coalition for a "Jewish Community at a Crossroads" webinar to discuss critical issues facing the US and Israel in 2024.

RSVP

 

28

Oct.

MI: Rogers vs. Slotkin - Critical Issues Facing the US and Israel in 2024

Mark your calendar and join us in the Detroit area for this in-person event with Mike Rogers, candidate for Senate in Michigan, and Sen. Lindsey Graham.

RSVP

 

 

Contact information for our offices can be found on our website. Please visit us online for the latest RJC news, to see details of upcoming events, and to donate to the RJC. Read past editions of this newsletter here.

Republican Jewish Coalition
50 F Street, N.W., Suite 100 | Washington, DC 20001
202.638.6688 | [email protected]