Why We Remain Enthusiastic Trumpsters

By Robert B. Sklaroff and Lynne K. Lechter

An Exponent letter-writer recently suggested that advocates for Donald Trump had grown silent, presumably embarrassed by his performance.

As the two essayists on these pages advocating for his election a year ago, we respond to this invitation by doubling-down on our endorsement, emphasizing that it is more enlightening to take his actions seriously than to become distracted by his tweets.

Lechter’s articles primarily extolled the candidate, whereas Sklaroff’s focused on contrasting him with his opponent.

If anything, our projections were understated, both for the Jewish community and for the nation.

Throughout his young presidency, Trump has performed necessary executive functions with aplomb, while simultaneously confronting myriad denizens of the D.C. swamp: the mainstream media and public figures in entertainment and sports; the resistance Democrats and ideological statists in elected office and the academy; the establishment Republicans and faux-independents in politics and embedded within funding streams; and the deep state and career lobbyists in the intelligence services and among Obama holdovers.

The most efficient method to convey a comprehensive and in-depth exposition is to cite a listing of what Trump had accomplished by his 71st birthday, and then to address the more controversial events that have transpired during the subsequent four months.

He has not shied away from attacking America’s most sacred cows when engaged in an ongoing culture war, most notably when he opined that the NFL’s self-absorbed athletes and financially-threatened team owners — plus the organizational structures shrouding both — should demonstrate unabashed respect for the American flag. Ultimately, the NFL “customer” told these “players” to suppress tortured rationalizations and to support Trump’s patriotism, for fans pay to watch players play, not to politicize.

He has not ignored the need to maximize Israel’s security, as he aggressively confronts global Islamic fascism. Trump has effectuated a true purge on the Islamic State by simply and logically liberalizing rules of combat; consequently, the United States is on the verge of having expeditiously defeated the Islamic State in its self-designated capitals of Mosul in Iraq and Raqqa in Syria.

And he has aggressively challenged incessant Iranian threats against the “Little Satan” — Israel — and the “Big Satan,” America.

Moreover, Trump’s U.N. ambassador, Nikki Haley, projects a steadfast, steely voice defending Israel’s right to exist and taking no quarter from America’s enemies, dramatically departing from recent predecessors who bashed Israel and apologized for America’s imaginary evils. Most importantly, Trump has reversed abandonment of the Middle East — and the world — to implacable enemies of the Jewish state and of democracy, while addressing the most profound human rights violations on every continent except Antarctica. Concomitantly, he has strategically recognized the necessity to support an ethnic community with which Jews share close historic and genetic links, the Kurds.

Unlike his predecessor who ridiculed religion and faith, Trump has honored and mainstreamed all Jewish movements, both publicly and privately. Unprecedented is how he has both integrated into his administration non-Orthodox high-ranking officials and encompassed within his family Orthodox children and grandchildren.

Finally, his commentaries on current events may initially shock, but they are often subsequently corroborated. For example, Jews have shuddered at the sight of racist Ku Klux Klan demonstrations over the decades, in Skokie, in Charlottesville; yet, while their history is dark, such white supremacists are not today’s primary enemies of Judaism and America. No, that danger has been insidiously marinated by our monolithic educational system where, from kindergarten through graduate schooling, youth are brainwashed to hate America and to denigrate Israel.

Trump has thereby tasked himself with the herculean goal of helping the citizenry again extol the “classic” version of liberalism championed by Edmund Burke that has animated Western civilization; to be condemned is having been corrupted by Alinsky-like tactics in the “modern” era.

We recognize how difficult it is to redirect the proverbial ocean liner, but we are in awe of how successfully the president has begun steering the United States back to invoking its patriotic roots of morality, meritocracy and magnanimity, ideas and ideals that the left mocks and deems antiquated.  Trump’s battle is for sovereignty, the major responsibility of government.

Israelites are the people who were chosen to serve as a light to the nations, and the president currently channels the task to lead this effort — on behalf of our Jewish faith, our American citizenry and our fellow humans throughout the world. This resolute support for Jews and Israel was starkly illustrated recently when he pulled the United States out of UNESCO for its anti-Semitic demonization of Israel.

Lynne K. Lechter is a business/corporate attorney and litigator. Robert B. Sklaroff is a hematologist/oncologist.