Editorial: Kamala Harris for President and a Democratic Slate for Congress

By Donald H. Harrison

SAN DIEGO — I am disgusted by the rhetoric at the Trump rally in New York City’s Madison Square Garden on Sunday and alarmed that such major news organizations as The Washington Post and the Los Angeles Times have decided to make no endorsements in the presidential race. I was mulling endorsements before, but now I feel the time is imperative to take a stand, even though I know that whichever way I decide, I’ll disappoint some of our readers.

I believe former President Donald Trump and his backers are trading in xenophobia, which is dangerous for the American Jewish community. He has called undocumented migrants to the United States “garbage.” A comedian warming up the crowd at Madison Square Garden “joked” that there is a floating island of garbage in the ocean, and he thinks its name is Puerto Rico. Another speaker, Tucker Carlson, who I’m disappointed to say has his roots in San Diego, has traded in Holocaust denial and has pushed The Great Replacement Theory, which says migrants are being imported to this country to replace White voters. The theory was popularized when neo-Nazis marched through Charlottesville in 2017 chanting, “Jews Shall Not Replace Us.”

In contrast, Kamala Harris is a unifier who celebrates our country’s diversity, which is reflected in her parentage (a Jamaican father and an Indian mother) and in her choice of Doug Emhoff (who is Jewish) as her husband. She has focused her campaign on helping America’s broad middle class in a struggling economy, with tax credits for first-time home buyers, childcare subsidies, a plan to clamp down on consumer price gouging during such emergencies at the two recent hurricanes, and an effort to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

Some in our Jewish community rightfully celebrate the pro-Israel actions that the administration of Trump (whose daughter Ivanka, son-in-law Jared Kushner, and grandchildren are Jewish) took while he was president between the months of January in 2017 and 2021.  These included moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem; recognizing Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights; brokering the Abraham Accords, resulting in peaceful relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan.

They contrast that record with that of President Joe Biden and Vice President Harris, who have urged ceasefires as Israel retaliates against the massacre of nearly 1,200 Israelis and the kidnaping of 250 more by Hamas. It also has urged a ceasefire in Israel’s campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Biden-Harris administration also has given Israel a 30-day deadline to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza or risk a weapons cut-off.

On the other hand, the Biden-Harris administration has supplied Israel with defensive anti-missile systems as well as direct support by American land and sea forces against two attacks so far by Iran on the Israeli homeland. The U.S. also has buttressed Israel’s campaign against the ship-bombing Houthis in Yemen.

Trump’s all-out support for Israel versus the Biden-Harris Administration’s conditional support for Israel is all some members of our community, whom I respect, need to know to persuade them to favor Trump’s election and Harris’ defeat. But against that, I weigh Trump’s rhetoric about being a dictator on day one, having an enemy’s list, wanting to use the military against U.S. citizens who are the “enemy from within,” and the implied threat that if he loses, American Jews (who traditionally support Democrats) will be partially to blame. I agree with critics who say those words are more like those of a right-wing dictator than someone who is committed to upholding the Constitution and our democracy. And who can forget the assault on the U.S. Capitol that then President Trump unleashed on Jan. 6, 2021?

The feckless pandering to Trump and his base by Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate and the House of Representatives prompts me to urge votes for the Democratic candidates in all congressional races so that in the event that Trump wins his very close contest with Harris, Congress may provide a bulwark against the xenophobic, antisemitic, racist, misogynistic, and homophobic policies that extremists in his next administration may devise.

In San Diego, that means returning Democrats Scott Peters, Mike Levin, Sara Jacobs, and Juan Vargas to Congress, and voting in favor of underdog candidate Stephen Houlahan against Republican Congressman Darrell Issa. In the U.S. Senate race, in the contests both for the interim seat and the full term, Congressman Adam Schiff is the preferred choice over baseball legend Steve Garvey.

In local elections, I’m casting my vote for incumbent Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer over former San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer and for current San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria over challenger Larry Turner.  I favor the reelection of San Diego City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera.

I know that there are readers who will agree with me and others who will disagree.  If you are prompted to write your comments in the space below, please practice civility.

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Donald H. Harrison is publisher and editor of San Diego Jewish World.