By Halie Sofer
Jewish Democratic Council of America
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Donald Trump’s strategy is to “flood the zone.” The pace and volume of his actions are intended to overwhelm. While this week’s flood of news may have felt more like a tsunami, a clear truth has emerged – Donald Trump is willing to endanger the American people to pursue his agenda, and this includes American Jews.
On Monday, the Trump administration announced a freeze of all grants, loans, and other federal assistance, which impacts nearly every American. A judge temporarily halted part of the White House decree because it’s unconstitutional. News of the freeze has already impeded access to Medicaid, Social Security, and Medicare benefits, among other essential government funding programs, including the grants that fund security at synagogues, JCCs, and Jewish day schools.
Once Republicans voiced concern with the initial order, given its devastating impact, the White House rescinded its guidance. But make no mistake – the sweeping budgetary freeze remains in place, and massive confusion continues.
Now is the time to voice your concern with your members of Congress – it makes a difference, as we’ve seen with recent Republican pressure on the White House. Write to your members of Congress OPPOSING TRUMP’S BUDGET FREEZES. These spending cuts impact us all and violate the Constitution, which gives Congress – not Donald Trump and Elon Musk – the power of the purse.
The White House memo explaining the budget freeze cited the objective of ending “Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies.” But what does Trump’s war against Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) really mean?
It means that at least one federal agency has now paused observances of MLK Day, Women’s History Month, and Holocaust Remembrance Day, among others. More broadly, it means that Trump has ended programs aimed at combating discrimination, including racism, sexism, xenophobia, antisemitism, homophobia, and the targeting of persons with disabilities in the workplace.
Within hours of the horrific plane crash in DC that tragically killed 67 people on Wednesday, Trump baselessly claimed that DEI hiring and initiatives had lowered air traffic safety standards. One cannot talk about aviation safety without acknowledging that just last week, Trump eliminated the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, removed the head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) Administration, and pushed out the head of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).
In his press conference, Trump callously claimed – as crash victims were being pulled from the Potomac River – that “we want somebody that’s psychologically superior” doing air traffic control. This, of course, doesn’t take into account the psychological impact of Trump attacking and firing many of those responsible for aviation safety, and of course, we do not yet know the actual cause of the devastating crash.
We mourn with the families and friends of those tragically lost in the crash and await the results of the investigation. If only we had a president who could say the same.
Also this week, Trump issued an executive order on antisemitism. In the fact sheet that accompanied the EO, President Trump states, “My promise to Jewish Americans is this: With your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House.”
This transactional requirement from Trump means he’ll give us safety if we give him our vote. In fact, President Trump’s pledge to “defend” and “protect” American Jews is now officially contingent on our vote – there’s a White House memo to prove it. Yet again, Trump has said the quiet part out loud – he will only support Jewish Americans if we pledge our loyalty to him. He scapegoated “the Jewish people” during the election for insufficient loyalty, and he’s implicitly doing it again.
Donald Trump is not a defender of all Americans – just those who are “loyal” to him – and Jewish Americans are no exception.
We’re going to continue to be “disloyal” because Trump’s policies and rhetoric are a direct threat to our community and values. His demand of loyalty in and of itself is antithetical to Judaism – we do not pledge loyalty to a single person or president; we’re loyal to our country and our values.
Amid the chaos of this week, one singular truth has emerged – Donald Trump is not acting in the best interests of the American people and Jewish Americans, including his supporters. He says he’s “defending” Jews who vote for him, but he just cut essential security funding for our synagogues and Jewish institutions right after he pardoned, commuted the sentences of, and released from jail dangerous extremists and white supremacists who want to do us harm.
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Halie Sofer is the chief executive officer of the Jewish Democratic Council of America.
Commentary from Congresswoman Sara Jacobs (D-San Diego)
WASHINGTON, D.C. — If you’re following the news, you may have heard that President Trump’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued a memo earlier this week that announced his administration would fully freeze all federal grants and loans, along with other financial assistance.
It might be hard to wrap your head around the scale of an order like that, so let me give you some examples of what that means: Funding for Head Start programs for your kids…support services for veterans…community health centers…domestic violence shelters…the salaries of local firefighters…Section 8 housing vouchers for low-income folks…all of those crucial services and so much more, suddenly at risk.
Over the course of the week, that OMB memo caused widespread confusion and panic – for the millions of Americans who rely on important programs and funding everyday and for the amazing folks on the ground in our communities who provide those services. Agencies and organizations were scrambling to figure out how they would be impacted (services cut, staff layoffs, and more) – and states found that they were suddenly locked out of the Medicaid portal and potentially unable to provide health care to low-income Americans.
Fortunately, that panic also turned to action. After significant public outcry and state attorneys general coming together in a lawsuit, a federal judge indicated that he would issue a restraining order (essentially, freezing the freeze). Around the same time – to add more confusion to everything else – President Trump’s press secretary said OMB was rescinding the memo (but still trying to keep some of the freezes in place).
There are still a lot of outstanding questions, but a few things are pretty clear. First, the chaos and confusion are the point. They are trying to overwhelm us so we feel powerless and unable to push back as they dismantle our systems.
We also know that this move – temporary or not – directly violates the Constitution. We are long overdue for a serious conversation about where and how the federal government spends taxpayer dollars. But the Founders of this country gave Congress control of public spending – “the power of the purse” – to protect from instances of presidential overreach just like this.
Whether or not Donald Trump wants to cut back on government spending, this freeze isn’t about that. It’s about defying the Constitution, concentrating power, and pushing an extreme agenda without the checks and balances built into the structure of our government.
My colleagues in the House and I will do everything we can to stop this. More soon as the fight unfolds.
There is no doubt that government agencies (federal, state, and local) are over staffed and that there is considerable waste in spending, including duplication of efforts and overlapping programs. This article, like many from both sides of the aisle, point out negative possible effects but fail to offer alternatives. I call them Hit Pieces.