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OBJECTIONS TO “HOW THE GOP
MEETS A JEWISH MILLENNIAL
WOMAN’S STANDARD”
Lena Epstein’s viewpoint article in the
Oct. 20, 2016, issue (“How the GOP Meets
A Jewish Millennial Woman’s Standard,”
page 8) contains so many contradictions
and inaccuracies, I do not know where to
start.
First, she says she would not want
Donald Trump to be her future children’s
Sunday school teacher, but would it be all
right for him to be her children’s presi-
dent?
She also says he is a person of action
and insinuates she believes what he says.
Therefore, I think she must believe that
he has assaulted women and there must
be credence in the 11 women’s accusa-
tions.
She mentions she believes he is a great
businessman but fails to mention all his
unsuccessful and shady ventures, and
the fact that he lost almost $1 billion in a
single year. She estimates his net worth,
but since he has not released his tax
returns, it is impossible to verify. He also
has admitted and thinks it is smart not to
pay federal income taxes.
She mentions insulting the office of the
president of the United States, but fails to
mention that is what Donald Trump did
for many years with his birther campaign.
As for Israel, Trump believes that it
would be good for Israel’s enemies to have
nuclear weapons. How is that securing
Israel’s future?
There has also been a lot of anti-Semi-
tism peppered throughout his campaign;
remember the cartoon of Hillary Clinton
with the Star of David and a pile of
money in the background?
If the people he hired to run his cam-
paign are any indication of who he will
Funny Jewish Tweet
@InFullBloomUS
Time for some election
humor. Yiddish curses for
your political opponent:
• May you sell everything and retire to
Florida just as global warming makes it
uninhabitable.
• May you live to 120 without Social
Security or Medicare.
• May you make a fortune and lose it all
in one of Sheldon Adelson’s casinos.
• May you live to a ripe old age, and may
the only people who come visit you be
Mormon missionaries.
• May your son be elected president, and
may you have no idea what you did
with his birth certificate.
• May your insurance company decide
constipation is a pre-existing condition.
appoint to positions of power, in the
unlikely case he should win, we are all in
trouble.
As an example of the type of people he
may appoint, he hired Steve Bannon, who
ran Breitbart News, to run his campaign.
Breitbart News is known as an alt-right,
anti-Semitic organization. Bannon has
also said he did not want his children to
go to school with Jewish children.
I understand she is a longtime
Republican activist, but there comes
a time where country needs to be put
ahead of party. She should also know that
Hillary Clinton was the senator from New
York, not Illinois. She should read Jordan
Acker’s viewpoint (“Who Can You Be
Proud Of?” page 8) and reread her own
excuse for an endorsement. Maybe that
would get her to do the right thing and
retract it.
and hours of labor that a car company
buys is determined by the number of
customers willing and able to buy their
cars. Therefore, the consumer class is
the job creator, not businesses that hire
reluctantly.
Lack of investment capital can kill jobs,
but an excess does not create jobs. Excess
private capital only drives down inter-
est rates and creates investment bubbles
when capital runs out of productive
investments. The mortgage bubble burst-
ing in 2008 bankrupted General Motors,
not NAFTA.
And, I believe Hilary Clinton best
understands textbook economics (and
climate science) while Paul Ryan reads
Ayn Rand fantasy novels and Trump the
National Enquirer.
Neither pride nor prejudice but objec-
tive data is my guide.
Marc Roland
West Bloomfield
Dennis Green
Farmington Hills
Lena Epstein’s viewpoint expressing pride
in her choice of Donald Trump exempli-
fies what is behind the chaos in politics.
Too many people make their choice not
on reasoned analysis but on tribal loyalty
and emotion.
Pride can be taken for one’s accom-
plishments but not for one’s opinions. I
can take pride in being a member of the
Jewish community because of our dispro-
portionate achievements as a community,
but my loyalty is no basis for pride any
more than is the loyalty of a racist to the
KKK.
Selecting the leader of the free world
is a serious decision, not a sporting event
where you take pride in supporting the
winner.
Benjamin Franklin said that the great-
est threat to our republic is ignorance.
Justice David Souter elaborated that when
government fails to work and the people
don’t understand why and who is at fault,
someone will come along and say, “I
alone can fix it.” Those who don’t know
better will believe him, and that’s how
Rome lost its democracy.
Without a solid economic foundation,
a strong military and support for Israel
aren’t possible, but Congress is repeating
the mistakes that dragged out the Great
Depression.
Ms. Epstein lists economics as impor-
tant. Trump’s investments may turn to
gold as she claims, but it came from gam-
ing the system, cheating others and too
often led to bankruptcy, which is just a
legal way of stiffing more people. If gold
is the measure, I may as well write in
Bernie Madoff.
Here’s where Trump and the
Republican have it destructively wrong:
Labor is a commodity — just like steel
— that a business purchases as needed
to make a product. The pounds of steel
Regarding Lena Epstein’s endorsement
of Donald Trump, before I begin, let me
make two points. First, I’m an indepen-
dent voter, terribly disappointed that Mitt
Romney did not win the 2012 presidential
election. Second, it is with regret that in
the 2016 election, I’ll be forced to vote for
Hillary Clinton by default. Frankly, with a
meritorious candidate, I believe the GOP
could have won the election.
Her essay made several good points
when referring to the GOP in general.
As to the presidential candidate, I have
trouble with her arguments and what she
left out.
Just because someone is a person of
action doesn’t necessarily qualify him
for her for a certain position. In addition
to being able to act, that person must be
rational, balanced in judgment, able to
make well-thought-out reasons for his or
her positions so he or she can convince
others with opposing views, and they
must be able to compromise to achieve
his or her goals.
Unfortunately for the GOP and the
country, Mr. Trump has none of these
qualities. He is argumentative to the point
of being divisive, repressively, unabash-
edly, disrespecting of others and has NO
ability to compromise. Further, he has
no political experience and, I fear, has no
idea of how government actually works.
It is impossible to explain away Mr.
Trump’s character flaws by criticizing
his opponent. I’m hopeful he hasn’t done
permanent damage to the GOP, but that
has yet to be seen. It may well be that his
candidacy will cost his party the loss of
its Senate majority and possibly even its
majority in the House.
As we’ve all seen on several occasions,
Mr. Trump has completely disregarded
the sanguine advice of his advisers with
costly consequences, which he always
blames on someone else. This because he
believes that no one, regardless of their
expertise, knows better than he does.
Apparently, no one but Mr. Trump is
infallible.
It is an embarrassment to our great
country to have a person such as Donald
Trump as a presidential candidate!
Joel Gershenson
Farmington Hills
NO JUSTIFICATION FOR
GROUP INTENT ON
DIVIDING AMERICAN JEWS
In response to Rabbi Orkmand’s review
of Trouble in the Tribe (Sept. 1, 2016), his
review displays the uncritical acceptance
of anything critical of Israel that defines
the “progressive, heal-the-world” contem-
porary Jew.
Consider, for example, his take on J
Street, which he describes as “a progres-
sive alternative to AIPAC.” This is at odds
with J Street’s own description of its pri-
orities.
As reported by James Traub in the New
York Times, Jeremy Ben Ami described J
Street this way: “Our No. 1 agenda item is
to do whatever we can in Congress to act
as Obamas’s blocking back.”
What does this suggest about J Street’s
agenda and loyalties?
Ben-Ami was applauded at the 2015
J Street conference after he addressed
Netanyahu directly, telling him, “You
don’t speak for us.” What does this sug-
gest about J Street’s regard for Israel’s vot-
ers, who actually think they should make
decisions about who will speak for Israel?
J Street was created to divide and
polarize American Jewry, and recognition
of this led the Conference of Presidents
of Major Jewish Organizations to wisely
decline J Street’s request for membership.
Trouble in the Tribe offers justifications
for groups created to increase tensions
and divisions within the American Jewish
community and to undermine support for
Israel.
Israel will live or die by the decisions it
makes. The opinions of American Jews do
not offer superior wisdom, and we would
do well to bear that in mind.
Julia Lutch
Davis, Calif.
RABBI STARR’S SERMON
MISUNDERSTOOD
Rabbi Starr’s Sermon regarding “Kaddish
For Tikkun Olam” has been misunder-
stood by many writers.
The point he was making was we Jews
must take care of each other first. There
are many Jewish elderly, in particular
those living by themselves, who need our
assistance, but we do not know where
they are or what they need. Once the
needs of our own people have been taken
care of, we can than look after the needs
continued on page 10
8 November 3 • 2016