Antisemitism: thriving where the far right seeks power

John Ganz  writes what he calls Unpopular Front-the junk box of history. I find his musings and diatribes thought provoking. The other day he offered this in an essay prompted by narcissistic zillionaire Elon Musk's escapades:

Antisemitism is both symptom and cause of broader social decline: it is the most pornographic and salacious part of reactionary propaganda, the sign of the abandonment of democracy in favor of demagogues and the mob, and it reveals the utter cynicism and vulgarity of the ruling class, its willingness to indulge in any irresponsibility that will perpetuate its dominance.

Donald Trump is an unabashed anti-Semite. That's not news. He is spewing bile for his MAGA mob and undoubtedly provoking the sort of vile reaction he intends.

Sarah Posner explores Trump's transactional expectation that U.S. support for rightwing Israeli zionism put "the Jews" in his debt. Trump likely learned enough from palling with right-wing evangelical Christian pastors to know how to tickle their fantasies.

One interpretation is theological, a topic on which Trump is notoriously illiterate, although he’s likely spent enough time around evangelicals to know they believe they have an imperative to convert Jews to Christianity. They seek converts now, because you never know when Jesus is actually coming back, and you want to be saved already when it happens. The evangelicals who await Jesus’s return at the battle of Armageddon envision it as an event during which Jews will be forced to accept Christ, or perish in a lake of brimstone. “Before it is too late!” has a very particular meaning here. 

Another interpretation is purely political. Trump demands loyalty, and he gets it from an overwhelming majority of white evangelicals, but only a tiny minority of Jews. In this interpretation, Trump is angry not to see Jews at bended knee. Jews’ supposed failure to “appreciate what they have in Israel” is actually a failure to appreciate that Trump has done heroic things for Israel. ...

It's always about Donald Trump for Donald Trump

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And here in Reno, Washoe County is afflicted by its own real estate-speculating, tech millionaire Republican nut job who has decided this a great place to spread viciousness. 

From The Nevada Independent:

In the days after the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, Robert Beadles logged onto a video-streaming platform and blamed former President Donald Trump’s electoral defeat on an international Jewish conspiracy. 

The chaotic events of the day, he said, were choreographed by outside forces, not Trump supporters. Beadles pointed to the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion” — a long-debunked antisemitic pamphlet claiming that Jews are conspiring to take over the world. 

“Just like the ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion,’ when you infiltrate every single layer of civilization of a society, they put their people in these prominent positions to keep the information from leaking out or to keep their narrative in place,” Beadles said. “And we’re seeing that.” 

... he has made a name for himself as an election denier, far-right provocateur and prominent GOP donor who has given more than $1 million over the past two years to Republican candidates up and down the ballot. He charged into Nevada Republican Party politics, using his power and influence to win a seat on the Washoe GOP executive committee and push the party’s agenda to more extreme positions. ...

This too is what we struggle against, here in the UniteHERE Reno campaign. Join us.