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August 06, 2020 |
Your
weekly look at the latest news, analysis, and RJC activities around
the country. |
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Featured —
South Carolina Senate
Race:
Lindsey Graham
As a close friend of Lindsey Graham who was
sworn in alongside him in 2003, I'm proud of what a great Senator he
has become. Now Lindsey is facing the toughest challenge of his
career. Why? Because he's fought for us time after time.
Democrats vowed to get their revenge when Senator Graham led
the successful charge to secure Brett Kavanaugh's
confirmation to the Supreme Court. After former South Carolina
Democratic Party Chairman Jamie Harrison announced
his challenge, a flood of money from outside of South Carolina came
pouring in to help him oust Lindsey. Lindsey is a formidable
fundraiser, but during the second quarter of this year, Harrison
outraised him by a significant amount.
Despite South Carolina's traditional GOP leanings, this is a
real race. Two polls released this week show that the race is a
statistical dead heat.
I am confident that in the end South Carolina voters will
prefer a conservative Republican with an incredible record of service
to a party-line Democrat. Consider the contrast on US-Israel
relations. Graham wrote the Taylor Force Act and got it passed and
signed into law. He chairs the key subcommittee responsible for
funding the US-Israel security assistance Memorandum of Understanding.
He's pushing for a US-Israel mutual defense pact. Harrison? He's
proudly accepted an endorsement from the anti-Israel group J Street.
Finally, it is important to note that there has been no
greater friend to the RJC than Lindsey Graham. He's spoken at our
events frequently over the years and counts many of our leaders as
personal friends. He's always been there for us. Now we have to come
through in a big way for our valued friend and ally Senator Graham.
Anti-Semitic meme posted by Delaware Valley NAACP
President Rodney Muhammad.
Dems Fail to Stand Up to
Anti-Semitism
In an
op-ed for the news site Broad and Liberty, RJC Executive Director
Matt Brooks called out the failure of Democrats to
stand up to anti-Semitism again, in this case in Philadelphia, where
the president of the Delaware Valley NAACP, Rodney
Muhammad, has posted repulsive anti-Semitic memes on social
media. Brooks wrote:
[A]t a time when our country is roiled by protests against
injustice and bigotry, we need to stand united against hate of every
kind. And it’s up to each of us, in our own communities, to demand
accountability when hatred rears its ugly head.
The organization that I lead, the Republican Jewish
Coalition, has been doing that for decades…We called out
anti-Semitism and bigotry on the right, because they don’t represent
the values of the Republican Jewish Coalition or the Republican Party.
But unfortunately, the Left is silent when the hatred is on their
side.
… In Washington, the RJC has also called out our Jewish
community counterpart, the Jewish Democratic Council of America, for
their silence in the Democratic primary in Minnesota. The anti-Israel
and anti-Semitic comments of Rep. Ilhan Omar (MN-5)
have been a feature, not a bug, of her public persona. Now she faces a
serious challenge from a progressive, pro-Israel Democrat named
Antone Melton-Meaux. But the JDCA has been missing in
action about this.
Sadly, on many occasions, the RJC has asked Democratic Party
leaders — from Speaker Nancy Pelosi on down — to
disavow the anti-Semitic comments of Democrats in Congress, including
Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), who shared a
blood libel post that belongs in the Middle Ages — and to discipline
the members of their caucus who think it’s okay to call for the
destruction of Israel or use crude stereotypes about Jews on social
media. Jewish Americans have been left disappointed there too.
Universal Vote by Mail –
Too Risky for
2020
RJC Board of Directors member and former White House spokesman
Ari Fleischer, a “survivor of the 2000 recount,” writes:
I do not want anyone to go through what happened to
George Bush or Al Gore. Today
however, animosity to President Trump is so high that a close election
will test our nation’s divisions in dangerous ways that go way beyond
what was experienced in 2000, a comparatively calm and respectful year
in politics.
The threat on Nov. 3 is not from a delayed election. The
threat is not because the election will be rigged or marked by fraud.
The threat is from a close election whose outcome is in doubt.
… After Trump won decisively in 2016, many Democrats declared
Trump wasn’t their president and some partisans encouraged the
Electoral College to overturn the results. Just imagine the lengths
both candidates will go to defeat their opponents if the 2020 election
is close, contested and dragging on.
The problem is compounded by states that have not previously
engaged in widespread mail-in voting trying it now. Washington state,
which has a long history of in-mail voting, took years to get their
process right. It was bi-partisan and fair, not conducted in the
middle of a pandemic.
States trying it now are asking for turmoil, something our
nation cannot afford… In-person voting remains the best and safest way
to conduct elections.
For more on the problems of widespread mail-in voting,
see:
Election 2020
News
• Joel Pollak at Breitbart.com asks: Is there
any difference left between Joe Biden and
Bernie Sanders? Not
really:
Not only does the Biden-Sanders “Unity” Platform propose many
of the same ideas Sanders campaigned on — even lifting language
directly from the Sanders website — but Biden himself has begun using
the same radical left-wing buzzwords that Sanders used in his campaign
stump speeches.
…The Washington Post noted
the change in June, noting that Biden had once promised “nothing would
fundamentally change” and said the country was “looking for results,
not a revolution,” but had since completely changed his tone.
…On Friday, [former Senator] Phil Gramm noted
in the Wall Street Journal that Biden had taken a hard left
turn since securing his party’s nomination, adopting the socialist
agenda of former rivals Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth
Warren. As a result, Gramm said, the election was no longer a
referendum on Trump, but a referendum on the survival of America.
Read
the whole thing.
• In Missouri this week, Black Lives Matter activist
Cori Bush defeated veteran Democratic Congressman
William Lacy Clay (MO-1). Given the D+29 Cook
Partisan Voter Index for that district, Bush will easily win the
general election as well. The Washington Post describes her
victory as indicative of the “leftward lurch” of the Democrat Party
and reports:
Speaking to supporters in a purple mask, Bush thanked a list
of far-left groups for supporting her bid, including the Democratic
Socialists of America. “I will never take for granted the movement
that got me here,” she said. “An incremental approach isn’t going to
work any longer. We’ve decided that we’re not going to wait any longer
for change.”
Cori Bush will become another member of the far-left “Squad,”
joining Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY-14),
Rashida Tlaib (MI-13), Ilhan Omar
(MN-5), and Ayanna Pressley (MA-7). Jamaal
Bowman, a radical who defeated an “establishment” Democrat in
NY-16, will also join the growing number of extreme left-wingers in
the Democrats’ House caucus.
• John J. Miller at National Review
Online looks at some pivotal races in Pennsylvania, including Jewish
Republican Lisa Scheller’s race in
PA-7.
The RJC
is committed to reelecting President Donald Trump,
keeping the Senate, and winning back the House. We encourage
our members to participate in our outreach phonebank project to help
Republicans win in November. It's easy, and you can do it from
home! Here's how YOU can help:
- Sign up to
call Jewish voters from home by clicking HERE.
-
Fill out all of the fields.
- Listen to the instructions and write
down your username and password when a member of the RJC Victory Team
contacts you.
- Make as many phone calls as you can. Everyone you
speak to is a potential vote for President Trump and the
GOP!
Sign up now and you could be the next RJC
Volunteer of the Week!
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The
Republican Jewish Coalition is hiring field staff for our advocacy
efforts in support of President Donald
Trump’s reelection in various battleground
states. CLICK
HERE for details and application
information.
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The RJC PAC
has endorsed a terrific slate of House and Senate candidates, and we
need them to continue their work on Capitol Hill!
CLICK
HERE to donate through the RJC PAC portal and show your support for
our great candidates!
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And
don't forget your RJC/Trump kippah!
Our extremely popular
red Trump kippah is now for sale for just $18. This includes shipping
and handling. Supplies are limited.
BUY YOUR KIPPAH HERE.
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Casino
mogul Sheldon Adelson vows to pay staff through end of
October
In case you missed it, last week RJC Board of Directors
member Sheldon Adelson sent a letter to the roughly
8000 staffers of his Las Vegas Sands Corp., which owns the Venetian
hotel and casino in Las Vegas, and said he would extend full pay and
benefits to all of them through at least October 31, even for those
who are not currently working.
Beirut
port, before and after
Middle East expert Mike Doran tweeted out
shocking photos of the Beirut port before and after the unbelievable
explosion there yesterday, and notes: “This is what happens when a
terror organization runs roughshod over port authorities. To
facilitate Hezbollah/Iran’s smuggling, things are not tracked. Things,
like 2700+ tons of ammonia nitrate, then fall through the cracks.” Our
thoughts are with the innocent citizens of Beirut who were killed,
injured, and lost their homes and businesses in this
disaster.
Democrats
gutted anti-Hezbollah legislation days before attack on
Israel
Speaking of Hezbollah, the Washington Free Beacon
reports that just days before the Iranian-funded terror group
Hezbollah waged a terrorist attack on Israel’s northern border,
congressional Democrats gutted legislation that would have halted US
funding to the Lebanese military, which is almost entirely controlled
by the terror group.
— Events —
RJC Victory Team National Days of
Action
Please join us for the upcoming RJC Victory Team
Virtual Days of Action scheduled next week for Tuesday, August 11 and
Thursday, August
13. We'll be calling potential Jewish voters in
Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Arizona, and
Georgia, key battleground states of the 2020 election cycle. Click
here to sign up and help!
Online local events:
On Wednesday, August 12, the RJC New Jersey
Chapter will host a virtual meet-and-greet with State Senator
Tom Kean, Jr. Contact Brett Epstein for
information.
While RJC offices are closed and our staff are teleworking, you
can reach us by email or by phone (please leave a voicemail message
and your call will be returned). Contact
information for our offices can be found on our web site. Please
visit us online for the latest RJC
news, to volunteer
for our 2020 outreach efforts, to see details of upcoming events,
and to donate
to the RJC.
If you like the work we’re doing, consider joining us on
Facebook and Twitter, and renew or upgrade your RJC
membership. Ensure that your voice is heard in our party
and our community!
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