In 1964, Republican Presidential candidate Senator Barry Goldwater made comments defending extremism. Those remarks ultimately helped sink his campaign. About a year ago, President Donald Trump implicitly defended Nazis and other white supremacists following a race riot in Charlottesville, Virginia. Racism, of course, had been an element in Trump’s behavior and character way before the 2016 campaign. Reflected by hateful policies, particularly towards Muslims and Hispanics, the post-Charlottesville period in America is challenged by some curious juxtapositions.

For example, a President and administration that is decidedly unpopular with “people of color,” has embraced and been embraced by the Christian Right and significant segments of the American Jewish community, two groups that are socially active and remain intensely concerned about race relations. Why?

Regarding the former, Evangelical Christians (and certainly right-wing Catholics and Jews), are decidedly more comfortable with certain socially restrictive public policy positions than their centrist and left-of-center religious brethren. Especially regarding  constitutional restrictions on issues of church-and-state, most Americans believe in significant separation between them; religious conservatives tend not to.

Even without doubting the religious sincerity of “believers” on all sides, the political ramifications of supporting certain social/religious policies can be intense. Abortion, state support of religious education, religious displays on public property, etc., are just some of the more contentious issues in the public policy arena. With Republican politicians generally sympathetic to the Religious Right, Democrats, and the politically unaffiliated usually share more mainstream views. Unfortunately, disagreements over general attitudes can quickly become highly divisive. The effort to confirm a new Supreme Court nominee, for example, has the potential to shift American society in tectonic, more conservative directions. (The utter hypocrisy of the Religious Right is seen anew in this battle. One would assume that ratifying a possible rapist would be of concern to them. Instead, to quote the front page of today’s New York Times, “a growing number of evangelical and anti-abortion leaders” are threatening that their voters will stay home in November if the Senate does not quickly confirm their choice for the Supreme Court, despite the allegations made against him.  These people are without shame and/or values).

Beyond this administration promulgating views considered by many Americans to be outside the mainstream, and the possibility of their becoming solidified in legal decisions, it is the raw, vitriolic displays of  extreme rhetoric, hate and negativity that seem to be corroding our culture and society.  Discord becomes threats, and our country’s moorings in civility and truth start to become unhinged. The President’s lawyer tells us that “Truth isn’t truth,” and a top Trump adviser promotes “Alternate facts.” No wonder George Orwell’s classic novel of totalitarianism, 1984, is again a bestseller. Yet it is again the President and his Enablers who repeatedly raise the dialogue to the point of (and sometimes to encompass), violence.

Few individuals could honestly believe much of what Trump and company assert. The Washington Post alone has tracked over 5,000 untruths since January 20, 2017. Yet, the right-wing religious disciples of dissimulation merely nod in agreement. Presidential support for their issues is more important than the hypocrisy displayed and the damage they do to American society. Heaven help us!

Despite all of the above, there is one country,  Israel, that has embraced Trump almost as intensely as his base of supporters in the United States. And that is one of the reasons why,  to this observer, Israel’s long term future as a democratic, Jewish State, is threatened. That will be the subject of my  next Blog post.