Nixon saved Israel in '73 and some Jews loved him for it. Until he tried to end democracy. Don't make the same mistake now.
Trump has become Nixon 2.0. Nixon believed he was above the law and tried to upend American democracy. He was also a bully who assisted Israel in its darkest hour, when no one else could.
President Trump is receiving more adulation from Israel today than he’s ever gotten from anyone, at least since every single cabinet meeting. While I think it’s shortsighted for Israelis to worship the guy, I get it. The hostages are finally returning, and it wouldn’t have happened if the American Big Bully hadn’t finally stood up to the Israeli Little Bully. Trump was just about the only one who could do that (no Democrat could, because Bibi would just run under the skirt of the nearest Republican), but Trump refused to do it until Bibi attacked him below the belt - the money belt, that is - by bombing Doha, in the greatest military miscalculation since the sinking of the Lusitania. That’s what got Trump roaring mad.
History will record that the fever-reign of Netanyahu finally broke on September 9 - the date of the fiasco in Qatar. It’s so appropriate, because Trump, Bibi1 and the Qataris have been doing this dangerous dance for some time now, and someone finally got burned. Bibi is getting a temporary polling bump from the end of the war, but once Israel exhales2, the cleanup will begin and Netanyahu’s messianic mud-dwellers hopefully will not survive the electoral fallout - if the opposition has any political savvy at all. The “Change Bloc’s” leaders are already meeting to coordinate efforts to unseat this catastrophic government.
In so many ways, Trump has become Nixon 2.0. Nixon believed he was above the law and tried to upend the norms of American democracy. He was also a bully who saved Israel at a dark time, and because of that, many Jews, otherwise New Deal liberals, appreciated him. It never rose to adulation status, in part because Nixon did not demand it, but his last minute airlift of arms was not forgotten. In the darkest days of the Watergate scandal, his public relations champion was a rabbi, Baruch Korff, whose undying support embarrassed many American Jews.3
We now know that Nixon’s support for Israel during the initial days of the 1973 Yom Kippur War was hardly due to his love of the Jewish people, or “Jew boys” as he called us so often on the tapes.4 His reasons were likely geostrategic, in light of the Soviet Union’s support for Egypt, but one can never underestimate the persuasive powers of Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, whom a number of accounts have suggested was prepared to go nuclear if all looked lost.5
For whatever reason, Israel and its supporters had reason to be grateful to Nixon. But that did not offset the fact that Nixon was already blowing up American democratic norms, even as the reinforcements were being flown in to Israel. In the fall of ‘73, front page stories about the war had to share space with assorted scandals, including the Saturday Night Massacre6 and Vice President Agnew’s resignation.
I hope my fellow Jews understand that, as with Nixon, it is possible to appreciate one aspect of Trump’s presidency while understanding that this is the man who has invaded Chicago, enabled the Russian destruction of Kiev, is using the Justice department as a cudgel against his political opponents and who is making sport of “disappearing” immigrants. This man has not earned an eyelash of a benefit of the doubt.
In my opinion, I don’t believe he’s even earned a “thank you.” OK call me ungrateful. And it goes against my nature not extend appreciation. But in light of the DEFCON-5 threat Trump is posing right now to American democracy (and therefore the security of the world’s other democracies, including Israel), I will not follow convention and be grateful. Excuse my manners.
But if you must be grateful, at least learn how to do that and chew gum at the same time. And don’t do it because if you aren’t sufficiently grateful, his henchmen will come after you.7 That’s not hakarat ha-tov, judging others favorably and recognizing the good, which rabbis always support. It’s obsequiousness and it just proves to the bully that you are an easy mark. You know and he knows that the thank you is tactical, not genuine. The more you bend the knee, the more exposed you are to being kneecapped. Just ask ABC-Disney.
I’m thrilled the war may be ending. I hope it happens. I’m thrilled that the Great Bully has brought the Little Bully to heel. I hope that a Change Coalition comes to power and restores integrity to Israeli governance and maybe a glimmer of hope for reconciliation with the world - and more urgently, within Israeli society itself - and a healing with the diaspora. That in turn will make for one less strongman, which in turn will weaken Trump. (Which is why he’ll try to boost Bibi as elections approach.)
Israel - you can thank the Jaffa Orange all you want, but please understand that Jews thanked Nixon too - until he decided to raid DNC headquarters and Daniel Ellsberg’s shrink. And then we later found out how much he laughed at us and hated us.
A special request: American Jews have come to Israel’s aid time and time again. And we will continue to. But enough with the patronizing about what we owe you. We need your help now.
We need for you to stop attacking us for defending our institutions from him.
We need for you to stop trying to convince us to be more grateful.
And we need for you to understand why. You took to the streets to save your Supreme Court. He’s already captured ours. You stood up to Smotrich’s thugs in the streets. Trump’s ICE thugs have unlimited funding and are attacking US citizens and shipping them off. The man is bringing Texas up to attack Chicago. This is not a football game.
You’ve got to help us now. Help save America from him. You can do that by supporting us and by electing a Change Knesset.
So have your day of celebration when the hostages come home. You’ve earned it. God knows, you’ve earned it. We’ve been crying with you every step of the way, often defending actions that we couldn’t understand. Israel’s image is in the toilet right now, not because everyone is an antisemite, which is what some want to believe, but because Little Bully dragged the whole country - and many others - into a paroxysm of destruction, which Big Bully could have stopped a long time ago.
We’ve been loyal - even as occasional critics, we’ve never been bystanders. We’ve been knee-deep in this thing. Now, with your soldiers and hostages coming home, you need to help us. Give him a proper thank-you, if you must. But when he takes off from Ben Gurion airport, help us to defeat him, which will save you. Understand the threat we are facing.
Yes, Nixon saved Israel. He also went to China and began detente with Moscow. And it’s probably true that only Nixon could have changed international diplomacy so positively, because he was such a stalwart anti-commie.
But that’s not how he is remembered. Nixon tried to destroy the US Constitution.
Nixon never won the Nobel Peace Prize. Henry Kissinger did, but we all make mistakes. That was the moment, with war and scandal swirling, when the recently departed Tom Lehrer stated that “political satire became obsolete.”
But the man who clinked glasses with Mao did not win the Nobel Prize. Let that sink in. Trump’s little ceasefire might blossom into something more comprehensive, and I hope it does. But the damage he has already done has been exponentially greater. He will be remembered far less for the Abraham Accords and far more for destroying our planet, our economy, our alliances, our health, our safety and our national unity; that is, if we are still allowed to write history books.
Even if Big Bully saved Israel by staring down Little Bully, he remains Big Bully. A Big, corrupt, criminal, narcissistic, messiah-driven and extremely dangerous Bully.
Oh, and since he has classic signs of Jerusalem Syndrome - the joke may be on you. When he goes to the Western Wall on Sunday, he may toss his sandals aside - and never leave.
Bibi is getting a bump from the ceasefire and hostage deal, but ask George HW Bush’s family how long his Gulf War polling boost lasted, and how far he fell. That’s why Netanyahu will probably try to schedule a snap election.
https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/27/obituaries/baruch-korff-81-rabbi-and-defender-of-nixon.html - Rabbi Alexander Schindler, leader of the Reform Movement, called Korff an “apologist for rampant immorality” and suggested that many people in the Jewish community were embarrassed by his actions and statements.
And there was also the “Nixon Jew count“ of July 1971 - the name given to Nixon‘s attempts to demote and remove Jews from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
And how many equivalents of Nixon’s Saturday Night Massacre have we had so far in Trump 2.0? Rolling Stone said of the first term, Donald Trump’s Presidency Is a Saturday-Night Massacre That Never Ends. See also https://verdict.justia.com/2025/02/17/saturday-night-massacre-the-sequel-the-unitary-executive-theory-run-amok
It always comes back to Babe the Pig
They're not home yet, either, so I wouldn't even give him credit for that until it happens.
“Even if Big Bully saved Israel by staring down Little Bully, he remains Big Bully. A Big, corrupt, criminal, narcissistic, messiah-driven and extremely dangerous Bully.”
Clearly and concisely stated.
I know too many “observant” American and Israeli Jews who choose to overlook/ignore/disregard/excuse his ethical and moral shortcomings and actions which go against the “ancient holy values” they claim to be so proud and fortunate to be “chosen” to live by.