(RNS) — Fans of “Superman” will get the reference. “Bizarro Superman” was a darkly distorted doppelgänger of the real Superman.
That pretty much describes many of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet picks: dark distortions of statecraft, parodies of competence and government itself. Those choices would be laughable if they were not so dangerous and so subversive.
You know their names and their stories already.
But here is a pattern you might not have noticed.
Bizarro as depicted on the cover of Action Comics #785 (January 2002). Art by Ed McGuinness. (DC Comics)
Many of them have made antisemitic statements and/or have expressed ideas that are, at the very least, antisemitic adjacent.
(Want to learn more about how the election will affect American Jews and Israel? Join Wisdom Without Walls for a conversation this evening — Nov. 20 at 7 p.m. Eastern — with Isaac Saul of Tangle, an independent, nonpartisan news outlet.)
First, there is Trump’s pick for U.N. ambassador, Rep. Elise Stefanik. Many Jews admired her performance in the university hearings, when she held the collective feet of elite university presidents to the fire regarding anti-Israel and antisemitic expressions on campus. Fair enough.
But I have noted that she was far more opposed to elite educational institutions than antisemitism and that she has been linked to antisemitic conspiracy theories.
Then, there’s Matt Gaetz, Trump’s pick for attorney general. That Gaetz has minimal experience in practicing law: dayenu. That he has been under investigation by the House Ethics Committee for sexual offenses: double dayenu.
But he was also a vocal critic of the House-passed Antisemitism Awareness Act, because “the Bible is clear” that the Jews killed Jesus. That is theological antisemitism 1.0 — the oldest version.
As if that were not enough, he brought a known Holocaust denier as his guest to the 2018 State of the Union. The Anti-Defamation League has denounced this nomination. No matter how you play it, Gaetz is a disaster.
Then, there’s Robert Kennedy Jr. He is not only a fan of pseudo-science and questionable medical theories (blame the worm that reportedly ate part of his brain). He also alleged that the COVID-19 virus was engineered to bypass Ashkenazic Jews and Asians.
Tell that to the members of my congregations whose family members I buried in 2020 — all of them with ancestors from Germany, Romania, Poland and Russia.
And then, there is Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee for secretary of defense. Hegseth has no credentials that warrant a Cabinet position of such import. As part of a nondisclosure agreement, he paid a woman who had accused him of sexual assault.
And then, there is his “Deus Vult” (“God wills it”) tattoo — popular with white nationalist groups. The Crusaders chanted “Deus Vult” during the First Crusade, during which they fought the Muslims who had conquered the land of Israel, but on the way to the Holy Land, they destroyed Jewish communities all over Europe. That tattoo was considered so problematic that a National Guardsman pegged Hegseth as an “insider threat.”
Is that tattoo antisemitic? The Crusades were a Jewish bloodbath. Hegseth has allegiances and ideas that are, at the very least, antisemitic adjacent.
And then, there is Stephen Miller — who will be White House deputy chief of staff for policy and homeland security adviser.
Where do we even start with Stephen Miller — a Jew who has espoused a radical right-wing agenda, putting him outside the political and moral pale of the majority of American Jews, and outside the political and moral pale of the majority of Jewish teachings.
A little back story here. Miller grew up in Santa Monica, California. Even as a child and teenager, his behavior was antisocial. He was cruel and condescending to workers. He waged an ideological war on his dark-skinned classmates and their supporters. He ended a friendship simply because the friend was Latino.
Here is the part that will get many of us whispering: Shanda.
White House senior policy adviser Stephen Miller speaks to members of the media, Friday, Oct. 11, 2019, outside of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)
Stephen Miller grew up in the Jewish community. His father was a Jewish communal leader and generous to various Jewish causes — and, in fact, served on the board of HUC-JIR, Reform Judaism’s seminary for rabbis, cantors, educators and communal workers. According to the late Rabbi David Ellenson, who served as its president, Michael Miller tried to influence that institution to go in a more right-wing direction.
Snark alert: Yeah, that really worked.
Stephen Miller attended religious school at two local Reform synagogues in Santa Monica. Note the word “attended.” Maybe he learned Hebrew and holidays, but that whole ethics thing about being a Jew — especially, a Reform Jew — somehow eluded him. During a religious school class, there was a discussion on ethics — on how pupils might fairly divide a slice of pizza. Miller rested his palm on it. End of discussion. There would be no talk of sharing that pizza. Sharing was not a part of Miller’s moral vocabulary.
From there, it was the express lane to embracing an extreme right-wing — even white-nationalist — political and social agenda. At Duke University, Miller became friends with Richard Spencer, who would become the ideological powerhouse of the alt-right movement — and an antisemite.
Miller became a policy adviser and communications director for Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions and then became a speechwriter and senior policy adviser for Trump. Miller advised Trump on how to attack Mexicans and Muslims. In doing so, he relied on research from eugenicist and white nationalist websites and texts. Rush Limbaugh was an early influence. He collaborated on anti-immigrant ideas with extreme-right radio and TV media personalities. He courted Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson and Ann Coulter.
Just consider this: Miller will be at the very heart of whatever immigration policy will emerge from this new administration.
That is an unappetizing prospect, to say the least.
Many of DJT’s choices for his Cabinet have gotten much attention, and for good reason. Those choices not only lack certain levels of competence; they also traffic in ideas that are borderline antisemitic and in some cases fully antisemitic.
But that pales before the larger issue — that Donald J. Trump just wants to blow the whole thing up.
Here is William Kristol, who quotes Robert Tracinski:
[President-elect Trump] is constructing a kind of anti-government. … Every appointee is selected as a deliberate negation, even a mockery, of the function of government he or she will be in charge of. … These individuals are not merely unqualified for their offices. They are disqualified. They are anti-qualified — the antithesis of what the offices call for.
Tracinski emphasizes that it’s not just that Trump doesn’t care about good government as traditionally understood. He is trying to actively undermine good government, to negate that very standard.
Yes, as a Jew, I am concerned.
But even more so, as an American, I am terrified.