People don’t get this, but politicians are actually a separate race of people. You can take an African America, Hispanic, Asian, or Native American politician, a Jewish, Muslim, or Christian politician, a Liberal or Conservative or whatever politician, and put them in a position of power, and before long, they all look and act exactly the same. Race, religion, political party, nothing unites them like the one characteristic they all share in common: they all will say and do whatever it takes to stay in power.
A perfect example is Chuck Schumer’s speech about Israel’s Netanyahu needing to step down. Schumer wants to be loved by everyone in his Democratic party, from Liberal to Progressive, so in his speech, he praises everybody’s point of view. (“Schumer urges new leadership in Israel,” 3-14-24, New York Times) The problem with this is he is speaking two diametrically opposed points of view out of two corners of the same mouth. Doing this in the same speech is an outstanding feat of physical dexterity, but Schumer actually does it in virtually the same breath. He said, “I believe in his heart, his highest priority is the security of Israel. However, I also believe Prime Minister Netanyahu has lost his way by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of the people.”
In other words, Netanyahu is all about Israel, and at the same time Netanyahu is all about himself. Netanyahu is transparent, and at the same time he is opaque. He is good, and he is evil. He is right, and he is wrong. Love that level of double-speak Mr. Majority Leader of the Senate. That’s why you are a leader of the political tribe known as Senators.
In order to aggrandize every conservative Jew on the planet, Schumer says Jews in Israel are too traumatized by Hamas’ attack to be able to back a two-state solution “at this time.” By acting like a thoroughbred politician and taking this right-wing line, Schumer gives a hall-pass to all the unconditional surrender talk and all the carnage in Gaza. But then, when he says Netanyahu must go, he is saying exactly what the left-wing Progressive Democrats in his party want to hear. Netanyahu has hurt too many civilians. He needs to quit while he’s ahead. Got all the bases covered, don’t you Chuck?
Politicians are little Satans. They are not Jewish politicians or Muslim politicians or American politicians. They are politicians. If you follow one politician down a particular street, you are liable to meet the same politician coming back in the other direction before long. Life-long politicians like Schumer can’t be trusted. They should be voted out of office and young people voted in to take their place. And the young people must be term limited so they are gone before they become thoroughbred politicians too.
Robert Kimball Shinkoskey is the author of The American Kings: Growth in Presidential Power from George Washington to Barack Obama, Wipf and Stock, 2014.