© The New York TimesStephen K. Bannon, far left, in a meeting of Republicans with President-elect Donald Trump.
Those were the best of times, arguably, but these may be the worst of times. That's the way most American Jews must feel as they wake up with a
massive hangover from the shock election results and the reality that Donald Trump will soon be President of the United States.
Whatever differences American Jews may have had with Barack Obama over the Iran nuclear deal and Middle East peace,
they've never had a president who was more in tune with their Jewish and liberal essence. Obama was the realization of the American Jewish vision of a multicultural society, a dream come true for a generation of civil rights activists. He promoted and embodied the liberal ideals that American Jews are more attached to than any other religious group in America. And he was more knowledgeable about American Jewish culture and Yiddishkeit than any previous president, bar none. Even when they disagreed with him, most American Jews,
with the exception of the vocal minority that hated his guts, viewed Obama as a mensch.
It is probably no coincidence that during his tenure,
American Jews reached a pinnacle of social and cultural acceptance. Being American Jews was hip. It was cool. It was the thing to be. From Jon Stewart to Jerry Seinfeld, from Joe Lieberman to Bernie Sanders, Jews seemed to be
more entrenched than ever before in the American mainstream. Pew Research Polls repeatedly confirmed that Jews were the
most loved and most admired religious group in all of America. Mashiach-zeit, old timers would say, but with a note of caution, because if Jewish history teaches anything, it is that
all things must pass.The election of Donald Trump has shattered the Jewish idyll, all across the board. Although one must give the president-elect the benefit of the doubt that
he is not an anti-Semite himself, he has frequently promoted
disparaging Jewish stereotypes in his personal statements.
Comment: The Syrian Arab Army is pushing the jihadis up against the ropes in East Aleppo, and unless the US can get a no-fly zone established it will only be a matter of time until the city is cleared of Western backed militants: