If Hitler had Done it This Way, Israel Would be the Size of Brazil

In a bizarre twist of fate, it looks like Donald Trump and his SNL nemesis, Alec Baldwin, are going down together. The sheriff of the county in which Baldwin killed a cinematographer has gotten a search warrant authorizing the seizure of Baldwin’s phone, and Trump just said several things that will be construed as anti-Semitism.

They don’t seize and search your phone because they think you’re innocent. They’re looking for stuff that incriminates Baldwin and anyone who may have helped him illegally after the shooting. Judging from the way Baldwin has handled things so far, I would guess that he deleted some texts and pressured some people to do things to make him look innocent. Baldwin may get in more trouble for things he did after the killing than the killing itself, which carries a fairly light maximum penalty.

Baldwin forced the cops to get a warrant instead of handing the phone over on demand. This is the first intelligent thing I’ve seen him do. You never consent to a search. A search can always turn out to be flawed, and there are probably tens of thousands of murderers walking free in America because the police obtained evidence through bad searches.

There is no plausible explanation for the killing apart from manslaughter, so I have to wonder about the primary reason for searching the phone. They already know convicting Baldwin is a slam dunk. Maybe their main interest is in the things he did afterward. Or maybe phone searches are standard procedure in criminal law. I don’t know. I’m a civil attorney.

Some “experts” are saying Baldwin isn’t cooperating. They say asking for a warrant isn’t cooperation. I’m not sure what they’re trying to say. You’re not supposed to cooperate with the police or prosecutors when you’re guilty. Cooperation puts people in prison. Generally, your attorney should fight them tooth and nail in order to see to it they get the highest ratio of exculpatory evidence to incriminating evidence possible. This is just common sense.

The police and prosecutors are not your friends. They won’t say, “Wow, he was really helpful, and he made us cookies, so we’ll drop the charges.” They will do their best to get you to drop your guard and help them ruin your life. The police are allowed to lie to you in order to gain your confidence. A lot of people don’t know that. You can’t lie to them, but they can lie to you all day, on the record.

When the cops try to get consent for searches, and people refuse, they like to make things unpleasant. They’ll say things like, “Are you really going to make us wait here for a warrant?”, as if the inconvenience to them will make the charges worse. Conventional wisdom is that you should stand your ground and make them wait, especially if you know you’re guilty. If they find evidence with consent, it’s automatically admissible. If they don’t get consent, there may be a way to exclude it. Also, the police plant evidence sometimes. They can’t do that if they can’t go near your property.

If the police want to conduct a search, your goal shouldn’t be to make them happy, end the encounter quickly, or prevent an arrest. It should be to prevent them from getting admissible evidence, period. If you have to sit in your car or house for a week, waiting for the warrant to issue, it’s worth it, at least according to conventional wisdom. It’s better to sit in your car for several hours than to sit in a cell for 20 years.

This is something gun writer, non-attorney, and former part-time cop Massad Ayoob doesn’t seem to understand. He coaches people on how to prevent arrests. That’s astoundingly bad advice. An arrest is not a big deal compared to long-term imprisonment. The police are not your biggest problem. The prosecutors are.

It’s pretty obvious Baldwin committed involuntary manslaughter, and it will be simple to prove it. He should be careful not to provide material for additional charges. He probably hasn’t been. His ego is a marvel.

These are my opinions, issued in connection with discussion of a news story. They are not legal advice, and I don’t advise you to use them for guidance. If you have a run-in with the police, call your lawyer immediately and do what he tells you to do, not what I tell you to do. I’m not your attorney.

As for Trump, he gave an interview to someone he knew was Jewish, and he said some things leftists are characterizing as anti-Semitic. It’s remarkable that they would have the gall to do that, given that leftists are openly hostile to Israel. Obama was a major threat to the safety of Jews everywhere, and Trump tried to undo a lot of the damage.

Trump restored recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, recognized the Golan Heights as part of Israel, and abandoned the anti-Jewish, genocide-facilitating Iran nuclear deal. He supported Israel so strongly he became very popular there. He worked hard on a peace deal and made strides Obama didn’t even try to make. He was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize.

These things being said, Trump’s remarks will probably destroy any hope he has of future involvement in government. Anti-Semitism is a very touchy subject, offense is America’s new national pastime, and leftists are irrational and unfair. Regardless of how good Trump is for Jews and Israel, I expect his political career to end this week. At the same time, most American Jews will continue to have a high opinion of Obama, and they will vote for any leftist who runs in the next presidential election. Jewish voters have a long history of supporting their enemies and opposing their allies.

He said, “There’s people in this country that are Jewish — no longer love Israel. I’ll tell you, the evangelical Christians love Israel more than the Jews in this country.” This is one of the remarks the left is seizing on.

It’s not anti-Semitic at all to say there are American Jews who don’t care about Israel. It’s true. Jews aren’t monolithic. Their opinions vary. It’s a fair statement of his opinion concerning the sentiments of American Jews, and there is probably a lot of truth to it. Israelis complain about the lack of support they get from American Jews, and many feel American Jews are not very loyal to Judaism or Israel. Pointing these things out is not bigotry. Doesn’t matter. Leftists will use the remark to convince Jews Trump is Hitler.

As for what he said about evangelicals, it may also be true. Evangelicals are extremely zealous about helping the Jewish state. They send many millions of dollars to charities in Israel every year, and, unlike American Jews, they overwhelmingly support pro-Israel politicians. These things are simple, undeniable facts. Evangelicals believe God will bless them if they bless Abraham’s Jewish descendants, and they believe he will curse them if they curse the Jews. According to Jewish sources, around half of the Jewish people are atheists, and very few are devout. It shouldn’t surprise anyone to see that a gentile group that adheres to scripture would be more enthusiastic about Israel than many Jews.

Again, doesn’t matter. Trump Derangement Syndrome can’t be countered with facts.

Trump said this:

It used to be that Israel had absolute power over Congress. And today, I think it’s the exact opposite. And I think Obama and Biden did that. And yet in the election, they still get a lot of votes from Jewish people, which tells you that the Jewish people, and I’ve said this for a long time, the Jewish people in the United States either don’t like Israel or don’t care about Israel.

Trump doesn’t speak carefully, as everyone knows. He exaggerates. Obviously, he doesn’t believe Israel had “absolute power over Congress.” He means Congress used to be afraid of going against Israel, and that is undeniably true. Israel has a powerful lobby. It’s also true that as leftists gain power, Israel’s influence in Congress wanes. That’s happening. Democrats in Congress are saying shocking things about Israel, and they get away with it. The press has no problem with it. That is new, and it started happening in the Obama years. Pointing this out is not anti-Semitic. It’s very pro-Jewish and pro-Israel. Trump wishes American Jews and leftists would be more supportive of the Jewish state.

Leftists want us to think Trump is referring to the myth that Jews run the world from behind closed doors. This is something Jew-hating nuts believe. If Trump were a Jew-hating nut, he would be complaining about Jewish influence and exaggerating its present extent, not lamenting its decline.

Doesn’t matter; doesn’t matter. It sounds enough like Jewish conspiracy myths to give leftists an excuse to accuse and convict Trump.

Trump also complained that people who run The New York Times are against Israel, which is demonstrably true and echoes the complaints of Jews who support Israel. Then he said people who run the Times are Jewish. He referred to the Sulzberger family. This turned out to be an opening for leftist spin. One media source jumped on it, saying the current Sulzberger is Episcopalian.

Here’s the thing: the Sulzbergers ARE partly Jewish. The first Times Sulzberger was Arthur Hays Sulzberger, a Jew. He began working for the paper when it was owned by Adolph Ochs, another Jew. He married Ochs’ daughter, making their children Jewish. His son, Arthur Ochs “Punch” Sulzberger, took over for him. The son married a gentile and produced Arthur Ochs Sulzberger Jr., who ran the Times until 2018. Sulzberger’s son is now in charge. He is 1/4 Jewish.

Punch Sulzberger was an enthusiastic supporter of an anti-Zionist organization, and it looks like his descendants didn’t fall far from the tree.

Okay, Trump wasn’t quite right, and there is an anti-Semitic myth that holds that Jews run the media, but again, Trump was complaining about lack of support for Israel, and he based his criticism on facts no one can dispute. How can that be anti-Semitic?

Doesn’t matter at all. Regardless of what he has done for the Jewish people, and regardless of how his opponents have weakened Israel and endangered Jews, the left’s cognitive dissonance will assure Trump a place in the pantheon of anti-Semites.

Trump complained that Jared Kushner, the Jew who married Ivanka, his now-Jewish daughter, supported Israel more strongly than America. To leftists, this sounded like a common criticism aimed at American Jews. Well, maybe he does favor Israel over America. Not all Americans are loyal. We have many hostile immigrants who came here to make money. We have convicted spies who put our interests last. Sometimes Americans aren’t on America’s side. Immigrants and their children routinely vote for immigration change that harms America. I would be reluctant to side with America over Israel.

Trump knows Kushner pretty well. Why rush to condemn Trump without asking about the basis for his remark?

As for American Jews favoring Israel over America, if that were the case, we wouldn’t have seen about 90% of them vote for a former Muslim (and associate of known anti-Semites like Jeremiah Wright) who was a real threat to the Jewish state. Most American Jews support ceding land to Muslims and watching Israel, their best hope of future security, shrink to insignificance. In the face of overwhelming evidence to the contrary, they seriously believe America will never turn on them and that their descendants will be safe here. The key is to keep on appeasing.

None of this will save Trump. He went out and danced on the third rail. He could walk through Israel handing gold bars out to Jews, and he would still be finished. That’s my best guess.

These days, political choices are all about “dog whistles” and “tropes.” Offense is all that matters. Reason is nothing.

The public is like a woman. You can’t tell most women the truth. You can’t say, “Yes, you could lose a few pounds.” You can’t forget a birthday or anniversary. You can’t say vegans are insane or that “organic” doesn’t actually mean anything. You have to walk on eggs. Speaking the truth is like stepping on a land mine. Doesn’t matter if you’re patient and kind. Doesn’t matter what you sacrifice to make her happy. She will prefer the guy who calls her a perfect princess and buys her flowers once a week while spending her inheritance and keeping busy with a stable of sluts.

I think Trump’s interview will be all we will hear about this week, and so many Americans will buy into the smear, he will never recover. If I’m wrong, I’ll buy you a knish.

Trump was a powerful ally of the church, Jews, and Israel. He was a blessing from God, even if he owned casinos, cheated on his wives, lied about inconsequential things, and slept with a film prostitute. We turned him down for silly reasons and chose a shuffling, mumbling, low-IQ dotard who is presiding over the self-destruction of our nation. I believe this latest kerfuffle will do more to seal our fate than Trump’s.

Remember what life was like two years ago, under Trump? Man, I miss those days. I thought things were bad, but I had no idea how bad they could get.

If I’m still on Earth in a year, I expect to say pretty much the same thing.