Dems go in hiding as U.S. moves embassy
On June 5, 2017, less than one year ago, Massachusetts Sens. Liz Warren and Ed Markey stood on the floor of the U.S. Senate, and in the proud tradition of the world’s greatest deliberative body, courageously cast their votes in favor of moving America’s embassy to Israel’s true capital, the historic city of Jerusalem.
On May 14 — aka yesterday — while President Trump put that policy into place, these two Massachusetts’ profiles in progressive courage were ... nowhere to be found.
No public statements about this historic moment. Not a single word on social media. Their Senate webpages were filled with volumes on so-called “Net Neutrality” and attacks against Trump attorney Michael Cohen — but not one puny press release on the biggest story in the world.
Where were they? Where were any Democrats? Last June their support for the Jerusalem Embassy Act was unanimous. Yesterday, not a single Democratic member of Congress was on hand in Jerusalem to celebrate the fact that the embassy proposal they pushed was being put into place.
Not one? What, were they being held hostage by Hamas? Did liberal billionaire Tom Steyer host an “Impeach Trump” ice cream social last night we don’t know about?
To his credit, the Senate’s top Democrat, Chuck Schumer of New York, did issue a statement, albeit from his office 5,897 miles away from the action:
“In a long overdue move, we have moved our embassy to Jerusalem,” Schumer said in a statement. “Every nation should have the right to choose its capital. I sponsored legislation to do this two decades ago, and I applaud President Trump for doing it.”
So how about you, Sen. Warren? You voted for it, too. Or across the border in New Hampshire — Sen. Jeanne Shaheen and Maggie Hassan, two more “yes” votes last June. Where are they now?
They’re apparently hiding out in the same “Democratic Undisclosed Location” as Markey and Warren. The last word from Sen. Shaheen was in December when she attacked Trump’s announcement that the embassy move was coming, saying it would be “harmful to both U.S. and Israeli interests” and “moves all parties further away from a peaceful solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.” Since then? Crickets. The reason I’m noticing all these Democratic dogs that didn’t bark (that’s a Sherlock Holmes reference, not a sexist one) is my lovely bride, Buttercup. To say that my Jewish in-laws are hesitant to jump aboard the Trump Train is an understatement. But she was all but cheering as we watched the news from Jerusalem yesterday.
At some point she looked up at the TV screen and said, “Where are the Democrats?”
Good question, given that about 75 percent of American Jews vote Democrat in a typical presidential election. When I told her they were either hiding out or openly attacking Trump over the new embassy, she just shook her head.
“Why do they care who did it as long as it got done?”
Ah, but this is American politics in 2018, where the only thing that matters is “who” is the identity in our “identity politics.”
Some opponents of the embassy move make serious arguments that Trump’s move is a strategic mistake. They believe recognizing Jerusalem as the capital should be part of a grand bargain for a two-state solution. Trump’s defenders point out that 30 years of that approach has resulted in bupkis (thank you, my Yiddish-speaking mother-in-law). This move puts pressure on the Palestinians to end their current strategy — “throw rocks and wait for Iran to nuke Tel Aviv” — and get serious about making a deal.
There are a plethora of legitimate policy differences regarding Israel and the Palestinians to debate at this historic moment. But it’s hard to debate them with our courageous, progressive leaders when they’re cowering under their desks in the Russell Senate office building.