Dear Tell All: My Jewish relatives are mostly Democrats, with a few diehard Republicans mixed in. I’ve enjoyed arguing with the conservatives at family get-togethers except my Uncle Joe, who always takes a nasty approach with a liberal like me. He’s a member of the older generation who never went to college, and he has increasingly cranky opinions about race, climate change, foreign affairs, etc. Needless to say, he loves President Donald Trump.
I’ve learned to avoid Uncle Joe when I go home to Milwaukee on breaks from UW-Madison. It’s just not possible to have a reasonable conversation with him, so I never bring up politics anymore. But that changed earlier this month after Trump’s support of “the very fine people” who marched with the neo-Nazis in Charlottesville, Va. It’s one thing for Uncle Joe to support Trump’s economic and immigration policies, but I couldn’t believe he’d stick with a president who fails to convincingly denounce anti-Semites. After all, my uncle was alive during the Nazi era.
I asked him if he’d finally renounce Trump after this outrage. Astonishingly, he affirmed his support for our morally reprehensible president, launching into a rant about the Charlottesville counter-protesters and (of course) Hillary Clinton. We screamed at each other and practically came to blows.
How am I supposed to converse with a fellow Jew who, by letting Trump off the hook for his Charlottesville response, also lets Nazis off the hook?
Maccabee
Dear Maccabee: You signed yourself with a warrior’s name, but in the context of your family I’d recommend standing down. You’re not going to win an argument with bullheaded Uncle Joe, and you’re not going to win any respect for getting into a fistfight with an old man.
I’d also recommend putting him out of your mind. It won’t do any good to agonize over a Jew who supports Trump post-Charlottesville, whether it’s your uncle or the Jewish people who remain in Trump’s administration. You’ll never make sense of it, so why let it eat away at you?
Instead, spend your energy on advancing civil rights and tolerance, in the grand Jewish tradition. As the Old Testament says: “Blessed are those who act justly, who always do what is right.”
Do you have a question about life or love in Madison?
Write Tell All, 100 State St., Madison, WI 53703. Or email tell all@isthmus.com
