By Bruce S. Ticker
PHILADELPHIA — Jew and Muslim, Elizabeth Pipko and Ilhan Omar behave as if they are coordinating their campaign to drive pro-Israel Democrats out of their party and into the willing hands of the Republican Party.
Without thinking about the future, Pipko and Omar might transform America’s political landscape – to the detriment of both and the advantage of the American people and the state of Israel. What was originally dubbed the “Jexodus” could lead to advances in domestic reforms and firm protection of Israel.
This projection is theoretical now and yet could very well become reality. I fully doubt if Jews and others who deride Omar will flee the Democratic Party and cross over to the GOP, yet two women who champion opposing ideologies are laying the groundwork for just that to happen.
Omar has devoted herself to digging a deeper hole for herself since she was sworn into her first term as a member of the U.S. House of Representatives nearly three months ago. She has made sweeping accusations against Israel and is widely perceived as an anti-Semite. When the time comes, she will likely face a fierce primary election contest in 2020, as will fellow first-termers Rashida Tlaib and Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez. All three congressional districts are Democratic bastions.
My educated guess is that Detroiters and Minnesotans will nominate opponents of, respectively, Tlaib and Omar while Ocasio-Cortez will return to Congress for a second term. These are not fixed predictions since anything can happen in the coming year. All three have issued statements that extend beyond legitimate criticism of Israel.
Elizabeth Pipko, a former campaign aide to Donald Trump, popped up in the news in recent weeks trying to sell “Jexodus,” a campaign by Republicans to persuade Jews to abandon the Democrats. “We left Egypt, and now we’re leaving the Democratic Party,” she said on the “Fox & Friends” television program.
The New York Times reported Friday that the tasteless phrase was devised by Jeff Ballabon, an advisor to the 2016 Trump campaign, as a “rallying cry” to help “make it o.k. for Jews to be proudly independent or Republican or even active Trump supporters.” He decried “the nightmare we have now where a major party believes it has a lock on the Jews and so is free to court Jew haters.”
The vast majority of Jews vote Democratic because of the party’s support for improving domestic programs, most notably for universal health care and gun control. Both major political parties have kept America staunchly allied with Israel. The Jewish vote for Democrats running for president has ranged from 67 to 80 percent over the last three decades and most large Jewish communities are represented in Congress by Democrats, especially New York City, southern Florida and southern California.
Jews also contributed to the Democratic takeover of the House last November, with exit polls showing that 79 percent of Jews voted for Democratic candidates, according to The Times.
Pipko and Ballabon’s efforts are premature and may not be necessary unless pro-Palestinian Democrats take over the party in the future, as they have done with Britain’s Labour Party. Omar, Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez and Mark Pocan of Madison, Wisc., are so far the only four House members who have been openly hostile to Israel. If their numbers multiply at some point, pro-Israel Democrats must choose between remaining in the party, becoming independents or joining the GOP.
If Democrats switch to the Republican Party, how long do Pipko and Ballabon expect them to tolerate the GOP’s right-wing policies? Do they really believe that these new Republicans will elect members of Congress who will vote to “repeal and replace” Obamacare, build a wall along the Mexican border, or allow just anyone to access firearms?
Recall how political patterns have transformed during the last half-century. Suburban Republicans are far more moderate than their rural cousins, probably because of city residents moving to the burbs. Ultimately, many elected Republican office-holders in the suburbs have been largely replaced by Democrats. Of 53 House members from California, only seven now are Republicans. Democrats flipped three longtime Republican-held seats outside Philadelphia and came close to ousting Bucks County’s representative, and Democrats now hold 11 of New Jersey’s 12 seats.
An influx of Democrats who lost their political home could turn the Republican Party in a centrist direction, more so than it ever was. They would be more than willing to negotiate with Democrats for domestic reforms, though the scale of these changes would likely be somewhat less than those sought by progressives like Ocasio-Cortez.
Any new centrist thrust could attract the very independents who fled the GOP in past years. In the process, arch-conservatives would likely be severely marginalized within the Republican Party. What would they do?
Maybe these right-wingers would break away from the GOP and form their own party. This would leave us with three parties – two of which are serious about tackling domestic issues and two that will continue to aid Israel.
Republicans can coordinate with the Democratic Party on social concerns and ally themselves with a more conservative party to support Israel.
Again, none of this will probably happen, but if it does we can credit Ilhan Omar and Elizabeth Pipko for launching this drive, a Muslim and a Jew working together. Let’s hope this kind of inter-religious cooperation does not become a trend.
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Ticker is a freelance writer based in Philadelphia.