G_d Forbid!

Peloni: Leon Kushner provides an important context to the discussion on US VP Vance.  This was posted as a response to a recent interview with Ambassador Yoram Ettinger on this subject but it provides too good a reflection of Vance to not earn its own post.

Leon Kushner

By Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America - J. D. Vance, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149633353Photo by Gage Skidmore from Surprise, AZ, United States of America – J. D. Vance, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipedia 

I have much respect for ambassador Ettinger. I love how he always tries to explain how the US benefits from the ‘aid’ it sends to Israel. I totally agree of course.

But on his interpretation of Vance vis a vis Israel and Jews – I disagree, though not entirely. He’s right about Vance’s lack of foreign policy knowledge and worse, his ignorance regarding the Muslim mind set. If in fact he is taking his cues from the old State Department’s anti-Israel foreign policy, then we are in trouble.

But how does Ettinger explain Vance’s comments some months ago at a Turning Point USA event when a young Tucker Carlson fan asked: Why are we supporting Israel anyways? His nonsensical response was telling. He went into an unhinged diatribe about how Jews and Christians differ, sighting how one group believes in Jesus and the other does not. Have you noticed that he never uses the term Judeo-Christian values but instead only uses the term Christian values. He took a page directly from Obama’s presidency. Divide the public. Obama was a master deceiver at this. He did it with Blacks vs Whites, Jews vs Christians, rich vs poor, etc.

Most important, we all know that it was thanks to his ‘good friend’ Tucker who got him the job as VP. When asked about Tucker’s obscene Jew/Israel hatred he replied that although they might disagree on certain issues, Tucker remains a very good, close friend! That would be like saying that although I disagree with some of Hitler’s policies (like murdering 6 million Jews in the most horrific way), we share a love of German shepherd’s so we remain good friends.

The fact that he refuses to condemn his ‘friend’ for his blatant, overt antisemitism is the most disturbing issue and it has nothing to do with foreign policy or ignorance thereof.

I compare him to his friend Tucker, Kanye West, Candace Owens, Megan Kelly and others on the right who slowly but surely turned on us. We all had hopes and wishes at the beginning that they are our friends who just needed more explaining. Believe me, I held the same hopes for Vance. But as I predicted in my blog post: https://leonupsidedown.blogspot.com/2025/12/antisemitism-from-right-jd-vance.html

that unless Vance is confronted both publicly by members of the Republican party (Congress, cabinet members and citizens) and privately by his boss (Trump), his subliminal Jew hatred will become more overt and obvious.

I also want to note that I think Vance is viewed as the best contender for the Republican nomination. He is very articulate and checks all the boxes for your average conservative citizen to choose. The fact that many Republicans in Congress oppose his foreign policy is near moot.

If someone asked me what I thought about him as the next US president I would respond simply with: G-d forbid!

July 5, 2026 | 2 Comments »

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  1. vance catholicism

    +4 JD Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019, taking Saint Augustine as his patron saint. Raised in a nominally Christian and Pentecostal environment, he experienced an “angry atheist” phase in college before returning to faith. He explores his spiritual journey in his book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.Vance has described Catholicism as a stabilizing worldview that helped him make sense of the structural and moral issues facing American families. His faith has directly influenced his public policy positions and often positions him as a prominent, traditionalist voice in conservative American politics. However, his political positions have occasionally sparked friction with Vatican leadership.Key Aspects of Vance’s FaithFamily: Although he is an observant Catholic, his wife, Usha Vance, is Hindu. They have decided to raise their three children as Christians.Influences: Vance credits philosophers like Saint Augustine with helping him dismantle his earlier intellectual skepticism and teaching him humility.Political Tension: Vance’s blending of his Catholic faith with his right-wing political approach has led to public disagreements with Pope Francis over issues such as immigration.Vance details the evolution of his spirituality and the influence of the Church on his life, such as in his essay for the Catholic magazine The Lamp. Read more about his conversion journey in the EWTN News feature or explore his book, Communion, at The Atlantic’s coverage.

    • what did saint augustine say about jews

      +6 Saint Augustine established the foundational Christian “doctrine of witness” regarding Jews, asserting they should be subjugated and exiled but spared from annihilation. He argued their survival and dispersion serve as providential proof of Christianity, as they preserve the Old Testament prophecies that authenticate Jesus.Augustine’s views on Jews and Judaism were defined by this theological framework, which balances severe theological supersessionism with a defense of their physical preservation:The Doctrine of Witness: Drawing on Psalm 59 (“Slay them not… scatter them”) and the story of Cain, Augustine argued that Jews must survive in exile. He posited that their continued existence, while humiliated and dispersed, acts as living proof of the truth of Christianity.”Book-Bearers”: Augustine viewed the Jewish people as “librarians” who carried the Hebrew Scriptures. He believed they were spiritually blind to their own texts, but that their continued use of these books validated the Christian claim that Jesus was the prophesied Messiah.Rejection of Forced Conversion: Unlike some other Church Fathers of his era, Augustine opposed the forced conversion or the mass slaughter of Jewish populations. He argued that their adherence to the Torah was divinely willed to preserve the authenticity of their shared sacred history.Supersessionism: While he respected the historical roots of Judaism, he firmly believed that the “Old Covenant” had been superseded by the “New Covenant.” He argued that the Jewish people lost their privileged status as God’s chosen people due to their rejection of Christ, a theme he frequently explored in works like Contra Faustum.Augustine’s dual approach—condemning Jews theologically while protecting them physically—defined official Church policy throughout the Middle Ages, shaping how Christian societies interacted with Jewish communities.