Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen, Secretary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, Attorney General Merrick Garland. Chief of Staff Ron Klain, Second Gentleman Douglas Emhoff, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer.
The aforementioned prominent members of the Biden Administration all have one thing in common: they are all Jews. When the nominations were announced and I realized that so many Jews would be holding high positions, I was initially really excited. As a Jew, I have always felt that—like many other minorities—my people have been tossed around as political pawns by non-Jews who claim to advocate for us while bringing us down in the same breath. Over the past four years under the Trump Administration, there has been a sharp rise in antisemitism surfacing across the entire political spectrum. From Charleston to QAnon to the courting of antisemitic anti-Zionism on college campuses, antisemitism has been allowed to flourish nationwide. Along with the removal of Trump himself, the appointment of Jews in such high profile positions made me optimistic about the Biden Administration’s potential to appropriately address the antisemitism crisis in this country.
And then I had an epiphany that deeply disturbed me. The most common antisemitic tropes—those that are the foundation of many of the extreme conspiratorial movements of today, such as neo-nazism, QAnon, and whatever the heck Space Lasers are—have to do with Jewish control of institutions: of banks, of government, of corporations, of global power systems. In Biden’s administration, a Jewish woman—arguably the most qualified person in the nation for this position—is the head of the Treasury department. Now a Jew actually does control the banks. Alejandro Mayorkas, a Latino Jew, is now the head of the Department of Homeland Security, fulfilling the conspiracy theorists’ notion that Latinos and Jews are attempting to infiltrate the country. Antony Blinken, the new Secretary of State and known globalist, fits perfectly into the idea that Jews somehow run the world through a worldwide network of globalists who undermine national interests.
These fears of mine were realized on January 6. As Trumpism reared its ugly head and announced that it was here to stay, so did antisemitism. Men and women waving swastika flags and sporting T-shirts with “Camp Auschwitz Staff” emblazoned on the back did everything in their power to prevent the unseating of the Trump Administration—and the induction of an administration dominated by Jews. Since then, congresspeople have been sworn in who spread the theory that Jews have sent satellites into space which fire lasers to start wildfires. Antisemitism continues to pervade the United States.
The professionals appointed by President Biden and the people of the United States to these positions are some of the most qualified men and women in the nation and many are longtime allies of Biden—I highly doubt religion played any part in their selection. Yet, their religion will undoubtedly influence how they are evaluated.
I am in no way arguing that President Biden should not have appointed these people to these positions to avoid antisemitism in response. Rather, I am glad that Jewish people are now in a position to tackle antisemitism on a national level. But I should not be scared of their appointment. I should not fear for myself when my religion is represented on such an important stage. The United States needs to prove me wrong. We need to discredit any and all antisemitism peddled by anyone in this country, especially that targets our nation’s leaders. We need to disavow all antisemitic troupes and themes, even if they are accepted by your political party. Antisemitism is far from gone, and we all must work to destroy it.