Jamie Raskin and Amy Schwartz

Congressman Jamie Raskin: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy in Conversation with Amy E. Schwartz

Jamie Raskin, a father, Congressman and Constitutional law professor, began 2021 grief stricken after the painful loss of his son, Tommy, to suicide. Just seven days later he experienced the horrific events of the Capitol insurrection on January 6 and then led the impeachment effort of President Donald Trump. Congressman Raskin details the first 45 days of 2021 that forever changed him and his family in his just released memoir Unthinkable: Trauma, Truth, and the Trials of American Democracy. Congressman Raskin is in conversation with Amy E. Schwartz, Moment’s Book & Opinion Editor.

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According to Latest Polls, Florida Jews Are Mobilizing for Biden

A poll commissioned by the liberal, pro-Israel group J Street, conducted by the firm GBAO between October 12 and 15, found that 73 percent of Florida’s Jewish likely voters support former Vice President Joe Biden. With a margin of error of plus/minus 4 percent, the survey polled 600 of the state’s estimated 500,000 eligible Jewish voters.

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the white house

We Asked Our Voters: How Do You Feel About November?

As part of our Jewish Political Voices Project, Moment has been following 30 voters—3 from each of 10 battleground states—over the last 12 months as the political climate continued to shift and the pool of Democratic presidential candidates narrowed. As one of their final check-ins before casting their ballots, our voters shared their thoughts on the Trump and Biden campaigns, voting by mail and more.

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Qassem Soleimani and the 2020 Elections

An attack that lasted less than a minute on Thursday night marked a new phase in America’s standing in the Middle East. What was until that moment a tense standoff between the Trump administration and the Ayatollahs in Tehran turned into a rapidly escalating conflict, which could lead to anything from a cycle of attacks and counter-attacks to an all-out war.

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Aid to Israel: Has J Street Changed the Game?

J Street, the left-leaning pro-Israel lobby, wrapped up its three-day conference in Washington, DC last week. In an email to supporters summing up the meeting (and making a pitch for donations), the group’s president Jeremy Ben-Ami announced, “We’ve changed the conversation” about Israel, noting that the conference brought the issue of Israel to the Democratic presidential race agenda and that candidates have discussed, among other issues, their plans to “employ U.S. leverage to combat settlement expansion.” Or, in other words, J Street made using American foreign aid to Israel into an issue Democrats are willing to fight for.

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Not Your Grandmother’s Democratic Party

Many in the pro-Israel community joined for a collective oy vey moment last week when leading Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren added her voice to a growing choir of progressives threatening to use America’s aid to Israel as a means of influencing Israel’s policy in the West Bank. Looking at the Democratic field, here’s where we stand: Three of the four frontrunners are threatening to cut U.S. aid to Israel. Biden stands alone in his refusal to join.

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