The Big Lie 2.0

For four years, the “Big Lie” was the verifiably false claim that Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election. This lie was the subject of multiple indictments focused on Trump’s efforts to overturn the election results, which demonstrated that Trump knowingly lied. While Trump’s clear victory in November obviated his need to discredit the outcome of the 2024 election, a new big lie has emerged and taken hold.

The Big Lie 2.0 is that Donald Trump is making America stronger. In reality, he’s making America weaker, making himself stronger, and acting against the interests of the vast majority of Americans, including Jewish Americans.

TRUMP LIES & PEOPLE DIE

One of the most egregious and persistent lies throughout the 2024 campaign was Trump’s alleged distance from the Heritage Foundation’s blueprint for Trump’s second term, Project 2025. While he repeatedly disavowed Project 2025, immediately after Trump won the election, he filled his administration with architects and supporters of the plan. This week, the project’s former director, Paul Dans, told Politico that Project 2025 is being implemented “beyond my wildest dreams.”

In his first two months in office, Trump signed a record 92 executive orders, a majority of which mirror ideas in Project 2025. This includes “dismantling the administrative state,” such as the firing of tens of thousands of federal employees. Yesterday, Trump signed an executive order dismantling the Department of Education, which was a clear component of Project 2025. Last month, he went even further than Project 2025 by illegally eliminating the congressionally authorized agency overseeing U.S. humanitarian assistance, USAID.

This week, The New York Times issued an interactive report projecting the loss of life in one year due to the elimination of USAID. New research estimates that between 2.3 to 5.6 million people globally will die in one year without USAID’s lifesaving assistance. It also demonstrates that Elon Musk’s claim that “no one has died” as a result of Trump’s existing cuts is a blatant lie.

ECONOMY, SECURITY, EDUCATION – WEAKER TODAY

Since Trump assumed office, our economy has become less stable amid a sharp decline in business and consumer confidence. Stock prices have fallen amid fears of a Trump recession due to tariffs, higher unemployment, inflation, and slower growth. Following the Federal Reserve’s meeting this week, the Federal Open Market Committee explicitly stated that “uncertainty around the economic outlook has increased.” Our economy is no doubt weaker today than before Trump assumed office and economic uncertainty suggests this trend will continue.

 

Our national security has also been weakened by Trump’s isolation from our allies and penchant for aligning with America’s adversaries. In just two months, Trump has distanced America from our vital transatlantic and NATO alliances, cozied up to Russian President Vladimir Putin, and issued threats of acquiring Canada, the Panama Canal, and Greenland.

This week, Russia launched attacks on Ukraine mere hours after Putin allegedly agreed to a ceasefire in a phone call with Trump, demonstrating Trump’s relative impotence when it comes to national security. In yet another indication of his apparent desire to weaken our national security, Trump is expanding Elon Musk’s access to sensitive information pertaining to China, where Musk has extensive financial interests and a clear conflict of interest.

Finally, Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education will weaken the quality of and access to public education in the United States. My home state of Maryland receives 10 percent of its funding from the federal government, which may now be in jeopardy, along with funding for special education in public schools. If you have children or grandchildren in public schools, as I do, I strongly recommend understanding the implications of these devastating education cuts in your state.

We are weaker today because of Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education, and it’s not just academic consequences to consider – it’s also economic. As Senator Adam Schiff said, “Trump’s mission to gut the Education Department doesn’t just threaten millions of students and educators. It also imperils the future of our country in an increasingly competitive, global economy.” The real question we should all be asking is why Trump would weaken America’s competitive edge. The answer appears to be that Trump’s primary interest isn’t America’s strength. It’s his own.

ANTISEMITISM & TAKING ACTION

Trump’s dismantling of the Department of Education includes significant reductions – approximately half the staff – in the office responsible for addressing antisemitism, the Office for Civil Rights (OCR). He’s also closing seven out of 12 regional OCR offices, which are responsible for investigating reports of antisemitism in public schools. As this White House fires those responsible for monitoring and preventing antisemitism on college campuses, it’s also using antisemitism as a pretext for significant funding cuts to universities, which will impact the quality of higher education.

While action must be taken to combat antisemitism on campuses, including by the federal government, the White House just stripped away its best tool for doing so by dismantling the Department of Education and halving OCR. Join us in opposing Trump’s actions by sending a letter to your two senators and representative below.

TAKE ACTION: OPPOSE DISMANTLING THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION

In addition, Trump’s budget cuts have impacted our community by freezing hundreds of millions in Nonprofit Security Grants (NSGP), which provide security grants for Jewish institutions, including synagogues, organizations, day schools, and community centers. Increased security at our synagogues and institutions, given the rise of antisemitism, has been mostly funded by annual NSGP grants, and this funding is now in limbo. We’re grateful that thousands of you have joined us in the past few days, writing to Trump and your members of Congress to demand the administration unfreeze synagogue security funding. We encourage everyone to join us.

TAKE ACTION: TELL TRUMP TO STOP BLOCKING SYNAGOGUE SECURITY FUNDING

Finally, a persistent lie told by Trump has been that he only surrounds himself with “the best people.” In Trump 2.0, many of those people include right-wing extremists and purveyors of antisemitic conspiracy theories, such as Pentagon Deputy Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson, who has a history of peddling antisemitism online. Another example is Trump’s nominee to head the National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, who has ties to white nationalists. Trump’s Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy, Darren Beattie, also has a long history of ties to white nationalism.

Last week, the head of the Department of Justice’s Antisemitism Taskforce, Leo Terrell, shared a post from a notorious white supremacist leader about revoking someone’s “Jew card,” which may be what Trump himself intended to do last week when he called Senator Chuck Schumer a “Palestinian” from the Oval Office, managing to combine antisemitism, racism, and Islamophobia in one disgraceful smear.

For more on the antisemitism in the Trump administration, check out and share JDCA’s TrumpWatch, and join us in the fight against this clear and present threat to our democracy and community. While many have been silent and complicit, we at JDCA are standing up to the Big Lie 2.0 and telling the truth – Donald Trump is weakening America. There’s just too much at stake to look the other way, and we must defend the truth. Join us.

Shabbat Shalom,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America

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