The Case for Defending Democracy

During the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump pledged to be a “dictator on day one.” While he lied about many things, this is the one promise that he’s fulfilled, eroding different aspects of American democracy each day.

To some, this may sound like hyperbole. To others, it may feel esoteric or intangible, and the slow erosion of democracy may not be immediately noticed. But to all, Trump’s persistent attacks on our democracy are deeply damaging and dangerous, threatening the future of our elections, government, freedoms, and way of life.

To American Jews, Trump’s ongoing attacks on democracy are particularly concerning. We know that Jewish security and safety are inextricably linked with tolerance, pluralism, and democracy in the United States. That’s why the future of democracy was the number one issue for Jewish voters in the past two elections.

This week, Trump’s efforts to degrade American democracy focused on: (1) limiting voting rights in advance of the 2026 midterm elections; (2) federalizing the D.C. police force, deploying the National Guard, and expanding his authoritarian takeover of Washington, D.C.; and (3) an attempt to sanitize American history at cultural institutions such as the Smithsonian.

On the first point, the president announced on social media his intent to ban mail-in ballots and some voting equipment in advance of the 2026 elections. He also made clear his plans to issue an executive order directing states to defer to him “in counting and tabulating the votes.” This news came on top of ongoing GOP efforts to redraw congressional district maps in Texas to steal at least five seats from Democrats in advance of the midterm elections.

To discuss these issues and more, JDCA members heard this week from leading voting rights attorney Marc Elias, founder of Democracy Docket and recipient of JDCA’s Ruth Bader Ginsburg Justice Award. Marc’s message was a compelling call to action for all of us – especially Jewish voters – to do all we can to defend democracy.

American democracy is clearly on a precipice, and Marc underscored why “…JDCA is so essential. Because it understands Jewish values, but it also understands how, in the world in which we live, the real world in which we operate in the United States, you have one party that is committed to democracy, and one party that is fundamentally opposed to it.”

JDCA members play a critical role in advancing our mission as the political home and voice of Jewish voters in support of Democrats who share our values, including the defense of democracy. If you haven’t yet, we encourage you to become a JDCA member or deepen your role as a Jewish defender of democracy. Your support of JDCA allows us to take this fight to the ballot box, where democracy is at stake.

Key takeaways from our conversation with Marc Elias:

Can we expect free and fair elections in 2026?

“Going all the way back to 2016, and certainly in the aftermath of 2020, and since his reelection, he [Trump] is constantly talking about undermining free and fair elections. So he said basically two things in that social media post. The first, as you point out, to ban certain methods of voting [including] vote by mail, which is heavily used… would disenfranchise tens of millions of Americans – literally tens of millions of Americans. The other, doing away with certain kinds of voting equipment, also would disenfranchise millions of Americans, including the disability community. But the second thing he said today that really should get equal, or if not more, prominence is he said that the states act as his agents…

Donald Trump is telling us what he wants. He wants to be the ultimate say on whose vote counts and whose vote doesn’t count, and what those results say. And that is ultimately the mark of an authoritarian. Ultimately, authoritarians don’t trust an honest counting of votes. They want to rig the outcome to be in their favor and in favor of their preferred candidates. And so, that’s what we’re up against.”

What is happening with GOP efforts to steal five House seats in Texas? 

“If this is allowed to stand, what it means is that we will no longer have redistricting every 10 years; we will have redistricting every 2 years. Because after every election, the Texas legislature will look at the map and make tweaks based on the election returns of the last election.

It’s going to be quite dystopian, because you’ll have a map that is drawn when it looks like Democrats may be having a little wind at their back, so it’ll be a more defensive map. Then, in a year in which Republicans think that they can play offense, they will draw five more seats.

So rather than plus five, it’ll be plus ten. And they’ll just be tinkering with this every two years to optimize their chance of winning, and to, frankly, just take voters out of the equation. And so what I can tell you is there will be a lawsuit the moment this bill is signed. You can take that to the bank. We will sue the moment this law is signed.”

What role should Jewish Americans play in the fight against Trump’s authoritarianism, especially because some of his agenda exploits the rise of antisemitism?

“We need to understand that Donald Trump is an antisemite and uses Jews as a pawn. Donald Trump doesn’t care about Jews. Donald Trump isn’t attacking Columbia University, or Harvard University, or any university to help Jewish students there. He’s not doing it to help Israeli students there. He’s doing it because he finds Jews a convenient scapegoat. A different kind of scapegoat than we’re used to. But again, a convenient scapegoat to justify things that he otherwise wants to do… We need to stand for democracy. We need to stand for liberalism in this country, free speech. We need to stand for free expression. Why? Because we are the ultimate minority. We are the minority that has always suffered when liberalism dies in a society.

We are the first group to be scapegoated. We are the first group when democratic norms break down, to be blamed, to be attacked. So we always need to prioritize not only the rights of the Jewish American community, not only the rights of Jewish minority communities around the world, but also liberalism and democracy. And we need to be vocal about it. We need to not shy away and say, ‘You know what, we will focus on other issues.’ We need to not hide from calling out Donald Trump for what he is, which is an authoritarian.”

What gives you hope?

“For me, hope is not a feeling of certainty about the future. It’s born of the knowledge that we may do everything we can, and yet there is no assurance that even that will be enough…In other words, it’s not a naive emotion; it’s a sober responsibility.

When people ask me what gives me hope, I answer that it is every one of us who refuses to look away. It is the lawyer who files briefs in cases that they don’t think they’re gonna win. It’s the protester who shows up in the rain when nobody is there to watch. It is the voter who refuses to quietly surrender their right to vote, even when they know that their vote won’t matter in a landslide election.

What gives me hope is not that victory is certain, simply because we want it, and simply because we deserve it, and simply because we work hard for it. But precisely because it’s not.”

Thank you for your support and partnership, which allows us to continue to have hope and support Democrats who are fighting to defend democracy.

Shabbat Shalom,

Halie Soifer
CEO, Jewish Democratic Council of America