We Should Know Better:

Trump’s Crackdown on Campuses and Immigrants Is a Warning Jews Can’t Ignore

In moments like this, memory matters. History matters. And for Jews, that history isn’t theoretical—it’s personal, generational, and painfully familiar. We have seen what happens when a society turns on free expression, when political leaders use fear to justify silencing dissent, and when minority groups are used as pawns to advance dangerous ideologies.

Yes, university leaders have failed. Some have ignored rising Jew-hate. Others have enabled it. A few have even encouraged or excused it, cloaking bigotry in the language of social justice or anti-colonialism. Jewish students have felt isolated, unprotected, and unwelcome—especially in moments of heightened tension surrounding Israel. These are real problems, and they demand serious action, accountability, and cultural change within academia.

But the answer is not a political power grab.

And it’s certainly not a president threatening to take over universities and use the federal government to silence speech. That’s not justice. That’s authoritarianism.

That is why Jews must not be silent about Donald Trump’s plan to crack down on college campuses under the guise of fighting antisemitism. It is not about protecting Jewish students. It is not about combating hate. It is about using us—again—as the justification for a much larger and more dangerous assault on democracy itself.

When Support Isn’t Support

This isn’t a defense of Jews. It’s a test run for authoritarian control.

Trump’s promise to take over universities and punish dissenters is not support for Jews—it is political theater. It’s designed to energize a base, silence critics, and stoke the culture war. And disturbingly, too many in the Jewish community are applauding it, thinking that finally someone is standing up for us. But they’re not.

Let’s be clear: Trump’s so-called support for Israel has never been about Jews. It has always been about evangelical power, Christian nationalism, and a political agenda that uses Israel as a symbol while ignoring the lived realities of Jewish life and safety—both here in America and around the world.

Evangelicals don’t support Israel because they care about Jews. They support it because it plays a role in their apocalyptic theology—where Jews either convert or perish at the end of days. Their version of “support” is conditional, instrumental, and entirely self-serving. That’s not love. That’s not protection. That’s exploitation.

The Language of Hate Returns

And the rhetoric doesn’t stop with campus protests. Today, immigrants are being labeled an invasion. They’re being rounded up, caged, and vilified—just as Jews were in Europe’s darkest decades. This language—“invasion,” “infestation,” “vermin”—is not accidental. It is meant to strip people of their humanity. To make cruelty feel justified.

But there is no invasion. What’s happening at the border is not a war—it’s the result of outdated, broken immigration laws that no longer reflect our nation’s needs or values. These are laws that Republicans have refused to reform—not because reform is impossible, but because political chaos serves them. Eighteen years ago, President George W. Bush proposed compassionate immigration reforms, but his own party rejected them. President Biden tried again and was blocked. The dysfunction is deliberate. The suffering is political strategy.

And history tells us plainly: when nationalism and hate are unleashed, we always end up the target.

My Parents Knew What This Was

My parents revered this country because everyone was allowed the freedom to speak out. That universal freedom—available to all, not just the powerful—is what kept Jews in America safe. It’s what made this country different from the one they fled. I am glad they did not live long enough to see what is happening today. Because what they would see is a reliving of their own personal experiences in the 1930s in Europe. And what that led to. They would see the slow, strategic unraveling of rights, masked as law and order. And they would recognize the danger before most Americans could even name it.

Our families didn’t come to this country because it was perfect. They came here because they believed it offered something better—freedom, refuge, dignity. If we, of all people, cannot recognize the warning signs when they appear, then we have failed those who came before us and those who will come after.

Why Jews Must Not Stay Silent

Authoritarianism doesn’t come all at once. It chips away—at speech, at protest, at rights. It begins by labeling protestors as enemies and immigrants as invaders. And yes, it often begins by claiming to defend Jews.

But when dissent is criminalized, when books are banned, when ideas are punished—Jews are never far behind. We should know that. We do know that.

So why are we helping it happen?

To those who believe that cracking down on universities “the Trump way” is a sign of strength, I ask: What happens when your ideas are the ones being silenced? When your children are the ones being monitored? When your loyalty is once again questioned because you are Jewish?

Trump’s actions aren’t support. They are a smoke screen. And too many Jews are mistaking it for safety.

I will always stand up for Israel’s right to exist and defend itself. I will always speak out against Jew-hate in any form. But I will never applaud the destruction of democratic freedoms in the name of protecting Jews. Because that has never worked. And it never will.

We should know better.