Solomon D. Stevens
Vice President JD Vance is a very intelligent man, so we have to assume that it was no accident that his Holocaust Remembrance Day remarks failed to mention Jews. To say only that the Holocaust is defined by a lot of people dying is a dangerous invitation to ignore the core meaning of the Holocaust: the intentional targeting of Jews as a people for extermination. This is the truth that we are asked to remember. This is the danger that we must pledge to prevent now and in the future. By avoiding this truth, Vance is encouraging the worst elements of the Republican Party as it struggles to define itself for the post-Trump era.
Nativism is already a central theme of the Republican Party. President Trump — who is not antisemitic — has nonetheless stated that illegal immigrants and migrants from around the world are “poisoning the blood of our country.” This suggests, of course, that being an American citizen is defined by the color of your skin. He has also stated a number of times that migrants are animals, not people. When he was challenged about saying these things that are reminiscent of Hitler’s ideas, Trump said that he had never read “Mein Kampf,” which is probably true but irrelevant.
JD Vance has contributed to this growing nativism by supporting Trump’s policies and by identifying Christianity as the country’s religion. In a speech he gave at Turning Point, Vance said that “we have been, and by the grace of God, we will always be, a Christian nation.” And in the same speech, he asserted that “Christianity is America’s creed.” By saying these things, Vance rejects one of the great innovations of the American founding.
The beauty and genius of the American founding was its rejection of nativism. Citizenship in America is about embracing a commitment to democracy, equality and the rule of law. And while it is true that the country compromised on its principles and came into being with the stain of slavery still present, its principles demanded a reckoning in the form of a Civil War.
The principles of our founding always pointed beyond the harsh realities in place at the time. And the same was true regarding religion. While it is true that at the time of the founding our population was overwhelmingly Christian, our Constitution established a separation of church and state that was never envisioned by Christianity and that was not designed to promote Christianity in any way. Non-Christians were not to be tolerated guests in a Christian nation; they were to be proud equal citizens. Our founders wanted to ensure that Christianity was not our creed, despite Vance’s assertions.
Holocaust Remembrance Day completely loses its meaning if we pretend that Jews were not its target. Waxing eloquently about generic bad things that happened during World War II teaches the next generation nothing. In fact, it is worse than that. It encourages us to avoid facing the historical fact that a modern, culturally sophisticated country targeted Jews for murder, and it could happen again.
The Republican Party has a growing antisemitism problem. By embracing a nativism that denies the central contributions of the American founding, elements within the party threaten to bring about an internal regime change, one that champions blood and religion over democracy, equality and the rule of law. Republicans are turning to the crude antisemitism of people like Tucker Carlson and Nick Fuentes, who are no longer party outliers.
JD Vance faces a moral dilemma. If he wants to be Trump’s successor, he must decide if he will push back against this vile nativism or whether he will cosy up to it for the sake of increasing his appeal within the party. As journalist Yair Rosenberg has said, “Vance hopes to inherit that movement, so he is faced with a fateful choice: whether to accommodate the anti-Semites on the rising right or to reject them.”
Vance’s statement on Holocaust Remembrance Day is disturbing because it suggests that he has made his decision. Omitting all references to Jews on Holocaust Remembrance Day is a dangerous sign. Whether or not Vance is himself an antisemite, he seems anxious to placate those who are, to invite them to support him. And the price for this is steep. Will he unleash the power of the nativist far-right within the Republican Party and take another step in the direction of both a betrayal of the principles of the American founding and a betrayal of the Jews?
We cannot learn from history if we deny history itself. If Holocaust Remembrance Day is not about the Holocaust, then the hope of “never again” is lost.
Solomon D. Stevens has a Ph.D. in political science from Boston College and is the author of a book on the Middle East.
