Well played, President Trump.

Syria is outraged:
https://www.jihadwatch.org/2020/08/syrian-government-enraged-that-kurds-intend-to-sell-kurdish-oil

Turkey is outraged:
https://ahvalnews.com/turkey-syrian-kurds/turkey-accuses-syrian-kurds-seizing-syrias-natural-resources

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2020/aug/16/president-trumps-missing-dna/

He did give a statement about some of his campaign promises for the next term.

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2020/08/06/in-ohio-donald-trump-makes-six-promises-to-american-workers-for-his-second-term/

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/jan/31/democrats-ongoing-problem-with-god/

Democrats, as recent headlines show, are planning to amend the requirement that those testifying before the House Committee on Natural Resources will swear to tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth — without the “so help you God” finish line.

Anything to get God out of government, right?

Here’s the oath that’s being proposed, as reported by Fox News: “Do you solemnly swear or affirm, under penalty of law, that the testimony that you are about to give is the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth?”

Omitted is the phrase “so help you God.” Added is the phrase “under penalty of law.”####

The committee’s rules package also strips all the gender-specific pronouns from its text, replacing the likes of “chairman” with “chair” and so forth.

“Oddly enough,” the Daily Caller wrote, “the proposal to remove references to God comes just two months after Democrats proposed to remove a 181-year-old restriction on wearing religious headgear on the House floor in order to accommodate newly-elected Muslim women members.”

Apparently, then, it’s just the Christian God that offends.

But this is not surprising. The Democrats have been waging a war against God — against Christianity’s God — for some time. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi may talk about the Democrats “doing the Lord’s work,” as she said back in 2017. But that talk isn’t matching the party’s walk.#####

In the lead-up to the 2012 convention, Democratic leaders outright removed mention of God and of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel from the party’s proposed platform. When faced with backlash, they offered up a resolution in Charlotte to reverse the removals. The vote was contentious; several delegates outright opposed.
…
In other words: Had the Dems gone with a ballot vote, the results may have been completely different.

The Democrats’ public image problem with God repeated at the party’s 2016 convention — though in fairness, the boos that came there were protests of Hillary Clinton by Sen. Bernie Sanders’ fans. They just came during prayer — unfortunate timing for the party; completely fortunate for headline writers.

“Democrats heckle preacher during opening prayer,” Fox News wrote then.

And this, from Mashable: “Opening prayer at Democratic convention halted by booing crowd.”

All that, and more, then prompted the New York Post to opine in 2017, “Democrats still haven’t faced their God problem.”

Well, here it is in 2019, and it’s like the repeat button’s been hit.

Democrats still have a problem with God. And with 56 percent of Americans “professing faith in God as described in the Bible” and another 33 percent professing belief “in another type of higher power or spiritual force,” according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in April of 2018 — that means voters have a problem with the Democratic Party.

• Cheryl Chumley

#### I actually don’t have a problem with that change, since there are a multiplicity of religious believers taking an oath of office, not just Jews and Christians; and, I suspect, only some of the oath-takers of all religions do so with the serious belief that their God will punish perjury.
And non-believers are just lying when they use that phrase.
“Under penalty of law” is less ambiguous in intent, although it is apparently partisan in practice these day.

##### Let’s not get into the hypocrisy, and blasphemy, of our true-believers-only-when-I-can-get-some-advantage-out-of-it. Both parties included.
Judgment for eternity is the Lord’s, but that doesn’t mean we have to ignore blatant mendaciousness.

https://nypost.com/2017/03/15/democrats-still-havent-faced-their-god-problem/
By Salena ZitoMarch 15, 2017 | 7:17pm | Updated

The Democratic Party has a God problem.

And over the last couple of decades, as its base became more educated, less religious and more urban, this problem has only grown.

Some of this has to do with lower church attendance in cities versus rural areas, and the Democratic Party’s increasing reliance on urban voters. Some of it is the divisiveness of social or cultural issues like abortion and gay marriage. And the divide has seemingly sapped Democrats’ ability to communicate to religious Americans.

Especially if those people of faith are white, according to Brad Chism, a longtime and respected Democratic strategist based in Mississippi.

“And that problem extends to the national media, who by and large are mostly Democrats, meaning you have these powerful forces who do not understand more than half of the people in this country,” he said.

Chism makes a crucial point about what this means for American politics: Some of the greatest moral advancements in our country’s history have been accomplished largely through the influence of the church and churchgoing people, especially through the 20th century.

“You look at women’s suffrage, civil rights, the abolition of slavery and all of these massive other changes — religion and religious people have played a role in moving society toward a higher plane,” said Chism.

“We’ve seen that recently as well, but a lot of progressives and liberal Democrats don’t see the role of religion in society,# and that is a big mistake,” he said.

And it’s a mistake people like Kevin Washo are trying to rectify, though they feel like they’re swimming against the tide. A day before the Democratic National Convention opened here last July, Washo, a Catholic and prominent national Democrat, organized a private Mass led by a Jesuit priest in the conference room of a prestigious law firm in a shimmering Market Street skyscraper.

That imagery is a far cry from the 2012 Democratic convention,
…
The headlines that came out of that debacle — “Democrats boo God” was a common one — ended up making matters worse for those, like Washo and Chism, who would like to see their party counter the perception of its estrangement from people of faith.

Washo, a former executive director of the Pennsylvania Democratic Party, wants the national party to recognize this problem and invest heavily in solving it: “One of the first things I think they need is full-time engagement at the DNC to focus on people of faith, not just for a cycle, but make something permanent within the party with real resources.”

Washo said the messaging also needs to be sincere to people of faith — “a real, authentic effort, not lip service.”

The 2006 midterm elections seem to have been a turning point. Democrats won control of both the House and the Senate as well as a majority of state governorships. As the Pew Research Center noted at the time, exit polls showed Democrats “did well among their core constituencies; compared to 2002, they received increased support from Jews##, the religiously unaffiliated, infrequent churchgoers and those who never attend religious services.”

In other words, Democrats were hugely successful across the country by solidifying their base. In the process, they have pushed away religious voters not simply by ignoring them but by actively repelling them with accusations of bigotry and backwardness.###

Unless they change that, Democrats ­haven’t got a prayer of solving their God problem.

# And thus, the tearing down of monuments to people who were not only NOT supporters of the Confederate States, but who actively opposed slavery and fought for abolition. Among other facts of history that the Left is trying to erase.
## A divided constituency, as we have seen.
### Aka “a basket of deplorables.”

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/6/obamas-party-says-no-to-god/

The most memorable moment of the Democratic National Convention was when the delegates denied God three times from the convention floor. It was the latest blunder in an Obama re-election effort that increasingly looks like it doesn’t have a prayer.****

The deity issue arose when conservatives slammed Democrats for deleting references to God and a united Jerusalem that were in the liberals’ 2008 platform. The slap must have stung because the Obama campaign quickly orchestrated a floor amendment to stuff the clauses in the previously approved 2012 platform. It should have been a pro-forma matter, but when convention chairman Antonio Villaraigosa, mayor of Los Angeles, called the vote, the floor responded with a vigorous “no” twice. In a fit of procedural integrity, Mr. Villaraigosa tried to get the required two-thirds to amend a third time, but the “no’s” were louder than ever. Finally, visibly frustrated, he announced the motion had passed even though everyone in the hall knew it hadn’t. It was amateur hour.

It’s not surprising that Democratic delegates were generally hostile to God. According to the latest Gallup numbers, President Obama has a 46 percent advantage over Mitt Romney***** among those who profess “no religion” and lags 23 percent behind Mr. Romney among those who say they are “highly religious.” Asking a group of Democratic true believers — or in this case, true nonbelievers — whether they want God in the platform is their secular equivalent of blasphemy.

Democrats compounded the platform blunder by not getting their story straight.
…
(an amusing story you might peruse, if you haven’t heard it before)
…
The Obama campaign also bungled the Jerusalem issue. The inserted language pledges support for a united Jerusalem, which is not administration policy. The campaign said this reflected Mr. Obama’s personal preference, in which case it has no place in a party platform. The hedge, of course, was designed to appease the Democrats’ strong pro-Palestinian faction, which nixed the Jerusalem language in the first place. Mr. Obama’s clear message to them was, “I support your vision of a divided Jerusalem, but I have to say some things to shore up my sagging support among Jews.”

****Sadly, Republican prayers had no effect this time, although some election fraud probably did.
***** It is doubly amusing to me because the Democrats (and some Republicans!) objected to Mitt Romney, in part, because he was TOO religious to be president; and then, four years later, they (both groups!) were lambasting Donald Trump because he was NOT RELIGIOUS ENOUGH.

If the Democrats didn’t have double standards …..

https://www.catholicculture.org/commentary/did-democrats-really-boo-god-not-quite-its-worse-than-that/
By Phil Lawler | Sep 06, 2012
(leaving out some of the details already covered above)

Thousands of bloggers are reporting this morning that delegates at the Democratic convention in Charlotte booed when God was reintroduced into their party’s platform. That’s not entirely accurate. But the true story does not reflect any better on the Democratic Party.
…
That ruling from the chair was an obvious abuse of power. It was impossible to say, simply from the volume of voices, whether the “Ayes” outnumbered the “Nays.” To assert that the “Ayes” predominated by a 2-to-1 margin was simply absurd. Quite understandably, many delegates objected to the ruling. So their boos were aimed at Villaraigosa, not at God.

But it’s not quite that simple. This vote didn’t occur in a vacuum. In drafting the original platform, Democratic leaders had removed references to God (and to Jerusalem as the capital of Israel). They didn’t merely forget to mention God; in updating previous party platforms, they made a conscious decision to remove Him. When that decision was brought to the attention of ordinary American voters, outside the orbit of the Democratic Party apparatchiks, it was unpopular. It didn’t play in Peoria. Belatedly, the Democratic leaders realized that they should put God back in the picture. So an amendment to the platform was place on the convention’s agenda.

And here’s where things get interesting: That amendment was controversial! Quite a few delegates opposed the mention of God. Some, no doubt, were primarily concerned about the mention of Jerusalem. Party leaders might have simplified matters by introducing two separate amendments: one to restore a mention of God, the other to name Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. But that tactic would not have suited the purposes of the party strategists. They didn’t want an open debate on God (or on Jersualem) during the convention. <b.They didn’t want to give American voters the opportunity to see just how radical the Democratic party has become. They wanted the amendment approved quickly.

Villaraigosa did his part, pronouncing the amendments victorious at a time when any sentient observer realized that their passage was in doubt.
…
Today we don’t know whether or not a majority of participants at the Democratic convention actually objected to mentioning God in the party’s platform. The party leadership didn’t want us to know.

Check out Mr. Lawler’s bio for links to some other articles that fall into the conservative POV.

**Yes, Demedia immediately claimed that expressing gratitude to the Orange Man by using a religious parallel was an act of heresy (which is ironic indeed, since they don’t even believe that the real God of Israel has a place in the Democrat party platform***).

https://forward.com/fast-forward/422201/republican-jewish-coalition-donald-trump-dayenu/
“Former senator Norm Coleman, chair of the Republican Jewish Coalition, is leading a Passover Dayenu (it would have been enough) in which Donald Trump replaces God.”

This actually is, in my opinion, a blasphemous parody, since there is not an ounce of gratitude in it for anyone, and very little veracity either.
https://www.westsiderag.com/2020/04/08/upper-west-sider-writes-new-versions-of-dayenu-and-the-four-children-for-covid-era-passover

https://www.bookwormroom.com/2019/04/20/president-trump-is-the-dayenu-president/

No matter how imperfect Trump is, looking at his record of accomplishments, as to each one I say the Passover word “dayenu” — it would have been enough.
During the Passover dinner, one of the songs Jewish families sing is Dayenu. It is in the nature of a “count your blessings song,” with the song reciting each of God’s miracles during the Exodus and, after every verse reciting “dayenu,” which means “it would have been enough” or “it would have sufficed.” Growing up, I considered this song one of the best parts of the proceedings. I was in good company, for Jews have been singing Dayenu for around one thousand years.
…
[Bookworm gives the original song here, which was of great interest to me as I am a “fan” of the Old Testament, as well as a strong supporter of Israel and the Jewish people]
…
The point of the song, obviously, is not to get greedy, but to be grateful for whatever gifts or miracles come your way. God doesn’t need cumulative miracles to prove His greatness and the debt Jews owe Him. Each little thing He did, standing alone, would have been enough.

So what’s this got to do with Trump? Well, let me first assure you that I am not likening Trump to God. He is no God.** He is, instead, a very imperfect man, but one who nevertheless has taken a series of steps that, even if each stands alone, is a reminder why a Trump presidency is so much better than the Hillary alternative.

The genesis for this thought came about because I got an email from a very dear friend, one whom I respect more than you can imagine, who is baffled by my fondness for Trump. Before the Mueller report, he saw Trump as a crude buffoon. Since the Mueller report, he sees him as a dangerously corrupt individual. Worse, he sees Trump as way less successful than a good Republican president should be. As readers of this blog know, I’ve come to hold Trump in quite high esteem. Thinking about how to explain my esteem to my friend, I came up with the “dayenu” meter.

To begin with, remember that America’s choice in November 2016 was completely binary: Hillary or Trump. So we’re not measuring Trump against some perfect Republican candidate; we’re measuring Trump against Hillary, who was committed to continuing the Obama administration, although with the addition of the Clintons’ unique brand of financial corruption. It is in that context that I look at what Trump has done. (As an aside, I would argue, as Wolf Howling already has, that Trump is proving to be an extraordinary conservative president who, only halfway through his first term, can measure up even to Ronaldus Magnus.)

Also, regarding what Trump has not done, or not yet done, I never lose track of the fact that, for two-and-a-half years, Trump has been contending with the weight of an entirely false accusation that he entered into a conspiracy with Russia to keep Hillary from the White House. (Incidentally, that’s why Trump said he was “f**ked* when he realized the immensity of this whole Russia collusion hoax. He wasn’t saying, “Oh, my God, the jig is up! I’m going to jail.” He was saying, “Oh, my God, this will paralyze my effectiveness as a president.”)

So here’s my dayenu recital for Trump:
…
[she explains, very cogently, the reasons conservatives support so many of the President’s policies, which we have discussed many times here, so I will excerpt the one relevant to this post]
…
If Trump had merely proved to be the staunchest friend Israel has ever had in the White House, or certainly the staunchest friend since Reagan, and implemented policies that are putting a stop to the Palestinians’ non-stop, bad faith demands, even as the whole Democrat Party is turning increasingly anti-Semitic — Dayenu.
…
I could go on all day with this. Trump is rude, crude, bumptious, impulsive, cold-blooded, combative, etc. I see that. I also see that he’s incredibly funny, that he has a wonderful knack for making Leftists reveal their true colors, and that his initiatives, even if imperfect or ultimately ineffective, nevertheless have shifted paradigms at home and abroad in ways that are important to and beneficial for America.

Of interest as well is her aside on Flynn and Mueller in the middle of last year.

The same post is on at least two other websites, if you want to explore other places that value Bookworm as much as some of us do.

https://www.thelibertybeacon.com/president-trump-is-the-dayenu-president-passover-special-videos/

https://www.watcherofweasels.org/president-trump-dayenu-president/

https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/upending-the-rules-about-peace-in-the-middle-east/

The impending peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates is more than just a stunning diplomatic breakthrough. It represents a fundamental shift in the paradigm of peace-making.

For more than 50 years, that paradigm has been based on seemingly unassailable assumptions.
…
[all of the known knowns are detailed]
…
For more than half of a century, the paradigm of Middle East peace-making has proven highly resistant to change. Yet even the fiercest advocates of that belief-system must recognize the seismic shift that will take place once the UAE-Israel treaty is signed. Some will no doubt insist on adhering to disproven assumptions. Those who care about peace will abandon them.

Despite the ranting of some factions that support continued dissension (or so it seems, since they never propose any peace deal that would work), other people are grateful. These two posts, by different authors, are undated, but can be placed in context by the actions cited.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/23775

This is the Dayenu for President Trump, based on the simple realization that there has never been a president as pro-Israel as Trump, and it is almost unthinkable that there will ever be another.

Let us count the ways, individual acts for which alone we would sing Dayenu, “it would have been enough:”
…(16 things listed)
That is some list, even without reciting the al achat kama v’chama that would marvel at the achievement of each of the above. It is unprecedented in the history of the relationship of the United States and Israel and the president is only two years into his administration.

Of course, there have been other presidents who were “pro-Israel,” and others who were less than friendly – but there has never been a President whose support was unambiguous and influenced so many other nations around the world as this President. We should be thankful, and express our gratitude without hesitation.

Gratitude is an especially cherished virtue among Jews and particularly on Pesach when we celebrate our nation’s founding. And even if we limit the real Dayenu to the King of Kings, we do acknowledge that, as King Shlomo put it, “Like streams of water the heart of a king is in G-d’s hands…” (Mishlei 21:1).

Sure, he may tweet a bit too much and much too vividly at times, and one can quibble with a questionable policy here and there, and others can criticize a character weakness or two, but we betray ourselves and our deepest values if we do not express gratitude.

Only a Trump, not beholden to the tired thinking of all the old Middle East experts and their evenhandedness, their failures, and their anti-Israel animus scarcely concealed, could have pulled this off –a re-alignment of American foreign policy.
…
Sometimes we are tested with an abundance of good and not the incidence of evil. That too is a gift of Providence for which we should be ever grateful.

https://www.israelnationalnews.com/Articles/Article.aspx/24905

A great curse has befallen American Jews, one that will haunt us forever: Some of our American Jewish Congressmen and Jewish Senators are at the very heart of this evil, venal, and unconstitutional House impeachment of President Trump. While, in the future, I will focus on these miscreants; today, I want to thank G-d for the infinite blessings and protections President Trump has endowed the American and Israeli Jewish people.

Today, I want to thank President Trump for each action which in itself would have been enough. In essence, I want to pen the Passover Seder’s “Dayenu,” “It would have been enough for us,” to thank President Trump’s for each of his blessings for the Jewish People.
…
(this list only has 5 actions, but it expands on why they were a blessing for Israel and for Jews)
…
I could go on and on, and on, about all the blessings and security President Trump has brought the Jews. But, on this day of infamy, on this day where President Trump has been falsely and criminally attacked by bunch of Jewish hooligans, I want to thank G-d for President Trump – for President Trump just being President Trump.

\Dayenu. that would have been enough.