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For the Republican Jews whose Vegas confab kicked off the 2024 primary, Trump was always present
LAS VEGAS (JTA) — For Republican Jews looking for an alternative to Donald Trump in 2024’s presidential race, Ted Cruz presented a tantalizing choice on Saturday — at least for a few minutes.
“When I arrived in the Senate 10 years ago, I set a goal to be the leading defender of Israel in the United States,” the Texas senator said during his chance to address the Republican Jewish Coalition conference last weekend.
The crowd packed into a ballroom deep in the gold lame reaches of the Venetian casino complex lapped it up in what some of them refer to as the “kosher cattle call,” auditions for some of the GOP’s biggest campaign donors.
Cruz applied his folksy bellow to phrases already rendered stale by the speakers who preceded him, making them seem fresh. “Nancy Pelosi is out of a job,” he said of the Democratic speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, eliciting more cheers from a crowd relishing a fragile majority in the House, one of few GOP wins during midterm elections earlier this month.
But the onetime constitutional lawyer lost the crowd when he asked everyone to take out their cell phones and text a number associated with his podcast, “Verdict.” As the murmurs graduated into grumbles it became clear: About a third of the 800 or so people in the room were Shabbat-observant Jews, taking texting off the table for them.
Cruz never really recovered his rapport with the audience, which included deep-pocketed donors looking to pick a candidate and rally support for him or her. That made his speech an extreme example of the trajectory of just about every address by prospective presidential hopefuls at the RJC conference — excitement tempered by two nagging questions: Does this candidate have what it takes to beat Trump, whose obsession with litigating the 2020 election helped fuel this year’s electoral losses? And is Trump inevitable whoever challenges him?
The former president was at the center of every presentation and of conversations in the corridors during breaks. On the stage, some folks named him, some did not, but — except for Trump himself during a video address from his Florida home — few did so enthusiastically.
Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who was the first of Trump’s primary opponents in 2016 to drop out and endorse him, and then among the first to repudiate him during his presidency, repeated the admonition he made a year ago to move beyond Trump.
Say his name, Christie urged the crowd. “It is time to stop whispering,” he said. “It is time to stop doing the knowing nod, the ‘we can’t talk.’ It’s time to stop being afraid of any one person. It is time to stand up for the principles and the beliefs that we have founded this party on, this country on.” He got big cheers.
Trump was the first candidate to announce for 2024, last week, and so far the only one. But others among the half dozen or so likelys in Las Vegas were clearly signaling a run. Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations who is a star among right-wing pro-Israel groups for her successes at the United Nations in marginalizing the Palestinians, all but told the group she was ready.
“A lot of people have asked if I’m going to run for president,” Haley said. “Now that the midterms are over I’ll look at it in a serious way and I’ll have more to say soon.”
The biggest cheers were reserved for Ron DeSantis, the Florida governor who was a bright spot for Republicans on Nov. 8, winning reelection in a landslide. DeSantis listed his pro-Israel bona fides (boycotting Israel boycotters) and his culture wars (taking on Disney after the company protested his “Parents Rights in Education” bill, known among its critics as “Don’t Say Gay”).
The crowd loved it. “The state of Florida is where woke goes to die!” he said to ecstatic cheers.
DeSantis did not once mention Trump; the former president has already targeted him saying whatever success he has he owes to Trump’s endorsement of his 2018 gubernatorial bid and dubbing him “Ron DeSanctimonious.’
Getting the nickname was a clear sign that DeSantis was a formidable opponent, said Fred Zeidman, an RJC board member who has yet to endorse a candidate. “It’s a badge of honor, in that Trump has identified you as a legitimate contender for the presidency,” he said in an interview.
Yet even DeSantis was not a clear Trump successor. The RJC usually heads into campaign-year conferences with a clear idea of which of its board members back which candidates, and then relays the word to Jewish Republicans whom to contact to join a prospective campaign.
That didn’t happen this year, and Trump was the reason. Jewish Republicans are still “shopping” for candidates, Ari Fleischer, the former George W. Bush administration spokesman who is an RJC board member and who also has not endorsed a candidate, said in a gaggle with reporters.
Trump was the elephant in the RJC room, Fleischer said, using the Hebrew word for the animal.
“Donald Trump is the pil in the room. There’s no question about it,” Fleischer said right after Trump spoke. “And he is a former president. He has tremendous strength and you could hear it and feel it with this group, particularly on policy, particularly on the substantive issues that he was able to accomplish in the Middle East. It resonates with many people.”
Trump had earned cheers during his speech as he reviewed the hard-right turn his administration took on Israel policy, moving the embassy to Jerusalem and quitting the Iran nuclear deal, among other measures.
“There are other people, they’re going to look at his style and look at things he’s said, and question if he is too hot to handle,” Fleischer continued.
Trump in his talk at first stuck to a forward-looking script but toward the end of it could not resist repeating his lies about winning the 2020 election. Asked by RJC chairman Norm Coleman how he would expand the Abraham Accords, the normalization agreements he brokered between Israel and four Arab countries, should he be reelected, Trump instead bemoaned the election.
“Well, we had a very disgraceful election,” he said. “We got many millions of votes more than we had in 2016, as you all know, and the result was a disgrace in my opinion, absolute sham and a disgrace.”
It was one of many only-in-Vegas moments at an event that brings together disparate groups, including young secular Jews from university campuses gawking at the glitter, Orthodox Jews lurking at elevators waiting for someone else to push the button so they can get to their rooms, and Christian politicos and their staffers encountering an intensely Jewish environment for the first time.
“Shabbat starts on Friday night and ends on Saturday night,” one young staffer explained to another as they contemplated a “Shabbat Toilet” sign taped to a urinal. “But doesn’t it flush automatically anyway?” asked the other.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, another presumed 2020 hopeful, was the only speaker to decry violent attacks on Jews.
“When I think about my brothers and sisters in the Jewish community, in New York City being attacked on the streets of New York, it is time to rise up on behalf of those citizens,” he said. “Rise up against those folks spreading antisemitism, hate and racism.” He was also the only speaker to praise a Democrat, Nevada Sen. Jacky Rosen, with whom he has launched an African-American Jewish coalition in the Senate.
A couple of contenders who have separated themselves from Trump said his name out loud — but with disdain.
“Trump was saying that we’d be winning so much we’d get tired of winning,” said Larry Hogan, who is ending a second term as the governor of a Democratic state, Maryland, with high ratings. “Well, I’m sick and tired of our party losing. This election last week, I’m even more sick and tired than I was before. This is the third election in a row that we lost and should have won. I say three strikes and you’re out.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence peppered his speech with fond references to Trump and his refusal to heed experienced personnel who counseled an even-handed Middle East policy, a move that Pence and the RJC both believe paid off.
Yet Pence also appeared to condemn Trump’s boldest rejection of norms, his effort to overturn his 2020 loss, which spurred an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in which Pence’s life was threatened. “The American people must know that our party keeps our oath to the Constitution even when political expediency may suggest that we do otherwise,” Pence said.
One contradiction for those in attendance was the longing for Trump’s combativeness while wanting to shuck themselves of Trump’s baggage.
Typical was Alan Kruglak, a Maryland security systems contractor who said he appreciated the pro-business measures Hogan had introduced in his state but was more interested in a fighter like DeSantis.
“Trump did great things, but I think Trump’s past his time, we need younger blood that is less controversial,” said Kruglak, 68. “Trump needs to hand the baton to somebody younger, and who doesn’t have any baggage associated with them but has the same message of being independent.”
The problem is that insiders said Trump still commands the loyalty of about 30% of the party, and that could be insurmountable in a crowded primary.
Trump, Fleischer said, was inevitable as a finalist but he didn’t have to be inevitable as the nominee.
“If there’s five, six, seven real conservative outsider candidates, Donald Trump will win with a plurality because nobody else will come close,” he said. “If there’s only one or two, it’s a fair fight.”
Who would those one or two be? Fleischer would not say. Among the Republican Jews gathered in Las Vegas, no one would.
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Miracle at 35 Miles Per Hour — How You Can Save a Life
A Torah scroll. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.
I was driving from an event, late for Minyan. “If I just speed a little bit, I might make half of it.” My amazing wife was on the phone, trying to locate a Shul along my route where I could make it, but everything was saying I’d be late.
“It’s for a Mitzvah. All I have to do is speed up a little and I can beat the Waze ETA.”
In the heat of the moment, I had a decision to make. Drive a little faster and make it. Or drive the speed limit and miss an opportunity I can never get back.
And in that instant, the question I’ve been working on popped into my mind:
“What does Hashem want from me, at this moment?”
And the answer was clear. “Dina dMalchusa Dina” — “The law of the land (MUST BE KEPT AS SERIOUSLY) as the Law of Hashem.” (Bava Basra 54b, Teshuvos Chasam Sofer Yoreh Deah 314, Teshuvos Igros Moshe 2:29).
Driving safe is the Mitzvah I didn’t want to do, but needed to.
Thoughts of a recent WhatsApp chat group I’m a part of flashed through my mind. People warning and behooving and begging each other to be more careful, not to text while driving, not to race down residential neighborhoods, not to take corners too fast. Children have been hit. Lives have been lost. All from well-meaning, good people … doing the wrong thing.
I gritted my teeth and purposely slowed down. The ETA clicked another minute later. “At this point, would I even make it for Shkiayah?”
My wife hung up the phone. I began saying Tehillim (Psalms) and proceeded to do that which is even more holy than saying Tehilliim. I drove within the speed limit.
And then the miracle started to happen.
Green lights opening up.
Waze clicking back a minute, then two.
I pulled into the synagogue parking lot, with 120 seconds to spare. But I wasn’t the only one late. The lot was jammed packed.
“Maybe I can just double park by that hydrant and turn my blinkers on? Or just take the disabled spot, if only for a few minutes?”
“What does Hashem want from me in this moment?”
I drove past both openings and came to the end of the parking lot. And as the clock ticked to 60 seconds left, one solitary car pulled out … in front of me.
I took the spot.
Made it inside the Shul.
And not just davened with a Minyan. But davened with two.
And saw a friend (Yishai H) who spoke with me about the Tzemach Tzedek and the Rebbe. And wished Mazal Tov to a Chattan who just got married. And answered Borchu three times.
But none of that was as holy as driving within the speed limit.
For prayer is not what you say, but how you live your life.
And driving within the speed limit, saves lives.
“…and for Your miracles which happen each and every day, with us.”
Levi Y. Welton is a rabbi, stand-up comedian, and Lubavitcher Chossid. He can be reached at rabbiwelton@gmail.com
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Maduro Opponent Machado Vows to Return to Venezuela, Wants an Election
A person holds up an image depicting Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, as people celebrate after the US struck Venezuela and captured its President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, in Santiago, Chile. Jan. 3, 2026. Photo: REUTERS/Pablo Sanhueza
Venezuela‘s main opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, has vowed to return home quickly, praising US President Donald Trump for toppling her enemy Nicolas Maduro and declaring her movement ready to win a free election.
Trump appears, however, to hope for now to work with interim President Delcy Rodriguez and other senior officials from Maduro‘s government, disappointing the opposition and contributing to nervousness in Venezuela.
“I’m planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible,” said Machado, 58, who escaped from Venezuela in disguise in October to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, which she dedicated to Trump.
“We believe that this transition should move forward,” she told Fox News’ “Hannity” program. “In free and fair elections, we will win over 90% of the votes.”
Trump has said the US needs to help address Venezuela‘s problems before an election, calling a 30-day timeline unrealistic. “We have to fix the country first … There’s no way the people could even vote,” Trump told NBC.
SOCIALIST PARTY LOYALISTS STILL CONTROL VENEZUELA
In the interview late on Monday, her first since Maduro was captured in Caracas by US commandos, Machado did not give her location or more details on returning to Venezuela, where loyalists of Maduro‘s Socialist Party remain in power, and Machado is under investigation for inciting insurrection in the military.
To the dismay of the large diaspora – one in five Venezuelans left during an economic implosion – Trump has said Machado lacks support. The opposition, some international observers and many US allies say Machado‘s movement was cheated of victory in the 2024 election, from which Machado was banned and an ally stood instead.
The daughter of a left-wing guerrilla fighter, Rodriguez is a diehard Maduro ally who has denounced his “kidnapping” while also calling for respectful relations and cooperation with Washington.
“Delcy Rodriguez, as you know, is one of the main architects of torture, persecution, corruption, narco-trafficking,” Machado said, noting Rodriguez’s liaison role with allies Russia, China, and Iran.
PRAISE AND THANKS FOR TRUMP
Machado, who has galvanized an often fractured and demoralized opposition in recent years, said she would personally give Trump the Nobel Prize.
“Jan. 3 will go down in history as the day justice defeated a tyranny,” she said of Saturday’s raid.
She thanked Trump for “his courageous vision, the historical actions he has taken against this narco-terrorist regime.”
With the world’s largest oil reserves and the US as its main ally, Venezuela would become the energy hub of the Americas, restore the rule of law, open markets and bring home exiles, Machado said.
Trump has, however, been told by the CIA that Rodriguez and other senior officials from Maduro‘s government are the best bet to maintain stability, sources said.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has been on the streets patrolling with security forces.
“Always loyal, never traitors. Doubt is betrayal!” they chanted in one of several overnight social media posts by the Venezuelan government.
Authorities have ordered the arrest of anyone who collaborated with the seizure of Maduro. The government has not given a number for those killed in the US operation, but the army posted a list of 23 names of its dead.
Fourteen media workers were briefly detained covering events in Caracas on Monday, and shots were fired on Monday night into the sky above the city, which a Venezuelan official said came from police to deter unauthorized drones.
“There was no confrontation, the entire country remains completely calm,” Vice Minister of Communications Simon Arrechider told reporters.
With nearly 900 political prisoners behind bars, according to a leading local rights group, Machado‘s Vente Venezuela movement demanded on Monday that they be released immediately as a first step toward restoring democracy.
MADURO PLEADS NOT GUILTY
Maduro, 63, pleaded not guilty on Monday to narcotics charges. He said he was a “decent man” and still president of Venezuela, while standing in a Manhattan court shackled at the ankles and wearing orange and beige prison garb.
He has long denied cocaine-trafficking allegations, saying they were a mask for imperialist designs on oil.
Venezuela‘s Attorney General Tarek Saab called on Tuesday for the US judge overseeing Maduro‘s case to recognize what he said was a lack of US jurisdiction and Maduro‘s immunity from prosecution as a head of state. Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, should be freed unconditionally immediately, Saab said to reporters.
Venezuela has about 303 billion barrels in reserves of mostly hard-to-extract heavy oil. But the sector has long been in decline from mismanagement, underinvestment, and US sanctions. Production averaged 1.1 million barrels per day last year, a third of its output in the 1970s and much less than producers such as the United States, Saudi Arabia, and Russia.
With the US imposing an embargo, Venezuela‘s main oil ports entered their fifth day on Tuesday without delivering crude for state-run PDVSA’s main buyers in Asia. Venezuela‘s bonds extended a rally on investor optimism over a post-Maduro future.
WORRIED WORLD
Rodriguez, Venezuela‘s first female head of state, has wavered between angry defiance and potential cooperation with Trump. He has threatened another strike if her government displeases him.
According to the Politico news site, US officials have told Rodriguez they want to see a crackdown on drug flows, the departure of Iranian, Cuban, and other operatives hostile to Washington, and an end to oil sales to US adversaries.
They also expect her to eventually facilitate a free vote and stand down, Politico said, quoting a US official and another person familiar with internal Trump administration discussions.
Trump’s actions, the biggest US intervention in Latin America since the 1989 invasion of Panama, have brought condemnation from Russia, China, and Venezuela‘s leftist allies.
Allies of the United States have urged adherence to international law.
“It sends a signal that the powerful can do whatever they like,” the UN human rights office said in the latest expression of international concern.
Trump has said the US is now in charge of Venezuela and will help revive its oil industry with the help of private companies.
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Israel Approves Upgrade to 4G Mobile Services to Palestinians in West Bank
Women look at a mobile phone screen in Ramallah, in the West Bank, Jan. 20, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
Israel has approved an upgrade to fourth-generation (4G) mobile services for Palestinians in the West Bank, the Israeli Communications Ministry said on Tuesday.
The ministry said the two Palestinian mobile operators – Jawwal and Ooredoo – and Swedish infrastructure firm Ericsson signed management agreements that were approved by Israel on Sunday.
Palestinian cellular providers launched high-speed data services in the West Bank based on 3G in 2018, narrowing a technological gap with Israel after a lengthy Israeli ban on the operation of local 3G networks.
The ministry said its approval came as part of a 2022 framework deal between Israel and the Palestinian Authority aimed at allowing 4G and 5G cellular technologies. The agreement was delayed by the Gaza war, according to Israeli media, which also said the process to upgrade to 4G would take up to six months.
The Palestinian providers compete with Israeli cellular firms, which operate faster on much faster 5G mobile frequencies.
Israel is in the process of shutting down older 2G and 3G technologies and has advised the public to equip themselves with devices that support 4G and 5G.
In Gaza, however, only 2G networks are available. The Palestinian terrorist group Hamas, which openly seeks Israel’s destruction, has ruled Gaza for nearly two decades.