US Elections: Present Presidential Candidates and Jewish Input? Anecdote Concerning Donald Trump (7 March 2016, 27 Adar-A, 5776)
Contents:
1. The Coming Elections
 A. Democrats:
2. Bernie Sanders
3. Hillary Clinton
4. Chelsea Clinton
B. Republicans:
5. Contestants
6. Donald Trump
7. Ivanka Trump
8. The Colel Student
9. Anecdote Concerning Trump or Urban Legend?
10. Addenda. More on Trump
Eric Trump and his Jewish Wife; Conflicting meanings of the name "Trump;" Etymology of Trump; Definition of "trump;" Ancestors
1. The Coming Elections
The United States presidential election of 2016, is scheduled for Tuesday, November 8, 2016.
The election will probably be mainly between the Candidates of the Democratic and Republican Parties.
It is not certain who the nominees will be but here are a few notes concerning who at present seem the most likley.
On the Democratic side we have Bernie Sanders versus Hillary Clinton.
A. Democrats:
2. Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders (b.1941) now appears unlikely to be nominated. Sanders is an old-time Democratic Socialist type following the Scandinavian model. His parents were Jews from Eastern Europe (father) or the their children (mother). Bernie often mentions his Jewish origins as do descriptions about him. Bernie however is not noted for support of Israel, on the contrary.
 Sanders keeps a few of the commandments and traditions in an almost furtive manner. He has one biological son, Levi Sanders, who appears to be Jewish.
In 1988,Sanders married Jane O'Meara and gained three step-children. The O'Meara family appears to be religiously Irish Catholic.
Sanders has frequently expressed admiration for Pope Francis, Â
Despite intense Jew-hatred from white and colored extremists it appears that some of the support for Sanders emanates from him being Jewish and looking it. This hold despite in practice Sander not having much of his Jewishness left.
It appears that many Gentiles in the USA actually like Jews and have a predilection for choosing professionals who are Jewish.
3. Hillary Clinton
Hillary Clinton is the wife of former President Bill Clinton who is probably of Irish descent. As President, Bill was genuinely favorable towards Israel. Hillary has a checkered record on this matter and is suspected of being far too pro-Palestinian.
Hillary is mainly of Welsh and English descent with a bit of Scottish and French-Canadian thrown in somewhere. Her father held somewhat extreme right-wing views. Hillary has been identified with the Obama administration and is understood to hold similar progressive views to those of Obama.
4. Chelsea Clinton
The Clintons have one child together, Chelsea Clinton (b. 1980). Chelsea keeps a low profile but comes across well, media wise. Publicly, she has a wholesome image.
On July 31, 2010, Chelsea Clinton and investment banker Marc Mezvinsky were married in an interfaith ceremony. Mezvinsky was raised in the Conservative Jewish tradition. The couple have one daughter with another child on
the way.
B. Republicans:
5. Contestants
The Republican candidate will be probably be one of the following:
Ted Cruz is half Hispanic Cuban and half Irish with a little Italian.
John Kasish had a father of Czech descent and a mother of Croatian origin. He is a Roman Catholic.
Marco Rubio is of Cuban descent.
Donald J. Trump is the most likely contester.
6. Donald Trump
Donald Trump is of German ancestry. Donald Trump is concerned pro-Jewish and pro-Israel BUT his mannerisms are aggressive and there is a certain degree of unpredictability about him. This makes some Jews wary as to how to relate to his candidateship.
7. Ivanka Trump
Donald has a daughter, Ivanka, who is considered to have an important influence on him. Trump has quite a few children but Ivanka so far has been the most prominent in his campaigning. She is a Media personality in her own right.
The mother of Ivanka comes from Slovakia. The two former boyfriends of Ivanka seem to have been Jewish. Ivanka converted to Judaism and married Jared Kushner in 2009. They have two children and are expecting another one. Jared Kushner learned in a modern type of yeshiva. The couple appears to live the life of Modern Orthodox Jews. Their children are Jewish. Donald seems proud of the fact that his daughter and grandchildren are Jewish. He almost tries to capitalize on it.
This bring us to the following anecdote.
8. The Colel Student
Married yeshiva student often learn in a "Colel". This is an arrangement for married Rabbinical students. They learn full-time but live at home with their wives and family. They receive some support from the government (e.g. Social Security in the USA?), and a little from the Colel administration. Their wives might work. Additional support may come from parents or close relations or other sponsors. As the family grows Colel members may go out to work, start a business, or accept a Rabbinical or teaching position. Others keep learning. From this arrangement come the geniuses. It is well known that it is not the best and brightest who become intellectual luminaries in the Torah world but rather the ones who work at it.
The story goes that a Colel student was driving to his place of learning when he noticed someone in distress at the side of road. He stopped and helped the person fix his vehicle. This took quite a while and some effort. The person offered to pay the student but he refused. He did however say that since he had used up so much of his time he was running late and would not be able, as he had planned, to send flowers to his wife on the occasion of their anniversary. He asked if the driver by way of payment would send the flowers in his stead and left his address.
The evening when he returned home he asked his wife if anything had been delivered to the house. She said it had not.
The next day he received a bouquet of roses with an attached note.
It went something like this.
# Sorry for the delay. Here are the roses you asked for.
I checked up on you. I know you are a Colel student and not wealthy.
It may interest you to know that the entire mortgage on your house has been paid for.
Donald Trump. #
9. Anecdote Concerning Trump or Urban Legend?
I heard the above story more than 15 years ago from a guest in the home of Rabbi Mordecai Machles in Jerusalem. Most of the guests were Americans. I had never heard of D. J. Trump before then but everybody else seems to have done so.
I do not know if the story is true. On the one hand it sounds illogical. On the other hand it seems typical.
It shows that stories of the contributions and positive attitudes to Jews of Donald Trump circulated long before he was ever considered a Presidential Candidate.
Time will tell.
10. Addenda (20 June 2016, 14 Sivan, 5776)
More on Trump
Eric Trump and his Jewish Wife
We mentioned Ivanka trump converting to orthodox Judaism a fact that is often emphasized. Ivanka has a full brother named Eric Trump who is also a prominent in the family business and political activities.
In 2014 Eric married Lara Yunaska. The wedding took place under crystal covered chuppa i.e. Jewish wedding canopy. The bride appears to be Jewish.
Conflicting meanings of the name "Trump"
Etymology of Trump
http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=trump
trump (n.1)
"playing card of a suit ranking above others," 1520s, alteration of triumph (n.), which also was the name of a card game.
trump (v.2)
"fabricate, devise," 1690s, from trump "deceive, cheat" (1510s), from Middle English trumpen (late 14c.), from Old French tromper "to deceive," of uncertain origin. Apparently from se tromper de "to mock," from Old French tromper "to blow a trumpet." Brachet explains this as "to play the horn, alluding to quacks and mountebanks, who attracted the public by blowing a horn, and then cheated them into buying ...."Â
Definition of "trump"
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/trump
1a : a card of a suit any of whose cards will win over a card that is not of this suit, called also trump card  b : the suit whose cards are trumps for a particular hand, often used in plural
2:Â a decisive overriding factor or final resource, called also trump card
3:Â a dependable and exemplary person
Ancestors
http://genealogy.about.com/od/famous_family_trees/p/trump.htm
Grandfather
Friederich (Fred) TRUMP was born on 14 Mar 1869 in Kallstadt, Pfalz, Germany. He immigrated in 1885 to United States from Hamburg aboard the ship "Eider" and became a U.S. citizen in 1892 in Seattle, Washington. He died of influenza on 30 Mar 1918 in New York City, New York.
Father
Frederick Christ (Fred) TRUMP was born on 11 Oct 1905 in Woodhaven, Queens, New York. He died of pneumonia on 25 Jun 1999 at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, New York.
Mother:
 Mary Anne MACLEOD was born on 10 May 1912 in Isle of Lewis, Scotland.
 She died on 7 Aug 2000 at Long Island Jewish Medical Center, New Hyde Park, NY.