Bob Schwartz

Eight years ago, in the first weeks of the first Trump term, I posted this:

Dystopian Novels? Forget 1984. Read The Plot Against America: A Novel.

Here in the first year of the second term, I repeat the suggestion to read Philip Roth’s 2004 novel, and add that the HBO series based on the book is also worthy.

The story imagines the election of Charles Lindbergh, aviator hero, as President of the United States in 1940. Lindbergh and his followers are isolationists, and so keep America out of World War II. Lindbergh and his followers are friends of Nazi Germany and are themselves nationalists and fascists. The isolationism, the nationalism, and the fascism hold an appeal to many Americans who have tired of New Deal liberalism and of our helping the rest of the world. Some Jews support Lindbergh, ambitiously overlooking the worst, while other Jews are concerned, because his fiercest followers seem to be antisemitic, while Jews in Europe are being slaughtered without American intervention.

Orwell’s 1984 is a vision of what England could become. The Plot Against America is a vision of what America could become, or is becoming.

“By putting the gods at peace, making the serpentine nāgas* tranquil, and keeping everyone happy as best as possible, when your last breath approaches, you will experience the beginning of true happiness, and you will turn your back on misery and travel from light to light, from joy to joy.”

*nāga. A class of serpent-like beings in Buddhist mythology. They are said to live in the underworld and inhabit a watery environment. Frequently considered to be benevolent, they are also believed to act as guardians of hidden texts.

Essential Mind Training – Thupten Jinpa

“Keeping everyone happy as best as possible” seems a perfect and perfectly open expression. Who is everyone? What is possible, under all the circumstances? Why try?

“From light to light, from joy to joy.”

Imagine my surprise at dawn to find a plane heading for the moon. Safe journey! It is a long trip!

When will Trump declare himself supreme and absolute ruler, not subject to Congress, the Supreme Court, the laws and the Constitution?

So far he hasn’t had to expressly declare that, with an acquiescent Republican Congress and a sympathetic Supreme Court. But that could change, a little or a lot.

If there is a change in acquiescence (sycophancy) or a change in sympathy, Trump might feel forced to declare what he already believes.

We have more than hints at his belief. “Trump 2028” is a constitutionally forbidden third term, but is already being promoted. This is not a gray area. If by some outlandish chance the Supreme Court finds a way around the clear prohibition, Trump’s declaration would actually be unnecessary. He would already be in total charge.

But what if, for the sake of argument, the Court rules he cannot run for another term. Or what if dozens of other Trump attempts at defying law and Constitution are stymied by the Congress or the courts. That will be the moment for Trump to declare a national emergency, one that exceeds the powers of Congress or the Courts to address, an emergency only he can solve. That will be the moment Trump declares himself supreme and absolute ruler, not subject to Congress, the Supreme Court, the laws and the Constitution.

For those who still go around using words like “unprecedented” and “unthinkable”, and haven’t yet dropped them from their vocabulary, you might consider doing that.

The International Rescue Committee:

Famine is now a deadly reality in Gaza

Many families are starving, children are wasting away from severe acute malnutrition, and people are dying. Immediate action is not just necessary – it is a moral imperative. All gifts matched to help families in Gaza and conflict zones worldwide.

How to help Gaza as famine unfolds

Yom Kippur is considered the most important day on the Jewish calendar. Just as Easter is considered the most important day on the Christian calendar. Just as the day you get married, the day your child is born, the day you start your new job, are considered very important days.

But when you look back, for example, on Yom Kippur one year later, you may find that the most important day was the day after. After all that soul-searching, confession, commitment to do and be better, what happened next? More to the point, what did you do next, how were you next?

When you descend from the heights, climb out of the depths, and are back on ordinary ground, once again eating the meals you eat every day, that is when the work begins. That is the most important day of the year.

© 2025 by Bob Schwartz

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, begins on Wednesday evening. Al Chet is the long confession recited many times on the holiday. The Hebrew al chet means “for the sin”, followed by a long list of confessed transgressions (“God pardon us, forgive us, atone for us”).

The purpose of the detailed list is to make sure we don’t miss anything. The effect of the long list, no matter how sincere we are, can be to overwhelm us and even make us feel bad about ourselves.

To simplify, within Al Chet is a single confession that ultimately is the most significant and has the greatest chance of not just changing what we do and say but of transforming who we are and will be in the year ahead:

Al chet shechatanu l’fanecha b’hirhur halev
The ways we have wronged you through our innermost thoughts

Buddhism asserts that no matter how properly and appropriately we speak and act, it begins with our mind:

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with an impure mind
And trouble will follow you
As the wheel follows the ox that draws the cart.

We are what we think.
All that we are arises with our thoughts.
With our thoughts we make the world.
Speak or act with a pure mind
And happiness will follow you
As your shadow, unshakable.
How can a troubled mind
Understand the way?

Your worst enemy cannot harm you
As much as your own thoughts, unguarded.

But once mastered,
No one can help you as much,
Not even your father or your mother.

Dhammapada

You may be taking part in Yom Kippur and reciting that long list of confessions. You may be engaging in another practice or incident where you confess, seek atonement, and commit to do better. You might keep in mind that you may do better, speak better and be better when you work to train, transform and master your mind.

Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement, begins on the evening of October 1.

In the Yom Kippur liturgy, God’s compassion is mentioned dozens of times. Implicitly, as we review the year past and commit to the year ahead, we are urged to emulate that compassion.

In the story of the Hebrew Bible, God engages in some actions that don’t seem on their face compassionate. God kills Aaron’s sons Nadav and Abihu for a minor ritual infraction. Moses is denied the outcome he worked his life for, as God taunts him by showing him the promised land he will never be allowed to reach. Job suffers miserably as a result of a bet between God and Satan.

Is God’s version of compassion too esoteric for us to understand? The character Job literally gives up trying to understand God, saying simply “It’s a mystery to me”. Or is conditional compassion the easier way for us, since a more constant and impartial compassion is difficult, going against our reflexive self-important human traits and passions—the very same ones we spend Yom Kippur trying to renounce.

This Yom Kippur, we might think a little less about God’s compassion, and much more about our own.