Abby Schachter: A Foreign Policy Election

This interview is part of Moment’s Jewish Political Voices Project. To learn more about the project, click here. To see our other participants, click here. To see all posts from Abby, click here.

Age: 54
Occupation: Academic program manager at local university
Location: Pittsburgh, PA
Party Registration: Republican
Jewish Denomination: Orthodox
2020 Vote: Donald Trump
Current 2024 Vote: Will support Republican nominee, presumably Trump
Family: Married, four children
News Sources: The Wall Street Journal, i24 News, Real Clear Politics, The New York Times, Tablet, Mosaic, Commentary Blog, Jewish Insider, The Free Press, Jewish News Service

Who are you voting for and why?

I am voting for Donald Trump because this is a consequential foreign policy election.

 What is your greatest hope and fear if Trump is elected?

My greatest hope is for a consistent U.S. policy of maximum pressure on the current jihadist, Islamist Iranian regime—a policy that will lead to the regime’s collapse. My greatest fear? I don’t really have so many fears about Trump being elected.

What is your greatest fear about Kamala Harris being elected?

Some of my fears about Kamala Harris being elected revolve around her lack of experience in foreign policy. Her seeming inability to choose policy positions in the areas she was charged with and to stick to them. So, I would say a lack of experience and then a lack of accountability.

Harris was not strong on foreign policy as a presidential candidate, and she was not selected by President Biden to be his running mate based on her foreign policy credentials. Those were his areas of expertise. She has not done anything, as far as I can tell, to distinguish herself as a foreign policy expert.  and it’s my understanding that she had not attended any national security or foreign policy-type briefings up until the moment she became the Democratic nominee for president.

Which candidate would be better for U.S. policy toward Israel?

Trump. I’m relying on his prior record in terms of Israel, in terms of confronting Iran, in terms of wanting America to project strength and his stated—and then practiced—belief in peace through strength. These give me confidence that a second Trump term will be good for U.S. foreign policy. When it comes to JD Vance, there’s certainly a debate about policy toward Ukraine and Russia, but I don’t see Vance as someone who’s going to compete with the president and assert his own foreign policy.

In terms of the hostages in Gaza, I stick to the position that the only people who should be negotiating are the Israelis. The United States should do everything in its power to tell Hamas, or any foreign entity that takes hostages, that its deep concern is for all of the hostages, of course including the American hostages. And that it’s a top priority to support the Israelis in their negotiations for the return of all the hostages—without conditions.

How concerned are you about antisemitism in the United States?

My concern about antisemitism in America has to do with the fact that if antisemitism succeeds in this country, we don’t have a country. If we look at what happened with Harris’s selection of a vice presidential running mate, the concern I have is that Governor Shapiro has a record of support for Israel that in no way should be a liability. His is a mainstream Democratic pro-Israel position.

 I want there to be two major political parties in the United States that are legitimately pro-Israel, and we don’t have that now. So, my concern over antisemitism has to do with my concerns for America. Antisemitism is a disease, and if it’s allowed to fester, it becomes a malignancy. It destroys every society in which it is allowed to fester.

 I would say that the one silver lining, or one of the very, very few silver linings, that has come out of October 7 is that it is now impossible to look away from antisemitism, which is a core principle of leftism and wokeism. It’s the core principle of intersectionality, of diversity, equity and inclusion. The Jews function in the same way they’ve always functioned; they’re blamed for all of society’s ills. So, the explosion of antisemitism and anti-Americanism on college campuses is a concern, but not because of a sense of fragility on the part of Jews. Too many of our core institutions, such as our universities, have been captured by this ideology. We now see it, and we now know it, and it is incumbent upon all Americans—not just Jewish Americans—to decide to combat this malignancy.

Are you doing anything for the election in terms of poll watching, phone banks, distributing literature, etc.?

There’s an attempt led by the Democratic Socialists for America to get a BDS resolution on the ballot as a referendum measure in the city of Pittsburgh. So right now, my community is fighting very hard to make sure that odious resolution never gets on the ballot. It calls for a complete ban.