Flaming out

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Hanukkah is the festival of lights, but for me it often comes with a certain melancholy. Sure we’re celebrating a miracle—defeating overwhelming darkness, the triumph of the human spirit—yet as the candles burn down each of the eight nights, it can feel like we’re chasing light rather than basking in it. 

On Sunday a group of Jewish people gathered at Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia to chase the light during these continually dark times, only to be chased by bullets. Deadly gunfire rained down upon them by hateful, violent people who didn’t want to just extinguish their flames, but extinguish their existence. At least 15 people were killed. Before the sun even set on the first night of Hanukkah in the western hemisphere, the darkness was winning. 

The Bondi Beach antisemitic shooting massacre wasn’t the only mass shooting of the weekend: A gunman entered a building on the campus of Brown University, killing two students and injuring nine others. The suspect remains at large. And Sunday evening we learned Hollywood legend Rob Reiner and his wife Michele were found dead in their home, and their son Nick is in custody as the prime suspect. At the end of a year blighted by heavy, awful news, the weight of this amalgamation felt intolerable. 

Trump managed to respond somewhat appropriately to the Bondi Beach massacre, calling it a “terrible attack” that was “antisemitic.” But with the other two tragedies, he flagrantly failed. 

In response to the shooting at Brown, Trump said "Things can happen.” And Monday morning, after the world learned the previous evening of Rob and Michele Reiner’s killing, he posted a screed on Truth Social that was abhorrent, even by his own standards. Trump wrote that Reiner’s killing was “reportedly due to the anger he caused others through his massive, unyielding, and incurable affliction with a mind crippling disease known as TRUMP DERANGEMENT SYNDROME,” shorthand for decent people outraged by his policies and behavior. “He was known to have driven people CRAZY by his raging obsession of President Donald J. Trump,” Trump continued, implying Reiner’s killing was politically motivated—an obvious lie and a dangerous one. 

Trump’s response to Rob and Michele Reiner’s deaths proved to be too much for even his most fervent supporters. “This statement is wrong,” Republican Congressman Mike Lawler posted on X. “Regardless of one's political views, no one should be subjected to violence, let alone at the hands of their own son. It's a horrible tragedy that should engender sympathy and compassion from everyone in our country, period.”

Former ESPN host-turned-conservative religious YouTube show host Sage Steele wrote of Trump’s screed, “This tweet is so disappointing.  And so unnecessary.  It’s comments like this that take away from the countless great things @realDonaldTrump does for America.” Seth Dillon, founder of The Babylon Bee (the right’s sad answer to The Onion) posted “This is real, sadly.” An anti-trans activist/swimming loser Riley Gaines wrote on X, “Yikes. Terrible taste here. I hate to see this.” One Fox News analyst called it “gross.”

Why this post—as opposed to literally everything else Trump has ever said—was the thing to set off the GOP faithful is unclear. They’ll likely forget all about it by tomorrow. But it is interesting to see that cracks can and do exist, evidenced by a recent poll that showed him with a 36% approval rating. In fact, he’s suffered a string of losses as of late. Trump’s Department of Justice failed to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James for the third time last week; Indiana state legislators refused to vote in favor a gerrymandered redistricting map, despite intense pressure and threats from Trump and his allies; Kilmar Abrego Garcia was released from federal detention, despite the administration’s intense efforts to keep him there; and a slew of damning evidence put Trump’s military bombing of foreign ships in a horrifying new light. 

The horrors of the past few days were vibrant and searing, and Trump’s subsequent response made it that much worse. But signs of light can be found around so many corners. For example, people across the country are organizing to stop ICE from invading our communities. I attended a training in Brooklyn last weekend with approximately 1,000 other New Yorkers where we learned strategies for resisting ICE and protecting the people they seek to hurt. Whistles were given out as favors. It was inspiring and electric. 

If we can salvage one bit of light from this moment—maybe even just a spark—it’s that while Trump’s rule is punishing, it is not impenetrable. We can extinguish his hate by being the light.

Wishing a very Happy Hanukkah to all who celebrate. I hope you experience miracles, big and small .

Quick note: On Monday, Trump signed an executive order “designating fentanyl as a weapon of mass destruction.” If that sounds familiar, it’s because The Handbasket first had the scoop back in March! A State Department source speculated to me at the time that the purpose of making fentanyl a WMD "is a combination of designating fentanyl cartels as terrorist organizations and creating justification for conducting military operations in Mexico and Canada" and "deporting drug users who are not citizens."

Evidently it took some months to see the light of the day, but my earlier reporting has been validated. I’m working on getting more information about the implications and implementation of this order and will hopefully have more soon.