The Short Vort by Rabbi Eisenman

This is not a story about politics.

In fact, the players in this story are just props who appear on stage in a production scripted by the master playwriter Himself.

In today's news, I noticed the following few lines about the goings-on in Washington this morning:

Biden and Trump to Meet, Honoring a Tradition

The president was scheduled to host his successor at the White House.

President-elect Trump is expected to land at Joint Base Andrews this morning.

It will be his first time there since his (Mr. Trump) departure on the morning of January 20, 2021, the day President Biden took office.

At the time, it seemed like it would be his final ride on Air Force One.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/11/13/us/trump-news

As I read the article, it occurred to me that when the writer wrote the words, "At the time, it seemed like it would be his (reference to Mr. Trump) final ride on Air Force One," the reporter was writing what appeared to them and millions of other people all over the world, to be a simple and undebatable truth.

Namely, there was widespread "Emunah Sheleima" (complete belief) that the last person ever expected to be elected again to the most powerful position in the world would be Donald J. Trump.

Mr. Trump's chances at reclaiming the White House seemed to millions as fantastical and ridiculously absurd as the years passed.

Just a few weeks after leaving the Oval Office on February 9, 2021, Mr. Trump was tried in the Senate for the second on charges of incitement of insurrection - during the "Second impeachment of Donald Trump."

Yet, Mr. Trump's legal woes were only beginning.

No American president or former president had ever been indicted for a crime during the first 234 years of the nation's history.

That changed in 2023.

Over five months, former President Donald Trump was charged in four criminal cases.

The indictments accused him of criminal conduct before, during, and after his presidency.

On May 30, 2024, Trump became the first U.S. president to become a convicted felon.

Yet, his troubles were not limited to the court of law.

There have, however, been four publicly confirmed assassination attempts on Mr. Trump's life.

These are cases where law enforcement was able to verify that the intent of the culprit was to kill Mr. Trump.

Adding to these doubts was the fact that Mr. Trump himself seemed to reduce his own chances of reclaiming the president by claiming what seemed to most as fantastical and outright delusional.

During his debate with his political opponent, he made the unverified and, to many, outlandish claim that "In Springfield, they're eating the dogs. The people that came in, they're eating the cats. They're eating—they're eating the pets of the people that live there."

Yet, on Election night, Mr. Trump trounced Ms. Harris.

There was no "nail-bitter," no "too-close-to-call" result; indeed, there was no doubt.

And there was no doubt before the clock struck midnight.

Ms. Harris would ultimately lose all the "swing states," taking only 19 out of 50 states, compared to Mr. Trump, who won 31.

Mr. Trump even won -surprising even to many supporters- the popular vote by two percentage points, which was certainly unexpected by many.

Why do I write these words?

Is it to glorify or revel in Mr. Trump's victory?

Not necessarily; I, along with so many others, are hopeful that the new administration will be more inclined to side with interests we hold near and dear; yet, it's still only potential and too early to celebrate.

So what, then, is the purpose of the message?

Is it to inform you not to take the "mainstream media" as "truth"?

You probably know that already and did not need me to tell you that information.

Rather, I write these words for a completely different reason.

Often, we may fall into a state of doubt regarding the promises of the Torah regarding the eventual arrival and coronation of Melech HaMashiach, and we may privately wonder how the Jewish people here, and especially in Israel, will be able to emerge from the current crisis.

Israel is at war.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise.

There are pograms in Europe.

Jews are shot in Chicago, and the list goes on.

Yet, we must learn from the current events to strengthen our Emunah.

So many millions of people were sure and convinced that the last person to be elected president of this country in 2024 would be Mr. Trump.

Indeed, a bullet came within an inch of ending his life.

Yet, Hashem had other plans.

Hashem had other thoughts.

The political pundits are now quick to offer rational and believable reasons for Mr. Trump's success.

However, those same pundits were the ones who would have sworn in 2021 that Mr. Trump would be relocated to the dustbin of history, never to be heard of again.

His legacy would be one of a has-been crooked politician whose first term was a fluke never to be replicated.

Alas, Hashem had other plans.

I know the situation in Eretz Yisroel is a difficult one.

I know anti-Semitism is on the rise.

However, I also know that the unexpected never means the impossible in Hashem's world.

May He show us His kindness with the arrival of the true King speedily and in our days.