We are now in the “Presidential Transition” period leading to Inauguration Day on January 20, 2025. President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect J.D. Vance are not wasting any time. Virtually every day brings new cabinet and White House staff appointments. The policy priorities of the new administration are now being made clearer. Millions of Christians, Catholics, and Jews voted for Trump-Vance. Early signals from the incoming team are encouraging.
Not surprising is the overwhelmingly negative media coverage of the transition. Don’t forget, this is the same media whose biased reporting during the campaign was horrendous. In many cases, they outright lied about Trump’s agenda and distorted what he said. They should lose whatever credibility they still have. Among the worst was MSNBC, whose viewership has collapsed in recent weeks. We don’t take seriously the media criticism of the incoming president, and we urge you to ignore it, too.
We like what we see so far. For example, Trump promised to restore the close alliance between the US and Israel, which had frayed under Biden-Harris. The president-elect and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have already talked by phone three times about how to bring peace to the Middle East and safeguard Israel’s security. Our friend Mike Huckabee, former Arkansas governor, is the new US ambassador to Israel. His pro-Israel record is second to none.
After the unprovoked October 7, 2023 Hamas attack on Israel, raw anti-Semitic rhetoric and violence broke out in American cities and on our university campuses. Trump sharply criticized the explosion of hatred and the failure of the Biden administration to address it; Trump promised to confront the haters. As a first step, he named Congresswoman Elise Stefanik our UN ambassador. Stefanik is a leading congressional critic of universities that fail to protect Jewish students. In hearings, her blistering questioning of the presidents of Ivy League universities led several to resign.
Trump has reiterated his promise that schools not investigating, preventing, and punishing anti-Semitic activity on campuses will be charged with violating civil rights laws. He is open to removing federal funding from such schools.
On the domestic front, Trump has restated his plans to reform US education by implementing the agenda he outlined in a video during the campaign. He is weighing significant cuts in the bureaucracy at the Department of Education, including abolishing it. The department’s budget has exploded from $17 billion in the 1980s to over a current $220 billion while test scores for US students have declined. Big government has proven not to be the answer, and reform is coming!
JDFI is pro-marriage between a man and a woman and pro-life. We reject the transgender ideology that has harmed so many vulnerable American children. The Trump team is already finding qualified men and women to fill what could be hundreds of judicial appointments in his second term. Those judges will help Trump defend the sanctity of life, religious liberty, and the freedom of religion.
We do have one warning! Christians must not conclude that their work is done. The battle to save and preserve our country as “one nation under God” will continue to rage. We urge you to pray for the safety of President-elect Trump and his team. We also implore pastors and church leaders to boldly lead their flocks into the public square and stand firm for faith, family, and freedom.