Music

Barbra Streisand was the marquee star on Thursday night’s (Aug. 15) Jewish Women For Kamala online Zoom rally in support of the presumptive democratic presidential ticket. The latest in a series of similar digital rallies that have brought together white dudes, Deadheads, Swifties, Black men and women and several other niche voting demos drew more than 16,000 attendees according to organizers, many, no doubt, tuning in to hear what the Oscar-winning legend had to say about Vice President Kamala Harris and her VP pick, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“It’s been said that Jewish women are known to speak out and tell you what they think and I’m one of them,” said Streisand, seated in a bespoke library. “I’m so tired of hearing [former President Donald] Trump put down America, saying ‘Make America Great Again’ because America has been great since 1776. And it’s still great in 2024.”

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Streisand said she’s supporting Harris/Walz because she wants a president who believes we can “do anything if we work together.” She praised the democratic ticket for bringing a new sense of “optimism, energy and excitement” to the campaign since Harris stepped in for President Biden more than two weeks ago in an unprecedented switch at the top of the ticket with less than 100 days to go in the neck-and-neck race.

The singer called Harris a “terrific combination of both compassion and strength, a joyful warrior who will fight for the values that so many of us hold dear.” She went on to praise the Vice President for being a consistent advocate for programs that support gender equality, social justice and voting rights, while noting that in a recent appearance at a rally with evangelical voters Trump promised that if they voted for him just this one time, “you don’t have to vote again,” a line some took as the latest attempt from the former one-term president to erode democratic norms.

“Can you imagine?” Streisand said. “In contrast, Kamala Harris understands just what a privilege it is to be able to vote! And her commitment to health care, Social Security, education and to combatting climate change are the policies of someone who cares about the future of our country, our children and our planet… and not just the profits from big oil.”

Streisand noted that women are nurturers who take care of others and can think “beyond themselves,” while tagging Trump as someone who cares “only about himself” while insulting “any woman who questions him” by calling them “nasty.”

“I don’t think he even respects women,” Streisand said as a pivot to Trump’s appointment of several conservative Supreme Court justices who erased half a century of precedent by overturning Roe v. Wade. “I don’t know of any equivalent law giving the government control over men’s bodies,” she said of the decision that eliminated the federal right to abortion.

“Clearly in some people’s eyes women don’t count… oh but we will in November when they count the votes!,” she added with a sly smile before doing the most Barbra thing possible and taking a brief pause to sip of water from a flowered tea mug through a straw before leaning into Trump’s VP pick, Sen. JD Vance. She lambasted the first-term Ohio native for what she said are his stances that “women should stay at home,” as well as her description of what she said said was his belief that women’s careers are to blame for the nation’s “moral decline.”

“But Vance’s moral compass seems off, because he sees nothing wrong with his running mate — a convicted felon who talks about law and order — but doesn’t think it applies to him,” she said of Trump, who in addition to his 34 felony convictions in New York in his porn star hush money trial, is facing at least three other major court cases tied to his hoarding of government documents at his Florida residence and federal election interference tied to his attempt to results of the 2020 election he lost to President Biden.

She warned that Trump and Vance had given a preview of what they have in mind via their embrace of the Project 2025 blueprint from the ultra-conservative Heritage Foundation, a document that seeks to replace thousands of non-partisan federal workers with political appointees loyal to Trump while injecting conservative Christian values into government as well as eliminating the Department of Education and the Head Start program for young children living in poverty. Calling it a “naked grab for power… a blueprint for a dictatorship,” Streisand said the 900-page document is full of things that should be alarming to anyone who cherishes the Constitution.

Trump has claimed he has “nothing to do” with the controversial Project 2025, despite Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts telling the Washington Post that he personally briefed the former president on it, as well as recent hidden camera footage in which one of the document’s co-authors talked extensively about his work behind-the-scenes to prepare policy for a potential second Trump administration.

Decrying the use of “fear and hate” to pit people against each other, Streisand described great presidents such as Washington, Lincoln and Jefferson working to bring Americans together and change the world. “This is how we make progress, not with hateful, divisive leadership,” she said, praising Harris’ compassion “for all human beings,” while criticizing Trump for what she said was his lack of “intelligence, judgement and heart.”

“Our society will flourish with a smart, experienced woman,” Streisand said in conclusion to her two-plus minute endorsement. “Who will defend our rights and send Trump back to where he belongs… in his golf cart, lying about his scores.”

Check out Streisand on the Jewish Women for Kamala call below.

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