
Waltzing to Turtle Bay
Good Friday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we detail Mike Waltz’s ouster yesterday as national security advisor and his nomination to be U.S. ambassador to the U.N., and scoop the hiring of Martin Marks to be the Trump administration’s Jewish liaison. We also report on Democratic National Committee Chairman Ken Martin’s comments at the Jewish Democratic Council of America’s summit yesterday, and report on a call from Sen. Richard Blumenthal for the Trump administration to reverse its recent dismissals of members of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Council. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Zach Witkoff, Josh Radnor and Netta Barzilai.
For less-distracted reading over the weekend, browse this week’s edition of The Weekly Print, a curated print-friendly PDF featuring a selection of recent Jewish Insider and eJewishPhilanthropy stories, including: Bill Cassidy leans in to fight antisemitism as chair of key Senate committee; Songs of the fallen set the tone for Yom HaZikaron in Israel; and ‘The Surge’ continues: JFNA survey finds a third of Jews more engaged now than pre-Oct. 7. Print the latest edition here.
What We’re Watching
- Nuclear talks between Iran and the U.S. that had been expected to take place this weekend in Rome have been postponed. The State Department said the talks had not been confirmed, while Iran said that Tehran and Washington, along with Oman, which is facilitating the talks, had decided to postpone the fourth round of negotiations over “logistical and technical reasons.”
- The McCain Institute’s two-day Sedona Forum kicks off today in Arizona.
- The Zionist Rabbinic Coalition National Conference begins on Sunday in Washington.
- And on the West Coast, the Milken Institute Global Conference kicks off on Sunday in Los Angeles.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’S JOSH KRAUSHAAR
Call it the horseshoe theory in action: The senatorial tag team of Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rand Paul (R-KY), representing the far left and far right of their caucuses, joined forces this week to scuttle bipartisan legislation designed to crack down on campus antisemitism by codifying the widely accepted International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Jewish discrimination into law.
Sanders proposed several “poison pill” amendments to the Antisemitism Awareness Act during a committee meeting — condemnation of the destruction in Gaza, protection for college students’ free speech rights and rights for universities — that received unanimous Democratic support in the committee vote, as well as backing from Paul. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) also voted for two of the Sanders-sponsored amendments. A fourth amendment by Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) opposing deportation and revocation of foreign students’ visas also passed with Paul’s support.
The Antisemitism Awareness Act has long been a major priority for Jewish leaders, especially with discrimination against Jews on the rise, but is facing continued hurdles for passage because of growing antagonism from both parties’ extreme flanks.
The legislation, which passed the House with a substantial 320-vote majority last year, was opposed by only 21 House Republicans and 70 House Democrats, though opposition has grown since then.
Last year, then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) didn’t bring the legislation to the Senate floor for a vote out of concern it would expose divisions over the issue in the party. A number of progressive Democrats oppose the mainstream IHRA definition of antisemitism, arguing the definition is too broad because it considers certain criticisms of Israel to be antisemitic.
On the far right, there was growing discomfort over free speech concerns. Most prominently, a smattering of right-wing Republicans, including Paul, and prominent influencers such as Tucker Carlson raised objections because the IHRA definition tags the claim that Jews killed Jesus as antisemitic. In cooperation with Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who shared similar concerns, the committee added language explicitly specifying that First Amendment protected speech, religion, press, assembly and petition rights are protected under the legislation.
The retreat on what, on paper, should have been an easy political win for both parties is just one small example of the growing influence of the populist, anti-establishment grassroots — fueled by voters increasingly turning to unconventional and unreliable sources for information.
As a result, on issues ranging from hostility to mainstream foreign policy views to distrust of traditional medicine to anger at Wall Street, the far left and far right of both parties are forming alliances of convenience.
Just scan the daily headlines for examples of an upside-down politics: Within the Trump administration, the reassignment of national security adviser Mike Waltz to Turtle Bay and the recent purge of experienced officials on the National Security Council at the recommendation of a far-right conspiracy theorist is backed by an isolationist faction that wants to upend the bipartisan foreign policy consensus. Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks, in a notable warning this week, said anti-Israel views are beginning to seep into the Republican party as part of a “woke right” whose worldview often overlaps with the far left.
Meanwhile, Democratic grassroots’ enthusiasm and excitement for Sanders’ rallies with left-wing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-NY), as moderates struggle to put forward an alternative vision for the party, is a cautionary sign that progressive party activists are still empowered despite the political hole they dug for their party. The fact that Sanders-championed resolutions to block arm sales to Israel received 15 (of 47) Democratic votes in the Senate last month is a sign of how much the party has changed in recent years.
As Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA), a 36-year-old progressive House Democrat, said on CNN Thursday: “There is a new generation of Republicans and Democrats who want to think about some of the things that we have been taking for granted as core tenets of our foreign policy.”
It’s no coincidence that antisemitic views are on the rise within both parties, as a result of this collapse of institutional authority. It shouldn’t be a surprise, then, it’s becoming difficult to pass bipartisan legislation to fight the oldest hatred.
RELOCATING
Trump nominates Mike Waltz as U.N. ambassador

President Donald Trump said on Thursday that he was nominating Mike Waltz, his national security advisor, as ambassador to the United Nations, and removing him from his current role. In the interim, Trump added in a Truth Social post, Secretary of State Marco Rubio will serve as national security advisor while holding his diplomatic role, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Surprise shuffle: The announcement came amid multiple reports that Waltz was expected to be ousted from his role, in the first major shakeup of the administration. His deputy advisor, Alex Wong, a fellow traditional conservative, was also expected to leave the National Security Council, sources told JI. Waltz, a former Florida congressman and Green Beret, has been on precarious footing since he accidentally added a journalist to a non-secure messaging app in which top administration officials discussed sensitive plans for a military operation in Yemen.
Bonus: The Atlantic does a deep dive into Waltz’s brief tenure in the Trump administration, citing the “dysfunction” within the National Security Council that predated the “Signalgate” incident.