As Trump targets Zelenskyy, a frightening reminder of taxes Nazis and Romans levied on Jews

In siding with Putin, Trump and Vance recall the way in which autocrats have further victimized victims

At a carnival parade in Dusseldorf, Germany, a float depicts Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin crushing Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Photo by Getty Images

Aviya Kushner March 4, 2025

As I watched President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance gang up on Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy, I could not help thinking about Jewish history. This was a classic case of the victim treated as aggressor, filmed in real time.

Once victims are painted as those who must pay the price for their own torment, Jewish history tells us that the moral and ethical consequences are limitless. So, too, are the financial consequences. As the stock market craters and commentators breathlessly observe the behavior of American leadership, it’s worth thinking about victims, aggressors, and how Jewish history intertwines with world history.

Consider Kristallnacht, after which Jews were ordered to pay a 1 billion Reichsmark “atonement tax” to the Nazis, whose aggression against Jews foreshadowed a broader aggression against all of Europe.

That atonement tax is what came to mind as I watched Trump essentially asking Zelenskyy to atone for the attempted destruction of his country. He wanted payback for America’s help in defense costs, and the proposed mineral deal isn’t that far from such a tax either.

Antiquity offers another example of this old, sinister strategy of asking victims to pay for being victimized. Turns out, that’s the emperors’ way. After the destruction of Jerusalem and the Second Temple in 70 CE, the Romans — the aggressors — leveled the fiscus Iudaicus or fiscus Judaicus (Latin for “Jewish tax”) on Jews in the Roman Empire. That new tax was used for the reconstruction of the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus in Rome.

And, for those wondering where all the new federal funds will go, now that the government is no longer funding medical-device supervision, meteorology, or much of the IRS, and how long the insanity will last, the Roman tax continued after the Temple of Jupiter Optimus Maximus was rebuilt — taxing the Jews remained as part of the way Romans financed their activities.

The glee and the disgust

What has pained me most about the current state of affairs is the way many ordinary citizens — some currently or formerly in leadership positions — have worshipped aggressors and disrespected their victims, taking glee at their misfortune.

The “Holocaust by bullets” — which killed one of four Jews in present-day Ukraine — included many local celebrations after Jews in a given area were slaughtered. On July 11, 1941, Jews were shot in remote areas, according to the National WWII Museum, “to shield local residents from the sights and sounds of mass murder.” These murders were followed by “evenings of camaraderie” featuring food, music and revelry.

To me, these “evenings of camaraderie” sound like both a reminder of the present-day grotesque Hamas hostage handovers and a harbinger of what will surely happen if the United States backs aggressors like Putin and celebrates thugs who grab land and lives.

In this low moment, it’s certainly easy to focus on the feeling of sheer disgust, as the leaders of the free world behave like thugs on live television for the world to see. The revolting insistence on gratitude when Ukrainians have lost lives, limbs and homes fighting to repel Vladimir Putin’s soldiers attacking their country is frankly reminiscent of the behavior of mob bosses, bullies and narcissists.

“I was nauseated, just nauseated,” New York Times columnist David Brooks told Amna Nawaz of the PBS NewsHour. “What I have seen over the last six weeks is the United States behaving vilely, vilely to our friends in Canada and Mexico, vilely to our friends in Europe.”

“Donald Trump believes in one thing. He believes that might makes right. And, in that, he agrees with Vladimir Putin that they are birds of a feather. And he and Vladimir Putin together are trying to create a world that’s safe for gangsters, where ruthless people can thrive,” Brooks said. “It’s a moral injury to see the country you love behave in this way.”

Should we worry about Israel?

Ukraine is home to the fourth-largest Jewish community in Europe and the 11th largest in the world, according to the World Jewish Congress. The 45,000 Jews there remain in great danger, as do all Ukrainians, if Putin is allowed to have a sway over their fates.

And of course — and it terrifies me to even write this — it’s hard to watch Trump turn on Ukraine and leave it defenseless without thinking of Israel, without thinking “Israel could be next.”

Can Israel depend on Trump’s favor, as a growing number of Jewish voters insist? Or is this man just out for himself — and Putin?

Despite all the loud campus protests and social media screaming about “genocide,” Israel remains a small country surrounded by hostile neighbors who want to destroy it. With instability in neighboring Syria and Lebanon, Hamas still ruling Gaza, holding and starving hostages, and directing terrorist attacks within Israel, and a ticking time bomb in Iran, Israel needs loyal friends, not fickle ones who insist on obedience like the dictators and emperors of the past.

Aviya Kushner is the Forward’s language columnist and the author of Wolf Lamb Bomb and The Grammar of God.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Forward. Discover more perspectives in Opinion. To contact Opinion authors, email [email protected].

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