For the signees, this was a deeply personal decision. “At this point, watching the genocide unfold, you realize that this is a moment where you will look back on where you were when it started to happen and ask if you did something about it,” one signee, a current administration official, said. “Looking back at other analogous moments in time, it’s important to take action now, even if it can be undone. We need to arc towards peace.”
The former administration official concurred. “When you look at history, whether it was the treatment of the Native Americans, civil rights for Black Americans, apartheid in South Africa—these weren’t solved in a year or two or a hundred or sometimes 400,” they said. “But if at any point, even after 200 years, someone [decided progress wasn’t being made and] gave up, we wouldn’t be here.”
For the signees, Trump’s victory also crystallized another important factor in their decision to release the letter. When he takes office on January 20, he will quickly undo most of the current administration’s policies. The president’s domestic legacy—one of full employment and strong economic growth with an emphasis on building manufacturing and strengthening the working and middle classes—will be ripped up more or less immediately. Gaza is what will remain.
