Expert in delivering complex transformation programs, coach and mentor. Opinions are my own
Chicago, IL
Joined May 2015
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David Elovic retweeted
Mr. Vice-President,
Please allow me to present a different perspective.
The problem was not the Iran War. It was the cease fire.
If you start a war, you need to win it and finish it – otherwise don’t start it.
This war should have been over six months ago, with the Strait of Hormuz wide open and oil flowing. The second and third tiers of Iranian leadership should have been destroyed, and we should have supported the pro-western forces who could have taken leadership. We stood on the brink of a new, more peaceful Middle East - and then we blinked. We had a chance not only to deny Iran nuclear weapons, but to get rid of the world’s biggest supporter of terrorism.
Instead, we had a cease fire, which was followed by months of will we or won’t we finish the job. Every day was a different message. There still is. Is the war over? Is it about to begin? No one knows. There is confusion and inconsistency.
In June 2025, America was not involved. This was an Israel vs Iran issue.
No one forced the United States to attack Iran then, or in February of 2026. It was a decision made by President Trump. In my opinion, it was the right decision.
Once the decision was made, we should not have stopped until the regime fell. But instead, you negotiated a cease fire that didn’t last, didn’t work and left us in no man’s land, with higher prices and our troops still deployed.
Our troops could have been home, the Navy returned to its bases, a peaceful regime in place , new alliances forged, and gas prices below $3.00 a gallon.
No, Mr. Vice President. It’s not the war. It’s the so-called cease fire.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
David Elovic retweeted
No, Mr. @JDVance.
Your relationship with Israel isn’t why you lost. You lost because of your relationship with the American people.
You lost because you let radical Islamic voices take over your universities, schools and the minds of your youth.
You lost because you let them dictate the narrative on Israel, convince Americans their tax dollars fund Israel while hiding the billions sent to enemies of the United States , from Afghanistan to the Palestinian Authority.
You lost because you allowed anti-American radicalism to flourish in the name of free speech, infiltrate your institutions and poison the next generation.
You chose appeasement over leadership. What was easy over what was right.
You haven’t just lost an election. You lost America.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up.
So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us."
Well, that looks prophetic now. Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.
There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.
But the real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone.
Another pollster—one of the smartest people I know in politics, told me yesterday we’d lose the generic ballot by 13 points. I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were:
1) End the war
2) Focus on cost of living/inflation
3) Put America First
4) Change our relationship to Israel
Our voters showed up. And the above four reasons are why many of them voted for Democrats. This is according to a pollster who nailed the results. While many spent Monday attacking Rachel Campos Duffy for calling for a diplomatic resolution to the conflict, it turns out her political advice was sound. (She’s also a great person.)
In the next few months, there's going to be a lot of gaslighting. Expect to hear any number of establishment politicians say the solution to our woes is amnesty. I'm open to the idea that we should change enforcement—by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance. But anyone pushing amnesty is lying to you.
The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.
If you'd like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.
But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
David Elovic retweeted
I have to say, after years of listening to Democrats call Trump supporters cultists who blindly follow their leader and punish anyone who steps out of line, watching the reaction to Haley Stevens today has been incredible.
She refused to support a candidate whose views she finds morally repugnant. She gave him multiple opportunities to address her concerns, and ultimately decided that she couldn't support him. She even went so far as to endorse his Republican opponent.
And the entire Democratic establishment lost its mind.
What exactly do these people think Stevens has to gain from this?
She's not going to become a Republican. She's not going to suddenly find herself welcomed into conservative politics. She's damaged her standing with her own party, alienated people she has worked alongside for years, and has likely destroyed whatever political future she had with Democrats.
You can disagree with her decision or think she made a terrible political calculation. But I find it very difficult to look at someone willingly accepting those consequences and conclude that she's doing it for personal gain.
I have disagreed with Stevens on plenty of things, and I expect I will continue to disagree with her. But I have a tremendous amount of respect for someone who is willing to take a stand when it actually costs them something.
Abdul El-Sayed is one of the most transparently dishonest politicians I've watched in a long time.
He constantly tells people he's Michigan First. He wants to talk about Michigan, he cares about Michigan, his priority is Michigan.
Fine. Then why does he spend so much time talking about Gaza?
Watch the clip below. This man brings up Palestinians and Israel constantly. He has absolutely no problem making foreign affairs part of his political identity. But the second someone challenges him on what he's saying, suddenly he doesn't want to discuss foreign policy anymore. He's running to represent Michigan, you see.
Mamdani does exactly the same thing in New York. They get to make whatever inflammatory statements they want about Israel, but when someone asks them to defend those statements, we're told that they're focused on their constituents and have more important things to worry about.
How convenient.
El-Sayed wants Michigan voters to believe that American aid to Israel is somehow standing between them and affordable groceries, rent, and healthcare.
We're talking about a minuscule fraction of federal spending. Cutting it would accomplish absolutely nothing for the average Michigan household.
But ask him about spending American taxpayer money on UNRWA or other international organizations, and suddenly the concern about money leaving Michigan seems to disappear.
I would genuinely love to hear a journalist ask him why American dollars going to Israel are an affordability crisis while American dollars going to organizations he supports are perfectly acceptable.
It's such an obvious question. And yet he gets to keep repeating this nonsense.
I don't expect politicians to agree with me about Israel. I don't even care if they particularly like Israel. But I do expect them to be able to defend their own positions without hiding behind generic slogans every time someone asks a difficult question.
And what I find especially revealing about today's reaction is how little room the Democratic Party seems willing to allow for someone who draws a moral line in a place the party doesn't approve of.
We've long been told that Republicans are incapable of independent thought, that dissent is punished, that loyalty to the party matters more than principle.
Well, look at what happened to Haley Stevens today.
Whatever you think of her decision, she made it knowing exactly how her party would react.
And they went ahead and proved her right.
David Elovic retweeted
I was expecting Israel to be a little America—mostly English-speaking, a land full of convenience.
What I found was distinctly Middle Eastern—the people are brash, speak with their hands, and often don't know a lick of English. There are stray cats everywhere, mopeds, and graffiti. The street signs are in Hebrew, English, and Arabic. There is a mosque on prime beachfront property in Tel Aviv.
There is every kind of citizen imaginable. I saw Ethiopian Jews serving in the IDF. While touring an ancient Jewish site, I ran into a group of Arab schoolchildren also there to learn. I met a Mizrahi cab driver whose parents fled Morocco in the 50s.
Douglas Murray famously made Americans irate when he flamed Dave Smith on an episode of Joe Rogan for having never traveled to Israel—but he’s right. Visiting Israel shows you just how wrong the west is about the Jewish state.
Just go there.
David Elovic retweeted
I’ve been detained by the IDF, along with a group of rabbis & volunteers. We were simply harvesting olives in a grove near Nehalim in the West Bank.
The occupation is a crime under international law. Harvesting olives isn’t a crime under any law I know.
David Elovic retweeted
I am not Jewish. But I am a proud Israeli citizen. I live in Tel Aviv. Despite the world having extremely opinionated views about the country I live in, few people I have come across on X (that don’t live here) know little of substance about Israel apart from their warped sense of history and reality. This is the first post of a series I will write entitled Everything You Think You Know About Israel is (Probably) Wrong. The points are not in any particular order. Spread the word.
Most Israelis (just over 50%) are not white. The devastating impact on European Jews of the Holocaust meant that the newly formed Israel in 1948 was largely populated by Jews fleeing persecution in Muslim-ruled countries predominantly in the Middle East and North Africa. These are known as Mizrahi Jews and when the State of Israel was formed they made up 80% of the Jewish population living here.
Jews have had a continuous presence in the land of Israel since around 1208 BCE, that’s 3,200 years — long before the creation of the state of Israel in 1948. The Muslim faith, in contrast, dates back 1,400 years (610 CE). Yes, when they lost majority rule in the 7th-century Muslim conquest they were not in the majority for centuries, but still lived in their ancestral homeland.
Arab terrorism against Jews existed before 1948. In 1929, for example, 67 Jews were killed in the Hebron massacre, attacked and slaughtered by the Arabs they lived and worked beside. My wife’s great-grandfather Ben-Zion Gershon (who was a local doctor that often treated the Arab community without accepting payment) was tortured, had both his eyes gouged out and was then murdered. This was after his daughter Esther was raped in front of him, and his wife Zahava had both arms chopped off and was left to die. This was just one of many similar massacres inflicted on Jews that day.
I will continue this series over the coming days.
David Elovic retweeted
Michigan: 10 million residents. Muslims: ~270,000. That’s 2%.
Yet they’re the loudest minority by far.
Why is a majority-Christian state electing a Muslim whose family was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood?
Why did the Democratic Party pick him as their candidate and rallied behind him?
Why is CAIR pouring so much money into this race?
This isn’t coincidence. It’s an agenda.
Blame the useful idiots. Without them, he wouldn’t be anywhere near the ballot.
David Elovic retweeted
Here you go — it’s from an MS NOW interview given on Thursday: forward.com/fast-forward/857…
David Elovic retweeted
Reminder that it was never really about Netanyahu—the anti-Israel push won’t end even if he’s voted out.
This is Abdul El-Sayed promising to rail against the Jewish state no matter what.
David Elovic retweeted
I'm a Michigan voter, a Jew, and a lifelong Democrat who will not be voting for Abdul El-Sayed. He supports the most repressive, fascist, genocidal regimes in the Middle East because they oppose Israel, which contains half the world's Jews.
Telling me to vote for him "for the greater good" would be akin to telling a Black voter to support a member of the Klan.
El-Sayed may speak the language of progressives, but he has only one agenda, and it isn't free stuff for everybody ... or whatever.
History lesson: The Islamist/socialist partnership in the Iranian Revolution ended with the socialists executed along with the Jews.
David Elovic retweeted
Hola, soy palestino. 🇵🇸
Y como la honestidad es poco común en mi política, permítanme confesar algunas cosas.
1947. La ONU me ofreció un estado. Junto a Israel. Fronteras, independencia, reconocimiento. Dije que no. Mis líderes prometieron que la guerra "arrojaría a los judíos al mar". En cambio, lo perdí todo y lo llamaron catástrofe. No porque no me ofrecieran un estado, sino porque lo rechacé.
1948–2025. Los estados árabes podrían haberme integrado, dado derechos, pasaportes, dignidad. En cambio, me encerraron en campos de refugiados durante generaciones, para que siguiera siendo un arma contra Israel. Construyeron palacios para ellos y cárceles para mí. Me usaron como propaganda, no como personas.
1967. Tras otra guerra perdida, podría haber construido un estado en Cisjordania y Gaza. En cambio, insistí en "ni paz, ni reconocimiento, ni negociaciones". Tres noes. Cincuenta años después, sigo sin Estado. Resulta que el rechazo no paga el alquiler.
Oslo, década de 1990. Israel dijo: «Intentémoslo». Me dio autonomía. Armas para la policía. Miles de millones en ayuda. ¿Qué hicieron mis líderes? Robaron el dinero, armaron milicias y lanzaron una intifada. Atentados suicidas en lugar de escuelas. Cohetes en lugar de fábricas.
Gaza, 2005. Israel se fue por completo. Sin colonos, sin soldados. Tuve la oportunidad de convertir Gaza en un Singapur mediterráneo. Voté por Hamás. La convirtieron en Mogadiscio junto al mar. ¿Miles de millones en ayuda? Túneles, cohetes y palacios para sus líderes, mientras mi gente come comida enlatada en la oscuridad.
¿Democracia? No he tenido elecciones en casi 20 años. Hamás mata a los disidentes en Gaza. Fatah los encarcela en Cisjordania. Mis líderes cancelan elecciones porque están demasiado ocupados luchando por el poder.
Religión. En lugar de construir un futuro, pongo a clérigos en televisión enseñando a los niños a odiar a los judíos. Glorifico a los "mártires" que hacen estallar autobuses. Crío a mis hijos con canciones de sangre y fuego en lugar de libros y ciencia. Cambio la esperanza por la guerra santa.
Mundo árabe. Los regímenes árabes me llaman "hermano". Pero pregúntenles cuántos palestinos pueden vivir libremente en Líbano, Siria, Egipto o Kuwait. Me excluyen, pero celebran mi muerte, porque mi muerte es su excusa.
Absurdo. Sigo diciendo que quiero "construir un estado". E irónicamente, justo al lado está Israel: el vecino que construyó una democracia próspera, una potencia tecnológica, granjas en el desierto, ciudades de polvo. Sin petróleo, sin riqueza infinita, solo coraje. Podría haber aprendido, copiado, colaborado. En cambio, elegí la envidia y la rabia.
Obsesión antijudía. Podría haber aceptado a los judíos como vecinos. Podría haber dicho: "Dos naciones, dos estados". En cambio, repito: "Del río al mar". En lugar de exhibir el honor, la hospitalidad y la rica cultura árabe, mostré solo la cultura de la espada: la ira, el extremismo y la sangre. En lugar de gritar salaam (paz) a los israelíes, grité muerte a los judíos. Y luego finjo sorprenderme cuando los israelíes no confían en mí, cuando están enojados, decepcionados y convencidos de que no quiero coexistencia en absoluto.
Responsabilidad. Culpo a Israel de todo. Siempre. ¿Mis líderes roban miles de millones? Culpa de Israel. ¿Hamás dispara cohetes desde hospitales? Culpa de Israel. ¿Glorifico la muerte más que la vida? Culpa de Israel. La responsabilidad no es mi fuerte.
Soy palestino.
Podría haber construido una nación, muchas veces. Elegí el rechazo, la corrupción y la guerra sin fin. Podría haber vivido en paz con Israel, pero elegí vivir a la sombra de su destrucción.
Así que sí, soy una víctima. Pero con demasiada frecuencia, soy víctima de mis propios líderes, de mis propias decisiones y de mi propia negativa a abandonar el odio.
Y esa, querido lector, es la tragedia que nadie quiere admitir.
David Elovic retweeted
The prevailing view of so much of the young left in America is that we’re the worst country ever, so if someone attacks us, they can’t be all bad.
David Elovic retweeted
Mamdani refused to attend Israel’s independence day parade.
He said he will not support any state that privileges one religion over another.
In Israel, Jews and Muslims have equal rights.
Today, he attended Pakistan’s Independence day parade. A state that privileges one religion over another.
In Pakistan, Muslims and non-Muslims do not have equal rights.
Yesterday, I gathered with residents at the Allama Iqbal Community Center’s Mela to commemorate Pakistan’s Independence Day and honor the contributions Pakistani New Yorkers have made to our city.
Today and everyday, we celebrate this community whose open arms, determination, and dreams for a better life have helped shape the city they call home.
David Elovic retweeted
I try to stay apolitical in my profession of war studies, I really do, but the anti-Israeli grift in American politics is sick. Even if you don't care about Israel. Have no clue about the benefits of the Israel-American relationship (there are many). Hate to hate. To see political candidates make anti-Israel one of their primary political positions, in the United States, and get votes for that, to play on ignorance about Israel, the region, the different fronts rather than real domestic issues like economy, safety, opportunity or foreign policy issues like great power competition, terrorism, energy, national security, waste/fraud/abuse in the international institutions. Rather, to play on clickbait lies rather than hard truths. It is sick and continues to put American jewish citizens, communities in danger.
David Elovic retweeted
Congresswoman: Trying to score political points by demonizing pro-Israel Americans – including millions of Democrats who are AIPAC members – is outrageous, transparent, and pathetic. Your obsession with singling out our members and their rights to participate in the political process undermines democracy.
Yes, AIPAC members have serious policy and political disagreements with you. Our members fight to help elect leaders who share their values – including scores of Democrats and members of the Progressive Caucus; while you fight for the Democratic Party tent to be big enough to include those who say America deserved 9/11, but small enough to exclude those who want America to stand with our democratic ally.
AIPAC members advocate for strengthening a U.S.-Israel relationship that makes Americans safer, stronger, and more prosperous; while you advocate to weaken America and an alliance that advances our interests.
AIPAC members back elected leaders who support a partnership that helps protect our troops and homeland, creates American jobs, and provides us with innovations that improve Americans' healthcare and access to cleaner water and safer food; while you want to break off the bilateral programs that benefit America and individual citizens in every state and district – including your own.
AIPAC members support elected leaders who promote an alliance built on shared values of democracy, women's rights, free speech, equality, and opportunity for all its citizens no matter their faith, race, or background; while you want America to distance itself from the only stable and diverse democracy in a region where most will never have the chance to cast a vote.
AIPAC members support elected leaders who stand with a partner who is painfully confronting terrorists who pride themselves on killing as many Israelis – and Americans – as possible; while you want to prevent our military from working together with an ally that can help keep us safe in an increasingly dangerous and ever-changing world.
AIPAC members support elected leaders who work together with Israel to bring peace and coexistence to a region that has known far too much war and death; while you want to spread dangerous lies about Israel and isolate it from the world.
AIPAC members are proud Americans who will continue to fully participate in our democracy, whether you like it or not.
David Elovic retweeted
Jewish and Israeli psychologists say they are afraid to attend the 2026 American Psychological Association (APA) Convention after a coordinated political campaign was circulated through official APA channels urging attendees to wear keffiyehs, recite a scripted "Land and Genocide Acknowledgment" before professional presentations, and attend sessions promoting "Palestinian liberation."
The APA is the largest professional organization of psychologists in the United States, representing over 146,000 members. The "Land and Genocide Acknowledgment" presents deeply contested claims as established fact, denies the Jewish people's ancestral connection to Israel, and makes no mention of the October 7, 2023 Hamas massacre, the hostages, or the ongoing trauma experienced by Jews worldwide. Jewish psychologists report feeling pressured to hide their identities, stay silent about October 7, 2023, or distance themselves from Israel simply to be accepted by their professional peers. A professional association dedicated to mental health must not become a space where Jewish members fear for their safety.
Sign the open letter and make your voice heard: The APA must act immediately to ensure that Jewish and Israeli psychologists can participate safely and fully in the 2026 Annual Convention!
bit.ly/3RNGM4K
