‘If he runs, it’s over, period’ — the text glared at me from my phone, and I was at a loss for words. We had just left my local Ralph’s grocery store, the evening breeze offering a welcome break from the relentless summer heat of Southern California. A young couple stood by the fast food truck, intently listening to the CNN Presidential debate on the young man’s smartphone. They didn’t appear Eastern-European, and those who did weren’t paying attention to either Donald Trump or Joe Biden, instead going about their day — shopping, chatting at outdoor restaurant tables in Armenian or Russian, or hurrying home. My phone was buzzing with messages from my older Jewish friend in New York: ‘Are you watching the debate? We are in deep shit.’