Israeli Support for Trump
I continue to read polls from Israel which indicate overwhelming Israeli support for Trump and the Republicans, inspired and led by Bibi Netanyanu. Israeli support for Trump runs counter to American Jewish trends, demonstrating another facet of the divide that exists between the two communities. Interestingly enough, in a recent survey, the three countries that demonstrated strong support for Trump were Israel, India and Turkey.
I personally continue to be astonished by the lies, inventions and contempt that the American right has for Americans. We know Trump spends more of his time in a world of untruth and invention rather than the world we all live in – that immigrants are eating cats and dogs, that sharks and batteries in boats are a problem, that the economy was better under Trump, that Trump isn’t a rapist, fraudster, traitor, felon etc. Last night, during the vice presidential debate, we heard Vance also spending most of the debate together with Trump in this bat-shit crazy MAGA world, where climate change is a hoax and isn’t real, where it is good to strip away the rights and freedoms of women, a world where they still want to assault American access to affordable and quality healthcare by continuing to hack away at the Affordable Care Act, while after nine years without an alternative, insisting that Trump has the ”concepts” of a healthcare plan, continuing to lie about losing the 2020 election and their attempt to overturn American democracy. It was as if Vance’s central goal last night was to lie, paper over, and deflect from their extremism; to use clearly practiced and often ridiculous diversions in a silly setting to limit the political damage their beliefs would actually cause if he fully articulated them in public. It was a defensive performance by a losing campaign that knows how far away they are from the majority of Americans. To limit the damage Vance repeatedly trod out comically absurd lines and narratives that wouldn’t withstand the simplest fact check, while whining when fact checked that “We didn’t agree to fact checking”.
And yet, there are still tens of millions of American voters who believe in and buy into this world of lies, distortions and comicly weird behavior while continuing to vote against their own best interests.
I just don’t understand how a majority of Israeli Jews, party to the same news and information as Americans, can come to such a different answer. What is it about the Israel psyche that has led to the conclusion that a Trump administration would be better for America, the world and Israel?