by tyler | Oct 17, 2023 | CNN, politics
US President Joe Biden will visit Israel on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced in the early hours of Tuesday from Tel Aviv.
Biden had been deliberating whether to make a wartime visit to Israel, a trip fraught with risk that could stand as a dramatic show of support for a top US ally while sending a warning to other countries in the region against escalation.
Aides said the president has expressed a strong interest in making the journey after being invited over the weekend by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom Biden has known for four decades.
The risks of a presidential visit to Israel are not small. On Monday, as Blinken met with Netanyahu in Tel Aviv, air sirens blared, forcing the two men to shelter in place.
The United States and Israel “have agreed to develop a plan that will enable humanitarian aid from donor nations and multilateral organizations to reach civilians in Gaza,” Blinken said, adding that the president during the trip “will hear from Israel how it will conduct its operations in a way that minimizes civilian casualties and enables humanitarian assistance to flow to civilians in Gaza in a way that does not benefit Hamas.”
“It is critical that aid begin flowing into Gaza as soon as possible,” Blinken said, speaking from a US diplomatic building in Tel Aviv.
The top US diplomat noted that the US shares “Israel’s concern that Hamas may seize or destroy aid entering Gaza or otherwise preventing it from reaching the people who need it.”
“If Hamas in any way blocks humanitarian assistance from reaching civilians, including by seizing the aid itself, we’ll be the first to condemn it. And we will work to prevent it from happening again,” he said.
Blinken said the agreement to work on the plan was done at the US’ request, and they “welcome the government of Israel’s commitment to work on this plan.”
“The president very much looks forward to discussing it further when he’s here on Wednesday,” he said.
In weighing Netanyahu’s invitation with his team, Biden factored in both the symbolism of a visit and its practicalities. Aside from a high-profile show of support for Israel, the trip will send a warning to other players in the region, namely Iran and its Hezbollah proxy in Lebanon, about becoming further engaged in the conflict.
But it will also link Biden more closely with the Israeli response in Gaza, including concerns over a mounting humanitarian crisis, and could act as a tacit endorsement of Netanyahu’s decisions.
The pressure on Biden to encourage restraint was evident Monday in front of the White House, where a large protest led by progressive Jewish groups called on him to push for a ceasefire. Loud singing and chanting could be heard from inside the gates.
Biden had originally planned to spend Monday in Colorado talking about wind energy, but that trip was scrapped at the last minute. The president instead received briefings from his national security team and made phone calls to the leaders of Germany, Egypt and Iraq.
The unusual cancellation of Biden’s visit out west marked yet another example of how last weekend’s cross-border Hamas attack has forced an immediate reorienting of the president’s priorities and schedule as he confronts the realities of a new war.
The conflict is also forcing a new assessment of the administration’s immediate foreign policy priorities, with the reality setting in that renewed violence in the Middle East will now occupy the bulk of the president’s time at least in the near-term.
Huddling in the Oval Office on Monday, Biden discussed the latest developments on the ground with top national security advisers, including the administration’s two leading intelligence officials.
While Biden has stopped well short of encouraging a ceasefire – the word hasn’t been used at all in the administration’s response so far – he has issued steadily stronger warnings about protecting civilian life, including during his telephone calls with Netanyahu. Biden and Blinken, advisers say, have upheld a moral high ground and cemented credibility with the Israelis by remaining sympathetic to civilian and humanitarian needs, while reinforcing their commitment to the security state.
Traveling to Israel in person may provide Biden – who has long espoused the importance of face-to-face meetings – a better opportunity to convey those views to his Israeli counterpart, a leader with whom he believes he has a deep understanding. Before war in Israel broke out, Biden and Netanyahu were planning to visit in person again at the White House, a personal invitation Biden extended when the two last met in New York City.
Already, in their phone calls, the men have discussed the importance of adhering to the rules of war. In an interview that aired Sunday, Biden offered his most public statement urging restraint, saying it would be a “mistake” for Israel to try reoccupying Gaza.
Speaking to reporters Monday, a spokesperson for the Israel Defense Forces said a visit by Biden would have “strategic importance” for the entire Middle East.
“The most senior representative of the USA comes to Israel for a full report on the war in the Middle East and all the action we have to take,” Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari told reporters when asked earlier about a possible visit by the US president.
“Right now, we are focusing on Gaza and the steps that we are going to take to prepare for war and that is how we will progress,” he added.
The last time that Biden made a last-minute and highly secretive trip abroad was in February, when he visited Kyiv, Ukraine, around the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion.
With only a small group of some of his senior-most advisers even aware of the plans ahead of time – and ultimately with just one reporter and one photographer in tow – the president quietly rode a train across the Polish-Ukrainian border to enter an active war-zone.
His brief visit served as a remarkable show of solidarity for the Ukrainian people and its president, Volodymyr Zelensky, which the White House hoped would also translate to a forceful rallying cry for the US’ allies to continue supporting Ukraine’s cause.
But unlike his visit to Ukraine earlier this year, his expected to Israel this week marks a remarkably swift decision to visit the country only days after the outbreak of war. Those familiar with Biden’s decadeslong relationship with Netanyahu say it is clear the administration’s response to Hamas’ attacks is being shaped in no small way by Biden’s personal friendship with Netanyahu – and his desire to demonstrate his unequivocal support for the prime minister.
American officials spent much of the weekend watching with growing concern the potential for the war widening, and sending public and private signals to Iran to stay out of the conflict.
From his first phone call with Netanyahu last weekend, Biden has raised concern that a northern front could open along Israel’s border with Lebanon, where the Iran-backed Hezbollah has been engaging sporadically with Israeli forces.
US national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday that the administration was engaged in back-channel diplomacy with Tehran to send the same message it has been conveying publicly about not escalating the crisis further.
“Rhetorically, they’re cranking it up,” said a person close to the situation. “But they’re backing it up with hardware.”
For Biden and his team, the risks of a wider conflict include the potential of further engaging American military assets in defending Israel. Though the White House has said repeatedly there are no plans to send American troops to Israel – in part because Israel itself does not want it – there is the potential US air and naval assets become further involved if a multi-front war breaks out.
Over the weekend, Biden ordered a second US aircraft carrier group to the eastern Mediterranean, bolstering what he and other officials have described as a deterrence posture. The military muscle is intended to send a signal to Iran to stay out.
Yet behind the scenes, Biden and his team are discussing the various possibilities should the crisis escalate.
“We can’t rule out that Iran would choose to get directly engaged some way. We have to prepare for every possible contingency,” Sullivan said on CBS.
The outbreak of violence is forcing the Biden administration to closely engage with – and heavily lean on – actors in the region with histories of glaring human rights violations.
US officials have been actively discussing with their counterparts in Egypt the establishment of a humanitarian corridor that would allow civilians – including hundreds of American citizens – to escape Israel’s counteroffensive attacks raining down in Gaza. But those efforts have yet to be fruitful.
Over the weekend, scenes of chaos and confusion poured out of southern Gaza, where families attempting to leave found that the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt remained closed, despite having been previously told that there would be a midday window to leave.
The issue had been a major topic of discussion between Blinken and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, and after their in-person meeting, Blinken pledged Sunday that “Rafah will be open.”
Blinken’s frenzied multi-day trip to the region also included a stop in Saudi Arabia, a country that Biden, as a presidential candidate, had pledged to make a “pariah” on the global stage after the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The secretary of state met with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de facto leader whom the US intelligence community concluded had approved the operation to kill Khashoggi.
Such direct and swift courtship of the region’s strongman leaders is a clear signal of the administration’s determination to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond Israel’s borders.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
by tyler | Oct 17, 2023 | CNN, politics
As Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan inches closer to securing the speaker’s gavel, he has been working to allay concerns from the more establishment wing of the GOP about how his speakership could hinder their ability to raise campaign cash and keep the House majority next year.
Several Republican lawmakers, aides and operatives told CNN they worry Jordan’s brand of flame-throwing politics – and his role trying to help Donald Trump overturn the 2020 election – could be a liability in key swing districts and turn off major donors.
One GOP fundraiser, who has raised money for past Republican speakers, told CNN that they have vowed not to raise money for Jordan if he becomes the speaker. The fundraiser also said multiple GOP donors have indicated that they wouldn’t cut big checks for the party and would rather invest in trying to flip the Senate than take a bet on the House, which they see as a far riskier proposition if Jordan is holding the gavel.
“We’re gonna have to pitch to major donors why we’re worth investing in,” one GOP operative told CNN.
Added a Republican lawmaker who is still on-the-fence about Jordan: “It’s a genuine concern he doesn’t play well in purple districts.”
During a closed-door conference meeting Monday evening, GOP Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks – who won her Iowa seat in 2020 by just six votes – expressed concerns about a potential Jordan speakership, according to lawmakers in the room.
Miller-Meeks told members “she is in a very narrow district” and raised “concerns about maybe too conservative of a speaker,” according to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.
After the meeting, Miller-Meeks told CNN she “still needs to have conversations” before deciding who she will support.
When asked if Jordan as speaker would hurt GOP members in moderate districts, she said: “I think that’s up to each individual member to decide their district based on what their district is like.”
Jordan has worked to assuage those concerns in private conversations with holdouts, arguing he’ll be able to attract more conservative donors who wouldn’t have otherwise contributed to the main party apparatus and pointing out that the infrastructure built by former Speaker Kevin McCarthy will still be in place, according to multiple sources familiar with his pitch.
Jordan has also vowed to protect moderates, and some lawmakers believe that having the support of Jordan – and vice versa – could insulate them from right-wing primary threats. And in a sign of how that message is playing, Jordan has significantly worn down his opposition over the past 24 hours, including from the moderate wing.
“Mr. Jordan is ready to fundraise for all members of the GOP conference across the country when he’s Speaker,” a source familiar with Jordan’s pitch told CNN.
Some of Jordan’s allies have also pointed out that some major donors vowed to stop contributing to the party after the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, but they started coming back around over time.
But Democrats are already preparing for how to frame a Jordan speakership to their advantage going into next year’s midterms. The House Democratic campaign arm has been sending out news releases highlighting the House Republicans who represent moderate or swing districts that are backing Jordan.
And a Democratic-aligned outside group, Congressional Integrity Project, launched a new digital ad on Monday in the 18 districts that Republicans represent that President Joe Biden also won, highlighting Jordan’s role attempting to help Trump overturn the 2020 election.
The GOP operative worries that if Jordan ascends to the speakership, it could inspire new GOP retirements – and put more Republican seats in play. The operative also said that even if Jordan can protect vulnerable members from the right, it’s an open question of whether he can protect them from the left, which is already salivating over the prospect of Jordan being speaker and Trump being the GOP presidential nominee.
“By tying their political futures to an election-denying, anti-law enforcement, pro-shutdown far-right extremist, these so-called moderates are hand-delivering the DCCC content for campaign ads ahead of next year but, more importantly, they are doing a grave disservice to their country,” Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokesperson Viet Shelton told CNN.
McCarthy has been a massive fundraiser for the party and has spent over a decade building his political operation and relationships with billionaire donors. His political team recently announced he brought in a record-breaking $78 million for Republicans this cycle.
McCarthy may still be a draw with the donor class, but it’s unclear how active he plans to be – and whether he would still have the same appeal now as a rank-and-file member.
And while the Congressional Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with McCarthy, would likely pass on to the next speaker, it’s not a guarantee that the relationships – and donor checks – would follow suit.
“We just killed our golden goose,” one Republican told CNN after McCarthy was ousted as speaker.
CLF, however, put out a memo to donors vowing to remain committed to reelecting Republicans, no matter who is in charge.
“CLF is no stranger to House leadership transitions, as we have been through productive transitions from Speakers Boehner to Ryan to McCarthy, and this will be no different,” Dan Conston, the president of CLF, wrote in a memo obtained by CNN. “We will remain a good steward of donor resources and an effective weapon to protect our incumbents and elect standout candidates.”
Jordan, though, is popular on the right and has improved his fundraising abilities over the years as he worked his way up through the ranks. Jordan – who only recently became Judiciary Committee chairman – has raised more than $14 million this cycle, according to Federal Election Commission data.
But there’s some concern in the GOP about Jordan’s track record when it comes to his involvement in past elections. The political arm of the House Freedom Caucus, which Jordan has raised millions for, has supported primary challenges to 10 Republican incumbents over the past few cycles.
Jordan, however, has vowed to be a team player and unite the conference if he becomes speaker, and also promised not to let the House devolve into dysfunction under his watch – a message that has sold some key Republicans.
“His pitch is to ensure that we have a functional government and that we can operate as a conference to move forward,” GOP Rep. Derrick Van Orden of Wisconsin, who initially supported House Majority Leader Steve Scalise for speaker but now backs Jordan, told CNN.
This story has been updated with additional information.
by tyler | Oct 13, 2023 | CNN, politics
Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a key figure in House GOP-led investigations, is again seeking the speaker’s gavel Friday as Republicans face a deepening leadership crisis and the chamber remains paralyzed without a speaker.
Jordan has made a name for himself as a staunch ally of former President Donald Trump and was endorsed by Trump in his bid for the speakership. The Ohio Republican serves as chairman of the powerful House Judiciary Committee.
Jordan has a longstanding reputation as a conservative agitator and helped found the hardline House Freedom Caucus. He has served in Congress since 2007.
Jordan initially ran against House Majority Leader Steve Scalise of Louisiana and was defeated in a closed-door vote by the conference. Scalise went on to become the GOP speaker nominee – but dropped out of the race abruptly Thursday evening after facing a bloc of hardened opposition.
Republicans must now select a new speaker nominee and Jordan has thrown his name back into the race. He may face the same math problems as Scalise, however.
In addition to chairing the Judiciary Committee, Jordan is also the chair of the select subcommittee on the “weaponization” of the federal government. When McCarthy announced a House GOP impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, he said House Oversight Chairman James Comer would lead the effort in coordination with Jordan as Judiciary chair and Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith.
While Republicans say their investigative work is critical to informing the American public and ensuring accountability, Democrats frequently criticize Jordan as a hyper-partisan Trump defender and have accused him of using his perch to shield the former president in the run up to the 2024 presidential election.
As Jordan oversees key House GOP investigations, Democrats also point to the fact that he stonewalled in response to a subpoena for his testimony from the House select committee that investigated the January 6, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.
Jordan as well as Scalise both supported objections to electoral college results when Congress met to certify Joe Biden’s presidential win on January 6, 2021, the same day a pro-Trump mob attacked the Capitol seeking to overturn the election.
Jordan has downplayed concerns that he may be too conservative for some of the more moderate members of the GOP.
“I think we are a conservative-center-right party. I think I’m the guy who can help unite that. My politics are entirely consistent with where conservatives and Republicans are across the country,” Jordan told CNN’s Manu Raju.
CNN reported in 2020 that six former Ohio State University wrestlers said they were present when Jordan heard or responded to sexual misconduct complaints about team doctor Richard Strauss.
Jordan has emphatically denied that he knew anything about Strauss’ abuse during his own years working at OSU, between 1987 and 1995. “Congressman Jordan never saw any abuse, never heard about any abuse, and never had any abuse reported to him during his time as a coach at Ohio State,” his congressional office said in 2018.
This story and headline have been updated with additional developments.
by tyler | Oct 13, 2023 | CNN, politics
Republican Rep. Austin Scott of Georgia is seeking the House speakership after House Majority Leader Steve Scalise dropped out of the race Thursday, setting up an alternative to Rep.
Jim Jordan of Ohio.
Scott announced his intentions for the speakership in a Friday post on X, formerly known as Twitter: “I have filed to be Speaker of the House. We are in Washington to legislate, and I want to lead a House that functions in the best interest of the American people.”
Scott, an ally of ousted Speaker Kevin McCarthy, told CNN he decided to run because “we have to do the right thing the right way. That’s something that we as a conference are not doing right now.”
“When I woke up this morning, I had no intentions of doing this. It took me a long time to even get to my wife to tell her to call all our friends and be in prayer because we haven’t done any preparation or any whipping or anything for this,” he said Friday.
Scott said Rep. Frank Lucas is going nominate him in the GOP conference meeting.
The seven-term representative told CNN’s Manu Raju on Thursday that the GOP’s inability to elect a new speaker “makes us look like a bunch of idiots.”
“We’ve got a very small group of people that they have to have everything their way. We had a group that sabotaged Speaker McCarthy and now we’ve had a group that sabotaged Steve Scalise, both of them great people,” he said.
Scott faces Jordan, who is also seeking the speaker’s gavel after McCarthy was ousted from the role this month and declined to run again. Scalise, whom the GOP conference voted to nominate over Jordan, dropped out of the race Thursday after House Republicans failed to coalesce behind him.
Earlier this month, Scott criticized the Republicans who voted to remove McCarthy as speaker and said Republican leadership “will have to decide to either hold these members accountable or lose the faith of the rest of the conference.”
“The eight Republicans who supported Joe Biden and the Democrats’ desire to remove Kevin McCarthy as Speaker are nothing more than grifters who have handed control of the House to the Democratic Party in the name of their own glory and fundraising,” he said in a statement.
After receiving a bachelor’s in business administration from the University of Georgia, Scott spent 20 years owning and operating an insurance brokerage firm. He began his political career in the Georgia House of Representatives in 1997, where he served until being elected to Congress in 2011.
Scott, who represents Georgia’s 8th Congressional District, serves on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, the House Armed Services Committee and the House Agriculture Committee.
by tyler | Oct 13, 2023 | CNN, politics
The Supreme Court on Friday added another case to its docket that asks the justices to overturn decades-old precedent to scale back the power of federal agencies, as well as a case that looks at “qualified immunity” for police officers.
The new case is a companion to a similar dispute involving herring fishermen that the justices have already agreed to hear his term. Although the court did not explain its thinking, it likely added the new case because Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is recused from the first case, having dealt with it as a lower court judge before her elevation to the high court.
The pair of cases represents a conservative attack on the so-called administrative state.
For decades, conservatives have argued that federal agencies are unaccountable to the public and have become too powerful in violation of the separation of powers. How the court decides the two cases could change the way the government tackles such issues as climate change, immigration, labor conditions and public health.
At issue in both appeals are herring fishermen in the Atlantic who say the National Marine Fisheries Service does not have the authority to require them to pay the salaries of government monitors who ride aboard the fishing vessels to make sure federal regulations are being followed.
In agreeing to hear the case, the justices signaled they will consider a 1984 decision – Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council – that sets forward factors to determine when courts should defer to a government agency’s interpretation of a law. First, they examine a statute to see whether Congress’ intent is clear. If it is, then the matter is settled. But if there is ambiguity, the court defers to the agency’s expertise.
The court will hear both cases, Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo and Relentless v. Department of Commerce, in January.
The justices on Friday also agreed to hear the case of a city council member from Texas who says she was arrested in retaliation for calling for the removal of a police ally.
The case allows the court to revisit the scope of a legal doctrine called qualified immunity, which protects police officers from civil claims.
The case concerns Sylvia Gonzalez, a Castle Hills, Texas, city council member, who led an attempt to circulate a citizens’ petition to remove the city manager – an ally of the police – from office.
Gonzalez was arrested under a Texas tampering law that makes it a crime for concealing or removing a government record. She claims she inadvertently placed a copy of the document in her binder and admitted her mistake.
She spent a day in jail, handcuffed and wearing an orange jail shirt.
The district attorney dropped charges against her, and she later sued in federal court, alleging illegal retaliation in violation of the First Amendment, saying the that the city manager had engineered a plan to arrest her and remove her from office.
She argued in court papers that the tampering statute used against her was overly broad had never been used to charge someone for the “uneventful offense of putting a piece of paper in the wrong pile.”
Under normal circumstances, a person alleging retaliatory arrest must demonstrate that police had not proven probable cause to arrest her. But lawyers for Gonzalez argued that there is an exception to the rule in cases in which the law is not routinely enforced.
A district court denied qualified immunity to the officers, but Gonzalez lost her case at the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals, which held that there was probable cause to arrest her and that it “necessarily defeated” her retaliatory arrest claim.
by tyler | Oct 13, 2023 | CNN, politics
Donald Trump’s inflammatory and artless comments about Hamas’ horror in Israel emphasize the defining characteristic of his attitude toward foreign policy and his entire political world view: It’s all about him.
Trump criticized Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, lauded Hezbollah militants as “very smart” and sought political gain from the attacks that killed 1,200 people by claiming that if the last election was not “rigged,” he’d be the American president and they’d never have happened.
The ex-president openly admitted a grievance against Netanyahu, complaining he had pulled out at the last minute from joining the US air attack that assassinated Iranian intelligence chief Qasem Soleimani in Iraq in 2020. Trump had previously fumed over the Israeli leader’s perceived disloyalty in recognizing he lost the election.
Trump is now a private citizen, and it’s possible he wouldn’t have addressed the situation in the same way if he were president – although there were multiple examples of his tone deafness and indiscretion when he was in the White House. But he’s also the 2024 Republican front-runner for president and his statements are therefore scrutinized for clues over how he would behave in office. His latest comments add to plentiful evidence that a second Trump term would be even more riotous at home and globally disruptive than his first four years in power.
The former president’s remarks also offered an opening to his GOP rivals, who accused him of behavior unsuitable for a potential commander in chief after an ally came under attack amid horrendous scenes of carnage in which some Americans were also killed. Some bemoaned his apparent admiration for Hezbollah, a Lebanese militia group that is hostile toward Israel.
“He’s a fool. Only a fool would make those kinds of comments,” former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has rooted his campaign in criticizing Trump’s suitability for office, told CNN.
“Only a fool would give comments that could give aid and comfort to Israel’s adversary in this situation,” Christie continued. “This is someone who cares, not about the American people, not about the people of Israel, but he cares about one person and one person only, the person he sees in the mirror when he wakes up in the morning.”
The former president tried to defuse the growing controversy on Thursday evening, releasing a statement in which he insisted that “there was no better friend or ally of Israel” than him. He accused President Joe Biden of weakness and incompetence. “With President Trump back in office, Israel, and everyone else, will be safe again!” he said. The former president was continuing the clean-up on Friday on his Truth Social platform, praising what he said was the “skill and determination” of the Israel Defense Forces and later posting “#IStandWithBibi.”
Trump’s original grievance-based analysis reflects a transactional, unorthodox approach to foreign policy that often prioritizes his own personal goals over a standard understanding of the national interest. It also highlighted a contrast with his potential 2024 election opponent. Biden reacted to the attack by using all of the tools of traditional statesmanship, including rhetoric, personal behind-the-scenes contacts with key foreign leaders and by mobilizing allies. Like Trump, Biden has had a personal and political beef with Netanyahu – but shelved his differences with him weeks before the attack and has been in constant contact with the prime minister since it occurred.
Biden is seeking to strike a balance. He has shown the most ardent support for Israel of any recent US president and acknowledged its desire to retaliate and reestablish its sense of security after the most shocking penetration of its borders and national psyche in 50 years. But Biden is also sending private and public signals to Netanyahu that Israel’s response should not infringe the laws of war and that he should consider the humanitarian consequences of an invasion of Gaza, as he seeks to prevent the war escalating into a dangerous regional conflict that could draw in the US.
Biden’s opponents have every right to critique his foreign policies and to ask whether a hands-off approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict meant his administration dismissed the threat from Hamas. Critics also argue his attempts to open dialogue with Iran, a key sponsor of the militant group, emboldened the Islamic Republic and threatened Israel’s security. But Biden is also forging a contrast of temperament and approach with Trump that will be at the center of his campaign’s narrative if the 2024 election is a rematch of 2020 and will boil down to this question to voters: Is Trump fit for the Oval Office?
Trump said on Fox News on Wednesday that Netanyahu had been “hurt very badly” by the attacks. “He was not prepared, and Israel was not prepared,” the former president said. His comments were not necessarily wrong and the intelligence and political failures in Israel will be investigated after the war. But the timing and tone of criticism is questionable given that Israel, one of America’s closest allies, is suffering after a horrendous attack on civilians and is in need of support not political points scoring and second guessing. His willingness to trash Netanyahu, despite the Israeli leader’s considerable efforts to align himself politically with the ex-president, also shows how loyalty is usually a one-way street for Trump and those who he believes have crossed him are liable to get a public dressing down.
Trump’s comments were not the first time he has appeared to seek a political benefit from his foreign policy and his positions on Israel especially. Last October, he complained that American Jews were not sufficiently grateful to him for actions like moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem when he was in the White House.
“No President has done more for Israel than I have,” Trump wrote on his Truth Social network, adding that it was somewhat surprising that “our wonderful Evangelicals are far more appreciative of this than the people of the Jewish faith, especially those living in the U.S.” He was accused of using antisemitic tropes demanding the loyalty of American Jews. The White House said he insulted Jews and Israelis.
Trump’s remarks Wednesday on Hezbollah, which has the capacity to rain even more carnage on Israel, also appeared inappropriate in the circumstances. “They’re vicious, and they’re smart. And, boy, are they vicious, because nobody’s ever seen the kind of sight that we’ve seen,” Trump said during a political event in Florida. His statement was in keeping with his habit of praising foreign adversaries he sees as tough even if they rule with an iron fist, infringe basic humanitarian values and are US adversaries. He’s rarely concealed his admiration of Chinese President Xi Jinping and North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un, for instance. And he added to his long record of praising Vladimir Putin – an accused war criminal because of atrocities committed during the war in Ukraine – when he recently described the Russian leader as “a genius.”
Trump often appeared to be willing to cede national interests to his political benefit while in office. For instance, at a summit with Putin in Helsinki he sided with Putin who dismissed findings by US intelligence agencies that Russia interfered in the 2016 election in attempt to help him.
The former president is advocating a return to his “America First” nationalist foreign policy, prizes tough talk and ruthlessness on the global stage, and remains disdainful of allies and the international security architecture that has been the foundation of American power since the end of World War II. While these are positions that would represent a sharp transformation of US foreign policy, it is quite legitimate for him to present them to voters and try to win support for his vision.
Yet his recent comments will only reinforce the impression often left by his actions as president that his own aspirations are most important. They also show Trump’s quintessential contempt for the rules of politics, foreign policy and even basic human decency, which explain why he horrifies many Americans and foreign governments. But this behavior is key to his authenticity for grass roots Republicans who abhor the codes of what they see as establishment elites.
Trump during the Florida event criticized Israel for not taking part in the raid that killed Soleimani. “I’ll never forget that Bibi Netanyahu let us down. That was a very terrible thing, I will say that,” he said. It was not immediately clear whether Israel had considered an operational role in the strike or whether Trump had broken a confidence with an ally or even revealed classified information.
The ex-president has a record however of loose talk on government secrets. He has been indicted over the alleged mishandling of national security material among classified documents he hoarded at his Mar-a-Lago resort after leaving office. Last week, ABC News reported that Trump allegedly shared US secrets about the submarine service and nuclear weapons with an Australian billionaire. Trump denies all wrongdoing.
The ex-president’s GOP rivals, who have struggled to exploit his political vulnerabilities without alienating his super loyal supporters pounced on his criticism of Netanyahu.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis accused Trump of throwing “verbal grenades” at Israel. “Now’s not the time to be doing, like, what Donald Trump did by attacking Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, attacking Israel’s defense minister, saying somehow that Hezbollah were ‘very smart,’” DeSantis said in New Hampshire. “Now’s not the time to air personal grievances about an Israeli prime minister.” Former Vice President Mike Pence hammered Trump’s foreign policy – even though he was part of the former president’s administration that repeatedly challenged American values. Pence also claimed that Trump had somehow changed in his years out of office, a debatable proposition that looks self-serving since it appears intended to create plausible distance from Trump’s excesses while in office.
“He’s simply not expressing, and his imitators in his primary, are not expressing the same muscular American foreign policy that we lived out every day,” Pence said on a local New Hampshire radio.
What Trump is expressing is his idiosyncratic, convention-busting brand of foreign policy rooted in his personal prejudices, grievances and search for political advantage that will once again rock the world if he wins the 2024 election.
