April 6th, 2019
A lot of American Jews will doubtlessly be surprised to learn that Donald Trump considers Benjamin Netanyahu to be their “Prime Minister.” He was talking to the American Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership, but in fairness, Trump may not have been entirely aware that these were supposed to be American Jews and not Israeli Jews, as he went on to say, “If implemented, the Democrats’ radical agenda would destroy our economy, cripple our country, and very well could leave Israel out there all by yourselves. Can’t do that.”
Yeah. “Yourselves.” It isn’t the first time Trump has used the trope that Jews all have divided loyalties and it won’t be the last. Even as he, and the Republican party at large, condemn Ilhan Omar, the Islamic Congresswoman from Minnesota for hinting that Jews have divided loyalties for saying that AIPAC has undue influence on Congress.
He was promoting a GOP strategy called “Jexit.” It’s a clever-ish play on words, based on “Brexit” and the reasoning is that because Trump says Democrats hate Jews, there is a mass migration from the Democratic Party to the GOP. Must be true: in 2016 the Democrats got 72% of the Jewish vote, and in 2018 they got 78%. See? Oh, wait.
Then there’s that term: Jexit. Republicans may be the only carbon based lifeforms on Earth that think Brexit was a sound strategy and something desirable for their allies to emulate. Right now the UK is staggering, red-eyed, pasty, doughy and slurring her words, and town drunks are stopping her in the street and saying, “Are you OK? You really should see a doctor, you know?” And Brexit hasn’t even happened yet. The UK could go from being “the poor man of Europe” to “the Somalia of Europe.”
I think it’s a safe bet that a very large majority of American Jews do not consider Netanyahu to be their prime minister, and aren’t eager to pursue a strategy named for the biggest national own goal in history. Yes, even worse than America electing Trump.
Even Steve Wynn and Sheldon Adelson, perhaps the only two Jews in Las Vegas that Trump actually gives a wet shit about, have to be looking at today’s performance and wondering how far this can ride this spivened old nag of a President before he finally collapses from dementia or gets kicked out of office.
Trump apparently was advised that his father was not born in Germany, but in New York City, and people were wondering about his mental faculties as a result of his recent claims. So he put the rumors to rest by noting his father was born in Brooklyn. The only problem was that Fred wasn’t born in Brooklyn. He was born in the Bronx, just as Donald was.
“Are you OK? You really should see a doctor, you know?”
By now convinced that the speech was going swimmingly and he had his audience in the palm of his hand, he decided to do a little bit of hate mongering, and told the crowd, “A special thanks to Representative Omar of Minnesota.” The audience of Republicans obligingly booed. Trump continued,
“Oh, I forgot. She doesn’t like Israel, I forgot, I’m sorry. No, she doesn’t like Israel, does she? Please, I apologize.”
At least now we know under what circumstances Trump will say, “I apologize.” It’s when he is doing a heavy handed and lame effort at sarcasm, not a good look on a man who possesses no actual sense of humor.
His timing was a bit off, though. A New York clown, one Patrick W. Carlineo, was arrested today for calling Omar’s DC office and saying, “Do you work for the Muslim Brotherhood? Why are you working for her, she’s a fucking terrorist. I’ll put a bullet in her fucking skull.” Carlineo then proceeded to leave his contact info, because, you know, it’s OK to threaten to assassinate members of Congress if they happen to be non-Christian.
I’m guessing this brain donor is a) aTrump fan, and b) not Jewish. Any takers?
But it reminds people that the hateful crap Trump spews is putting lives at risk. Hell, the stupid bastard can’t even ingratiate himself with groups he wants as allies without indulging in harmful stereotypes. Hint, Donald: American Jews are not secret agents of Israel. They don’t drink the blood of Christian babies, either. You might want to write that on the back of your hand, along with the word “Bronx.”
I don’t think he advanced the cause of Jexit. If only Britain had called the Brexit referendum, ‘Gallipoli II.’ Same positive connotations, you know.
The executive director of the Jewish Democratic Council of America (JDCA), Halie Soifer said: “We strongly denounce President Trump’s continued assault on decency and truth, as was evident in his speech earlier today before the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas.”
I suspect he was speaking for what now has to be more than 78% of Jewish voters in America.
As for Trump, a lot of people wondered why he would schedule a speech to a Jewish audience on a Saturday morning. It was, after all, Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath. It occurred right after sundown in Israel, when television stations could broadcast his speech live. Israel has a general election in three days.
It’s possible that there were some Jews in the audience who DO have divided loyalties. They would be a tiny minority of the American Jewish population, but they do exist. The GOP tends to attract people like that.
But it’s certain that one person in that room does have divided loyalties, and with many different counties. Including, despite his well-known distaste for Jews, Israel.
That would be Donald Trump, once again accusing others of things he does.
Maybe he thinks Netanyahu was born in Brooklyn. Or Germany. You know, one of those New York resorts.
