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The Trump-Harris debate was on every politically-aware
person’s mind for the past month. We heard commentator after commentator weigh
in in the run-up to that time: it’s crucial that he focus on substance, and not
be, well, Trump, they all said. But we all knew, as did the commentators, that Trump would be
Trump.
We hoped that Tulsi Gabbard, who had been enlisted to
prepare Trump for the debate, would be a moderating influence. But we knew
better. We knew that Trump would be Trump and that there was nothing and no
one who could change that.
A lot of people like that about Trump—that he is what he is and
doesn’t care what we think of him. But a lot of people don’t like that
about Trump. And those are the people he needs to sway—the others were going to
vote for him anyway.
I went to bed Monday night, knowing that the debate would
begin while I slept here in Israel. I wasn’t upset about that. I only felt
down, so sure was I that Trump would be Trump, and that as a result, Israel
would have to contend with a hostile Harris-Walz government.
I woke up, and not at all hopeful, caught the tail end of
the debate. It was exactly as we all knew it would be. Trump didn’t care how he
said what he said, didn’t stop to think how offensive it would be for a Jew to
hear from his lips, “Israel will not exist within two years from now.”
This is offensive on so many levels and some of those levels are difficult to express. There’s a visceral recoiling from those words, it’s instinctive, and surely that’s not what Trump wants the undecided Jewish voter to feel right now. Trump thinks he will frighten us into voting for him. In actual fact, the statement gives grave offense to us. We existed before Trump, and we will continue to survive as a nation should he lose, but it would, God forbid, take a toll. A “terrible” toll, as Donald Trump might say.
Still, it’s an alienating thing to say; and if Trump alienates the Jews, they won’t vote for him, and as a result, Harris may win. And that is exactly why I blame Trump for what happened last time. I believe Trump’s bull-in-a-china-shop attitude, at least in part, led to a win for Biden. Trump’s attitude and manner of behavior is every bit as much to blame for the division in America as the politicians who slander anyone who does not agree with them, and the news media and the echo chamber that echo them.
So much of what Trump said was good and true. But the
effect of that is destroyed when he says, “I believe that Israel will not exist
within two years from now” (emphasis added):
[When] she mentions Israel, all of a sudden, she hates Israel. She wouldn't even meet with Netanyahu when he went to Congress to make a very important speech. She refused to be there because she was at a sorority party of hers. She went to go to the sorority party. She hates Israel. If she's president, I believe that Israel will not exist within two years from now, I've been pretty good at predictions. I hope I'm wrong about that one.
She hates Israel. At the same time, in her own way, she hates the Arab population, because the whole place is going to get blown up. Arabs, Jewish people, Israel, Israel will be gone.
It would have never happened. Iran was broke under Donald Trump. Now, Iran has $300 billion because they took off all the sanctions that I had. Iran had no money for Hamas or Hezbollah or any of the 28 different spheres of terror. And they are spheres of terror, horrible terror."
Is Donald Trump wrong about any of this? Aside from saying Israel won’t exist, he’s probably right. But even if he’s not wrong about any of it, God forbid, that’s not the way to say it. The right way to say this is—as I’m sure Tulsi Gabbard tried to impress upon Trump— “A Harris win poses an existential threat to Israel.”
Would it be so hard for him to say those words instead of
the ones that make us bristle?
At the Republican Jewish Coalition summit last week, speaking
to a Jewish audience, it was even worse, and at the same time, even better. Trump
expanded on what he would do to help Israel were he to win. He listed many good
things he has done in the past and also all the good things he will do for
Israel and the world should he win the election. Many, many good things.
Unlike at the debate, Trump’s words at the RJC summit were heartening
and hopeful in many respects. At the same time, it’s upsetting to see how Trump
sabotages his own campaign, likely losing the Jewish vote again, only
for his refusal to speak like a human being instead of like an ape.
The RJC speech, on balance, is very fine, and worth reading
in full, as I found out when I read over the transcript I cobbled together from
YouTube auto-generated text. If it weren’t for the threats and childish
nicknames he slings at his opponents, the good would outweigh the bad, and Trump
would have many more Jewish votes in his pocket. But Trump can’t seem to help
himself—or rather, doesn’t care enough about Israel and the Jews—to even try to
speak and comport himself with enough moderation to tip the scales in his favor (emphasis
added):
Take a look at what's happening with that whole group. Harris Biden Administration has sought to cast blame for these deaths on Israel. They have not been your friends. I don't understand how anybody can support them and I say it constantly, if you had them to support, and you were Jewish, you have to have your head examined. They have been very bad to you, let me state this very clearly; the blame for these wicked murders lies with Hamas and Hamas alone.
Only an evil and inhuman, really inhuman ideology, kidnaps, tortures, and murders innocent men, women, and children, and likewise, only a deeply sick political party here in America would make common cause with those who sympathize with such evil, and they are, there's nobody been close, closer than this group of people, radical left people running for office right now, and they're not going to win because they can't win, because we wouldn't have a country any longer and then Israel would not have an ally. That I can tell you and only a morally rotten president and vice president would seek to blame Israel for heinous acts of terror committed against its own citizens.
Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are a disgrace to your nation and to my nation. If Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden are looking for another cause for this crisis, they should do nothing more than look in the mirror: they are the cause. They gave you no support. They gave Israel no support.
The October 7th attack on Israel would never have happened if I was president. Zero chance. It was not going to happen, just like the disaster in Afghanistan would never have happened, and frankly the invasion of Ukraine by Russia would not have happened. Happen this November, we're going to replace weakness with strength; cowardice with courage and clarity; and war with peace. We're going to tell Comrade Kamala Harris, “You're fired.”
[Applause]
Thank you.
Now we have no choice in doing so. You'll never survive if they get in and our country America will never survive if they get in.
When I left office, America was safe. Israel was safe. The Jewish people were safe, and the whole world was at peace. Under my leadership, we obliterated the Isis caliphate. 100% done. We did it in four weeks. It was supposed to take five years I did it in four weeks, and it was done, over.
I withdrew from the horrendous Iran nuclear deal, and imposed the toughest ever sanctions on the regime. Iran was weak. Iran was broke. They had no money and they wanted to make a deal.
As president, I withdrew from the antisemitic United Nations Human Rights Council, which is terrible, absolutely terrible.
I defunded the Palestinian Authority and choked off the money to Hamas, and we actually defunded that. We were paying them a fortune every year. The United was States was paying a fortune, and I said we're not going to pay, they're not our friends, and not the friend of Israel.
I recognized Israel's eternal capital and opened the American Embassy in Jerusalem, something which every president said they were going to do, and they never did it. I got it done, and I also got the embassy built. Somebody else would have never gotten it built.
I also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights was a big thing. We were talking to a lot of people. I got it done in 15 minutes. They've been negotiating it for 52 years. Nothing was ever going to happen without me.
With the historic Abraham Accords, we made peace in the Middle East. We had wonderful support, and had I been president for the remainder of that, the time that we're talking about, this year, period. Everybody, every country virtually, would have been signed into the Abraham Accords whereas Biden and Harris have done nothing. Nobody signed.
So, here at home, American Jews felt safe on our streets and college campuses when I was president, and we kept radical Islamic terrorists out of our country. They were out. They weren't allowed to come in, but all of that changed with Comrade Kamala Harris and Crooked Joe Biden in the White House.
Harris restored funding to the Palestinian Authority and even much more money than they were being paid before; and the UN Relief and Works Agency, which both funnel money now to Hamas, and they funnel a lot of money to Hamas, and nobody knows that better than you.
She supported removing the Houthis, to list—we had a terror list that was really, uh, very important for them to be on that terror list, and she took them off the terror list, a group whose motto includes the words “Death to America, Death to Israel” and “A curse on the Jews.”
This is their motto and they don't want them on a terror list.
Kamala Harris helped deliver over $100 billion in sanctions relief to Iran. Gave him all the money. They gave him $6 billion for hostages. They gave them money that Iran never expected—never, never could have made—and now because of them, in three and a half years they've got $350 billion.
When I was there they had no money. They wanted to make a deal, and we would have had a deal very easily if the election turned out the way it should have turned out, frankly, but the regime used it to expand its terror brigades and to fund Hamas. Iran was doing that, and funding them at a level that nobody thought even possible.
Kamala Harris is the candidate of the forces who want to destroy Western civilization and Israel. I am the candidate of those who want to defend Western civilization; defend Israel; and defend of course, the United States of [Applause] America. When I'm president, the United States will once again stand shoulder to shoulder with the State of Israel.
I will support Israel's right to win its war on terror and we will win fast. You have to win, and you have to win fast. We will restore stability and peace in the Middle East, and we will be using a phrase that's been used by some very great leaders over the years, including Ronald Reagan. “Peace through strength.”
You will have peace through strength.
If Kamala Harris wins, terrorist armies will wage an unceasing war to drive Jews out of the Holy Land and you know it, and we've had a great relationship with Israel, but I can say honestly that we got 25% of the vote, we got 26% after four years, after I did more for Israel than any other president by far, and this year we're probably around a 50% mark.
But I only ask you who are the 50% of Jewish people that are voting for these people that hate Israel and don't like the Jewish people, why are they, why are they voting, why? How do they exist?
Iran and his proxies will spread bloodshed and death all around the globe, and as she continues to set the world on fire, Kamala Harris will support unlimited migration from terrorist hotbeds into the United States, and will totally abandon Israel. You're going to be abandoned if she becomes president, and I think you have to explain that to your people because they don't know it, they have no idea what they're getting into.
You're not going to have an Israel if they become, if she becomes president Israel will no longer exist. When I'm president we will deport the foreign Jihad sympathizers and Hamas supporters from our midst. We don't want them in our midst, thank you very much, thank you. If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, then we don't want you in our country.
[Applause]
I will ban refugee settlements from terror-infested areas like the Gaza Strip. We will arrest the pro-Hamas thugs who vandalize federal property, and I will put every single college president on notice. The American taxpayer will not subsidize the creation of terrorist sympathizers on American soil. Colleges will and must end the antisemitic propaganda or they will lose their accreditation and federal support. No money will go to them if they [Applause] don't.
In the Republican Party, we know that militant antisemitism and support for terror have no place in a civilized society. They have no place. We must reject antisemitism in our schools; reject it in our foreign policy; reject it in our immigration system; and reject it at the ballot box this November.
You must get Jewish people or people that love Israel, you must get them to vote for Republican {sic].
You must get them to vote for Trump, and if you don't, you're not going to have a country. I am telling you I've been very good at predicting things. You will not have a country. This is a radical left Marxist that we have running, you will not have a country.
With your vote, we will defend our citizens. We will defend our values; and we will defend our country America; and Israel will be respected [Applause] again.
We will deliver low taxes; low regulations; low energy costs; low interest rates; and low inflation. We will stop the invasion, end migrant crime; support our police; strengthen our military; build a missile defense shield like you have, slightly larger; keep critical race theory and transgender insanity out of our schools; and keep men out of women's sports in our country.
[Music]
We will defend the Second Amendment; restore free speech; and we will secure our elections. In everything we do, I will put America first. I will keep America safe, and I will work with you to make sure that Israel is with us for thousands of years. We're not going to let go of it.
If they win, Israel is gone. Just remember that if they win, Israel is gone. You can forget about Israel. That's what's going to happen, so they have to get out on November 5th, and they have to vote for Trump. If they don't I think it's going to be a very terrible situation.
We're going to make America great again. We're going to, frankly, help Israel become great again. Right now, what you're going through is horrible, that you have to go through that, with all the death, destruction, and waste, and ruining a civilization.
You have to go on. You have to win, but you need a partner. You can never have that partner if these radical Marxists win the election, so I thank you, and God bless Israel, God Bless America, I'll see you soon, thank you very much.
As stated in his speech, the list of good things Trump would do for us is
detailed and it is long. And many of us know that Trump would do each and every
one of these good things for Israel and for the world. We know and we believe that
he would defund every bad and evil influence possible; the gross George Soros
people persecuting Jewish youth on campus; UNRWA; Iran. He’d defund them all,
Trump would.
But first he has to get into office. And I fear that last
night, with his threatening remarks at the debate, Trump has lost the election yet
again, by alienating Jewish voters, put off by his off-putting words. Trump
would have been smart, instead, to learn from the closing remarks of Douglas
Murray when he faced off against Mehdi Hassan in June:
The Jewish State and the Jewish people have survived an awful lot worse than this. They have seen off every single one of their enemies, from Pharaoh to the Abyssinians, to the Babylonians, the Greeks, the Romans. They will see off Hamas. They will see off Mehdi, and they will outlive everybody in this [Applause] room.
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