In DC, Trump rips and warns off-derech Jews

Donald Trump coupled a recounting of his pro-Israel bonafides with an attack on Jews who are, to his sensibility, off the derech politically, thundering that if he fails to win in November he’ll blame Jewish voters for his defeat.

Trump’s rambling performance was staged in front of an adoring audience, at the Israeli American Council’s annual summit in Washington last Thursday night.

The former president joked about the advantage Democrats enjoyed among Jews at the polls in 2016 and 2020 despite his support for the Jewish state and his daughter, son-in-law and three of his grandchildren being Jewish.

“I was the best friend Israel ever had,” he said. In 2020, after “I’ve done all these things … I got 29% [or the Jewish vote]. I went from 25% to 29%. Think of that. Honestly, you didn’t treat yourselves well.”

Trump said that polling currently showed him with support from “about 40%” of the Jewish populace. A Pew poll earlier this month showed that 34% of American Jews support Trump.

“Those votes may be necessary for us to win,” he said.

“I’ll put it to you very simply and as gently as I can: I wasn’t treated properly by the voters who happen to be Jewish,” he continued. “Do they know what the hell is happening? If I don’t win this election, and the Jewish people would really have a lot to do with that if that happens, because at 40%, that means 60% of the people voting for the enemy.”

Trump added that if he doesn’t win, Israel “will cease to exist within two years.”

The former president mixed lines he has repeatedly used from his stump speeches with elements intended specifically for a Jewish and Israeli audience.

He cited his moving the US embassy to Jerusalem, his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and the Abraham Accords that established diplomatic relations between Israel and several Arab countries as among the pro-Israel accomplishments of his administration.

He said he supported Israel’s right to win its war on terrorism, but “it has to win it fast.”

Perhaps the loudest applause of the night came when Trump said that he would deport “foreign jihad sympathizers” and strip universities of their accreditation and federal funding unless they put a stop to “antisemitic propaganda.”

The federal government does not directly control university accreditation but approves independent accreditation agencies.

“If you hate America, if you want to eliminate Israel, we will throw you out of our country so fast your head will spin,” he said.

Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who made a surprise late-evening appearance at the conference, noted in his brief remarks that Israel might be one of the few issues that he and attendees would agree on.

“Politically, I’m a Democrat, but I’m very, very, very much all about standing with Israel,” Fetterman said. “I’m known as going into red [i.e., Republican] areas and rooms or whatever, and just to talk and have a conversation.

“I’m not asking ‘who are you voting for in 2024?’” he added. “Perhaps some of you are on a different ‘team’ politically, but I’m absolutely on your team, Israel.”