Israel did not come up in Trumps town hall last night (and briefly in Bidens). But in going over Trumps rally speeches over the last six weeks, I find that he always brings Israel policy up at the top of his foreign policy remarks and brags about breaking the Iran deal and moving the embassy to Jerusalem.
Trump claims that he has made peace in the Middle East, as Democrats failed to do, and that he deserves the Nobel Prize or maybe hes already won it. That parts a bit confusing! And he says U.S. troops can come home when Israel has peace.
The president has so far made little headway among Jewish voters they are still overwhelmingly Democratic but Trump attacks Democrats for living in a whole different world on Israel, and he says evangelicals love his Israel actions.
Heres a rapid tour (per online transcript services). Two night back, in Des Moines, Trump gave his boilerplate on the Iran deal: a catastrophe.
I withdrew from the last administrations disastrous Iran nuclear catastrophe, $150 billion, $1.8 billion in cash for nothing. That deals practically expiring now, anyway, if we didnt terminate it.
On October 12, in Sanford, FL, Trump said he only realized how powerful the presidency was because of the Iran deal.
[Iran said,] President Obama, give us $150 billion and well give you nothing
Thats when I realized how powerful the presidency is, when you could do that.
Donald Trump said he broke the deal, and that an Iran broken by sanctions will be on its knees if he wins.
But we broke the deal, and Ill tell you probably the first call Ill get after we win the election will be from Iran dying to make a deal because theyre down 28% GDP, nobodys ever heard of a thing like that.
Heres his boilerplate on the Jerusalem embassy.
I kept my promise, recognized the true capital of Israel and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem. And every president promised to do it. Every president said they were going to do that for many, many decades
Nobody did it because once they got in office, there was a lot of pressure on you not to do it. I could tell you, I was called by every foreign leader, Please dont do it. Please dont do-
Trumps boilerplate on the Golan Heights
I also recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. 52 years theyve been working on that. Theyve been working on that for 52 years. They couldnt get anything. Every year, people would fly in, stay, wine, dine, have a good time and leave. Nothing would happen. 52 years. I got it done in one day.
That leads to the Nobel Prize, Trumps claim that hes forged peace in the Middle East and hes won or been nominated for the Nobel Prize but the news media wont cover it.
Instead of these endless wars, were forging peace in the Middle East and peace without blood all over the sand, and you see whats happening. In fact, a point that they didnt report, Ive been, I guess three or four, maybe now, Nobel Peace Prizes. Can you believe it? Four, three
. I told my wife
I just got nominated for the Nobel Prize. And then I turned on the fake news. Story after story. They talk about your weather in the panhandle run. They talk about this
No mention. Remember, when Obama got it right at the beginning and he didnt even know why he got it? It was the biggest story youve ever seen.
Similarly confused, CNN writes, Trump seems to think he has already won the Nobel Peace Prize, and explains how you get a Nobel nomination.
In Pittsburgh last month, Trump went off on the Democrats over Israel.
The Democrats in Congress, you have to see what they are doing. Their stance on Israel, its like a whole different world. Its like from 10 years ago, its like a different world and we want to keep our world the way it was and the way its going to be.
Democrats kill people, Trump makes peace.
We just negotiated a major peace deal in the Middle East. Everyone said it was impossible. You know that, right? They said its impossible. Theyve been killing everybody for years and years, they had this guy, John Kerry, whos grossly incompetent.
In Newport News, Va., last month, he bragged on his Nobel Prize nominations (it was a great honor) and kept up the attacks on former secretary of state John Kerry.
The Israel everybody said it couldnt be done. And they were right. It couldnt be done the way they were doing it. You would have never gotten it done. The way John Kerry was doing it, you would have never gotten it done. Thats a guy that doesnt have a clue, incompetent.
In Middletown, Pennsylvania, last month (outside Harrisburg) Trump said that evangelicals love his policy the most.
I kept my promise, recognized the true capital of Israel, and opened the American embassy in Jerusalem. You know who likes that the most? Evangelicals like it the most. You know that? Evangelicals love it. We were just with Franklin Graham and a lot of great people. They had a very successful event at the Mall today.
Though Trumps ambassador to Israel also loves Israel, Trump said in Fayetteville last month:
I called David Friedman. Hes our ambassador, hes one of the most successful lawyers in New York. Hes a brilliant guy. He loves Israel. Right? Love Israel.
In Bemidji, Minnesota, last month, Trump said the Democrats were bad
to Israel.
And then people automatically vote. Its like a habit. [Even though] the Democrat was so bad to you. And how bad were the Democrats to Israel? We did Jerusalem, right? We broke up the Iran deal, right? And then they vote for a Democrat. Its out of habit, but I think the habits, were breaking those habits very quickly.
If you look at what weve done for Israel, its been incredible. They say nobodys done more. And its my honor.
Sometimes it sounds like Trump is bragging for an audience of one, rightwing pro-Israel megadonor Sheldon Adelson, the Las Vegas casino mogul. In Henderson, Nevada, on September 13, Trump also used the good for Israel line.
I withdrew from the last administrations disastrous Iran nuclear deal. So good for Israel. So good that we did that.
In Winston-Salem last month, Trump said were only in the Middle East for Israel not oil (something we reported then):
The fact is, we dont have to be in the Middle East other than we want to protect Israel. Weve been very good to Israel. But other than that, we dont have to be in the Middle East
There was a time we needed [oil] desperately, we dont need that anymore. We have more than they do, isnt that nice?
He offered the same analysis in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, on September 3. He bragged about Tom Friedmans approval of the Israel-UAE deal (not so different from Bidens praise for the deal last night). Then Trump said the only reason we have troops in the Middle East is called Israel and if Israel has peace, the soldiers can come home.
We achieved the first breakthrough in Middle East peace in decades, a deal with Israel and the UAE
Youll have peace in the Middle East. We want to get the hell out. Lets get them all back.
Dont forget, were energy independent. There used to be a reason. Now we do have a reason, its called Israel, and we have some very good partnerships over there. In all fairness we have some countries that have treated us very well and were going to take care of those countries, but we are energy independent for the first time and thats a very good feeling.
In sum, Israel is an important talking point for Trump on the campaign trail. He seems to believe it will rally evangelical voters, please Sheldon Adelson, and win over some conservative Jewish Democrats. Though the latest polling shows Trump getting 27 percent among Jews, well below what he needs to turn the tables in a few swing states.