Trump Speaks God's Truth About The Iraq War And The World Trade Center
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2016/02/donald-speaks-gods-truth-about-iraq-war.html
Excerpt: "Last spring. Republicans felt more sympathy for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than they did for their own commander-in-chief, 67 percent to 16 percent."
Trump Says He'll Be "Neutral" On Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Republican front-runner Donald Trump rejected one of his party’s most central foreign policy positions Wednesday evening, opting to stay “neutral” on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. In an hour-long town hall on MSNBC devoted solely to the New York billionaire, Trump fielded a question from an audience member and a follow-up by anchor Joe Scarborough by saying he didn’t “want to get into” which party is at fault.
“Let me be sort of a neutral guy. Let’s see,” he said. “I don’t want to say whose fault it is. I don’t think it helps.”
Trump couched his comments in the logic that preserving the element of surprise and unpredictability in where he stands is a key part of his dealmaking process. He called peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine “the toughest deal in the world right now to make,” and said it’s possible that it is “not makable.”
“It is a very, very tough agreement to make. I was with a very prominent Israeli the other day. He says it’s impossible because the other side has been trained from the time they’re children to hate Jewish people,” he said. “But I will give it one hell of a shot. That I will tell you.”
Trump’s noncommittal attitude is a significant departure from the unwavering support for Israel voiced by the Republican Party and by his G.O.P. rivals in particular. Marco Rubio has blasted President Obama’s Israel policy and vowed to “make restoring the U.S.-Israel relationship a top priority.” Ted Cruz says that on the first day of his administration, he would “recognize Jerusalem as the eternal, undivided capital of Israel.” In an op-ed for Fox News in December, Jeb Bush wrote, “Given the deep historic, cultural, and emotional ties that bind the United States and Israel, as well as our shared interests in fighting the growing terrorist threat and combatting Iranian aggression, the U.S.-Israel relationship should be stronger than ever.”
Support for Israel, a New Jersey-sized democracy squeezed between sometimes hostile Arab nations that dwarf it in comparison, has become a key element of the Republican platform in part because conservative voters back it so adamantly. More than two-thirds of Republicans feel the U.S. should support Israel even when its stances diverge with American interests, a Bloomberg poll found last spring. Republicans felt more sympathy for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than they did for their own commander-in-chief, 67 percent to 16 percent.
For any other Republican candidate, taking a neutral position on Israel—a stance that could push away voters, donors, and support of the party establishment—would be political suicide. But Trump is not like most candidates. The success of his campaign does not rely on either donors or party support, but on defying them at every turn. He has blamed George W, Bush for the terrorist attacks on 9/11 and declared that his health care policy would “take care of everybody”, despite just about every influential conservative bigwig rallying against him. And yet he keeps on rising. For whatever reason—some cocktail of star power, success, a say-what’s-on-your-mind mentality mixed with a surprising level of brashness and bashing—a shocking number of Republican voters have decided to place their support for Trump above traditional party policies. So will going against another one of the G.O.P.’s central tenets matter for him going forward? It hasn’t so far.
No comments:
Post a Comment