Sometimes I don’t like to admit how much Donald Trump irritates me because I feel like it’s wrong to give him or his supporters any satisfaction, but I can’t help myself in this case. On Friday night, Trump had a little private party for large GOP donors and his Mar-a-Lago crib.
To prevent leaks from Trump’s Friday night Mar-a-Lago speech to RNC donors, security guards made attendees put their cellphones in magnetized pouches that they carried around like purses until they left the club.
Despite the efforts to keep the president’s remarks private, they have leaked out.
So leakers had to rely on their memories. Trump entered to Lee Greenwood’s “Proud to Be an American,” then launched into one of his trademark stream-of-consciousness speeches, according to three people who were there. They said the crowd roared with laughter throughout.
Even though the crowd was often roaring with laughter, there were a few moments that gave even these partisans some pause. Here’s one:
Referring to the recent anti-Semitism controversies with Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar, Trump told the donors: “The Democrats hate Jewish people.”
Trump said he didn’t understand how any Jew could vote for a Democrat these days. Trump talked about how much he’d done for Israel, noting his historic decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel to Jerusalem.
Trump said if he could run to be prime minister of Israel, he’d be at 98% in the polls, according to three sources who were there.
I can’t really describe the kind of rage I feel when I read those words.
Individual-1 crossed the line as far as I am concerned a very long time ago. He’s maybe semi-useful for those who are rich enough to shelter their dinero in fancy off-shore accounts, but every once in a while, even among that bunch, there is the realization that Individual-1 is genuinely wrong in the head, always has been, and quite probably getting worse.
Yes,
But the problem is that they will follow him to the end, and won’t care one bit what they have realized.
The truth does not matter at all to his clan.
.
Not sure why those remarks create more rage than a thousand other things Trump says weekly. He’s a dangerous buffoon but of course a symptom of a much larger problem: The extent to which greed has overtaken decency, patriotism and every other value that used to carry at least rhetorical cachet among rank-and-file members of the Republican party. Now one major party is nothing more than a tribe. One whose organizing principle is “us against them.”
If our system is to be reformed, we need laws to prevent propaganda networks from masquerading as news outlets. We also need to overturn the system of legal bribery that passes for political fundraising.
Splitting Jewish voters from the Democratic party is the new “Southern Strategy” for Republicans. It appears to be going well for them.
No, it doesn’t.
Jewish Americans remain one of the most reliably Democratic constituencies.
http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/11/07/how-religious-groups-voted-in-the-midterm-elections/
And they overwhelmingly disagree with Trump’s policies.
http://jstreet.org/press-releases/american-jewish-voters-strongly-oppose-trump-fear-rise-of-right-wi
ng-extremism/
Republican outreach is almost exclusively focused on a hawkish support of the Likud government, which can be read as more of a hatred of Muslims than a love of Israel. They still have to live in a country where Republicans define “religious freedom” as legalization of discrimination by Christian conservatives against everyone else, and they’ve seen white nationalists swarm to the party under Trump. I doubt they like where this is heading.
Agreed for all of the reasons you state, but let us remember that in Europe before the 1990’s Jewish people in Europe were of parties of the left and center left. Now they primarily vote for center right parties. A lot of this is related to tolerance for Muslim voices in those left parties, particularly with respect to Israel. However, it’s also related to the fact that antisemitism isn’t policed enough, and at least the center right parties support Israel. So it is important that we acknowledge when Jewish members of the coalition voice legitimate concerns and we hear them, as Steggles alluded to in another thread.
Hey everybody, don’t believe the hype. Maybe this will help put things in perspective.
“Trump said if he could run to be prime minister of Israel, he’d be at 98%”
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The fact that he might be right about that says a great deal about what sort of Country Israel has become, and that the schism that is opening between the US and Israel may grow wider.
For better or worse, people like Trump or Netanyahu say it out loud. Once the really awful things have been said out loud it’s hard to go back. Especially when you realize that it is actually popular with certain sets of people, because that’s what wakes you up to what a huge problem it is and you can’t just let it go.
If the comments regarding Omar, Israel and democrats “hatred” of Jewish people gave them pause, this should have been of even more concern:
“During a fundraiser where Trump ranted about Democrats hating Jews and made jokes about blackface, the president also announced that he actually said `Tim Cook Apple.'”
“The president explained he said the name really quickly and said `Cook’ very quietly, so no one could hear it, Axios reported.”
“The video shows a different story. Presumably, even if Trump had said `Cook,’ his lips would have moved. They did not.”
“Two donors at the event told Axios they didn’t understand why Trump would lie about something so ridiculous, particularly when it was captured on video.”
“‘I just thought, why would you lie about that,’ one donor told Axios. `It doesn’t even matter!'”
https://rawstory.us2.list-manage.com/track/click?u=80b42ecc21f29763320aceb90&id=ff1b6bff41&e
=68b866d2b1
Trump could have easily said something like “Tim has become so synonymous with Apple in my mind it just came out that way.” No biggie. However, Trump is so deeply narcissistic that he’d rather insult people there to support him because he cannot admit to even a small mistake like this.
This is an example that speaks to who they’re giving their money to, and what it says about them that they can overlook this character flaw that is indicative of potentially very dangerous behavior in a president, as long as they get their tax cuts. The people at this meeting were those who view their donations more or less as a business contract; Tim “Apple” is gay himself, and yet he could apparently give a rat’s behind that he’s giving money to a president that’s been a threat to the rights of gays and every other non-white group in this country. Let alone someone who will lie to his face about something so trivial yet obvious.
Sorry re the above; I didn’t space that well.
Just like to add, that makes clear, once again that Trump really is a symptom of a much deeper problem, and it is these people that support him.
Why did you assert that Tim Cook is “giving money to” Trump? They were at the “American Workforce Policy Advisory Board meeting, not a political fundraiser. I think it’s unfair and incorrect of you to make that assertion absent evidence that Tim Cook, personally, or Apple as a corporation has donated to Trump.
98%, eh? Well, there are quite a few secular and Labor Party voters in Israel and I’m pretty sure they despise Trump as well as Netanyahu.
But, of course, Trump the grand narcissist spouts garbage reflexively.