Morning Glory: Trump stands with Israel

Former President Donald Trump agreed to an interview on the first anniversary of the horrific massacre and mass kidnapping in Israel on October 7, 2023. The focus was, of course, primarily on Israel, but also on the explosion of anti-Semitism in the United States.

There were three key exchanges. (The full transcript can be found here.)

The first exchange:

HH: Well, Mr. President, when we spoke in April, you said to me that Israel must win, and win quickly. They're winning, but they're still fighting, and they're fighting in Lebanon now. Do you think Biden and Harris prevented Israel from winning?
DT: I do. I think everything they do is the opposite. Especially him. Now she's a dumber person than him, but he probably has the worst foreign policy ever. Do you know what you're doing to him? I noticed it recently. You could be one of the greatest foreign policy presidents. All you do is listen to what he says and do the opposite. If you had done the opposite for 30 years with this poor guy, this poor, pathetic guy, if you had done the opposite for 30 years, you would have succeeded. But he never got it right. And you know, I don't have to go back to the old secretaries of state and all the people who talk about it.

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The second exchange:

HH: Would you applaud if Israel attacked (Iran's) nuclear facilities?
DT: Yes. I dealt with Kim Jong-un. And he has nuclear weapons. And people tend to talk a little differently when it comes to nuclear weapons.
HH: Yes.
DT: Does that make sense to you?
HH: Yes, it does. Well, Nixon met with Mao, the greatest murderer of the 20th century, because they had nuclear weapons. He met with Brezhnev.
DT: Right.
HH: I noticed that you didn't meet with Khamenei and he didn't have nuclear weapons. Are they allowed to have nuclear weapons?
DT: No, they can't have nuclear weapons. No, they cannot have nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons, if you saw the power of these weapons that I renovated and rebuilt at great expense, then I rebuilt the entire military. And then, you know, they gave away $85 billion of that to the Taliban and to Afghanistan. Can you imagine that? They gave away $85 billion. They gave it their all. This is the worst group of people, these are the worst negotiators in history.

Former President Donald Trump speaks to the crowd at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, Saturday, Oct. 5, 2024. The rally will be held at the same location as the July 13 rally at which an attempt was made on Trump's life. (Matthew McDermott for Fox News Digital)

Swap three:

HH: Let me address anti-Semitism in the United States. Your daughter is Jewish. Some of your grandchildren are Jewish. Her son-in-law is Jewish. Jewish students are not safe at many American universities. Your alma mater, my alma mater, Biden and Harris ignored this. I mean, they really ignored it. If you are president, will you send the Justice Department and the Education Department's Office for Civil Rights to these locations to enforce the law?
DT: 100%. I mean, the law is being broken. 100%. You wouldn't think you would even have that. Two or three years ago, did you ever think you would ever be having this discussion?
HH: No, I didn't.
DT: I'm amazed at what's happening. And when you see these riots, you also see a lot of people. But you know, a lot of the people in it are Jewish. You know that. They are Jewish children.
HH: Oh yeah. There are some outliers, but most Jewish students are afraid to speak openly about places like Harvard and Penn.
DT: Yes, but then there are other Jewish students who are afraid. Yes, that's true, and they should be afraid. I never thought I would ever experience something like this in my life with the unrest on campus and what they are saying and doing. And they have to get rid of them quickly. You really need to put them down quickly.

Some pro-Israel Americans would prefer that no attention be paid to the outliers, but since Commentary Magazine's excellent podcast occasionally mentions the insidiousness of Jewish Americans attacking Israel and implicitly or even explicitly defending Hamas, it shouldn't be shocking if the former president also notices it.

I highlight these three exchanges because the outcome of November's election will reverberate around the world, but especially in Israel.

ONE YEAR AFTER OCT. WARNING: USA for possible “violent extremist activities” against Americans. 7

It seems clear to me that a President Kamala Harris will be the least supportive American president of the Jewish state in Israel's 76-year history.

In contrast, there is a strong argument that Trump, in his first term, was at least the equal of all previous presidents when it comes to supporting Israel in peacetime. (Richard Nixon's order to the Pentagon to send “anything that can fly” as weapons supplies to Israel during the 1973 Yom Kippur War is the only example of an American president intervening at a moment of existential danger for Israel did everything he could to help, aside from sending American forces, Trump did not face such a choice in his first term, but could well do so in a second if Iran crosses the nuclear threshold.)

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For every American who supports Israel and for whom the survival and vibrancy of the Jewish state and the broader Middle East are a priority, the choice should be clear: they should vote for Trump.

Hugh Hewitt is host of The Hugh Hewitt Show, heard weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m. ET on the Salem Radio Network and simulcast on the Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide and on all streaming platforms where SNC is seen. He is a frequent guest on Fox News Channel's News Roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6 p.m. ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a law professor at Chapman University's Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches constitutional law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show in Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has appeared frequently on all major national news television networks, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for all major American newspapers, has authored a dozen books, and moderated a number of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015–16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and column on the Constitution, national security, American politics, and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests over his 40 years in broadcasting, from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump, and this column previews the main story that informs his radio presence today. /TV show will determine.

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