Trump Gets A Laugh From AIPAC


Donald Trump has continued to demonstrate his firm belief in his own intellectual prowess. As he addressed the intensely pro-Israel group AIPAC (the American Israeli Public Affairs Committee), Trump attempted to convince the crowd that he had consulted with all of his foreign affairs experts (himself). He assured the group that he had studied the Iran nuclear deal in great detail. He assured everyone that he had done more work than virtually anyone else.

The crowd, consisting of nearly 2/3 of Congress, students from more than 620 college campuses, and representatives of 275 Synagogues, gave Mr. Trump exactly the reaction he deserved. They laughed.

These folks are the people who have really studied the US-Israeli relationship. They are the people who have actually studied the Iran nuclear deal. They understand the complexity of the relationships in the Middle East. They have written papers and books and theses on the convoluted relationships between Israel, the Palestinians, Iran and the rest of the Middle East. They know that you can’t just talk your way to peace.

As Politico reported, the members of AIPAC have seen what happens when a country attacks an entire religious group. They remember what happened in Europe. They are uncomfortable, to say the least, with Trump’s anti-Muslim language during this campaign. A large group of rabbis walked out of the meeting, expressing their discomfort with Trump’s rhetoric.

 

In his speech, Mr. Trump tried to make the case for his toughness against Iran. But his words left the crowd somewhat confused, as he stated:

“When I’m President, I will adopt a strategy that focuses on three things when it comes to Iran. First, we will stand up to Iran’s aggressive push to destabilize and dominate the region. Iran is a very big problem, and will continue to be, but if I’m not elected President, I know how to deal with trouble, and believe me, that’s why I’m going to be elected President, folks.”

There was a general intake of breath at this point, and a general sense of confusion.

Although that was only one item in his stated strategy of “three things,” Trump then went on to talk about how he is leading in the polls. Believe him. He never did give his other two strategy points.

While there was a little bit of awkward applause during the speech, you can clearly see on the video that the majority of the crowd was profoundly uncomfortable with the “presumptive nominee” of the GOP as he did his best to assure them that he was on top of all things Middle East. The Donald tried to convince the crowd that his ability to make deals makes him the perfect person to assess the nuclear deal with Iran.

The members of AIPAC did not seem impressed with Mr. Trump’s assurances of his own greatness. They didn’t seem to buy his self-promotion as Israel’s best friend.

Maybe somebody has actually learned from past history.

 

Featured image by Gage Skidmoreavailable under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 license. 

 

Karen is a retired elementary school teacher with many years of progressive activism behind her. She is the proud mother of three young adults who were all arrested with Occupy Wall Street. To see what she writes about in her spare time, check out her blog at "Empty Nest, Full Life"