Well folks, this one got awkward.
In attempting to connect with an audience of wealthy, influential, Jewish GOP donors, Trump decided his best strategy was to hit them with both barrels of ethnic stereotypes.
"Obama, oy-yoy-yoy," said Trump to the Republican Jewish Coalition on Thursday, one of the several GOP candidates to take the stage in an effort to woo potential donors.
In reference to his lead in the polls that was achieved with very little money spent on campaign advertising, he said, "I think you, as businesspeople, will feel pretty good about this, and respect it."
In accordance with his consistent campaign rhetoric, because he is such a good businessman, like all Jewish people, politics will come easily. The Iran deal? He says he'll fix it - he's "...a negotiator, like you folks."
There were some laughs throughout, but the crowd became overtly discontented in response to Trump's deflection of a question posed by Matthew Brooks, the executive director of the Republican Jewish Coalition: Is Mr. Trump committed to Jerusalem as the undivided Israeli capital? Trump avoided the question, responding "You know what I want to do? I want to wait till I meet with Bibi," (PM of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu) upon which he was immediately showered with a cascade of boos.
Sensing a negative change in the audience, Trump posited that the Jewish donors would not have supported him anyway, because he neither wants nor needs their money, and "You want to control your own politician, I understand that."
But wait! He also has the plan for fixing the long-standing blood feud between Israel and Palestine. Despite questioning whether either side is committed to peace, Trump's message would be, "...let's go, everybody's even, we love everybody and let's see if we can do something."
Yes, a good plan in theory! However, one might think that two nations that have continually denied one another's right to exist and engaged in a multitude of conflicts spanning the last century, claiming over 130,000 lives, might not be totally pacified when Trump stomps in and tells them to knock it off because they know they're actually buddies. He also said that it would only take a maximum of six months to achieve his goals for the region, despite it being "maybe the hardest deal ever in history to make."
Trump was not the only GOP candidate that failed to impress the Republican Jewish Group on Thursday. Ben Carson also stumbled, pronouncing the name of the extremist group 'Hamas' as something more like 'hummus.'
Despite the fact that Jewish Americans vote overwhelmingly Democratic anyway, and a good showing in this room would have won him few votes, if any, (he also doesn't need their money) this showing of tact, or complete lack thereof, has been inherent to the Trump campaign thus far. Faced with even a slightly critical audience, Trump managed to showcase both his ineptitude in foreign policy and his racist/bigot tendencies.
"Just relax, O.K.? You'll like me very much, believe me."
What are your thoughts?
Will foreign policy be his downfall?
Will his apparent business acumen translate to the geopolitical stage?
Who will he insult next?
http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/12/03/boos-overtake-laughs-as-donald-trump-stumbles-on-jerusalem-before-g-o-p-jews/?_r=0
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/12032521/Donald-Trump-annoys-Jewish-donors-with-Middle-East-comments.html
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/History/casualtiestotal.html
1 comment:
In my opinion Trump's inappropriate behavior will loose him public approval and we will soon see this reflected in the polls in the polls. I see it as completely improbable for Trump to be able to keep this momentum as the leading GOP candidate when he is insulting entire religions and ethnicities left and right. While Trump may be a great business man, and that may arguably be what this country needs, he lacks having an open mind and therefore is not informed on foreign policy because he refuses to learn and address these difficult topics. As Brendan highlighted, the crowd grew more and more disapproving as Trump danced around the hard hitting questions on the Iran deal. When Trump did answer he was unspecific and unrealistic because he claimed to be able to resolve the conflict by telling the two nations that they should simply stop and make peace. Part of the reason I believe the audience was so disapproving of his policy was that it was highly concentrated of educated, Jewish people who understand what is going on in Iran and by Trump not knowing how to handle their questions he was, by extension insulting and disrespecting them. Although Jewish people are known to lean left and Trump does not need their financial support, it is not smart for a candidate to throw away an opportunity to gain even a couple votes. Furthermore, the educated body sees that although America needs a business leader, the leader can not know or be incapable of handling foreign politics. In the business aspects of foreign policy Trump may be able to show his potential as a qualified individual, however enter other the factors such as warfare, social conflicts, and political allegiances and Trump will not be able to hold his ground. The educated body of Americans may respect Trump's business side but are unimpressed, to say the least, by Trumps foreign policy. Because voter turnout is mostly an educated group it is unlikely that, come election day, Trump will win the Republican Party ticket.
http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2016/president/us/2016_republican_presidential_nomination-3823.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/us-politics/12032521/Donald-Trump-annoys-Jewish-donors-with-Middle-East-comments.html
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