‘No unpredictability on Trump’s support for Israel,’ allies say
Israelis concerned that US President Donald Trump is unpredictable and could turn against the Jewish state or demand massive concessions in return for his strong diplomatic support have nothing to fear, two of Trump’s allies and strongest advocates in the media told The Jerusalem Post on Monday.
“When you analyze the president, he is really one of the most consistent people you will ever meet,” said Anthony Scaramucci, who served as Trump’s communications director for 11 days last year before being deposed because of an obscenity laced tirade against leaks from the White House that appeared in the New Yorker magazine.
“His tactics and style and communication will sometimes change and give off the appearance of unpredictability, but it is not really unpredictability, it is a form of negotiation,” Scaramucci said. For example, he said that Trump’s decision to cancel a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un shortly after announcing it – and then rescheduling it – is not unpredictability, but tactics.
“Don’t confuse posturing with policy,” he said. “The president has a lot of posturing in his personality, because he knows that will force people to the table to get the objectives that he wants.”
But when it comes to policy – be it tariffs, trade, or Israel – Trump is “very consistent,” he said.
Scaramucci is in Israel this week, along with political commentator and former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, on a “fact-finding mission” with a focus on Judea and Samaria and the Golan Heights, sponsored by Joseph Frager of the National Council of Young Israel.
Huckabee said that Trump is “absolutely committed to the relationship and alliance to Israel,” and there is no “unpredictability” in that support.
He said Trump’s support for Israel springs from a number of different sources.
“First of all it comes from his own deep conviction that Israel is our truly rightful ally and the most important one in the Middle East because it most mirrors the US in its form of self government and ability to have a democracy.”
A second source of his support, according to Huckabee, is “the influence he has from all the people who surround him, both Christian and Jewish.”
Regarding the Jews, Huckabee said that Trump’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner have significant influence, as do other close Jewish friends, including the US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman.
Friedman, according to Huckabee, “is not just the ambassador, but one of his closest personal friends, who has been a great adviser and tremendous influence.”
As for the evangelicals, Huckabee said this community “is as committed to the notion of a strong Israel as most American Jews – sometimes even more so.”
Huckabee said that he told Trump that there were two non-negotiable issues for evangelicals: the sanctity of life and the issue of Israel.
Huckabee said that while he does not know what is in Trump’s long-awaited blueprint for peace with the Palestinians, “it will not involve concessions that will make Israel less secure.”
The president, Huckabee said, has “already shown that he is respectful of Israel’s right to a sovereign, secure space,” adding that in the plan “I can pretty much guarantee you that Jerusalem will not be divided.”
Scaramucci dismissed concerns by some that Israel is becoming over-identified with Trump, and as a result will suffer the consequences when another administration takes office.
Although he said he would not deny that there may be some backlash by some people, “here is the good news: the principles, policies and security protocols that the president is putting in place in conjunction with your military, our military and security agencies – when that is all in place it will be very good for your country, way better than any backlash that you may be worried about.”
Huckabee agreed, saying that “the momentum has shifted.”
Huckabee said that while past US administrations, both Democrat and Republican, have been “pushing Israel for concessions, concessions concessions,” the current administration has gone in a completely different direction.
“And any president who might come afterward and try to revert to the old mode will have to push against what is now a very strong model,” he said.
As to whether Trump will win again in 2020, both men were optimistic, largely because of the strong American economy.
Scaramucci drew on historic precedent. “Since 1880 until today, it has been impossible to dislodge a sitting president in a rising economy,” he said.
And Huckabee said Trump will win again because “the same people who voted for him before are with him now more than they were then.” In addition, he predicted, Trump is likely to win “some new people, some minorities who will look and say, ‘I don’t like his tweets, but I like my bigger paycheck, and I love that I’m able to put something away for my kids.’”