Trump calls out Clinton for her support for Israel’s separation wall

US Politics
on 35 Comments
Saban and Clinton, on an earlier occasion

This tweet from Donald Trump this morning is zinging around the internet.

Obviously Trump is a clown but there’s an element of truth in what he says (as there was when he said that Sheldon Adelson would own Marco Rubio). Hillary is all for human rights and openness here in the United States, but she is willing to give a far-right wing government anything it wants in Israel, and that’s a lot worse than President Obama’s position. She’s going to patch things up with Netanyahu immediately. And she makes these pronouncements out of craven allegiance to Haim Saban, for whom she lately penned an anti-boycott letter, and gave a disturbingly-pro-Israel speech, in which she bragged that she and Israel were born within months of one another.

The tweet is also a reminder that people know what’s going on over there. Even Donald Trump. Public opinion is shifting. Even the most pessimistic person has to see that. People are aware of the apartheid conditions. And these questions are bound to be debated in the coming political cycle, no matter who the nominees are. Will Bernie Sanders have the guts to call Clinton out for her hypocrisy on this question?

And as for Haim Saban, it has now come out that when Clinton spoke to the Brookings Institution’s Saban Forum in 2011, an official at Brookings cleared questions with her ahead of time. Here’s the Martin Indyk email.

To be clear, Indyk is sharing questions at the annual Saban Forum with Hillary Clinton’s aide, and then asks: “If there are any you would like me to stay away from, or any that you would prefer me to ask, please let me know.” So the whole thing was a setup.

(Reminiscent of how Gene McCarthy once described the establishment to Weiss once, as a circle of pigs in the barnyard who kept their snouts warm by burying them in the hindquarters of the pigs in front of them.)

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Israel Lobby
US Policy in the Middle East
US Politics

35 Responses

  1. David Doppler
    January 2, 2016, 11:46 am

    “Obviously Trump is a clown but there’s an element of truth in what he says (as there was when he said that Sheldon Adelson would own Marco Rubio).”

    And when he told the Jewish Republican Coalition that he didn’t know if Israel wants peace, and refused to back down, sticking to his analysis of whether a peace agreement – a “deal” – could be made, and his cold assessment that if one side (implication Israel) doesn’t want a deal, it won’t happen, he’s okay with that, but he wanted them to know he is clear-eyed about it. http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/donald-trump-gop-israel/418737/

    Conspiracy theorists have new grist for the New Year this morning as the NYT reports about a new jihadi recruitment video that uses Trump’s remarks about banning Muslims just as Hillary argued was already happening. Although fact-checkers found no evidence, yet Hillary doubled down, cleverly using Trump’s own tactic against him, and now she’s proven “right”: http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/02/world/africa/al-qaeda-uses-video-of-trump-for-recruiting.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region&region=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

    How did she know that in advance???

    The source of the video was SITE Intelligence, sometimes speculated to be a Mossad operation or CIA/Mossad operation, once outed in Germany as being the intermediary between a German jihadi terror cell and its supposed international terror organization, questioned by VeteransToday as to whether such an international group existed outside of the CIA/Mossad. http://www.veteranstoday.com/2011/09/11/cia-funded-israeli-group-tied-to-al-qaeda-in-german-trial/

    If he ever gets to debate Hillary, he might ask her: how did you know in advance that video was coming out? Who on your staff told you and reassured you that that would happen, Hillary? Because that person doesn’t work for, you work for them.

    Trump may be a clown, but he seems to be the only politician in America able to see through the smoke and mirrors of crowd manipulation, and unafraid to speak his mind about what he sees. What he wants is power, and what he would do with it, if he got it, isn’t clear. But he’s got crowd manipulation and deal-making skills of his own that command attention.

    • Atlantaiconoclast
      January 2, 2016, 2:21 pm

      Exactly. Trump is no more a clown than Obama or any of the other pathetic excuses for statesman out there. I have a strong feeling that most progressives are seriously underestimating his appeal. I think he is going to win, and win big, and am already wondering how to deal with the most unsavory aspects of his policies. He is very pro Israel, but at least opposes wars that the Israel Lobby has supported. And maybe, just maybe, a President Trump will not be beholden to powerful Jewish people and thus chart a new course for the US in the ME.

      • Kathleen
        January 7, 2016, 7:52 am

        Trump could take a lot of votes from Hillary on the Dem side. Pulling from the same socio-economic group he is pulling from on Republican and Independent sides.

    • JWalters
      January 2, 2016, 7:15 pm

      “How did she know that in advance???”

      Good question. The Martin Indyk email clearly shows SOME degree of conspiracy.

      And when it comes to dragging America in needless wars, there is plenty of evidence for LOTS of conspiratorial activities over the years.

    • Kathleen
      January 7, 2016, 7:49 am

      When Hillary was making a deal out of Trump’s Muslim comments saying that they would be used by terrorist. MSNBC’s Katy Tur was asked by Chris Matthews if this was such a wise strategy by Clinton. Tur went to bat hard for Clinton saying something really close to “there will more than likely be evidence of how terrorist will use Trumps words”

      Tur sounded like a hack for Hillary.

  2. Krauss
    January 2, 2016, 1:13 pm

    Trump has thus far chosen his targets carefully. It’s “okay” to bash Mexicans and muslims in U.S. discourse – but not blacks or Jews.

    He has stayed away from blacks, even publicly backing affirmative action(a nod to their cultural power in the U.S, open anti-black racism has a very steep price).

    He’s not going after Jews here per se, but rather Zionism but in his own weird way. He actually supports all that Israel is doing, but he is threatening the self-image of these supporters of Apartheid as “liberals”.

    That is his greatest sin, and why the establishment will go out to utterly destroy him in 2016.
    They will succeed but the danger here isn’t that he will win – he won’t – but that he will fundamentally expose their hypocrises for all to see so that once he’s down, he’s taken down the rest of the bigots with him. Such as Clinton and a ton of “liberals” in the media(Goldberg, Chait, Remnick, et al). They will fight for their life to preserve their status as “liberals” and try to maintain support for Jewish Apartheid and Trump will threaten that, by showing how alike he and support for Israel is(including Labor Israel).

    • Atlantaiconoclast
      January 2, 2016, 2:22 pm

      It is not anti Black or racist to oppose affirmative action. And I don’t get why so many here think Trump is not going to win. No other candidate is generating the kind of enthusiasm and massive crowds we are seeing at his rallies. He is already neck and neck with Hillary in the polls, and given the tendency of people to not tell the truth about their support for a controversial candidate, Trump will likely do better than the polls suggest. He truly is building a movement. Just watch his rallies. I challenge anyone to look at his support with objective eyes. And I am not a Trump supporter. I am a Ron Paul man, and still mourn that America chose to reject such a wise and gentle prophet.

      But I concur that Trump’s greatest sin is calling out liberals for their hypocrisy in regards to their positions on civil rights in the US vs. in Israel.

      • Keith
        January 2, 2016, 5:16 pm

        ATLANTAICONOCLAST- “It is not anti Black or racist to oppose affirmative action.”

        It is not anti-Black or racist to enjoy the fruits of white privilege and oppose efforts to redress a historical wrong. Got it.

      • Kris
        January 2, 2016, 11:21 pm

        If the presidential election were held today, Republican candidate Donald Trump would lose to either of the two leading Democratic candidates, a new Quinnipiac poll found.

        Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, would actually be more successful than Democratic front runner Hillary Clinton, leading Trump 51 percent to 38 percent. Clinton’s lead is smaller: She would beat Trump 47 percent to 40 percent. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/poll-donald-trump-trails-hillary-clinton-bernie-sanders-in-matchup/

      • Citizen
        January 3, 2016, 7:18 am

        @ Keith
        So the people of Appalachia are still enjoying their white privilege? & That’s the reason only US white mortality has spiked? & also the reason the average veteran of our ME wars comes from rural & small town America?

      • Citizen
        January 3, 2016, 7:23 am

        Ditto here on Ron Paul. Another example of how Trump is calling out liberal hypocrisy is his constant reference to the PC main media, as when he latches onto an exemplar camera man and demands the camera man pivot his camera around to show how large and enthusiastic the crowd is at his traveling speech forums–he just did it again in Mississippi.

      • Krauss
        January 3, 2016, 10:08 am

        Atlanta, Trump has no chance in hell to win the presidency. In fact, no GOP:er has.

        http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-republicans-idUSKBN0UD0X220151230

        The 2016 will be a bloodbath for the Republican party. And good riddance, I say. I don’t mind a genuine conservative opposition, I don’t want a neocon-ruled corporate-controlled party.

        I hope the neocons who have mused about a third party will do what they threaten to do, to create a third party. They will watch their support plummet immediatedly to Lindsay Graham levels and hopefully they can stay in the purgatory, forever.

        As for affirmative action, I’ve long been in favor of moving it to class over race. It makes no sense that poor asians/whites don’t get in while privileged offspring of black ivy league parents get in on the basis of their race.

        Furthermore, current AA policy also empowers groups that are not disadvantaged at all, like Jews:

        http://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-myth-of-american-meritocracy/

        But I doubt AA will ever be dismantled at the national level, instead we will see a piece-by-piece approach where some states like Nebraska demolish it and states like Michigan severely curtails it while others double down on it.

      • Keith
        January 3, 2016, 12:15 pm

        CITIZEN- “So the people of Appalachia are still enjoying their white privilege?”

        Not every white person has benefited from white privilege just as not every Jew (however defined) has benefited from Jewish kinship. Are you suggesting that our society is color blind? That we have a post racial society? That Wall Street, the US government, the Council on Foreign Relations, US billionaires, etc, are overrun with people of color? That the police and courts unfairly target white people, the prison population disproportionately white? Reality is what it is, if you choose to ignore it what can I say?

      • rugal_b
        January 4, 2016, 8:08 am

        -And I don’t get why so many here think Trump is not going to win-

        Maybe because both Hillary and Sanders are edging Trump in the rating polls? See here :
        http://www.huffingtonpost.com/h-a-goodman/in-2016-bernie-sanders-defeat-clinton-trump_b_8902400.html

        Trump is never going to win, because it is a mathematical impossibility. He’s core supporters are working class white males which is not bad on its own. But he actively offends and is hostile to many, outside of that narrow demographic, who are roughly 70% of the population.

      • rugal_b
        January 4, 2016, 8:29 am

        -It is not anti Black or racist to oppose affirmative action-

        That would depend on who is doing the opposing and on what basis. It certainly can be racist if privileged white people are doing it, as a way to block the rightful transfer of resources to historically underprivileged peoples in order to preserve the status-quo.

      • Kathleen
        January 7, 2016, 8:00 am

        Citizen I have spent some time over at the Trump fb page. Trying to taunt Trump and team a bit along with bashing Clinton and cheerleading for Bernie.

        Early on kept encouraging the Trump team to use hundreds of comments by MSM talking heads and pundits saying “Trump has gone too far now”….”iteat’s over for him after that comment” yada yada. Would be a great ad. Chris Matthews, Mika, David Corn etc comments will make a great ad confirming Trump defied their prophecies.

        Have to admit I like the way Trump goes after the MSM.

      • Mooser
        January 7, 2016, 3:38 pm

        “hundreds of comments by MSM talking heads and pundits saying “Trump has gone too far now”….”iteat’s over for him after that comment” yada yada.”

        As Trump and his campaign manager sing…

    • Scott
      January 3, 2016, 8:43 am

      @Kris, who notes Sanders and Clinton poll leads over Trump:
      Can’t tell much at this stage; in January 1980, Carter had lead of 60-31 versus Reagan.
      I think Trump might well win against Hillary, though the establishment pushback against him would be formidable. I think some people think it would be like Johnson v. Goldwater, but Hillary is such a fundamentally weaker candidate than LBJ was in 1964. Compared to more recent elections, Trump would do much better with blacks than McCain or Romney and obviously much better with working class whites. The GOP in last few elections has stood for lower capital gains taxes and support for Israel–its main positions. Not that appealing to that many people.

  3. Laurent Weppe
    January 2, 2016, 1:15 pm

    The tweet is also a reminder that people know what’s going on over there. Even Donald Trump. Public opinion is shifting. Even the most pessimistic person has to see that. People are aware of the apartheid conditions

    Problem is Trump’s tweet doesn’t mean “Boohoo, Hillary’s a hypocrite“: it means “If Apartheid is good enough for Israel, it’s good for the US“: an while public opinion is shifting, the fraction that’s willing to unapologetically demand the establishment of herrenvolk regimes is growing.

    • ckg
      January 2, 2016, 2:00 pm

      Indeed. In U.S. public discourse, Israel’s transgressions against western norms and universal human rights are typically not highlighted to shame Israel but rather to justify policy proposals that would push the U.S. further into the right-wing abyss.

      • Atlantaiconoclast
        January 2, 2016, 2:30 pm

        Yep. This is why I believe it is a mistake to put hopes into exposing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. Americans will not care in critical numbers about our policy toward Israel till they learn the extent of the damage Israel has done to the US. But this will require tolerance among the truth tellers for cries of “anti Semite!” thrown at them.

      • MRW
        January 2, 2016, 4:40 pm

        typically not highlighted to shame Israel but rather to justify policy proposals that would push the U.S. further into the right-wing abyss

        Or so it would appear. I wouldn’t bank on it, tho’.

      • Walker
        January 2, 2016, 5:20 pm

        +1 to both you and Laurent Weppe.

      • Citizen
        January 3, 2016, 7:31 am

        @ Atlantaiconclast
        True. Hopefully, maybe some of Bernie’s more avid supporters will pick up on Trump’s tweet and use it against Hillary? (Without acknowledging such attack originated with Trump, of course.) And in this way, when Trump, in turn, uses such a Bernie attack on Hillary, together, they will raise the awareness of Dick and Jane as to Israel’s rogue conduct, hence US misguided support of same?

    • MRW
      January 2, 2016, 5:29 pm

      that’s willing to unapologetically demand the establishment of herrenvolk regimes is growing

      Is that the Jewish herrenvolk?

      • Laurent Weppe
        January 3, 2016, 6:23 am

        Is that the Jewish herrenvolk?

        I was talking about westerners wanting to enshrine white supremacy in their countries’ laws, actually.
        Besides, given the discriminations against Mizrahi Jews, I’d say when it comes to Israel that the local right-wingers seek to establish an Ashkenazi herrenvolk regime, not a Jewish one.

  4. Walker
    January 2, 2016, 5:22 pm

    James & Philip, thank you for calling Hilary Clinton a tool of Haim Saban. It’s not an overstatement. I love to see such candor.

    To think I’m going to vote for her in 11 months . . .

    • Bandolero
      January 2, 2016, 7:16 pm

      I second that.

      Hillary is the known evil that will bring death to 100s of 1000s if not millions, many millions of people or all of humanity. In 2011 she needed only 11 seconds to convince me once and for all she’s a mad psychopath and a great danger to humanity whose only further role in human life should be to sit safely in a prison and the keys thrown away:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgcd1ghag5Y

      In 2012 she reinforced this my view in a few seconds:

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fF0JyZwqGoQ

      Now Hillary Clinton is calling for a “no-fly zone” against Russia in Syria, which can be seen, if she follows through, as a safe recipe for a nuclear WWIII, just like Adelson and his Zionist mafia guys demanded it – when he said he would throw a nuclear bomb on Iran to say he’s serious.

      Whatever ills Trump has, and I agree he has many, it can hardly be worse than what a President Hillay Clinton would be.

      • Citizen
        January 3, 2016, 7:38 am

        You could vote for Jill Stein. A vote for Tweedledee or Tweedledum may be most practical, but also demonstrates the futility of one’s vote as much as voting for a Third Party candidate–and, unlike voting for Stein, includes the responsibility for continuing the status quo when it comes to US foreign policy.

      • ckg
        January 3, 2016, 1:42 pm

        >>Whatever ills Trump has, and I agree he has many, it can hardly be worse than what a President Hillay Clinton would be.<<

        Very true. But unless the race is close and you live in a swing state, I suggest simply voting your conscience, even if leads to a third party candidate. You will sleep better.

      • lysias
        January 3, 2016, 5:01 pm

        Indeed. I live in Maryland, which I do not think the Democratic candidate can possibly lose. So I intend to vote for Jill Stein (as I did in 2012).

  5. JLewisDickerson
    January 2, 2016, 5:30 pm

    RE: “Reminiscent of how Gene McCarthy once described the establishment to Weiss once, as a circle of pigs in the barnyard who kept their snouts warm by burying them in the hindquarters of the pigs in front of them.” ~ North & Weiss

    HENRY BROOKS ADAMS: “You can’t use tact with a Congressman! A Congressman is a hog! You must take a stick and hit him on the snout!” ~ From ‘The Education of Henry Adams’*, By Henry Brooks Adams, 1838-1918 (American journalist-historian-academic-novelist; grandson of President John Quincy Adams; great-grandson of President John Adams)

    P.S.
    • FREE KINDLE & OTHER FORMATS: The Education of Henry Adams, by Henry Adams – http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/2044
    • FREE EBOOK & OTHER FORMATS: The Education of Henry Adams: An Autobiography – http://books.google.com/books/about/The_Education_of_Henry_Adams.html?id=-ThaAAAAMAAJ

  6. JWalters
    January 2, 2016, 7:05 pm

    Photo: A Wealthy Donor Instructs His Political Puppet

    “It takes a Palestinian village to raise a terrorist child, so these must all be obliterated.”

  7. RoHa
    January 2, 2016, 7:34 pm

    “Hillary is all for human rights and openness here in the United States,”

    [Snigger]

  8. Mooser
    January 3, 2016, 11:58 am

    Oh Lord Look how Josh Marshall responds to Trump!!

    Marshall says the Apartheid Wall doesn’t matter because “18% of Israelis are Muslim”

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