Donald Trump accepts party nomination after a week in which Israel was extolled and isolationists were given center stage
Isolationism is being debated ‘within our party, there’s no question about it,’ said a prominent Republican Jewish leader
Tucker Carlson, U.S. Rep. Byron Donalds of Florida, former U.S. President Donald Trump, Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio appear on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum, Milwaukee, July 15, 2024. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
(JTA) — MILWAUKEE — Donald Trump accepted his party’s nomination for president Thursday night in a speech in which he invoked the Israeli hostages, said the Oct. 7 invasion would not have happened on his watch, and boasted that the U.S. would build an anti-missile defense system like Israel’s Iron Dome.
“The entire world, I tell you this: we want our hostages back and they better be back before I assume office or you will be paying a very big price,” he said in a lengthy, apparently unscripted speech that dwelled early on Sunday’s assassination attempt before returning to familiar themes about illegal immigration and crime.
He also repeated an assertion that Israel would not be in danger had he been president.
“I will end every single international crisis that the current administration has created — including the horrible war with Russia and Ukraine which would have never happened if I was president, and the war caused by the attack on Israel, which would never have happened if I was president. Iran was broke,” he said.
Experts have said that sanctions imposed by Trump forced Iran to reduce, but not entirely stop, funding for Hamas.
Republicans leave the convention exulting at the welter of good news attending the former president’s third run for the White House: Not only did he escape death last week, but polls show that President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate last month and the ensuing disarray among Democrats could propel Trump to a crushing win in November.
Yet for Jewish Republicans and their allies here, the thrills of several prominent speaking spots representing their interests were leavened by the evidence of an isolationism that is increasingly influential among Republicans, one undergirded at times by ancient anti-Jewish tropes peddled by the party’s far right, including by Tucker Carlson, a populist talk show host.
Carlson in his convention speech Thursday was infuriated by the tradition of maintaining a high U.S. profile overseas, although he aimed his anger at Ukraine.
“You don’t see our commander-in-chief suggesting that we use our military to protect our country or the lives of its citizens,” he said. “No. That’s for Ukraine. And it’s too much actually — it’s too insulting. It’s too insulting. It’s a middle finger in the face of every American.”
There were only positive mentions of Israel on the convention stage, but Carlson’s leading role in the Trump campaign unsettled Jewish Republicans. Carlson and his good friend, Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr., were critical in persuading Trump to name as his running mate Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance, who shares their isolationist outlook.
“It’s a debate we’re having within our party, there’s no question about it,” Republican Jewish Coalition CEO Matt Brooks said of isolationism, speaking to reporters after his own speech on Tuesday night.. “We’re going to continue to wage that battle in the party and make sure that the Tucker Carlson wing of the party doesn’t get a foothold.”
On Wednesday, a day before he spoke at the convention, Carlson entertained a theory that the Rothschilds, the Jewish banking family who figure prominently in antisemitic conspiracy theories, perverted the New Testament.
Carlson, whose ouster from his top rated job at Fox News Channel last year was cheered by Jewish groups who decried his embrace of white nationalism, has said recently he has undergone a religious transformation. He has invited Christian believers on his show, including those who are harshly critical of Israel’s war against Hamas.
Carlson earned one of the most prominent speaking spots on the last night of the convention. Like virtually everyone else who spoke this week — including Trump — he said the failed assassination last week reinforced his belief in God.
“When he stood up after being shot in the face, bloodied, and put his hand up. I thought at that moment that was a transformation. This was no longer a man — well, I think that I think it was divine intervention,” Carlson said.
Also making repeated appearances at the convention was the “replacement theory,” a baseless conspiracy alleging a liberal plot to replace white voters with people of color. Versions of the theory have antisemitic overtones alleging that the plot is led by Jews.
Eric Trump, Trump’s son who now directs his hotel and branding empire, in his speech strung together the theory with protectiveness for Israel in a single sentence.
“The Middle East has become a hornet’s nest, our greatest ally Israel totally under siege, fentanyl is killing our youth and destroying families, while the current administration stands idly by hoping their inaction will import illegal votes,” he said.
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