An interesting perspective on the initial half-year of Donald Trump’s potential second term is that the cunning leader has somehow baited Democrats into opposing common sense ideas, leading them to embrace odd and unpopular stances.
Consider how he lured them into wildly protecting waste, fraud and abuse in the budget simply by having a plan to cut it.
By fulfilling a campaign promise, the president provoked his adversaries into actions like engaging in violent protests and attempting to halt the deportation of illegal immigrants, even those involved in serious offenses.
And now comes Trump trick No. 3, which is unfolding before our eyes.
With Trump’s unwavering backing of Israel amidst its conflict with Iran, those suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome have instinctively distanced themselves from the Jewish state.
Already there are signs that Dems and their media handmaidens are moving toward condemning Israel for daring to protect itself from Iranian aggression.
The left’s budding resistance is camouflaged in squishy, both-sidesism mush.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries began by saying that “Iran should never be allowed to become nuclear capable,” but quickly called for “a reduction in hostilities.”
“I’m hopeful that cooler heads will prevail in the Middle East and the situation is de-escalated,” Jeffries told MSNBC.
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the doofus Dems thought was veep-ready, addressed the initial Israeli strike by bemoaning that America is no longer a “neutral arbitrator” and added: “Who is the voice in the world that can negotiate some type of agreement and hold the moral authority? It might be the Chinese.”
His fellow Minnesotan, Rep. Ilhan Omar, chimed in with her usual antisemitic dog-whistles.
“Israel knows America will do whatever they want and feels confident about their ability to get into war and have the American government back them up,” she posted.
She also insisted Americans should be ready to “either see their tax dollars being spent on weapons supplies to Israel or be dragged into war with Iran.”
Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy plowed similar ground when he bizarrely insisted Israel’s attack “was clearly intended to scuttle the Trump Administration’s negotiations with Iran, and risks a regional war that will likely be catastrophic for America.”
Amid all the crazy talk on the left, there are a few voices of sanity.
One is Sen. John Fetterman, with the Pennsylvania Dem telling Jewish Insider he was shocked by his party pals’ views.
“It was just astonishing to see colleagues criticizing these things. It’s like, do you think you can negotiate with that regime? Do you think you want to run that scenario and allow them to acquire 1,000 pounds of weapons-grade uranium?”
“I can’t understand, I can’t even begin to understand that,” Fetterman said.
Exceptions to the rule
In the same vein, Bronx Congressman Ritchie Torres scoffed at an article in The Economist that doubts Iran was actually racing toward a nuke.
Noting that the mullahs expanded their stockpile of 60% enriched uranium by 50% — a level far beyond any plausible civilian use, Torres writes on X that “To cast doubt on Iran’s nuclear ambitions at this point requires not just skepticism, but a willful suspension of one’s functioning cerebral cortex.”
Unfortunately, Fetterman and Torres are exceptions.
For the vast majority of Dems, including those with press passes, the rule that Trump must be relentlessly resisted is forcing them into a corner that looks and sounds like a political loony bin.
It’s not a new phenomenon, but the shocking thing is that neither his second election nor the seriousness of America’s problems at home and abroad have cured their derangement.
Instead of being selective in their opposition to Trump, they are embracing their madness across the board with increasing intensity.
Whatever he’s for, they instantly and mindlessly are against.
The Iran nuke issue is an especially strange example.
As Fetterman and Torres note, the criticism of Israel ignores the crucial point: Iran is seeking a nuclear weapon, has hidden its enrichment facilities for years and lied to UN inspectors.
On its face, that would be troubling enough.
But the most egregious element is that Iran has pledged not only to develop a nuke — but to use it on Israel.
An enemy of the US
The quivering Dems presumably are saving their full support of Israel for the day after it gets nuked.
Then they’ll wail and somehow blame Trump.
Fortunately, the Jewish state is not in the mood for suicide and so it struck first, hitting enrichment facilities, degrading weapons systems and taking out the military leadership along with top scientists.
The refusal of so many on the left to join Trump and back Israel wholeheartedly is all the more absurd when you remember that Iran pledges that after it destroys Israel, which it calls “the little satan,” it will go after the US, the “great satan.”
That means Israel is attacking a sworn enemy of America, and displaying why it is one of our best and most important allies.
Yet still most Dems can’t see the moral imperative and national interest in Israel’s action.
Nor do they understand how the horrible events of Oct. 7 affect Israeli decisionmakers.
That was the deadliest day for Jews since the end of the Holocaust, and it would be unforgivable if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and others did nothing to stop Iran’s race for nukes.
Imagine if one of the ballistic missiles that hit Tel Aviv Saturday was carrying a nuclear warhead.
That’s the nightmare scenario, and it is reason enough to justify the Israeli strikes.
Trump gets that, which is why he and Netanyahu adopted a good cop, bad cop routine.
The president sincerely wanted Iran to voluntarily give up its nuclear ambitions and tried to make it happen through two months of direct negotiations.
At the same time, he warned repeatedly there would be hell to pay if the Ayatollah said no.
How much hell now depends on whether the Supreme Leader faces reality and tries to save himself and his regime by making a deal.
If he doesn’t, it’s entirely possible the US, with its unique 30,000-pound buster bombs, will join Israel in obliterating the nuclear sites.
Trump’s calibrated, forceful stance is a welcome break with Joe Biden’s many missteps after the Hamas attack in 2023.
Initially, he was completely in Israel’s corner, but, faced with criticism from within his party in an election year, Biden began threatening to withhold munitions unless Israel agreed to limit its responses.
He even had Secretary of State Antony Blinken attend Israel’s military cabinet meetings to decide which Gaza targets Israel could hit.
All the while, Biden, who had lifted some of Trump’s oil and banking sanctions on Iran, tried to sweet-talk the regime into another weak nuclear pact.
Instead, Iran shifted much of the money to Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and kept working on developing the bomb.
Thankfully, for both Israel and America, those days of Oval Office weakness are over.
