US President Donald Trump is not known for being subtle or coy, and he is certainly not known for someone whose statements have underlying meanings that need sophisticated deciphering. On the contrary, his messages are sharp, emphatic and unequivocal; at times even blunt.
This was the case on Saturday in Florida, when the 45th president spoke at the annual Israeli American Council summit. It was his most comprehensive set of pro-Israel statements, positions, and policies since entering the White House, and it gave a new and clear meaning – and power – to the nature of the "special relationship" between Jerusalem and Washington.
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The meaning of the message conveyed was interwoven throughout the speech, the highlight of which was his declaration that Israel has never had a better friend than him in the Oval Office. This speech was not meant for the Israeli public rather for Jewish voters in the US, who, for the better part of a decade, have been giving the lion's share of their votes to Democratic contenders for the most coveted job in the world.
Even former President Barack Obama, whose positions toward Israel were contrarian, to begin with, especially with respect to the Palestinian issue, won 69% of the Jewish vote in the 2012 election, thus defeating Republican candidate Mitt Romney, who was much more pro-Israel in his positions.
Thus, in the current tightknit election campaign, the White House is striving to vastly expand its support among Jewish voters, and perhaps even replicate the historic success of Ronald Reagan, who in 1980 won 39% of the Jewish vote in his race to the White House, which went a long way to help him best then-President Jimmy Carter, who often locked horns with then-Prime Minister Menachem Begin on the Palestinian issue.
To achieve this goal, the "Florida speech" aimed to break with past tradition by positioning the entire Democratic Party on the fringes of the broader social consensus regarding its attitude toward Israel.
Trump's intention in identifying and branding of the Democratic camp – and with it his potential rivals in the 2020 presidential race – as a radical entity that is essentially hostile to Israel, sought to distance the Democrats from the "safe place" that exists in American public discourse regarding the basic outlines of the US-Israel partnership.
There is no doubt that the success of senators Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) or Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who do not mince words in their scathing criticism of Israel, will greatly help Trump. The question is whether this strategy of delegitimization will be equally effective against who is shaping out to be his main rival – former US Vice President Joe Biden? Only time will tell.
