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| Last night's Democratic debate |
It was basically a competition between liberals and liberals – each trying to outdo each other as a populist alternative to a President, they all despise. There was no shortage of accusations about Trump’s character. His alleged racism was taken for granted by all of them. They all pretty much all implied that 4 more years of Trump would mean the end of the United States as we know it. They did not say why. They just assumed everyone knows that by now.
What is it exactly that we are supposed to know? Well, from the perspective of a liberal, Trump’s policies have all been a disaster. His environmental polices will destroy the planet (e.g. deregulation); tax reductions only benefit the wealthy and big business - at the expense of the middle class and the poor; he does not care about health care at an affordable cost; his trade policies have hurt the American farmers and consumers; Iran has resumed enriching uranium; he praises dictators and condemns our allies - who no longer respect us; he is generally a racist and bigot that hates immigrants... has done absolutely nothing about gun control; and that he is an unethical self centered scoundrel using the Presidency for his own financial gain.
The problem with these claims is that many of them are debatable and some of his polices are pretty much the same that any good conservative President would have implemented. The only difference being his unorthodox personal style and using language that is very abrasive about his political enemies or people that cross him.
I have said many times that as someone that leans politically conservative I tend to support many of those policies. And as a card carrying member of the middle class, I can testify that without a doubt his economic polices have benefited me. I am one of the about 50% of Americans that are invested in the stock market and have seen the value of my stock portfolio skyrocket to unprecedented levels over the last 3 years.
This does not mean I am endorsing him for a 2ndterm as President (or anyone else) at this point. It is just to point out that the ‘show’ put on last night was little more that an exercise in liberal politics.
Be that as it may - what was missing last night was the view each candidate has about Israel. Not a single question was asked by any moderator. That said I have read interviews by the Jewish media and I was not really all that pleased with the responses. Most of which claimed to support the Jewish state but disagreeing with their current government. Some would actually move the US embassy back to Tel Aviv. Almost all spoke of a 2 state solution. And all agreed that settlements were an impediment to peace while adding (almost reluctantly) that Israel had right to defend itself and had legitimate security needs.
But last night… not a word. It would have been nice to here any one of them say something about that. But they said nothing. I am afraid to think of what might happen to our relationship with Israel if any one of them gets into office.
I otherwise remain unexcited about any of these candidates. I do not currently see myself endorsing any one of them.