Many of my Jewish friends won’t vote for Trump because Holocaust. Because the Holocaust shows what happens when you try to blame minorities for your problems.
Another Jewish friend says: Perhaps your friends are sincere, but I am more cynical. There are some who see Trump as a nascent Nazi based on his policies regarding illegal immigration and Muslims, but anyone who understands anything about Nazi Germany realizes there is no analogous behavior.
I read yesterday that law professor David Bernstein who has been a contributor to the Volokh Conspiracy for years, and in my opinion is an Israel Firster, has indicated he will support Hillary Clinton.
He is not the first nor the last Jewish NeoConservative to support Clinton over Trump. What is the reason for this since for years they have attacked Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton, John Kerry, Barack Obama on the grounds they are not sufficiently sympathetic to Israel. During this time they have praised George W. Bush, John McCain, and Mitt Romney, and now in this cycle virtually all the Republican presidential aspirants except Trump and Rand Paul. They claim to be conservative, but the overriding political concern is not ideology but fealty to Israel.
I think their unwillingness to support Trump and to support Clinton rests on the following:
When Trump says he will follow a policy that supports American interests, they realize that their rhetoric that unyielding support for Israel is in America’s best interest, is in fact untrue. Once Americans actually realize that America and Israel have divergent interests and that what is best for one is not necessarily best for the other they fear that will lead to a groundswell of anti-Israel policies.
When Trump says that he will make allies pay more of the costs of American support, this will impinge on Israel since it is not a third world nation, has a thriving computer and biotech sector, yet is the largest recipient of Ameican aid. This aid will go and Israel may be asked to pay for part of American military stationed at or near the Mediterrean and/or Persian Gulf.
Obama was notoriously (at least in public) non reactive and calm when insults and slings and arrows were directed at him. Trump is notoriously thin skinned. The supporters of Israel realize that if Netanyahu had done to Trump what Netanyahu did to Obama, Trump would punish him. He would not allow Netanyahu to actively work to undermine a strategic deal he was working on, such as the Iran deal. He wouldn’t stand for Netanyahu speaking to congress without clearing it with him first, and he wouldn’t let him upstage and insult him at a press conference. Clinton would take it and not take it out on Israel. Trump just might.
