{"id":88230,"date":"2016-02-21T19:38:36","date_gmt":"2016-02-22T03:38:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=88230"},"modified":"2016-02-21T19:38:36","modified_gmt":"2016-02-22T03:38:36","slug":"from-aipac-to-trump-michael-glassners-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lukeford.net\/blog\/?p=88230","title":{"rendered":"From AIPAC to Trump: Michael Glassner\u2019s journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jewish Journal<\/a>: How does one go from serving as AIPAC\u2019s Southwest Regional Political Director a year ago to running Donald Trump\u2019s national political operation today?
\nEver since Trump announced his White House bid last June, Michael Glassner has been serving as his campaign\u2019s national political director. In part, he is credited with landing the coveted Sarah Palin endorsement ahead of the Iowa Caucus last month.
\nGlassner\u2019s political journey began as a 20-year-old college student from Kansas when he served as Bob Dole\u2019s traveling aide in the 1988 presidential campaign. \u201cI became the right-hand man for the Senate Majority Leader and a presidential candidate,\u201d Glassner related in an interview with Jewish Insider. \u201cIt was a tremendous education in politics, and that was the beginning of what became a 15-year relationship as I worked for Senator Dole in a number of capacities.\u201d
\nUpon moving to New Jersey in the late nineties, Glassner served as a senior advisor to Lewis Eisenberg, the then-Chairman of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey and a prominent Republican Jewish leader. He worked out of the Port Authority\u2019s World Trade Center office but left just before 9\/11 to join IDT Corp in Newark. Glassner credits his former boss, IDT founder Howard Jonas, whom he referred to as \u201ca strong Zionist and an AIPAC guy,\u201d with encouraging him to become more active in pro-Israel politics. Intermittently between 2000 to 2008, Glassner would take time off to return to the campaign trail: running George W. Bush\u2019s general election campaign in Iowa, fundraising for Bush\u2019s \u201904 re-election effort, and in \u201908, where he managed Sarah Palin\u2019s vice presidential campaign.
\n\u201cMy interest in pro-Israel politics had grown exponentially,\u201d Glassner recalled. \u201cParticularly since 9-11, which represented a real credible threat to all Americans and in particular as a Jew, I felt very strongly about the threat of radical Islam and so I became more and more involved with AIPAC.\u201d In 2014, Glassner officially joined AIPAC as their Southwest Regional Political Director where, according to his LinkedIn profile, he managed AIPAC\u2019s legislative mobilizations, conducted briefings with candidates, and spoke at political events throughout the region.
\nIn July 2015, the phone rang. Donald Trump, a real-estate magnate, decided to run an unconventional campaign for president. Keeping senior hires to the minimum, the Trump campaign offered Glassner to join and serve as its national political director. \u201cThe Trump campaign came to me for a lot of reasons,\u201d Glassner told Jewish Insider regarding the recruitment process. \u201cI think they were looking for somebody that had experience in presidential politics and who was already in the area, and I live in New Jersey.\u201d And, of course, there was the Sarah Palin factor. \u201cThe Palin connection was also very attractive to them because, although Palin and McCain\u2019s campaign was not successful, I think that was sort of a marker for the anti-establishment movement\u2026 I think that that helped my credentials in this arena because I\u2019ve shown that I was willing to take on the status quo, willing to buck the establishment, and I think that is what this campaign is all about.\u201d
\nGlassner told Jewish Insider he didn\u2019t have to use his influence to convince Palin to endorse Trump but that his prior relationship certainly helped. \u201cThey had established a relationship sometime back. And I think that her inclination is very much aligned with his.,\u201d he said. \u201cMr. Trump did the persuading. I think it was helpful that she had a friend here in the campaign, somebody she knew, and I demonstrated my loyalty to her, which I think helped. But, ultimately, it was everything that he is saying about the country is in line with whatever she has been saying. I think that\u2019s a natural alliance in my view.\u201d
\nAsked to describe the transition from AIPAC to Trump, Glassner said, \u201cThis campaign is much different than any campaign I\u2019ve been on in a lot of ways. But probably, primarily because the culture has a more corporate and a business-like approach than other campaigns. Mr. Trump is self-funding his campaign, and he\u2019s been very effective throughout his life in maximizing his investments. And we are approaching this campaign in the same way, and you\u2019ve seen the results of that. If you look at the results in New Hampshire, the amount of money spent per vote, I believe Mr. Trump was by far the most efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jewish Journal: How does one go from serving as AIPAC\u2019s Southwest Regional Political Director a year ago to running Donald Trump\u2019s national political operation today? Ever since Trump announced his White House bid last June, Michael Glassner has been serving … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29752],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-88230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-donald-trump"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t