The Oct. 28 plenary session of the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC), with all the Republican candidates speaking, had two dramatic events and several rousing speeches.
The first dramatic event was the suspension of presidential candidate Mike Pence’s campaign announced by the former vice president himself.
One can’t help but think that this was related to his problem in making the cut for the next debate. He was said to be having trouble making the minimum on numbers of contributors.
The second, of course, was the appearance of His Majesty the Donald, who, abjuring the debates, hitherto hadn’t appeared on the same stage with the other candidates, but is speaking here, serially, if not at the same time.
Each candidate was given 25 minutes, supposedly in a randomized order, but excuse me for being suspicious that President Trump somehow ended up speaking last.
Comparisons were likely to be made. We’re only human.
The house was packed and then some, with well over 1,000 people—perhaps a small crowd in Trumpian terms but substantial in a ballroom, even one at the Vegas-sized Venetian.
Part of the reason for the turnout was obviously the war in Israel in conjunction with the highly disturbing domestic rise in anti-Semitism, in the streets and on our campuses.
For all speakers, that war and the anti-Semitism constituted a clear battle between good and evil, as it did for the previous introductory night’s speakers, notably Arkansas Gov. Sarah Sanders and Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.).
What follows are my quick reviews of how the candidates performed. This, I remind you, is an opinion column (your opinions may differ).
Vivek Ramaswamy
I know Mr. Ramaswamy best perhaps from spending several days with him on his campaign bus, in part for our “Presidential Roller Coaster” video series.As always, the man gave an intelligent speech, replete with detailed references to Israeli history, some of which he knows better than I do.
He traced the recent rise in anti-Semitism to the pervasiveness of “woke” in our campuses and media, an idea worth exploring, though I think it’s only part of the story.
The self-admitted elephant in the room for Mr. Ramaswamy was the recent unfair accusations leveled against him concerning his seemingly isolationist views—or you might call them neo-isolationist, since they’re more complex.
On the other hand, he believes that Israel is quite capable of handling the Hamas terrorist group by itself, which is probably true as long as the ammunition holds out.
Sen. Tim Scott
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.) gave a rabble-rousing, church-y speech that brought the audience to its feet. He focused, justifiably, on the outrageous behavior on our campuses, high and low, promising to defund them. (He wasn’t the only candidate to do that, and it was universally met with sustained applause.)He took on Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), whom he described as an “extension of Hamas propaganda.”
Chris Christie
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie seemed tired, but maybe it was just me. I wonder why he’s doing this other than because of his well-known enmity for Trump, which he omitted from his speech other than a rather veiled reference to Charlottesville.Still, an experienced pol, he knows the issues and, other than fellow candidate Nikki Haley, seemed to be the most determined interventionist.
Gov. Doug Burgum
Many still don’t know who North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum is, and there were walkouts before he spoke. Nevertheless, he gave one of the better speeches, touching many bases beyond the necessary Israeli war issues. He focused especially on energy policy, sounding a bit like President Trump in policy but in a more business-like manner.His foreign policy views were predictable and relatively hawkish—enforce Iran sanctions, and so on—except for one that I’d never heard before: to designate Qatar as a state sponsor of terrorism. It certainly is. He also supports the Taylor Force Act amendment, axed by President Joe Biden, and wants to defund the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East.
Mike Pence
He suspended his campaign, as noted.
Gov. Ron DeSantis
The Florida governor got the warmest welcome so far, accompanied by a video montage of his many accomplishments in his home state. (All animals are not equal, as Orwell told us.)Giving the man his due, he stepped up immediately following Oct. 7, even arranging flights for Americans, and some others, to escape the war zone before our federal government had even gotten its boots on.
He didn’t stand for anti-Semitism in the schools, either. He deactivated the Students for Justice in Palestine, who were spewing pro-terrorist propaganda in Florida colleges, and obtained funding to protect synagogues and other Jewish facilities.
The rap against Mr. DeSantis is that he isn’t charismatic—who cares—and that he might be a lackey of the old guard through PACs.
I keep an eye on the latter, but so far, he sounds remarkably like President Trump in his policies and has actually walked the walk, for the most part, in Florida.
I’m with those who still wonder why the two men aren’t running together. It’s not too late.
Nikki Haley
The former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor began with praise for the departed Mr. Pence.Was she sincere? Don’t ask me.
The woman was overall the most overtly hawkish, spending a great deal of time linking the defense of Ukraine with the defense of Israel.
Some of this, of course, makes sense because the same evil players—China, Russia, Iran, North Korea—are linked against the good guys, our side, in both conflagrations. That’s obvious.
Nevertheless, an astounding amount of money has been spent by the United States on Ukraine to little avail—something she didn’t mention. She also ignored the question of how the Ukrainian money was being spent, and by whom. It would be interesting to hear how she would answer that.
Still, she equipped herself well and certainly knows her foreign policy.
Donald Trump
All of a sudden, everyone’s standing up and screaming as if Mick Jagger is in the house—although with this crowd, Mr. Jagger would have gotten far less attention.President Trump, as everyone knows, is a force of nature, unlike any politician in our lifetimes.
He knows it, of course, and it can be a little irritating. Still, he was far and away the favorite of this conference, as he is of almost every group of Republicans who aren’t directly related to the Bush family.
He noted the same points as all the other speakers but added what we all know—he had already done them; they hadn’t.
He informed us that he was the best friend Israel ever had, and it was hard to disagree—the Abraham Accords, the Jerusalem Embassy, the Golan Heights, and so forth.
He made the claim that there was world peace during his four years—basically true—and that went to pieces almost immediately after he left—again, basically true.
We had heard this all before, but the audience still loved it.
Why?
It struck me that a great deal of President Trump’s genius—and it is a kind of genius—is an uncanny ability to be funny and entertaining about almost anything. He did it at the RJC.
