In an excerpt of Bob Woodward and Robert Costa'supcoming book, “Peril,” published by Business Insider earlier this week, ex-president Donald Trump jokes that his son-in-law Jared Kushner, who was raised in a modern Orthodox Jewish family, was “more loyal to Israel than the United States.”
It was not stated in which context exactly the joke was made.
Trump has consistently referred to Israel as “your country” to American Jews and even voiced his ire over not receiving as much support from the community in the presidential election.
In an interview with Ami Magazine, Trump lamented, “You know what really surprised me? I did the Heights, I did Jerusalem, and I did Iran—the Iran Deal was a disaster, right? And I also did many other things. Jewish people who live in the United States don’t love Israel enough. Does that make sense to you? I’m not talking about Orthodox Jews. I believe we got 25% of the Jewish vote, and it doesn’t make sense. It just seems strange to me.”
In the 2020 election, Donald Trump received 83% of the Orthodox Jewish vote, to whom his stance towards Israel resonated the strongest. The remarks from “Peril”’ portray Trump’s longstanding belief that American Jews’ political decisions are decided by the Israel issue.