Birds of a feather
Nahum Barnea argues that Trump and Netanyahu's leadership share many similarities, the majority of which are negative. Democratic contenders will have to fight an uphill battle against a candidate who knows how to whip up populist sentiment.
You don't need to be a psychologist to guess what Netanyahu feels about the current US Presidential campaign. Deep in his heart, Netanyahu wants to be Donald Trump, what with his billions of dollars, golf courses all over the world, beautiful buildings with his name on them, art collections, model wife, and most importantly, say what he wants when he wants and where he wants.
While he dreams of being Donald Trump, as Prime Minister he needs to prefer Hillary Clinton in the White House. Clinton is expected to win; Netanyahu knows her well, and Clinton knows him both inside and out. Their relationship is like a tennis match between Serena and Venus Williams – there's some tension, but there are no surprises.
Trump is unknown. It's one of the reasons so many Americans are going with him, and why so many Americans are shuddering at the thought of a Trump presidency - he plays the game by different rules.
"They're (Netanyahu and Trump) very similar," an American with considerable experience with both of them told me. I told him that I don't think he's right, but the comparison is indeed interesting. The first thing which came to mind, while marginal, is conspicuous – their hair. Both are very aware of their thinning hair lines. One deals with the issue by putting a blonde toupe on their head, while the other colors his hair until it appears purple. If Trump and Netanyahu ever hold a meeting in the oval office, they'll at least have a subject for small talk.
That first meeting will be great. It'll be like two friends who grew up together, like two buddies talking. Netanyahu's America is the same America that spends its vacations at Trump hotels, the same America that does business with Trump.
When it comes to the issues on the agenda, Netanayhu will talk about Iran, and Trump will agree and add all kinds of things. Netanyahu will talk about Islamic terror, and Trump will agree.
"I want to start negotiations between you and the Palestinians," Trump will say. "I'm a genius negotiator."
"Great," Netanyahu will say. "I'm all for it. I'm also really good at negotiating."
The main issue will be during the second meeting, when it becomes clear that they were just blowing hot air.
At 69, Trump is only a year older than Hiliary and two years older than Netanyahu. His business career, like Netanyahu's political career, has seen great highs and deep lows. Although Trump got his start from his father's investments, he can indeed say that he's a self made man. Netanyahu can say something similar – although the main difference is that his political base was built from his brother.
It's hard to ascribe a worldview to Trump. Throughout his life, he's donated money, provided service, and sung the praises of politicians all over the political spectrum, even to Hillary Clinton. On different internal and sensitive issues, he's brought different and opaque opinions, mainly basing what he said on what he thought would help his business at that moment. The US media have invested huge efforts to define his worldview in the last several months. They say that he "goes with it."
Perhaps in this case, the style is the essence. And Trump has a lot of style. His pronouncements throughout his campaign have set new standards for political insult. Trump insults using low blows, and directs his insults at all the sectors from which the Republicans desperately need votes from – the Mexicans, Latinos, Women, and African-Americans.
Along the way, Trump has also managed to insult the party which is supposed to draft supporters to his side, and also several countries, many of which are US allies. The names he called his rivals were small and petty – he called Marco Rubio "the short guy" because of his height, he called Jeb Bush "low energy," he called Ted Cruz a "liar," and called Hillary Clinton a "crook," "exhausted," "traitor," and "inexperienced".
He made fun of the way Hillary Clinton, Carly Fiorina, and Ted Cruze's wife Heidi looked, and ignored tough questions from Megan Kelly on her news program.
Netanyahu never even stooped that low. He might humiliate people, especially those who work for him, but calling people names isn't one of his political strategies.
This is the first important point which connects Trump and Netanyahu; the ability to understand the hardships, fears, and hatred of parts of the electorate, and to create an enemy for them to go and unite against.
Trump got to this through his gut and with skills honed by being a reality star. Netanyahu got to this point via painstaking analysis and far reaching surveys. Hardship isn't hardship, it’s the lives of other people. Nevertheless, they have excelled at playing on these fears - cynically and manipulatively.
One of Trumps's former advisors told me that he's foolhardy. That’s how he became bankrupt four times. Meanwhile, Netanyahu is a worrier. Yet each one understands, both in their own ways, that their political bases need similar types of energy boosts.
Trump promises his base to build I giant wall from sea to shining sea, to stop globalization, deal a fundamental blow to Iran, torture prisoners, close America's doors to Muslims, grow the military budget and, at the same time, shrink it.
Netanyahu meanwhile threatens his base with an Iranian bomb and the domination of the "Israeli-Arabs."
The question of what they'll do with these incendiary remarks the day after the elections doesn't bother them. But the electorate won't rush to ask them to do what they said they would, they'll be too busy celebrating victory.
This is the second similar point between the two – the difference between what they say and what they do.
Trump has never held public office. He's never been tested in making decisions on either the national or global level. But what he did with his win in the great state of Indiana is prove that rhetoric is one thing and action is something completely different.
The smartest
After his Indiana win, Trump sent a conciliatory message Chairman of the Republican National Comittee Reince Priebus saying "at the beginning, you had 17 egos to deal with. Now you only have one."
Ego is the third thing that connects the two. It's their way or the highway. They're the smartest ones, the most talented, most successful – them and their children. The world revolves around them. If Trump gets elected president, his narcissistic behavior will be part of the public's expectations.
The Americans elect a new royal family every four years. The Trump family and its decendents, including his daughter Ivanka who converted to Judaism, fits the mold.
Netanyahu's situation is a bit more challenging; the three US Presidents he's worked with – Obama, Clinton, and the first Bush – saw him as audacious. Here's the leader of a tiny country, completely dependent on the US, and is ordering the president around and telling the president what's good for him, uses Congress against the president, and incites public opinion against him.
Netanyahu's biggest mistake was going to Congress to give his speech against Iran. Every Israel supporter in Washington, including the Jewish lobby, fought to stop the Iran deal and failed. What they did succeed in doing was create more difficulties for bi-partisan support of Israel.
Israel is now paying the price, especially in the efforts to secure US security assistance for the next 10 years. The experts will say the same thing they said about the details of the Iran nuclear agreement. The first thing they'll say is that on the eve of the agreement, Obama was willing to give more, but Netanyahu betted on the failure of the agreement passing through Congress – and lost. The second, if he waits for a Trump or Clinton administration to raise to power, he'll get less.
In Golda's shoes
Vice President Joe Biden once said that Hillary Clinton "wants to be Golda Meir." He didn't mean it as an insult.
Just as Israeli women didn’t see Golda Meir's election as a victory in the fight for gender equality, neither do American women feel that Hillary is a part of the feminist struggle - especially not young women. Perhaps the glass ceiling which is the whitehouse is of no interest to them, or maybe they realized that not even electing a black president will bring about equality, but instead re-light the flames of racism.
Maybe they're just tired of Clinton. Hillary and Bill have been in the world's eye for 25 years. They've heaped tons of controversy upon themselves, received funding from a wide range of different donors, and is under suspicion of corruption and security offenses, hedonism, and lying. Just by going toe to toe with Obama, she was considered revolutionary. Revolutionary, but nothing more.
Her loss in Indiana won't stop her momentum, but it will bring her into competition with Trump while she is bleeding on the ground.
Bernie Sanders, a grouchy old Jew who grabs people angrily by their shirt collars, is taking over the souls of young American millennials. They'll vote for him enthusiastically, all the way to the convention in Philadelphia. If these millennials vote for Clinton in the general election, it will be only to keep Trump from winning.
If Clinton does win the US presidential contest, she'll have to start with Netanyahu with a blank slate. That's what professional politicians do. They start with blank slates. Netanyahu will cooperate. Afterwards the misunderstandings will begin. Clinton will endeavor to distance herself from the conflict in Israel. She was already involved in it in the past, and ran.
A great book which was released regarding her relationship with Obama Alter-Ego by Mark Landler, a writer for the New York Times who writes from the Whitehouse, describes the discussions between Clinton and Obama as "miserable." Clinton got stuck in a triangle of no escape, between the pressure she was getting from the Whitehouse, Netanyahu's delays and his political ambitions, and her own political ambitions.
In one instance of marathon negotiations over settlement freezes, she was so stressed, she began to bang her forehead with her phone. President Clinton will have to find a way to protect her forehead some other way.
