One of my more idiotic neighbors is a 70ish Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors, not very religious or well-informed, who is considering voting for Trump because—"Israel!”
I don’t think hearing from me, who isn’t very well informed either on this subject, would persuade her (because I’ve made up my mind long ago about Trump and consider Israel one of a hundred positions he’s taken that are blindingly simple-minded and counterproductive), but perhaps there’s an effective spokesperson from an Israeli in support of Harris that I could show to her? Can you link me to a patriotic but anti-Netanyahu Israeli who has spoken out for Harris, or against Trump? There’s a chance, a small chance, you may be helping turn a vote for Trump into a vote against him.
She supports a twice-impeached convict who tried to violently overthrow the government and who would throw political opponents in jail (or worse) and is proud of abusing women. If she can shrug all that off, you cannot reach her.
Well, she says she’s not sure who she’s voting for, so she’s definitely reachable. I think she favors Trump because he’s more outspoken on how great he’ll be for Israel, not that she understands what’s going on over there, or in Washington either. All she knows is that he likes to boast about his support for Israel.
What an Israeli journalist said to a group i was in is (paraphrased):
I have the privilege of living in a country that has universal healthcare, and where women have the right to control their bodies, so i can’t blame you if you vote for reasons other than “what’s best for Israel”. Harris and the Democrats have policies that are bad for Israel (and Ukraine). But i can’t say that Trump is any better. The Democrats have a fairly consistent international policy. The Republicans are all over the board. They range from hawks to isolationists. If i knew who Trump would select as secretary of state, i might be able to say whether i think trump would be good or bad for Israel. But i don’t. It could be anyone, and their policies could be anything from great to horrendous.
Maybe you could harvest as many anti-Jew or anti-Israel comments that you possibly can find, made by Trump.
That being said…it is definitely true to some extent that Trump is going to be the more blatant pro-Israel candidate, if we define pro-Israel as turning a blind eye to anything bad Israel does. Maybe your best chance is to show her that even if he is more pro-Israel, his 900 other bad positions outweigh it?
Perhaps some of the antisemitic things said by the hired entertainer at his recent rally in nyc? (I haven’t followed that story, but i was told it was pretty blatant and scary for Jews.)
Do you think she really cares enough about this to lie? This is a 70 year old neighbor whom the OP already thinks is “idiotic”. Not some close friend or family member.
Solid Blue. Of no practical import, really. But I am curious if anyone has come across an outspoken anti-Netanyahu Israeli who has opined on the U.S. presidential race. Sending her that link would accomplish much more than I could possibly do.
The OP is in a better place to judge the neighbor than the rest of us, but they’re posting here because they can’t come up with a credible way to persuade the ignorance. Which is admirable, getting out the vote is good, or getting the Trump voters to NOT bother is also a help.
But, reading the OP, I suspect @GailForce also, deep down, doesn’t think it a likely scenario. Thus all the description repeated above about the quality of the voter’s mental state and ignorance.
To @Czarcasm’s point, I am largely in agreement. A lot of people defer debates they don’t want to entertain by saying “they’re undecided” when they actually are. It’s a polite way to avoid conflict, and the more you push them, the more you find out that they’ve actually quite firmly made up their minds. I find this common, perhaps especially among older women who don’t want to seen as creating conflict or being “in your face”.
Since it’s a solid blue state by reporting, I wouldn’t risk the conflict, but if it was swing, I might gently probe for what she considers good reporting on what’s best for Israel, or better yet, what’s best for Jewish Americans, and see if there’s any supporting information there to share. Of course, if it’s Fox News (which I suspect) then, yeah, her demurral sounds ever more the polite fiction.
Not likely, but I am curious if there’s a link to anything written by an Israeli who opposes Netanyahu and Trump regarding Gaza and related issues. It seems to me there must be many such, since there is so much opposition to Netanyahu within Israel itself, and so much attention paid there to U.S. politics. Are there any Israeli posters here who regularly are exposed to such Israeli thinkers?
A man who disparages NATO, likes Vladimir Putin, pooh-poohs climate change and promises to impose autocratic policies at home, will do harm to every Israeli, even if he sounds as if he is friendly to Israel and even remembers to note how beautiful the prime minister’s wife is.