Left-wing journalist Glenn Greenwald is posing a challenge to supporters of former president Donald Trump and his agenda to put America first.
Greenwald wants to understand why Trump supporters and other right-wingers who profess to support putting America first can justify their ideology while blindly supporting the state of Israel.
“The Trump movement claims that its overarching ideology is America first. We take care of American citizens before we take care of the rest of the world,” he said during an appearance on “Rising with Krystal and Saagar.”
“How can you reconcile that ideology of America first with sending billions of dollars that could be helping schools and hospitals and addiction problems in communities here in the United States to Israel, and constantly demanding that our own government intervene in this conflict on the other side of the world that does nothing but jeopardize American national security?” Greenwald asked.
“It increases anti-American sentiment. Generals have said that one of the reasons why terrorism against the United States is intensified is because of our constant involvement on the side of Israel. How do you claim that you believe in an America first ideology but then constantly venerate the interests of Israelis above your own citizens? It makes no sense,” he added.
The clip can be seen here:
This is the earnest question I have for adherents to the MAGA/America-First ideology about how that can be reconciled with unstinting support for using massive US resources to support Israel and Israelis. Would love to discuss this question on air with an America First supporter: pic.twitter.com/d6E9JLYjGW
— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 11, 2021
Greenwald’s comments prompted responses from the MAGA Right, many of whom believe that supporting Israel’s dominance in the Middle East is in America’s best interest:
President Trump's plan was working. Normalizing relations with a number of countries in the Middle East and Israel. That has come to a screeching halt and the craziness has escalated once again. The goal was to get almost all countries on board then Palestine's would have to.
— NYJets1969 (@NJets1969) May 11, 2021
America first is different then America only
— D L (@DaiStash) May 11, 2021
Not a huge Israel guy (not not either) but it’s pretty easy to reconcile. We spend a very small portion of our annual budget, a part of which goes back into our defense industry, and in return we maintain good relations with a powerful ally in a strategically important region.
— Anti-partisan (@BasedVandelay) May 11, 2021
I do support MAGA and I agree with Trump's peace through strength approach. I consider myself doggedly anti-war. But if we were under rocket attack from another country and my mother was in danger, I would want the marines to stop whoever was firing those in 20 minutes!
— covidcattle (@covidcattle1) May 12, 2021
While many on the MAGA Right may believe military intervention makes America more safe, the facts do not necessarily back up their perspective.
Liberty Conservative News reported on how President Trump’s greatest foreign policy victories came as a result of him removing troops and pulling out of third-world hellscapes:
“ISIS has seen better days. Without Barack Hussein Obama in the oval office to support them, their global Islamic caliphate has been crumbling over the past several years. Now, even their final Syrian stronghold in the city of Baghouz has fallen…
Although President Trump will not likely be receiving any peace prizes, it was his policy changes toward non-interventionism that paved the way for the leveling of ISIS.
Trump ended the covert CIA program that was arming Islamic terrorists in Syria shortly after becoming President. Weapons kept mysteriously ending up in the hands of ISIS terrorists due to this policy, a problem that Obama was happy to ignore.
Obama had once bragged that ISIS would be around for generations while he was still in office, forging into the minds of the American public that the genocidal terror group was here to stay.
“This broader challenge of countering violent extremism is not simply a military effort,” Obama said in remarks from the Pentagon back in 2015. “Ideologies are not defeated by guns. They’re defeated with better ideas – a more attractive and more compelling vision.”
“This larger battle for hearts and minds is going to be a generational struggle,” Obama added. “It’s ultimately not going to be won or lost by the United States alone. It will be decided by the countries and communities that terrorists like Isil [an alternative acronym for Islamic State/Isis] target.”
Contrary to this blather, ISIS was not defeated with ideas or visions. They were obliterated by superior military force shortly after Obama’s subsidies for them were cut off.”
Greenwald’s point that America’s continual subsidizing of Israel may be counterproductive to nationalist interests should not be lost on MAGA patriots.
