(JNi.media) Donald Trump, who has been known to take aim at his political opponents in the GOP Presidential campaign with insulting Tweets, actually stood up for rival Mike Huckabee after the former Arkansas governor criticized the Iran deal in a manner that compared President Obama to a Nazi leading the Jews to the ovens of death camp crematoria.
Huckabee supporters proudly display his comment, that Obama, by making a nuclear deal with Iran,”will take the Israelis and march them to the door of the oven” on social media memes, while critics call the remarks “inexcusable.”
Huckabee defended his remarks and said that “the response from Jewish people has been overwhelmingly positive.” He didn’t specify which Jewish people, and it must not have included the Anti-Defamation League. The ADL released a statement that “to hear Mr. Huckabee invoke the Holocaust when America is Israel’s greatest ally and when Israel is a strong nation capable of defending itself is disheartening.”
The National Jewish Democratic Council said that while the organization regularly has to denounce invocation of the Holocaust in offensive ways, Huckabee’s remarks are “the most inexcusable we’ve encountered in recent memory,” and urged other candidates to condemn Huckabee’s statements.
Not surprisingly, Trump is doing davka, the opposite. He took a break from his negative campaigning and calling his opponents dummies, and applauded Huckabee for what others considered chutzpah.
Trump, whose daughter Ivanka converted to Orthodox Judaism and has taken the name Yael, said, “I mean, I’m okay with it. I think Huckabee is a very good guy, by the way, and I’m really okay with it. Some people are saying ‘oh, the tone,’ and I saw Jeb Bush, who is really a nice person, but it’s not about the tone. I mean they’re chopping off Christians’ heads in Syria and lots of other places, and we’re worried about tone. I think what Mike has done has hit a nerve and he’s made people think a little bit.”
Although those offended by Huckabee’s remarks mentioned the word choice and the imagery used rather than the candidate’s tone of voice, Trump said the comments were just fine. Getting away from personalities and onto the subject of the Iran deal, Trump said, “The deal with Iran is a terrible deal. I think it is going to lead to nuclear proliferation.”
He blamed President George Bush II for taking a strike against Iran off the table, and said the Iranians “are fabulous negotiators” who knew that there would be no military consequences, and “took us to the cleaners.”
Back to personalities, Trump said he questioned Secretary of State John Kerry’s and President Obama’s intelligence. “Maybe they’re not bright. I’ve watched Kerry negotiating, and I’ve said to people, ‘Is he bright? Is he an intelligent man? Maybe they’re not bright. Maybe there is something wrong with them.’”