Netanyahu Gives Us Another Wake-Up Call on What a Return of Trump would Mean for America

Bibi is Trump with a Brain; Neither has a Soul

It was already apparent long before the October 7th Hamas atrocity. Both Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump are utterly corrupt narcissists who care about nothing but power for themselves and staying out of prison for their crimes. Fake patriotism, promoting hate and division, pretending to support “the people” about whom they care not at all, lying, and refusing to accept the rule of law are among their shared characteristics.

Neither man shows any evidence of having a soul, but a notable difference is that Bibi has a brain.

The stunning revelation in the New York Times last night that Israeli intelligence and military officials had obtained more than a year ago a detailed plan for a Hamas attack almost exactly like the one the terrorist organization carried out on October 7 should add yet another layer to the overwhelming case that putting a man like Netanyahu back in office here would be an ultimate disaster for the American Republic.

Here, according to the Times article, is how closely the plan the Israeli officials long had in their possession matched what Hamas did:

Hamas followed the blueprint with shocking precision. The document called for a barrage of rockets at the outset of the attack, drones to knock out the security cameras and automated machine guns along the border, and gunmen to pour into Israel en masse in paragliders, on motorcycles and on foot — all of which happened on Oct. 7.

The similarities between the two right-wing figures have long been apparent.

The opening of a piece David Remnick wrote in the New Yorker in July under the title, “In Israel, a Glimpse of a Trumpian Future,” laid out what should have been obvious, but to too many Americans was not:

See if this sounds familiar: A cynical and self-admiring politician finds himself confronting the legal consequences of his low deeds and corruption. He faces criminal investigation, multiple indictments, trials, even prison. To defend himself from the potential consequences of his acts, he does not merely hire lawyers; he tries to stay in power. And, to obtain power, he is willing to deepen and inflame the worst tribal conflicts in his country. He is willing to undermine the rule of law. He is willing to make common cause with the most hateful voices in his society and place them by his side. In the end, he is willing to erode the liberty of his people to insure his own.

The Israeli government’s failure to prevent a horrible attack is reminiscent of the President’s Daily Brief on August 6, 2001, with the bold heading, “Bin Ladin Determined To Strike in US,” that President George W. Bush ignored. The PDB included reports of al-Qaeda “patterns of suspicious activity in this country consistent with preparations for a hijacking” of planes. That was 36 days before the 9/11 attacks.

President Bush the Younger managed to get reelected more than three years later (it is worth noting his election in 2004 is the only time since his father’s victory in 1988 that a Republican has won the most votes in a presidential election). That was in part because he was seen to have handled the aftermath of the attack on the United States well. (That perception would shrink markedly as his war of choice in Iraq continued.)

Prime Minister Netanyahu was already extraordinarily unpopular before the advance warning of the attack surfaced. Some polls showed less than 5 percent of Israelis trusting him to conduct the war against Hamas. It is difficult to see how his government can survive this latest blow.

We in the United States still have time to avoid putting such a man beck into power.