Trump faceplants after trying to bait Israeli Prime Minister into insulting Biden
The world is quickly realizing that Donald Trump is likely going to lose this election to Joe Biden. After overseeing a disastrous response to the COVID-19 outbreak, the subsequent economic ruin, and a reelection campaign in which his rhetoric ranges from incoherent to totally unhinged, the president is lagging behind in the polls with no clear path to a resurgence. Americans longing to once again live in a stable country governed by sane adults have good reason to be cautiously optimistic about this election.
For his part, Trump seems either oblivious to his possible pending defeat or deep in denial. Earlier today, that refusal to recognize the state of play resulted in a healthy dose of embarrassment for our egomaniacal leader. Speaking to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone, Trump discussed the agreement between Israel and Sudan to normalize relations. Desperate to claim as much credit as he possibly could, Trump asked Netanyahu if he thought “Sleepy Joe” could have hammered out the same deal.
“Somehow I don’t think so,” said Trump, making the absurd assertion that he—a washed-up game show host who has destroyed America’s global standing and weakened our alliances—is somehow a more competent diplomat than Joe Biden, a man respected by foreign governments the world over. After asking the question, Trump sat there with a smirk, clearly expecting the right-wing Netanyahu to back up his attack on Joe Biden.
“Mr. President, one thing I can tell you is we appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America and we appreciate what you’ve done enormously,” said Netanyahu, as Trump squirmed about, his expression souring.
“Yeah,” said Trump dismissively, visibly annoyed, before pointing to a reporter to distract himself as the Israeli PM continued to talk.
The fact that Netanyahu, a close ally of Trump and a man with a similar worldview, refused to endorse his attack on the Democratic nominee seems to indicate that Tel Aviv expects a different man to be sitting in the Oval Office come January. After all, Netanyahu usually has no problem injecting himself into American partisan politics, as evinced by his deeply inappropriate address to Congress during which he slammed Obama’s Iran deal in the hopes of scuttling it. If he’s hedging his bets now, there’s a very good chance Trump is about to suffer a humiliating electoral defeat.
Trump has Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on speaker phone to discuss a deal normalizing relations between Israel and Sudan. He asks: "Do you think Sleepy Joe could have made this deal?"
Netanyahu: "We appreciate the help for peace from anyone in America" pic.twitter.com/OtCAL37m8e
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 23, 2020
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