Donald Trump received an unfortunate but very predictable endorsement:
The casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson said on Thursday night that he would support Donald J. Trump now that he has become the Republican Party’s presumptive nominee.
There is nothing about this that is the least bit surprising. Support for Israel is reportedly Adelson’s top concern, and Trump has repeatedly affirmed how much he supports the current U.S.-Israel relationship. Despite the fears/hopes that Trump might be even slightly more reasonable than most hawks on these issues, Trump reminded us earlier this week that he is entirely in agreement with pro-settler views of the occupied territories and Israeli policy there. Despite the fact that this goes against decades of standing U.S. policy, Trump has no problem with the expansion of settlements:
U.S. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has come out in favor of Israel building new settlements in occupied territory.
Trump told the Daily Mail in an interview on Monday that the construction must “keep going” and “keep moving forward.”
Trump also routinely denounces the nuclear deal with Iran, and he makes a point of decrying how poorly the Obama administration has treated Israel over the last seven years. There is very little here for Adelson to dislike, and quite a lot for him to appreciate. It tells us a great deal about Trump and the sort of foreign policy we can expect from him in practice that Adelson backs him and that Trump has sought his support.