Trump said "F*ck him" about Bibi. I can't decide whether to laugh or cry.

I'm not usually one for schadenfreude, But I spent four years trying to convince Jewish Americans that Trump is not our friend. And now we all know it's true.

When I initially saw the story about Trump giving former Israeli PM Bibi Netanyahu the finger, so to speak, I laughed out loud. It almost felt like a moment of redemption, even though we are very far from that. But I was thinking about Trump supporters in Israel who spent the past five years screaming that Trump is Israel’s friend, and that he and Bibi are buddy-buddy. In that context, today’s story is massive reminder and validation that Trump is loyal to nobody.

I admit, it was hard for me to contain the schadenfreude. I spent the four Trump years in a perpetual state of crazy-making. I was doing work that I would not wish on anyone — going up against Trump supporters on Israeli national television. As Media Vice Chair for Democrats Abroad-Israel from 2017-2021, during an administration I have come to think of as The P*ssy-grabbing President Period, I spent my time on public television and radio trying to advocate for some normalcy and humanity in the minds of our landsmen and landswomen. And I did it mostly from my unsympathetic perch in Israel, where Trump is considered King of the Jews, even Messiah, mostly for moving the embassy. It was mind-spinning.

I argued incessantly — both in Hebrew and in English — that a man who easily throws entire groups under the bus is not good for the Jews or for anyone else.

I also argued that Trump has no real friends, only people who are loyal to him. He cannot be relied on to be loyal to anyone other than himself. Look what he did to the Kurds, for example.

It has been hard period for Jewish and Israeli democrats. I know the cardinal rule of writing today is Don’t Look at the Comments. But you can look at the comments on this op-ed, “Anyone who thinks Trump is good for the Jews is a ‘freier’” if you want to get a sense of what’s out there. Beware, it’s Nasty. There is even a comment by Alec Pollard, one of the anchors of one of the English-language I24 Israeli news programs jumping on the pile. So much for the veneer of objective news.

We saw what Trump was doing. Even before the 2020 election, we knew that Trump was planning something violent like what we saw on January 6. Although it’s hard to have imagined the scope of the attack, it was nevertheless obvious to anyone paying attention that he was planning violence. We watched him call out to his “Proud boys” that they should “stand by”. We all saw that.

I remember one exchange on Ayala Hasson’s radio program in which I argued that Trump invited violence and hate into the White House. The head of Republicans Overseas (the Democrats were almost never invited to speak alone; there was almost always a Trumpist there for “balance”) he said, “I want to cry just listening to this. Trump is the most amazing leader the Jews ever had.” He wanted to cry. That is how much he loved Trump.

And now what? Where is that lovefest between Trump and Israel? It looks like it is headed for the pit, (where Bibi himself may be headed considering the damning testimonies about his corruption we have been hearing from his trial.) Today’s top news story, that Trump cancelled Bibi with a “F*ck him” after the 2020 elections because Bibi dared to call Biden and congratulate him on winning the election.

I laughed so hard at the story. I can imagine Trump-Bibi supporters trying to figure out how to make sense of this. Trump? — wait, no Bibi? What do I do? Who do I side with? AARGH! This is so confusing!

I’m not usually the type for the Schadenfreude or I-told-you-sos. But these past 4-5 years have been so assaulting that I decided to give myself a break and let this sit for a moment.

But the truth is, it’s not funny. This is why.