Posted on: September 20, 2024, 11:26h.
Last updated on: September 20, 2024, 11:44h.
Former President Donald Trump’s third consecutive bid for the White House is unlike any of his previous presidential campaigns, as the billionaire who amassed much of his wealth in the casino industry is trying to appeal to Americans who typically vote blue.
Along with rallying this week in New York, a state that hasn’t voted for a Republican presidential candidate since 1984, Trump believes he has a chance in 2024 to win the Jewish vote. His biggest donor, Dr. Miriam Adelson, the billionaire majority owner of Las Vegas Sands and the NBA Dallas Mavericks, believes Trump “deserves the full support of the entire Jewish people.”
During an appearance Thursday in Washington, DC, at the Israeli-American Council, Trump made his case to other Jewish Americans.
My promise to Jewish Americans is this: with your vote, I will be your defender, your protector, and I will be the best friend Jewish Americans have ever had in the White House,” Trump said at the event titled “Fighting Anti-Semitism in America.”
The Pew Research Center estimates that 2.4% of US adults are Jewish, with 71% Democratic or leaning Democratic.
Trump Tries to Narrow Gap
The latest betting odds on the 2024 US presidential election continue to suggest Vice President Kamala Harris is set for a promotion.
Of the $965.1 million wagered on the peer-to-peer betting exchange Polymarket, 51% of the money is on Harris to prevail on November 5. Sportsbooks where political betting is allowed have odds implying a similar Harris victory outcome.
Trump says Jewish voters must vote for him — not Harris — who he believes picked Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate over a more popular governor, Pennsylvania’s Josh Shapiro, because Shapiro is Jewish and Harris was concerned about turning away people who sympathize with Palestine.
Israel will not exist within two years if she becomes president,” Trump told the DC crowd.
Adelson’s late husband, Sheldon Adelson, founded Sands and built the Venetian and Palazzo casino resorts on the Las Vegas Strip, and is credited with turning China’s Macau into the world’s richest gaming hub and creating the gold standard of the integrated resort business in Marina Bay Sands in Singapore. Adelson, who died in January 2021 at the age of 87, once said that Palestine exists solely “to destroy Israel.”
Trump is unquestionably in Adelson’s pocket. He’s repeatedly signaled her out at rallies in Nevada and elsewhere where Jewish attendees are prominent. While president, Trump, at the petition of the Adelsons, in 2018 relocated the Israeli US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem to recognize the holy city as the state’s true capital.
Teamsters Not Teaming Up
In related 2024 election news, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters announced this week it won’t be endorsing either Harris or Trump.
It’s the first time in nearly three decades that the union that represents a diverse membership of blue- and white-collar workers didn’t endorse a presidential candidate. The Teamsters revealed that internal polling showed 60% support for Trump and 34% for Harris.
“Unfortunately, neither major candidate was able to make serious commitments to our union to ensure the interests of working people are always put before big business,” said Teamsters President Sean O’Brien.
The Teamsters last backed a Republican for president in 1988 with George W. Bush. The union endorsed the Democrat in each of the previous six elections after sitting out an endorsement in 1996.