Israel Lobby vs. America First
What once guaranteed consensus now exposes Israel as just another contested issue in U.S. politics
Trump put it bluntly to the Daily Caller. Israel's lobby doesn't have total control of Congress anymore. This is the same guy who moved the embassy to Jerusalem, signed off on the Golan, cut the Abraham Accords deal.
Then turned around and floated some wild idea about making Gaza into a Middle East Riviera.
Now he's calling time on their dominance.
Look at the data. Pew in March: 53 percent of Americans view Israel unfavorably. Three years ago that number was 42. Among Republicans under 50, the shift is sharper. Unfavorable views jumped from 35 to 50 percent since 2022.
Democrats went the other way entirely. By March 2025, 59 percent said they sympathize more with Palestinians than Israelis. Flip the tape back two decades and the numbers were inverted.
AIPAC tried the usual playbook. They dumped a hundred million dollars into the 2024 primaries, targeting progressives who strayed off script.
For half a century, Washington ran on one rule: criticize Israel, lose your career. Fulbright. Percy. Plenty of others. The lobby's real weapon wasn't money, it was the idea you couldn't win if you crossed them.
That mythology has collapsed.
And it isn't only progressives. Marjorie Taylor Greene called Gaza a genocide. Steve Bannon says Netanyahu can't be trusted and warns about America being dragged into another war.
When MAGA and The Squad start using similar language, the center has nothing left to hold together.
Trump sees the shift as a dealmaker. Jerusalem, the Golan, the Accords -- in his telling, those aren't lobby wins. They're his personal wins. Which means AIPAC can't point to them as proof of influence. Under America First logic, Israel isn't a sacred partner. It's another transaction. Three point eight billion a year is just another line item when highways and bridges at home are falling apart.
The Cold War was the glue that made unconditional alliances automatic. That world ended with the Berlin Wall.
Now it's demographics, raw politics, no safety net.
Most important detail: Trump isn't whispering this in back rooms. He's saying it in public. Out loud. Which signals to every other politician that the fear barrier is gone. That's how consensus dies -- in daylight.
Money will keep flowing. That part doesn't change. But the days of 400-30 House votes and 99-1 Senate margins are over. Israel is just another foreign policy fight now. Partisan. Conditional. Messy.
The lobby isn't finished. The golden age is.