There is a noticeable trend in Western countries in which ostensibly right-leaning politicians go full lefty. Why?
Moshe “Bogie” Yaalon is not a name familiar to most Americans. Yaalon was chief of staff of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and served for three years as defense minister in one of Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu’s governments. Then something happened. He moved to the left. In more recent elections before retiring from politics for a lack of any real support, he was on the side of Yair Lapid, Netanyahu’s nemesis on the left side of the Israeli political spectrum. Last week, he made waves when he claimed that Israel was involved in ethnic cleansing in Gaza. Even the UN point person on genocide said that Israel was doing no such thing, after which her contract was not renewed. How could a former soldier, a leader of men into battle, accuse the IDF of something that is patently false, namely the systematic murder of Palestinians for no military aim? When challenged on his comments, he doubled down and once again blurted out “ethnic cleansing.” Why did Bogie betray his old outfit? Part of the answer is his hatred of Bibi. Just as Trump Derangement Syndrome causes people to say and do very dumb things, even against their interests, there is a similar phenomenon here for all of those who loathe Bibi Netanyahu.
One cannot overestimate the damage that comments like those of Yaalon and people like him do. If one looks at the Telegram feed of Abu Ali Express in English, one of the best sources of real time information on the fighting in the Middle East, he often brings statements and reports from Arab and Iranian sources quoting Israeli politicians who go against their government. So, comments like those of Yaalon will immediately get play in the Lebanese, Iranian, and Yemini news and online accounts. How could someone so august as the former defense minister of the state of Israel be wrong? But he is wrong, and by every measure, Israel has performed beyond any previous country in minimizing civilian casualties in a dense urban battlefield. Everybody knows that if Israel wanted to wipe out Gazans wholesale, it could do so by either carpet bombing or closing the inlets for international aid. Israel is doing neither, and nobody can say of the 800 soldiers killed since the 7th of October, 2023, how many died because the army and its lawyers put too much emphasis on protecting civilians over performing proper military activity. Is it 10 or is it 100?
Yaalon’s betrayal of Israel and his earlier shift left is nothing new in Israel or in the Western world. Ariel Sharon was the famous “bulldozer” who pushed the construction of settlements and the aggressive fighting against Arab armies. Yet, the same Sharon left the Likud and started a new party that promptly pulled the Jews out of Gaza and effectively started the march towards the October 7th massacre. Yitzhak Rabin, another successful fighting general, gave Yasir Arafat the keys to the West Bank and the means to kill over a thousand Jews during the second intifada. Ehud Barak almost gave away half of Jerusalem during one of his meetings with Arafat under the watchful eye of Bill Clinton. Ehud Olmert, once considered a Likud hawk, nearly did the same after he replaced Sharon.
In the US, right-leaning politicians also go wobbly. Thus, one can find Dick and Liz Cheney supporting Joe Biden, whose policies of an open border and a pronoun-directed military have significantly weakened the U.S. internally and on the world stage. Dick Cheney was considered the most right-leaning politician in George W. Bush’s circle; the left called him Darth Vader and he seemed to never meet a war that he didn't like. Yet, his contempt for Donald Trump and the millions who want an America that functions again, outweighed whatever conservative ideas he might still harbor, and he came out for a man whose Department of Justice threw patriots into jail for the crime of parading around the Capitol. In England, former conservative Boris Johnson had policies that were indistinguishable from those on the left. He bought fully into the climate scam and wanted to ban British wood-burning stoves. His Tory policies for trans would be on par with those of any leftist government.
So why do right-leaning, card-carrying conservative politicians go left? Part of it would appear to be self-preservation: they move to positions that they believe are more popular and more likely to keep them in office. Part of it may be that their stated positions had no roots in religion or political philosophy. Yes, when they wrote for a conservative website and ran for office, they really believed in small government, states’ rights, the end of DEI, and no trans surgeries for kids. But after the election, they became beholden to donors, they see that if they tweak their views a bit, their favorability goes up, and the left loves nobody more than a conservative turncoat. How much airtime did Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger receive for their betrayal of the Republican Party? How often were they invited onto ultra-left shows to badmouth Donald Trump and his supporters until they got the boot from Congress?
One can definitely say that there are those on the left who move right. Tucker Carlson famously worked at MSNBC and gave Rachel Maddow her first job. Nobody 20 years ago would have called Donald Trump a Reagan Republican, but there is no politician since his ride down the escalator in 2015 who has better articulated a vision for America that is more conservative and positive. Donald Trump is not beholden to donors and he has deftly put together a coalition that includes people who would never have voted for him but are fans of Bobby Kennedy Jr., Tulsi Gabbard, Elon Musk and Joe Rogan.
Before Yaalon’s shameless comments, I thought to write an article along the lines of conservative politicians going left. Donald Trump has put together an impressive team of serious individuals to run the various departments of the executive branch. We need them not to go wobbly, not during their confirmation hearings and certainly not when they are in charge. “Reality” can either be met with uncompromising commitment to truth and values or can be allowed to change one’s position to get by or get ahead. Either people bend reality to their will or they get bent by it. Every department needs a serious overhaul and investigation into malfeasance—from the Covid shenanigans of Dr. Fauci, to the political prosecutions of the DOJ and the disastrous retreat from Afghanistan. People of indomitable stamina will be needed to fix a broken government. DOGE must be relentless in rooting out waste and fraud in America’s bloated budget and bureaucracy.
May God grant President Trump and his incoming team the strength and dedication to mission to make America succeed again. There is absolutely no time to lose.