Ex-US President Donald Trump and Binyamin Netanyahu, current Israeli Prime Minister, are both political Houdinis.
It is curious how their paths crossed when they did. Their leaderships coincided before Trump lost to President Biden in 2020 and Netanyahu and his Likud party briefly lost their grip on power in 2021. During their overlapping time in office both populist leaders could count on each other to help deliver precious votes, and being seen in each other's company made their stars shine brighter, in the eyes of some, at least. To others, it looked like a pact made in hell by two power-greedy, unprincipled men. The story of Netanyahu's present term as Israeli prime minister is the stuff of high drama, as Trump's possible return to the White House in 2024 is shaping up to be. The international coverage of his one hour in a New York court last week was quite a prelude.
There are certain similarities between the two politicians whose politics I find unpalatable, but that is a personal matter. More significant is what unites them and is plainly evident to everyone. Twice-impeached ex-President Trump has been indicted on 34 charges, including paying hush money and falsifying his company records. He has gained special notoriety as the first US president - former or serving - to be indicted for felonies. Meanwhile, Binyamin Netanyahu has been trying to see off mass demonstrations in Israel against his plans to sabotage the country's judicial system in order to keep him out of court for charges of similarly reprehensible misdemeanours as Trump, including fraud and bribery, committed while he was PM between 2013-2016. Netanyahu, too, made history by being the first serving Israeli PM to be indicted by the State, although his predecessor was also accused of corruption but resigned before the State indicted him.
The felonies are one thing, but what really unites these two men is their breathtaking cussidness, above all else. They have both pushed their parties into positions that go beyond what many of their supporters can recognise as the defining nature of their politics, plunging their well-established parties into crisis. More importantly, it is clear that these party leaders care little about compromising the democratic institutions on which their countries are founded, for purely personal reasons - power, money and escaping punishment. Trump, as president, never revealed his personal finances, he refused to accept his loss at the polls, then encouraged his followers to protest and into that unprecedented march on the Capitol when they brayed for the blood of his VP Mike Pence and ransacked the office of then House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. People died that day. For his part, Netanyahu, once Israel's longest serving PM, has created political and social turmoil as he pursues his goal of continued political leadership.
Both men seem determined to take their countries into unimagined directions but the methods used by the liberal centre to block them differ. A comparison with France and Britain is an interesting
