ELECTION/ISRAEL/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “President Donald Trump is celebrating Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli election victory like it’s his own — and in many ways, it is. Trump and his foreign policy team orchestrated one of the most undisguised US interventions in an election abroad of recent times, helping to win the Israeli Prime Minister a fifth term. Now he’s claiming some of the spoils…Netanyahu’s main opponent, Benny Gantz, leader of the Blue and White Party, conceded the election on Wednesday. Barring any stunning results in the remaining votes to be counted, the veteran Prime Minister will begin the task of building a new governing coalition next week. Trump didn’t wait for the formalities, saying on Wednesday morning that Netanyahu, leader of the Likud Party, was a ‘great ally’ and a ‘friend’ and that he heard the Prime Minister ‘won it in good fashion.’ The bond between the President and the Prime Minister — two instinctive, predatory politicians — has clear benefits for them both. While Trump is spontaneous and impulsive, his embrace of Netanyahu shows the savvy that he brings to his own electoral positioning; Netanyahu’s embrace of Trump is strategic and calculated. Netanyahu hugged Trump close during a tight election campaign, which featured huge posters on buildings of both men in downtown Tel Aviv.”
–Stephen Collinson, “Trump is celebrating Netanyahu’s win as if it were his own — and it kind of is,” CNN Politics, CNN.com, April 10, 2019 7:11 pm