Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu operate from the same political playbook:  charismatic, far right populist leadership that personalizes power, treats independent institutions as adversaries, and makes loyalty the primary currency of politics. Both use dramatic gestures — pardons, rhetorical protection, selective enforcement — to reward a core constituency and signal they will not abandon the tribe. That shared style explains why observers in both countries see comparable threats to independent judiciary and media freedoms, and why both leaders keep reaching for the same tactic: when persuading the center looks too costly, maximize the intensity and turnout of the base instead.

For Trump, that has meant clemency for January 6 domestic terrorists, aggressive fundraising from allied donors, and sustained mobilization of a loyalist electorate. For Netanyahu, it has meant accommodating the demands of his far-right and ultra-Orthodox coalition partners even when those demands are unpopular outside the coalition itself. The tactic is identical. What it buys each of them is not.

Identical Logic, Different Payoffs

Israel’s parliamentary system makes small, ideologically intense parties indispensable to governing. Keeping Religious Zionism, Otzma Yehudit, and the Haredi parties satisfied is not a preference for Netanyahu — it is the arithmetic of staying in office. Every concession to a coalition partner is a payment against a majority that does not exist without them.

Trump’s position is structurally different. He is not personally on the November 3 midterms’ ballots. However, the midterms and continued Republican control of the House is widely seen as a referendum on his presidency and essential to keeping his agenda viable. He leads a mass movement inside a two-party system in which a large plurality of the voters are independents. Consequently, he needs a national plurality, not a coalition........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)