Trump: ‘We moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the evangelicals’
President Trump on Monday claimed that he “moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem” for “the evangelicals,” appearing to refer to his decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and relocate the U.S. embassy there.
{mosads}The president made the remarks during a rally in Oshkosh, Wis., on Monday afternoon. The moment came as the president boasted of his administration’s performance over the past four years while also railing against presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden and the previous administration on the first day of the Democratic National Convention.
“America has spent nearly four years cleaning up the mess we inherited from Joe Biden’s 47 years worth of disaster,” Trump said during the freewheeling address. “You know it’s incredible. He’s in there for 47 years, he does nothing. Now all of a sudden he’s going to do all these things.”
“He’s going to get tough on China, sure,” Trump said with apparent sarcasm before claiming, “If we don’t get elected, China will own — mark my word. Well, I hope you’re not going to be able to test it out, OK? China will, China will own the United States.”
He went on take aim at the Obama administration’s foreign policy with Iran before saying, “And we moved the capital of Israel to Jerusalem. That’s for the evangelicals.”
“You know it’s amazing with that, the evangelicals are more excited about that than Jewish people. It’s really— right? It’s incredible,” Trump continued.
Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and announced plans to move the U.S. Embassy there in 2017. At the time, Trump said the move was decided “in the best interests of the United States of America and the pursuit of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.”
During his rally on Monday, Trump also appeared to boast of his decision to grant U.S. recognition of Israel’s claim over the Golan Heights territory, saying: “Golan Heights. Don’t forget. Golan Heights, we did Golan Heights. So, we’ve done a lot.”