TABLET MAG
Is There an Effective ‘America First’ Position on Israel?
Michael Doran
October 21, 2026

…What is the proper “America First” position on Israel? Trump has answered through his actions, taking American military cooperation with Israel to unprecedented heights and treating the Jewish state as a powerful partner against Iran. Vance’s position is more complicated. In a recent interview with Sean Spicer, he acknowledged having disagreed with Trump over the Iran war and expressed sympathy for Tucker Carlson’s anger about it. Carlson has depicted the war as a betrayal of American interests undertaken at Israel’s behest. The contrast between Trump and Vance therefore reaches beyond a disagreement over Netanyahu. It concerns the meaning of American nationalism, the country’s strategic interests, and the future of the political coalition Trump assembled. The United States faces an emerging coalition linking China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. These powers are developing military, economic, and technological relationships that threaten to consolidate a hostile Eurasian bloc increasingly insulated from American maritime power. Washington cannot contain this challenge alone. READ MORE