RNC HEADQUARTERS, TRUMP TOWER — Associate solitary reporter Jeremiah Weitzmann, who covers Israel and the rest of the Middle East for us, read with interest Michael Crowley’s January 6 aticle in Politico.
The title of Crowley’s article, “Trump restores power of Israeli ambassador: After years in the Obama wilderness, Ron Dermer is reveling in the embrace of the president-elect,” is a good summary.
Crowley reports on the close relationship between Dermer and president-elect Donald Trump.
It was no secret in Washington that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu really wanted Mitt Romney to defeat President Obama in 2012.
Although Dermer remained officially neutral during the 2016 presidential campaign, the 45-year-old Israeli ambassador and confidant of the ever-blustery Netanyahu has always been very pleased that Trump’s extremely influential 35-year-old son-in-law, Jared Kushner, is an Orthodox Jew.
Dermer was born in Miami Beach, so he became an American citizen at birth, but he had to give that up when he became Israel’s economic envoy to the United States in 2005.
Dermer’s father, Jay Dermer, was the mayor of Miami Beach in the 1960s.
As Crowley informs us, in November 2014, Dermer was a featured guest at a dinner for graduates of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business. The other honoree that night was none other than Donald J. Trump, also a Wharton alum.
For Dermer, it was an extra-special occasion. As the Israeli ambassador explained to the crowd at a Washington hotel, according to the text of his prepared remarks, the mega-billionaire had been an inspiration for the diplomat.
The Art of the Deal, Trump’s cutthroat manifesto about how to succeed in business by screwing others, was published in 1987, and Dermer, then a teenager, read it eagerly and decided to be an entrepreneur like Trump.
So at the 2014 dinner, Dermer stood up and said, “Mr. Trump, the truth is, I wanted to be your apprentice.”
Following up on all this, associate solitary reporter Weitzmann interviewed both Dermer and Trump. With Dermer at his side, Trump told Weitzmann that on January 20, Dermer will not only have an office in his West Wing, but that Dermer will be living there in a luxurious suite with his second wife, Rhoda Pagono Dermer, and his five children.
As Dermer wept tears of joy, Trump also told Weitzmann that he will ask Israel to become our 51st state, with its capital in Miami Beach.
Write a comment