Considering the #1 attack against the Right in the USA is to label them as Jew-haters, this may be a functional defense mechanism for a politician who cast his alignment with the populist right against major parts of the State.

This kind of pandering does look clumsy in 2022, particularly from a person that. in action, supports a policy that ultimately hurts both the USA and Israel: the stealing from US Citizens to fund the US Military Industry via support of Israel. It may have made some sense during the Cold War with the USSR, from 1960's to 2000's, but was always wrong on principle, and is now wasteful in practice.

Considering the #1 attack against the Right in the USA is to label them as Jew-haters, this may be a functional defense mechanism for a politician who cast his alignment with the populist right against major parts of the State.