South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham’s decision to drop out of the presidential race has been hailed by several establishment figures as a decisive action aimed at at last ridding the Republican Party of the terrifying Donald Trump– and possibly solidifying that establishment behind Marco Rubio. For the Republican establishment includes many Israel supporters who like the fact that Graham pushed the party toward a more hawkish policy in the Middle East.

Note that Graham’s drop-out speech was a neoconservative call to arms– against isolationism, and against President Obama’s resistance to further entanglement over there.

I got into this race to put forward a plan to win a war we cannot afford to lose and to turn back the tide of isolationism that was rising in our party. I believe we’ve made enormous progress in this effort. Four months ago at the very first debate, I said that any candidate that did not understand that we need more American troops on the ground in Iraq and Syria to defeat ISIL was not ready to be commander-in-chief. At that time, no one stepped forward to join me. Today, most of my fellow candidates have come to recognize this is what’s needed to secure our homeland. I am far more confident today that our party will reject the Obama doctrine of leading from behind and will provide the strong leadership America needs to restore our military, take the fight to our enemies and do what it takes to make our country safe and preserve our way of life. This is a generational struggle that demands a strategy and the will to win.

By contrast, Donald Trump for all his bigotry has sounded an isolationist note at times.

Dana Milbank at the Washington Post says that Lindsey Graham is a “mensch” for dropping out– “Oy vey! Enough of Trump” is the headline– and he makes Rubio predictions:

Republican strategists I’ve talked with believe voters would flock to Rubio if he were to rise above 20 percent in the polls — a reasonable possibility, given that 58 percent of Republican voters who named a candidate in the Quinnipiac survey said they might change their minds. The sooner other Republican candidates follow Graham out of the race, the better the chances of them presenting voters with a unified alternative to Trump.

Graham has become the Senator Henry Jackson of his era, an intelligent hawk who enjoys the company of neoconservative Jews and vice versa. Graham told the Jewish Insider a couple weeks ago at a Jewish Federation fundraiser in New York:

I’ve eaten enough Salmon to sink a battleship and I’m beginning to like it, but not so much for breakfast!

And back in April Graham said that he was raising so much Jewish money he was going to have an all-Jewish cabinet:

“If I put together a finance team that will make me financially competitive enough to stay in this thing…I may have the first all-Jewish cabinet in America because of the pro-Israel funding. [Chuckles.] Bottom line is, I’ve got a lot of support from the pro-Israel funding.”

No one called him an anti-Semite for that. For the simple reason that Graham obviously likes Jews.

Yesterday a PR firm serving the Jewish community praised Graham’s success in the Jewish world, and Jewish Insider’s interview with the senator in New York had him saying that he might as well be Jewish and tearing up the Iran Deal.

Senator, what brings you here tonight? “Michael Milken invited me. I’m not Jewish but I might as well be (laughter). The pro-Israel community has been the heart and soul of my campaign, I’m honored to be here. What a great organization doing good throughout the world.” We’ve heard you joke on several occasions that you might get an all-Jewish cabinet, any potential members here tonight? “Yes, 1,900 of them.” Any specific nominees? “Oh I’ve got a list a mile long.

Graham went directly on to say that Jews liked him because of his opposition to isolationism. It’s the old neocon formula, stated by Irving Kristol, a weak defense budget holds a knife to Israel.

The reason I think people like me is because I’ve been resolute in the face of isolationist movement in my party, I’ve stood up for an internationalist view of being a Republican, unwavering in my desire to defeat radical Islam by building up others over there so we don’t have to get hit here, and understanding that the fate of Israel and the United States are intertwined — common enemies and common values. I think people in the community have been very supportive because they see me as a reliable friend.” This Iranian deal is a death sentence to Israel over time and a nightmare for America. I wouldn’t give the Ayatollah another dime or a bullet until he stops becoming the largest state-sponsor of terrorism. What John Kerry has done is given the Ayatollah a pathway to a bomb, a missile to deliver it, and money to pay for it. As president of the United States, I would tear this deal up and get America and Israel a better deal.

Milbank’s Washington Post “Oy vey” column, by the way, is filled with Yiddish phrases and sayings. The pretext is a comment by Donald Trump about Hillary Clinton getting “shlonged” by Barack Obama in 2008. But it is surely further evidence of the fact that our establishment is in many ways Jewish. Hillary Clinton’s daughter married a Jew. So did Donald Trump’s. Milbank is a committed Zionist.

It is simply impossible to imagine a columnist at the Washington Post writing a column filled with humorous Arabic sayings.

Thanks as always to Adam Horowitz (co-editor, guide, and friend, responsible more than anyone for the success of this site).