Peter Deutsch, a former Democratic congressman from Florida, endorsed former President Donald Trump on Monday, citing concerns over Israel’s security as the top issue motivating his decision.
“I feel very comfortable today publicly announcing that I’m endorsing Donald Trump to be reelected as president and I’m planning on voting for him on Nov. 5,” Deutsch said during a press call hosted by the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee to commemorate Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.
Deutsch, who splits his time between Israel and Florida and served in Congress from 1993 to 2005, expressed particular approval of Trump’s hard-line approach to Iran, including recent remarks in which the former president rebutted President Joe Biden in saying Israel should strike the country’s nuclear facilities.
By contrast, he argued, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris have pursued policies that have emboldened Iran even after its ballistic missile strike on Israel last week.
“Their policies towards Iran make the world a dramatically less safe place,” Deutsch, who is Jewish, said in his brief remarks during the call. “It’s not just about what is happening in the Middle East. It’s literally about the homeland. It’s about Israel. Iran, their enemy is not just Israel — their enemy remains the United States. They still want to destroy the United States.”
The Biden-Harris administration “would make Neville Chamberlain proud in terms of how they’re reacting,” he said,” noting that the “driving force” behind his endorsement is “really world peace.”
“For what I believe is the most important job of the president of the United States, which is trying to retain peace in the world, there is an extraordinarily clear choice that I think every American, hopefully, will come to the same conclusion that I have, that President Trump should become the next president the United States,” Deutsch, who represented a South Florida congressional district, said.
While a growing number of Republicans have said they will back Harris in the general election, fewer high-profile Democrats have defected to the GOP, even as the Trump campaign has been courting Jewish voters who are disillusioned with the far left’s response to Israel’s ongoing war with Hamas and other Iran-backed proxy groups in the region.
Deutsch has previously expressed concerns with what he has called Trump’s “erratic nature,” but the former congressman has long been supportive of his Middle East policy achievements.
“I take this decision very, very seriously,” Deutsch said on the call. “I also feel 100% comfortable with the decision.”
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