Louder with Crowder - March 25, 2025


The AIPAC Question: Separating Fact from Fiction


Episode Stats

Length

12 minutes

Words per Minute

167.66579

Word Count

2,107

Sentence Count

183

Misogynist Sentences

5

Hate Speech Sentences

11


Summary

In this episode, I discuss the anti-Israel lobby group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and their relationship with the far-left Democratic Party. I explain why I think AIPAC is anti-American and why I don't like them.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 I just ask that you apply your outrage equally.
00:00:04.000 Alright? And I'm applying it equally here.
00:00:07.000 I have the same problem with APEC that I have of ActBlue.
00:00:10.000 Or I have with whatever elect Hillary PAC today.
00:00:13.000 I don't like them because they don't like our point of view.
00:00:15.000 They hate America.
00:00:16.000 It's that simple.
00:00:17.000 This is something that I've...
00:00:18.000 And just, please, give me a moment to explain some context here.
00:00:23.000 I don't like seeing this division that you see on the right, and I think that you have this identity politics, this kind of class warfare going on, really on what used to be the far left, which is the actual party of anti-Semitism, and then they've sort of connected with the far right in being anti-Semitic.
00:00:39.000 There are actual people out there to whom the Jews are at the center of all problems in the world.
00:00:47.000 And then you have people who just like accusing you of racism, homophobia, transphobia, they use Anti-Semitic to try and silence any legitimate criticism.
00:00:58.000 Let me be clear about my stance.
00:01:00.000 I hope that Israel wipes Hamas off the face of the earth.
00:01:04.000 When people get mad, for example, at Christians or Jews blaspheming against Islam, right?
00:01:10.000 When Muslims get mad, you can't paint Muhammad.
00:01:11.000 Well, guess what?
00:01:12.000 Your entire religion is effectively based on blasphemy because you're claiming that Jesus Christ isn't the person who he said he is and who we believe him to be.
00:01:19.000 But we don't blow you up over it.
00:01:21.000 I'm not a big fan of radical Islamism, or Islamism, 150 million plus people who believe that violence is justified against infidels.
00:01:31.000 I want to be clear about that.
00:01:33.000 Now, with that being said, and as a Christian, I do believe that Israel has a right to exist.
00:01:38.000 You need to separate your personal faith and your personal beliefs, sometimes from your duty as an American.
00:01:45.000 And I do have a problem specifically with AIPAC as an organization.
00:01:48.000 Let me put a finer point on it.
00:01:51.000 I dislike AIPAC for the same reason I dislike ActBlue and the SEIU.
00:01:55.000 Because they give huge sums of cash to far-left, anti-American candidates.
00:02:01.000 The only caveat with AIPAC is if they support Israel.
00:02:05.000 Now, I have no problem with someone who supports Israel.
00:02:07.000 I have a problem with someone who's anti-First Amendment, anti-Second Amendment, who's pro-abortion, because, oh, I passed the litmus test, pro-Israel.
00:02:15.000 And so you see APEC supporting...
00:02:16.000 You cannot support, you cannot give money to a far-left Democrat in 2025 and claim that you love America.
00:02:22.000 I'm a Christian.
00:02:23.000 I believe in charity.
00:02:24.000 We all do.
00:02:25.000 At least one-tenth goes to the church, right?
00:02:26.000 A tithe.
00:02:28.000 I also understand that as an American, I shouldn't be voting for the United States to be the charity of the world because that's not my role as an American.
00:02:35.000 It's a system of government.
00:02:37.000 I should personally be charitable.
00:02:39.000 It's not the United States' duty to...
00:02:43.000 Effectively, spend themselves into oblivion, into greater debt, in order to help Zambia, Ghana.
00:02:49.000 Same thing.
00:02:50.000 I personally support Israel's right to exist, and of course, their war against Hamas right now.
00:02:55.000 That doesn't mean that our policy should at any point place allegiance to Israel or some kind of lobbying group above that of the United States.
00:03:05.000 Does that make sense?
00:03:07.000 Yeah. I'm a Christian first.
00:03:09.000 And then I'm an American.
00:03:10.000 But as it relates to our system of government, my duty is as an American first.
00:03:15.000 And I understand you can be Jewish and American.
00:03:17.000 But as an American, it is your duty when you vote, and we discuss politics, to place this country first.
00:03:24.000 The founders were very, very clear about that.
00:03:26.000 So, getting into this, there are a lot of claims out there, some of which are true, some of which aren't, and claims from both sides regarding AIPAC.
00:03:35.000 So I'm going to go through some claims, both from the attack angle and the defense angle.
00:03:39.000 And hopefully make sense of this.
00:03:40.000 All references are available.
00:03:41.000 Link in the description.
00:03:42.000 Just, if you disagree, I expect hate to come from all sides here.
00:03:46.000 And I think that most people out there probably line up with this line of thinking more than the people who scream the loudest on social media.
00:03:53.000 You can comment at the end of this segment.
00:03:56.000 What is AIPAC?
00:03:57.000 They're the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and of course you've heard a whole lot about them in the news recently.
00:04:05.000 A big part of the conversation is a particular lobby group called the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC.
00:04:13.000 There's also this lobby, AIPAC, which is a very, very powerful lobby.
00:04:16.000 It's all about the Benjamins, maybe.
00:04:18.000 In response to this tweet, would love to know who Representative Ilhan thinks is paying American politicians to be pro-Israel.
00:04:25.000 Omar tweeted again.
00:04:27.000 AIPAC. Ostensibly, it's a group of Americans who lobby on behalf of Israel.
00:04:33.000 A lot of the big money lobbies that are corrupting a lot of our politics.
00:04:36.000 Big Oil, the NRA, AIPAC.
00:04:39.000 I mean, it's pretty obvious why AIPAC would be investing in getting pro-Israeli politicians into the government.
00:04:45.000 If you stand up, you're going to find that AIPAC and other billionaire-funded super PACs are going to go to war against you.
00:04:55.000 Putting huge amounts of money in a primary in your general election.
00:04:59.000 All right, a lot to unpack there, as the kiddos say.
00:05:02.000 So it's time for some claim truth.
00:05:08.000 Now, here's the first claim I'm going to address, and this will get me sideways with conservative non-profits who support Israel no matter what at every single point, including AIPAC, that AIPAC is a very conservative organization.
00:05:23.000 APEC's election war chest, financed by major donors, including several Republican billionaires and key GOP funders, has started imposing expensive consequences for lawmakers who express criticism of the U.S.'s unwavering support for Israel.
00:05:40.000 Okay, here's the truth.
00:05:42.000 APEC donates significantly more to Democrats than Republicans.
00:05:45.000 They do donate a lot to Republicans.
00:05:47.000 Again, their only qualifier is, do you support Israel, period.
00:05:51.000 That is not an American ideal as far as policy.
00:05:54.000 They give more to Democrats.
00:05:56.000 So in 2024, Democrat candidates received from APEC, to give you an idea, $19.1 million.
00:06:01.000 I believe this is a total of Congressional and Senate candidates.
00:06:04.000 Republicans, $15.7 million.
00:06:07.000 The average contribution on a candidate-by-candidate basis for Democrats, $117,000.
00:06:13.000 For Republicans, $66,000.
00:06:15.000 So almost twice given to individual Democrats.
00:06:19.000 To be clear.
00:06:20.000 Let me give you some examples, by the way.
00:06:21.000 And this is, look, I'm a Christian and I sat in an evangelical church where, yeah, it was always support Israel.
00:06:28.000 And by the way, of course, as Christians, we do believe that they have the right to exist to that land.
00:06:33.000 Fine, but I'm separating that here.
00:06:35.000 I didn't realize just how corrosive it was to have such a large organization supporting awful people who seek the destruction of your country.
00:06:44.000 And here's the thing.
00:06:45.000 That has nothing to do with Jews.
00:06:47.000 For example, AIPAC gave $866,000 to Hakeem Jeffries.
00:06:53.000 $519,000 to Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
00:06:56.000 Kirsten Gillibrand, $480,000.
00:06:59.000 Nancy Pelosi, only $8,000, but she doesn't need it.
00:07:01.000 She has insider trading to fall back on.
00:07:03.000 They gave her money in other ways.
00:07:05.000 Yeah. So this is the issue here.
00:07:08.000 You have people on the evangelical right who believe that...
00:07:10.000 Israel's our greatest ally?
00:07:11.000 That certainly is likely the case, can be argued.
00:07:14.000 That doesn't mean that AIPAC is if they're giving to Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Hakeem Jeffries and they brag about how 98% of their candidates are elected.
00:07:22.000 Well, hold on a second.
00:07:23.000 Let me ask you.
00:07:23.000 Am I supposed to be on board with AIPAC?
00:07:25.000 Does it make me anti-Semitic if I don't abandon my pro-First Amendment principles, my pro-Second Amendment principles, my pro-life principles?
00:07:30.000 Why would I abandon all those principles just because your only qualifier is supporting Israel?
00:07:35.000 I do support Israel.
00:07:36.000 I don't support those candidates.
00:07:38.000 And I don't support a giant organization giving those candidates.
00:07:40.000 Money! Because you're actively fighting against the United States of America.
00:07:44.000 Their primary goal, AIPAC, is to get pro-Israel candidates elected.
00:07:49.000 That's it.
00:07:51.000 That does seem to me perhaps anti-American.
00:07:55.000 This is from its own website.
00:07:56.000 They spent $70 million in 2024 to support pro-Israel candidates, and 90-something percent of the candidates won.
00:08:03.000 They even brag that they helped defeat...
00:08:05.000 Huge Second Amendment advocate, Brandon Herrera, in his primary because he was not pro-Israel enough.
00:08:11.000 It's like those people who say, I've been a Republican, but I can't vote for Donald Trump.
00:08:15.000 It's a matter of principle.
00:08:16.000 Okay, so the alternative?
00:08:18.000 You abandon all your principles to vote for Kamala Harris because you don't like Donald Trump?
00:08:23.000 He may not be pro-life enough for you.
00:08:25.000 We're talking about the state-issue Supreme Court.
00:08:26.000 Okay, fine, fine, fine.
00:08:27.000 The choice is a candidate who supports abortion all the way up until including birth, period, and violating your right to self-preservation?
00:08:34.000 And transitioning minors?
00:08:36.000 Why do you not have a problem with abandoning all of those principles?
00:08:39.000 Why are conservatives expected to abandon all these principles?
00:08:42.000 Because they're afraid of being accused of anti-Semitism if they have a problem with AIPAC supporting Hakeem Jeffries, Wasserman Schultz, Pelosi, Gillibrand.
00:08:51.000 The only qualifier of AIPAC, and this is what I believe people have a problem with, it's a legitimate gripe.
00:08:57.000 The only qualifier is, do you support Israel regardless of any?
00:09:02.000 Other constitutional stances.
00:09:04.000 And that's the only thing that this group cares about, lobbying American representatives as they advocate for American policy.
00:09:15.000 And they're giving you money.
00:09:20.000 Okay, Mr. Candidate, where do you stand on the Constitution?
00:09:23.000 It's an antiquated doctrine that's in need of a few updates.
00:09:26.000 Uh-huh.
00:09:26.000 And your stance on the First Amendment?
00:09:29.000 Scrap it.
00:09:30.000 Got it.
00:09:31.000 How about the Second Amendment?
00:09:33.000 I'd take the axe to that.
00:09:35.000 And where do you line up on Israel?
00:09:38.000 Pro. Pro-Israel.
00:09:41.000 Here you go.
00:09:45.000 That is documentary footage.
00:09:47.000 That was easy.
00:09:49.000 By the way, it's incredibly responsible to be pro-Israel and also be pissed off at some of the things that Israel does, right?
00:09:55.000 Sure. Jesus was exactly this, incredibly pro-Israel, but stood in the temple and basically lambasted them for what they were doing and got really annoyed by them as well.
00:10:04.000 I'll just have you sometimes like, ah, how long do I have to put up with these people?
00:10:07.000 Oh, if Jesus went to AIPAC headquarters, he'd at least flip a table.
00:10:10.000 At one or two.
00:10:11.000 Yeah, yeah, absolutely.
00:10:12.000 You can do both.
00:10:12.000 He'd probably curse some of their fig trees.
00:10:14.000 Yeah. Never producing again.
00:10:16.000 Blow out a menorah?
00:10:17.000 All of it.
00:10:18.000 Yeah, how do you feel about that?
00:10:20.000 Enjoy your Hakeem Jeffries!
00:10:22.000 So, here's another claim that I'm going to go through, and now this is going to anger, unfortunately, the actual anti-Semites of the audience.
00:10:29.000 And it's a very, very rare thing, but if you believe that Jews are the cause of all problems in the world, okay.
00:10:34.000 I just ask that you apply your outrage equally.
00:10:38.000 Alright? And I'm applying it equally here.
00:10:41.000 I have the same problem with APEC that I have of ActBlue.
00:10:44.000 Or I have with whatever elect Hillary PAC today.
00:10:47.000 I don't like them because I don't like our point of view.
00:10:50.000 They hate America.
00:10:51.000 It's that simple.
00:10:52.000 But this claim that is being made is that AIPAC is the single most influential lobbying group in D.C. They control everything.
00:11:00.000 Well, AIPAC is one of the two most powerful lobbies in the United States.
00:11:04.000 Not just the most powerful pro-Israel lobbies, but most powerful lobby maybe on par with the National Rifle Association.
00:11:13.000 Okay. Here's the truth.
00:11:16.000 No, it's not.
00:11:18.000 So, if you look at 2024 lobbying, we're sort of separating this here, APEC ranked 191st behind groups like the National Association of Realtors, Chamber of Commerce, and Meta.
00:11:31.000 So, if you think the Jews are behind it, a lot of...
00:11:37.000 A lot of Pinterest moms with part-time realtors.
00:11:40.000 Yeah, there's more money coming from Botox faces.
00:11:42.000 Yes, exactly.
00:11:43.000 This is just big botulism.
00:11:45.000 Now, if you look at 2023 to 2024, specifically their direct contributions, AIPAC ranked 18th behind groups like ActBlue, WinRed, Future Forward USA, just to be clear.
00:11:58.000 That's where they ranked here.
00:12:00.000 So, again, you can be upset about their influence because they may be advocating for another nation above What's that, Josh?
00:12:13.000 Snack time.
00:12:15.000 Hey, if you're still watching this video, comment below.
00:12:19.000 Sorry, I'm parched.
00:12:25.000 I can't drink from that!
00:12:29.000 But you can click the video and watch it.
00:12:33.000 But I...