Politics
NEW: Mike Huckabee Officially Joins The Trump Administration
Former presidential candidate Mike Huckabee is set to join the Trump administration, a symbolic victory for the religious right, which has praised his faith-based approach to politics for decades.
A bipartisan vote by the U.S. Senate on Thursday saw Huckabee confirmed as the U.S. ambassador to Israel. The former Arkansas governor has been tasked with helping to bring the Jewish nation’s war against Hamas to an end.
U.S. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), an outspoken pro-Israel lawmaker, was the lone Democrat to support Huckabee, 69, in a vote of 53-46.
Parts of Huckabee’s confirmation hearing were filled with concerns raised by Democrats about past “extreme” statements he made in support of Israel, including its right to annex the West Bank and his flat rejection of a two-state solution with Palestinians.
President Donald Trump has previously called for converting the Gaza strip into a “riviera for the Middle East,” bringing the land under U.S. control and only “forcibly” displacing more than 2 million Palestinians if “it is for their safety.”
“If confirmed, it will be my responsibility to carry out the president’s priorities, not mine,” Huckabee replied to Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR) when asked about his past comments at a committee hearing.
Despite his assurances, Huckabee remained in the crosshairs of congressional Democrats.
“Huckabee’s positions are not the words of a thoughtful diplomat – they are the words of a provocateur whose views are far outside international consensus and contrary to the core bipartisan principles of American diplomacy,” Rep. Jerry Nadler (D-NY) a senior Jewish Democrat, said in a statement to Fox News last month. “In one of the most volatile and violent areas in the world today, there is no need for more extremism, and certainly not from the historic ambassador’s post and behind the powerful seal of the United States.”
Nadler’s opinion means very little to Trump, however.
“He’s going to be fantastic. He’s going to bring home the bacon, even though bacon isn’t too big in Israel. I had to clear that up. Congratulations to Mike Huckabee,” Trump joked from the Oval Office following the vote.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been one of the few world leaders to have Trump’s ear on a regular basis. Just this week, he visited the White House to tout his country’s termination of tariffs on most U.S. goods, and in return, President Trump reiterated his commitment to supporting Israel as it seeks to recover all alive and deceased hostages in the hands of Hamas.
“Congratulations to my dear friend Mike Huckabee upon being confirmed as the next ambassador of the United States to Israel,” Netanyahu wrote on Facebook after the vote. “This is a great day for the Israeli-American alliance. I look forward to working with you to make the unbreakable bond between our two nations even stronger.”
Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist pastor, served as Arkansas governor from 1997 to 2007. He ran for president in 2008 and 2016 and, in between, hosted the talk show “Huckabee” on Fox News.
During his first campaign, he connected with Iowa’s evangelical voters, winning the 2008 caucus but eventually running low on funds and withdrawing from the race. He failed to repeat his performance in 2016 and suspended his campaign after the first-in-the-nation election.
His name has remained synonymous with the Trump administration following his daughter’s service in the president’s first administration. Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who served as White House press secretary from 2017 to 2019, now fills her father’s old shoes as the governor of their home state.
