Michael Steinberger

He and I have had a number of conversations, and he's kind of dismissive of those concerns.

He doesn't really want to talk about them.

And he deflects them by saying that I and other people just have Trump derangement syndrome.

meaning that the people raising these issues, raising these concerns, are just so hostile to Trump, so blinded with rage at Trump, that they can't think rationally about these issues.

But I also know that Karp's views on immigration have changed.

And this goes back to October 7th.

Before October 7th, he saw the immigration issue, he saw the chaos at the border as bad for the Democrats.

After October 7th, he also sees the immigration issue and the border as bad for American Jews.

Why?

Because he thinks it's poking the bear that an uncontrolled border...

Lots of illegal immigration is radicalizing Americans against diversity, which he sees as really bad for the Jews.

Because if the voters want the border controlled and a democratically elected government doesn't deliver on what they want, they may turn to more radical solutions.

The backlash next time may be even more severe and people might turn to a genuine autocrat, which would be, in Karp's view, really bad for the Jews.

he pushes back furiously against any suggestion that Trump is an autocrat or a fascist.

In a recent interview with Andrew Ross Sorkin of The Times, for instance.

He said that any suggestion that Trump is a fascist is just stupid.

Yes, we've discussed it and he has admitted to being concerned about it.

And I think this goes some way to explaining why he is so ardently behind Donald Trump.

Because, again, he fears that if Trump doesn't deliver on his campaign promises, particularly on immigration, that what's going to come after this could be even worse.

That a demagogue in the mold of a Fuentes or someone like that could come to power, which Karp thinks would be very bad for the country.