Move over, Ilhan Omar — another politician wants to make the “all about the Benjamins” argument about Israel. Only this time, it’s not a Democrat, but instead one of the Republican candidates for the presidential nomination. Vivek Ramaswamy appeared on Tucker Carlson’s Twitter show yesterday to echo Tucker’s view that America has no real interest in the genocidal attacks of Hamas on Israel, and should focus instead entirely on its own domestic security.

Ramaswamy doubled down on that and insinuated — as he claimed in the first debate — that everyone’s been bought off. And he did so while we still don’t have a full accounting of American citizens potentially killed or captured in the conflict:

“The selective nature of ignoring certain other conflicts—even more importantly, ignoring the interests of the U.S. right here at home—is what irritates the heck out of me,” Ramaswamy told Carlson.

“It is shameful. And I think that there are, frankly, financial and corrupting influences that lead them exactly to speak the way they do, that’s just the hard truth,” he added.

In case that was too subtle, Ramaswamy made it more plain in the conversation:

Ramaswamy told Carlson that he is open to providing “limited military support” for Israel by sending weapons but slammed his opponents for calling for a stronger military response against Iran and “refus[ing] to take the option of ground troops off the table.”

The candidate said the “Lindsey Grahams or the Nikki Haleys or the John Boltons, or, you know, other people of this persuasion” support military interventions because of “money.”

“Some people do have ideological commitments that are outdated but earnest, but a lot of it comes down to money, the corrupting influence of super PACs on the process,” said Ramaswamy.

I guess Ramaswamy missed the part where Hamas killed more than two dozen Americans and took an unknown number hostage. Does Ramaswamy think that isn’t an important issue? Or that making it a priority in foreign policy at the moment is some sort of evidence of corruption? If that’s the case, it’s one hell of an argument for the job of America’s commander in chief: Travel abroad and get killed or captured by terrorists, and we won’t give a crap about what happens to you.

Scott Johnson at Power Line recognized the argument, as did our friend and former contributor Noah Rothman. Noah encapsulates the obvious and clear rebuttal in one paragraph:

Americans — public officials and average voters alike — do not support Israel in this time of testing because they’ve been bought off. They recognize a partner nation in need when they see one. They understand that when our enemies chant “death to America” after murdering Israeli Jews, they’re not confused. They comprehend the high stakes of a conflict they did not seek and do not want but was thrust upon them, nonetheless.

We comprehend that in part because we have experienced it ourselves. The lessons of 9/11 still remain with us, among which is that radical Islamist terrorism does not take aim just at Israel but at the entire West. Hamas has particularly emphasized its global jihad to forcibly convert the world to Islam under their rule and to wipe out Judaism, Christianity, and any other competing religions.

The idea that American support for Israel has to do with some fantasy wealth redistribution is utter nonsense. It’s as dumb as Ramaswamy’s first debate performance in which he claimed to the Only Pure Man on the stage. It’s sheer demagoguery, with the intention of playing footsie with anti-Semites on the fringe that believe the Joooooos secretly control everything. That in itself should be disqualifying for Ramaswamy in a Republican presidential primary, although it clearly isn’t in Minnesota’s Fifth Congressional District. Maybe Ramaswamy should try his luck there.

And even the counterargument used by Ramaswamy (and Carlson) is dumb. No one’s ignoring the border crisis; it’s one of the top issues in the country, thanks in large part to Greg Abbott and Ron DeSantis forcing “sanctuary” cities and states to deal with its consequences. Even the Biden White House has been forced into responding lately as Democrat mayors and governors grow increasingly vocal about the crisis. The story routinely leads the news and debate, except for when acute stories break through — like large-scale genocidal and medieval invasions of American allies intended to exterminate them.

I mean, really — does a few days of focus on the launch of an Islamist war really bother Ramaswamy this much? For the love of God, the bodies aren’t even all collected and counted, and we still have American citizens unaccounted-for. And yet here is Ramaswamy, accusing people that care about it of being bought off … again.

A few days ago, I wrote that this country has to reject unseriousness. Ramaswamy and his dalliances with conspiracy-theory idiocies is a good place to start.