Trump Says Pro-Israel Groups Have Lost Their Power in Congress — Here's What's Going On
US President Donald Trump said in a pre-taped interview aired August 12, 2026, that groups that lobby for Israel no longer have the power over Congress they once did. He pointed to changes within the Democratic Party as proof that the lobbying landscape has shifted. Al Jazeera
A lobby is a group that tries to influence lawmakers to support certain policies. They do this through campaign donations, organizing voters, and meeting directly with politicians. For decades, pro-Israel groups like AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee) have been considered some of the most powerful lobbies in Washington — meaning they were very effective at getting members of Congress to support Israel.
Trump's remarks came during an interview with host Wayne Allyn Root on the program "America Speaks," broadcast on the network Real America's Voice. In the 42-minute audio clip, Trump said that 20 to 25 years ago, pro-Israel groups had the most powerful lobby in Washington, but now "everyone is" and that "if you look at the Democrats in the House... it's pretty amazing actually." Al Jazeera
He also used the interview to renew a personal attack on Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, saying, "He's become virtually a Palestinian." Trump had previously used the same phrase in a March 2025 Oval Office meeting with reporters, telling them that "Schumer is a Palestinian, as far as I'm concerned," and repeated the comment at the White House Correspondents' Dinner in July 2025. The remark drew condemnation from both Jewish and Muslim organizations, who called it a xenophobic insult. Al Jazeera
The attack on Schumer has a political backstory. In March 2024, Schumer, who is the highest-ranking Jewish elected official in US history, called for a change in Israel's leadership and said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was "too willing to tolerate the civilian toll in Gaza." In July 2026, Schumer criticized Trump over his handling of the US-Israel war on Iran, calling his "rinse and repeat approach" "a recipe for utter disaster." Al Jazeera
Trump's August 12 comments build on a theme he first raised nearly a year earlier. In a Daily Caller interview published in September 2025, conducted by White House correspondent Reagan Reese, Trump said of the Israeli lobby's influence over Congress: "Israel was the strongest. Today, it doesn't have that strong a lobby." Anadolu Agency reported at the time that Trump expressed surprise at the lobby's declining reach. In the same interview, Trump acknowledged that support for Israel among young Republicans was slumping and said Israel's ironclad endorsement in Congress was a thing of the past. Anadolu Agency
Survey data appears to support Trump's assessment. A poll by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs documented a sharp drop in support for Israel among Democrats, along with signs of division within the Republican base. The fractures are visible in elections as well: Reuters reported on May 7, 2026, that six Democratic candidates running against AIPAC accused the group in interviews of supporting what they called a genocide in Gaza. AIPAC, for its part, describes itself as working with Democrats and Republicans to strengthen America's relationship with Israel through lobbying, political support, and grassroots advocacy. Reuters
The lobbying landscape Trump is describing has deep roots. On August 2, 2026, The Guardian published an interactive feature announcing a book that tracks the growth of the pro-Israel lobby over nearly eight decades, describing it as the most powerful foreign policy lobby in US history. TRT World separately reported that Trump told a conservative outlet that Israel no longer commands the strongest influence in Washington as public opinion shifts. The Guardian
The broader context here is one of mounting pressure on what used to be a near-unanimous position in Washington. The Gaza war, now in its second year, has energized a Democratic base that increasingly sees unconditional military support for Israel as politically unsustainable. Republican unity, while stronger, is no longer guaranteed, particularly among younger voters for whom the post-9/11 security argument carries less weight. Trump's repeated labeling of Schumer as a "Palestinian" works on two levels: it punishes a political rival for disagreeing with the Israeli government's actions, and it uses Palestinian identity as an insult, a move that drew criticism from across the communal spectrum. That Trump chose a friendly outlet to deliver the message fits a pattern of testing talking points with his base before they reach a wider audience.
What remains less clear is whether Trump's assessment of the lobby's diminished power reflects a lasting shift or a temporary one driven by an ongoing conflict. AIPAC's spending in the 2024 cycle was historically high, and the group's involvement in Democratic primaries has produced mixed but meaningful results. The lobbying infrastructure that The Guardian's book project chronicles is not a fixed force; it adapts. Whether the decline Trump describes becomes permanent or reverses course will depend on factors well beyond a single interview: the trajectory of the Gaza war, the political costs of the US-Israel campaign against Iran, and whether either party decides that the old consensus still wins more votes than it loses.
