Where's Trump Going Re Palestine?

Apologies for not having written anything today. For those who think that I don’t do anything except sit in front of my computer, it’s not true. For example, yesterday morning I drove to my local TJ’s—and lived to regret it. I was stopped waiting for a traffic light to change and another driver rear ended me. I was never able to ask why they did that, because they drove away. As a result, I’ve been occupied with insurance claims, body shop estimates, and police reports. Much safer to remain in front of my computer. Oh, and I also ended up addressing—at unfortunate length—matters from my previous life. So, today’s lack of posting wasn’t some weird form of Lenten fasting.

I actually had a topic lined up in my mind, and then found out that Larry Johnson had done a very good job himself on the same topic. The topic is Trump’s outrageous rhetoric over the past few days about Gaza. Now, all Trump observers have hopefully learned to take most of Trump’s public statements on controversial matters with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, what I found very disturbing was that Trump was propagating patent disinformation that could possibly mislead at least a fair proportion of the American public (a bit more on the exact proportion later). If one were to accept Trump’s rhetoric at face value, the whole issue of Palestine only began on October 7th. There was no mention of legitimate Palestinian grievances, of Israeli atrocities over the many decades of Zionist occupation, and so forth. Worst of all, Trump threatened “the people of Gaza” with a resumption of the same genocide that they’ve been suffering for the past nearly year and a half. Between one and two million people packed into a small space, and Trump is threatening them all “the people of Gaza” with more death and destruction on a scale not seen since Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

We can all object to the way non-Americans perceive Americans, but it’s simply the way all people judge other nations. We judge other nations by their actions and by the public statements of their leaders. Other nations around the world are currently judging America by the proxy war that our Anglo-Zionist empire launched—after decades of preparation—against Russia. The result has been the death, by reliable estimates, of over a million Ukrainians and the decimation of their nation in economic as well as demographic terms. We are also being judged by our support of Israeli genocide and ethnic cleansing. Neither the war in Ukraine nor the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing on the West Bank could have happened but for American—or Anglo-Zionist—active support. SoS Rubio has confirmed And now Trump is openly threatening more genocide. This reflects on all of us.

Now, many will argue—with reason—that this type of rhetoric is a typically Trumpian deal making ploy. I would respond that certain tactics should be off the deal making table, and especially when they are presented in such a one sided manner. I don’t think he has a right to play fast and loose and recklessly with the international reputation of my country. That said …

Over the last few days some of the commentators I listen to regularly have presented their views on the general situation. For example …

John Mearsheimer assumes that Trump will obey his masters in the Israel Lobby. He discounts the possibility that Trump will act independently, and especially not before the 2028 midterms. Money speaks, and Trump got a ton of it from the Zionists.

Doug Macgregor has been warning—more urgently than ever—of what he sees as the strong likelihood of a regional Middle East war that could morph into a global conflict. I should say, a kinetic global conflict, to distinguish it from the economic/sanctions global conflict we’re involved in. Macgregor believes the flash point will be a US backed Israeli attempt to push Palestinians into Egypt. For what it’s worth, Egypt’s military, on paper, is far from negligible. They have about 1100 Abrams tanks, over 200 F-16s (as well as older but highly upgraded Russian aircraft), and their air defenses—which are modeled on the Russian system—include both Patriot Pac3s as well as large numbers of Russia’s S-300 system.

Scott Ritter advocates for the position I’ve taken in the past. Trump has taken ownership of Gaza—and implicitly of the entire Israeli war on the rest of the Middle East. By taking control over Israel’s war on Gaza, Trump has shown the world that Israel cannot act independently of the US. For that reason, Ritter argues strongly that Trump—who says he wants to be remembered a peacemaker—will simply not allow another war, no matter his rhetoric.

Larry Johnson, today, largely comes down on the side that Ritter and I have taken. He also argues his case with a greater degree of specificity, taking into account the last few days of bluster. In particular, what I found helpful was LJ’s addressing of the reports that Trump has rejected out of hand the Arab League plan to rebuild Gaza with $53 billion. I want to believe LJ’s arguments that the bluster is more Trumpian misdirection that places him at center stage while a lot of the action is actually taking place off stage.

More Empty Threats from Donald Trump?

Trump’s act is starting to wear thin. He tried this same gambit a month ago and, despite what appeared to be a genuine threat, he did nothing. I think the latest dire threat is to divert attention from the fact that Mr. Witkoff is in Doha, Qatar, talking directly to Hamas leaders. If Witkoff succeeds in extracting some concessions from Hamas, then Trump gets to take a victory lap by claiming his “tough talk” produced results. The reality will be otherwise — i.e., Witkoff succeeded by talking with Hamas.

While Witkoff is in Qatar, Israel is doing a lot of saber rattling and threatening to go back on the so-called offensive. The true term for it is, “genocide.” ...

I have seen a couple of media outlets report that Trump has rejected the Egyptian proposal for rebuilding Gaza but, until we get an official statement from the White House, I consider that more misdirection. Witkoff has shown he’s not afraid to talk to anyone and I am certain he understands that a harsh rejection of an Egyptian plan that has the backing of Jordan and Saudi Arabia risks alienating those countries and dashing Trump’s hopes of crafting a a peace deal for the region.

There are some other factors that support the view that the Trumpian threat mongering against “the people of Gaza” is misdirection or a negotiating ploy. A major factor is that Trump, far from threatening Iran, is moving heaven and earth to get into a conversation with Iran. Iran hasn’t forgotten that Trump unilaterally pulled out of the nuclear deal with Iran at the behest of the Israel Lobby. Nor has Iran forgotten Trump’s criminal act of assassinating Soleimani, a high government official. As a result, Iran has flatly refused to deal with Trump. Trump’s response? He has asked Russia’s Putin to intercede, to help get a dialog going. No doubt the Arab world has taken note of that, as well. Further, as we have repeatedly pointed out, in each meeting between the US and Russia the Middle East has figured high on the agenda. Russia and China are very involved in the Middle East, and Trump simply can’t risk writing off relations with those two countries for the sake of indulging Israel’s blood lust.

There’s another factor that Trump can’t afford to ignore:

Less Than Half Of Americans Now Sympathetic Toward Israelis

Authored by Megan Brenan via Gallup,

Although Americans remain more likely to say their sympathies in the Middle East situation are with the Israelis rather than the Palestinians, the 46% expressing support for Israel is the lowest in 25 years of Gallup’s annual tracking of this measure on its World Affairs survey. The previous 51% low point in this trend of Americans’ sympathy for Israelis was recorded both last year and in 2001.

At the same time, the 33% of U.S. adults who now say they sympathize with the Palestinians is up six percentage points from last year and the highest reading by two points.

While it’s true that

Republicans broadly sympathize with the Israelis (75%) over the Palestinians (10%), while Democrats sympathize with the Palestinians over the Israelis by a nearly 3-to-1 ratio (59% vs. 21%)

it should be unsettling for Trump to learn that

Independents’ sympathies are similar to the national averages.

Trump’s coalition is not the traditional one. He is the first Republican president for many cycles to have won a majority of the popular vote, and that fact is a key to his mandate going forward. For that reason he has to pay close attention to the national average, and not just to the Republican or MAGA base. Blowing up the Middle East or reviving genocide is therefore a bad idea. To MAGA, Trump needs to end the Anglo-Zionist war on the world, not start up new wars. I think he knows that.