Trump the Truth Teller Strikes Again

We can only hope that SOMEONE in Washington is listening

On Friday, in answer to a BBC reporter’s question, Trump blurted out the truth about Israel’s attacks on Lebanon:

“We have to have that ended, one way or the other. The world isn’t going to take it. You have to have that ended, and I think that maybe we’re getting to a point where maybe it can end pretty soon. But you’re going to have to end - the whole thing over there is unacceptable.”

When Trump said the above words, to my eyes he looked more uncomfortable and nervous than I’ve ever seen him. He clearly doesn’t want to say what he is saying, but he feels compelled to say it.

Remember, this is Israel’s biggest fan, the guy with the obnoxious Jewish son-in-law. And he’s not motivated by any sense of personal outrage. As far as I can tell, he feels no compassion for the thousands of women and children killed in Gaza, the West Bank or Lebanon. This is realpolitic in action.

Here’s my take on why Trump had to say things he could be sure would infuriate his Zionist supporters.

The International Court of Justice has held off for months in following through on actually charging Bibi Netenyahu with war crimes. I suspect Donald is worried that Israel’s actions in Lebanon - particularly the fact that Netenyahu authorized the Beirut strikes on Nasrallah from inside UN offices - could be the final straw that pushes the ICJ to lay charges.

I suspect Trump’s staff have let him know that Nasrallah was a direct descendant of the Prophet Mohamed, which meant he was considered to be an important holy figure by Shia Moslems throughout the Middle East. It was probably not a wise move for Joe Biden to celebrate a death which had outraged millions of Muslims.

Trump knows Western media has worked hard to minimize and excuse Israel’s actions in Gaza and Lebanon. But he also knows that the majority of the media in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia have done everything they can to inflame the situation, showing picture after picture, day after day, of the shattered bodies of children, of dead teachers, dead nurses, dead journalists, destroyed mosques, shattered apartment blocks and whole families of ‘martyrs.’ And rest assured, the Arab and Muslim world has been told ad nauseum that it was American bombs that flattened those apartment blocks full of civilians in South Beirut.

Donald Trump has hoisted in that large parts of the developing world are enraged by Israel’s actions. He’s also plugged in enough to realize the sentiment is not just anti-Israel, it is increasingly anti-American, and puts American soldiers at risk.

It’s clear to me that Trump understands that the risks of the war in the Middle East spinning out of control in the coming days are large and getting larger. (This risk has just been ratcheted up yet one notch higher by Israeli troops entering Lebanon in a ground offensive.)

Israel long ago co-opted governments in Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Saudi Arabia to mute their opposition to Israel’s bad behaviour in Gaza and the West Bank. I’m sure none of those four countries want war with Israel even now, but their populations are so angry that there’s a very real risk they will face armed insurrection if they do nothing. Ergodan in Turkey has long proved himself to be a gutless blowhard, but he too faces huge pressure from his own citizenry to “do something.”

Even Russia is showing signs of having hit its limits.

But it is the Government of Iran faces the heaviest pressure from its own populace to go to war. At what point does that pressure become too much? (We know that Iran has just moved it’s leadership to a secret, secure location, and called up all its military reserves. Not good omens.)

Trump knows that if Iran declares war on Israel, Biden, being Biden, will have to declare war on Iran. Trump also knows that Iran has a large stock of hyper-sonic missiles that the US Navy has almost no way of stopping; the odds then of a US carrier ending up on the bottom of the Mediterranean are frighteningly high.

Trump also understands there is now a non-trivial risk that first Russia and then China will come to Iran’s aid if war breaks out. Which immediately opens the possibility of nuclear war.

So, Trump is quite correct on two points. First, that large parts of the developing world find Israel’s actions in Lebanon to be completely unacceptable. And that this collective outrage creates large and growing risks to both Israel and the United States. In essence, he’s saying, with some urgency: This fire needs to be put out NOW, before it has a chance to spread.

It’s a bloody shame that the senile incompetent currently occupying the White House is unable or unwilling to face these unpleasant truths.