'Gladiator' and the fate of our fracturing (Roman) republic
A text exchange among friends after last night's embarrassment in Congress
Postscript to my Jewish friends who voted for Trump
America First doesn’t mean Israel Second… or third… or tenth.
If you’re assembling an International Board of Pharaohs…
… and all you know about the Bible is “two Corinthians,” then Israel isn’t the Jewish Promised Land; Israel is just one of many bargaining chips for a sad, narcissistic guy who talks as if history and international relations are a card game.
From Ron Kampeas on the Trump Doctrine of “Know Your Place”:
Vance has made pleasant noises about Israel and Trump has aligned himself (for now) with Netanyahu’s wildest dreams. But believing the Jewish state gets an “America First” cutout is like believing your new best friend is a Nigerian prince.
Vance and Trump are still cozy with Tucker Carlson, who does not hesitate to include Israel among the countries he says suck at America’s teat, and who also platforms antisemites. Trump longs for a deal with the Iranian regime. Don’t expect it to differ, if he gets there, from the deal Obama brokered and that Trump abandoned. As we’ve seen with Mexico, Trump tends to repackage his predecessors’ diplomacy as his own, new and improved.
Russia is an ally of Iran and may have assisted the regime in launching missile attacks against Israel last year. Pro-Israel outfits that tend to otherwise be supportive of Trump’s foreign policy are already sounding the alarm that he might bring Russia into the Iran talks and withhold critical support of Israel’s plans to cripple Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
Vance in December threatened with government scrutiny the employer of a woman who questioned Elon Musk’s support for AfD, the far right German party that also flirts with Putin. The employer, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, happens to have as its preeminent preoccupation the threat Iran poses to Israel.
Netanyahu needs U.S. backing to contain Iran in much the same way Zelensky needs it to contain Russia. Expect him to make a similar pleading soon. This time, going by last Friday, he may be on the wrong side of a dressing down.
Summing up…
“Israel and America have an unbreakable bond because of our shared values and democratic traditions…”
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard that bromide over the past 50+ years. “Democracy” and “values” were the glue that held together the U.S.-Israel alliance.
But what happens when our “democratic traditions” are fed into a woodchipper, and our “shared values” are shared no longer?
Good piece. 👍