Trump & Gaza
My morning has started with two pieces of news that may seem disconnected, but which I connect in a very direct sense in my mind. To begin with, the UN Security Council has passed a resolution that calls for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as well as the unconditional release of all hostages. This may sound like the same resolution put forth by the United States last Friday, but apparently both Russia and China were prepared to not veto this resolution because the U.S. did not put it forth and could not claim credit for it, but instead was just allowed to abstain in silence and let the resolution pass. This is tantamount to Russia and China collectively spanking the United States in public. Allow me to start by saying that I’m glad that such a resolution passed regardless of the geopolitics involved. I’m not sure a public drubbing of the U.S. is unwarranted given our unusual and increasingly ticklish situation of talking peace and humanitarianism while supply Israel with whatever arms it needs to both defend itself (particularly via the Iron Shield) as well as those which it needs to conduct its offensive maneuvers against Hamas and Gaza writ large. Joe Biden is the President of all of these less-than-fully-United States, and so he must take this black eye for the team, which I’m sure he fully understands and accepts, as little as he and Antony Blinken may not like it. Because that’s what responsible leaders do.
As much as I am prepared to take this hit to the Biden Administration I completely reject the notion that this is a political demerit for Joe in his quest for another term. Trump and his pro-Netanyahu leanings would most certainly have never tried to cajole Bebe into declaring a ceasefire or not attack Rafha. It is highly unlikely that he would have offered up a resolution as Biden did on Friday and he probably would have directed his U.N. Ambassador to veto today’s resolution. But all that said, Trump will get no gas from this U.N. spankfest and Joe will. And another difference is that Joe will take the spanking with no tears and Trump would undoubtedly have screamed murder and threatened nuclear retaliation on China while making up some excuse to not say anything bad about Russia or Putin. It annoys me to no end that the progressive left in America will hammer Biden ceaselessly for his inaction on Gaza without any regard to the thick and difficult landscape of the U.S. and Israel relations. For my money, the way Biden has handled the situation in Gaza is exactly what I want to see in a leader of all of America, something Trump is completely unwilling to ever do for the country. Trump is a leader for only those who sycophantically serve at his altar. The rest of the country be damned…or jailed if possible.
Now what remains to be seen is what both Israel and Hamas will do in response to the UN Security Council resolution. The UN is a lion that can do little but roar, and may well largely be toothless if push comes to shove. What seems to go hand-in-hand with Trumpism in the modern world is a willingness to not give a damn what other people think or say about you. Netanyahu is clearly in that camp as he continues to defend himself against his corruption litigation by staying tight with the extreme right wing of the Israeli political spectrum. People like me will respond to inaction by Netanyahu by saying that its time for the U.S. to start withholding military aid until Israel takes the UN resolution more seriously. Of course, Trump and his MAGA followers, who are all about nationalism and isolationism will be all too willing to shift their stance to suit their immediate political posturing by saying that any such withholding of aid to Israel is a dastardly leftist action which undermines the U.S.’s global image. Apparently, hypocrisy is not a concept that the MAGA crowd is willing to acknowledge as well.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch in the good old U.S. of A. and its tort system, the Appellate Court has given Trump a small reprieve by reducing his civil bonding requirements from $454 million down to a paltry $175 million and given him an extra 10 days to post the bond. Despite Trump’s claims that a half billion dollar bond is unprecedented and unavailable, the corporate civil bonding activity regularly involves billions of dollars dollar bonds. But those are to companies of substance, not over-leveraged, over-hyped, over-brand-and-goodwill-pumped balance sheets run by megalomaniacs who spin more hot air than profits from his enterprises. It has always been amazing to me that the MAGA supporters of Trump have ignored all the negative business history of Trump, with his six corporate bankruptcies, and instead focused on the pseudo-tough boss of The Apprentice and assumed that he is a righteous and strong business leader. These two recent civil cases should have exposed him for what he really is, which is an effective showman who talks the talk and then cries if forced to walk the walk. The Appellate Court has given his a small breather and it will be interesting to see if he can arrange the smaller bond that is being required. Its clear that Latisha James would prefer not to get into the hot-seat situation of seizing Trump assets if at all possible, so I’m betting she is willing to be patient while this next short chapter plays out in the ongoing Trump civil saga. If he does post the $175 million bond, that will have him with $266 million in civil judgement bonds and another $279 million in added judgements pending appeal and climbing at a rate of $111,000 per day in additional interest charges if all the judgements are upheld.
I find it strangely parallel that we find ourselves in a world where countries and people feel they are not subject to the rules-based system that is supposed to define our civilization. Is man so forgetful that he is prepared to abandon what he fought so hard about during WWII? Do we think that rules are unnecessary in a world where Republicans want to impose more and more rules on women’s reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ people, worthy and put-upon immigrants seeking asylum in a world gone mad, and anything and anyone else that does not conform to their nationalistic “Christian” view of the world? The pendulum always swings back and forth in this life and it is clear that we are at one end of a rather severe pendulum arc in the direction of the lawlessness of leadership. The good news is that the pendulum always swings back and as unreassuring as that always seems in moments of extreme aberration, it is already showing signs of return to normalcy. People are getting tired of Trump and Netanyahu. Their days are numbered and their personal futures seem less and less appealing. Both these men, on top of their own distorted worlds are clearly in the minority and seeing more and more withdrawal of support for their crazed and unyielding view of the world.
This weekend there was a good deal of discussion about th levels of crime in America over the past five years. The statistics clearly show (despite all the protestations by Republicans to the contrary) that violent crime has declined markedly under the Biden administration. In fact, it peaked quite noticeably during the Trump administration. Psychologists easily explain that chaos and crime go hand in hand, and that crime was high during Trump’s reign of chaos. Now that Biden has normalized things, crime is way down. I’m not sure there are similar statistics for Israel, but clearly chaos in Gaza has led to increased chaos and violent activities in places like the West Bank. Humans can only tolerate so much crime and chaos in their lives before growing weary and wanting peace. Whether in Gaza or here in the U.S., the only path to peaceful coexistence is to get rid of the chaos agents. Wave goodbye Bibe and Donald and let the healing begin.