Swatting at The Bee’s Nest

Pussy-grabbing Donald Trump doubles down on his zero-tolerance policy, effectively continuing to separate undocumented children from their family at the border despite court orders to the contrary, allowing children even under five years of age to appear unrepresented and alone before immigration “judges” (“judges” in name only since they are required to follow the dictates of the Department of Justice where they are ordinary employees without independence from their bosses), the man who continues to mouth “severe consequences” without meaning at the butchering murder of a U.S. resident/journalist (Jamal Khashoggi) at a Saudi diplomatic mission in Turkey, is a man gaining in popularity within his base. That U.S. arms were being used by the Saudis to mount an airstrike against a Yemeni school bus, one of many Saudi attacks on civilian targets there, didn’t even merit a mention.

Evangelical fervor seems to set aside Biblical proscriptions when it is inconvenient to their overwhelming commitment to end abortions, while championing the death penalty, gaining right-wing judges with religious biases, making America a Christian nation, and suspending the Ten Commandments to accommodate their new spiritual leader, Donald Trump. That “false witness,” “adultery,” and “thou shalt not kill” crap clearly has to go.

700 Club televangelist Pat Robertson, for example, presents a pretty cogent argument for why the Saudi murder is A-OK with him and should be for us all: “‘I just want to cool down the temper of those who are screaming blood for the Saudis,’ Robertson said on his ‘700 Club’ program Monday [10/15]. ‘Look, these people are key allies. Our main enemy in the Middle East is Iran, and the Saudis stand up against Iran.’

“He added: ‘I don’t think on this issue that we need to pull sanctions and get tough. I just think it’s a mistake.’

“Citing the $110 billion U.S.-Saudi arms deal, of which only $14.5 billion is finalized, he said, ‘It’ll be a lot of money coming to our coffers, and it’s not something that you want to blow up willy-nilly.’” Huffington Post, October 17^th. What’s that, $36.6 billion a commandment?

But while all this is going on, the United States seems to have figured that this is pretty good time to send the Palestinians another unsubtle message, rubbing salt in raw wounds still staggering from U.S. support for authorization for another spate of Jewish settlements on the Palestinian West Bank, the forced closing of the Palestinian mission in Washington, the move of our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem (a holy city to Christians, Jews and Muslims alike) and withdrawing financial aid (directly and through the U.N.) from Palestine: shutting down the U.S. Consulate General Office (pictured above) in Jerusalem designed to address Palestinians and their issues… and moving that operation to the incredibly and insultingly unpopular new U.S. embassy. We sure are encouraging a peaceful solution there, aren’t we?

Our Middle Eastern guru, a man who appeared unable to gain admission to any Ivy League college unless his dad made $2.6 million on a donation to Harvard on condition of his son’s acceptance, Jared Kushner, appears to be the architect of our current relationship with the effective ruling Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman (whom most experts believe ordered Khashoggi’s murder) as well as our “strategy” in our relations with Israel. The same Ivanka-is-my-ticket-to-power-and-I-won’t-get-fired dude who is currently being investigated for possible criminal and civil issues in connection with his and his family’s real estate business.

“In a statement, [State Department Secretary Mike] Pompeo couched the [move of that Consulate General office] in administrative language, saying that ‘we plan to achieve significant efficiencies and increase our effectiveness by merging U.S. Embassy Jerusalem and U.S. Consulate General Jerusalem into a single diplomatic mission.’ Pompeo said U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman would oversee the merger.

“The announcement drew no comment from the Israeli government but a furious reaction from the Palestinian Authority… Chief negotiator Saeb Erekat said that closing the U.S. Consulate ‘has nothing to do with ‘efficiency’ and a lot to do with pleasing an ideological U.S. team that is willing to disband the foundations of American foreign policy, and of the international system, in order to reward Israeli violations and crimes.’

“The Trump administration, he said, is ‘working together with the Israeli government to impose greater Israel rather than the two-state solution on the 1967 border,’ in effect accusing the United States of dismantling the diplomatic structure in place since the Oslo accords of 1993 that aimed at achieving two states… President Trump has declared Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations a principal foreign policy goal, saying an agreement would be ‘the ultimate deal’ and appointing his son-in-law and advisor, Jared Kushner, to manage the talks.

“The announcement caps a tumultuous year in U.S. diplomacy regarding Jerusalem, the contested city that Trump recognized as Israel’s capital in December… In May, the American Embassy was officially relocated from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, provoking heated responses from the Palestinians and sparking a protest on the border between Gaza and Israel in which 60 Palestinians died… The Palestinian Authority has refused all contact with the Trump administration since then…

 “Dan Shapiro, the former U.S. ambassador to Israel, said Thursday’s [10/18] decision to merge the consulate with the embassy ‘downgrades diplomatic relations with the Palestinians. It is not consistent with the goal of achieving a two-state solution, and that is how it will be understood by both sides… It is very unlikely that the Palestinian Authority will engage the U.S. government through the Embassy to Israel,’ he added.

“Calling the Palestinians ‘spoiled children,’ [Danny Ayalon, who served as the Israeli ambassador to the United States from 2002 to 2006], formerly a right-wing member of the Israeli parliament, said demoting the consulate was ‘a punishment to the Palestinians,’ explaining: ‘They refuse to speak to Trump’s people and call Ambassador Friedman ‘a son of a dog.’ The Palestinians keep spitting at the Americans and want us to say it’s just rain.’

“Alon Pinkas, a former Israeli consul general in New York, countered, ‘What is the point of dismantling a direct diplomatic channel to the PA? It has both substantive and symbolic value… The U.S. has absolutely no coherent policy on the Israeli-Palestinian issue,’ Pinkas said. This decision, while meaningless to Israel, will further convince the Palestinians that the U.S. will not act as an intermediary.” Los Angeles Times, October 19^th.

The United States is increasingly alone in its global efforts, distancing itself from traditional allies while embracing brutal autocrat/foes with brotherly fervor, and allowing inexperienced, under-educated, highly biased amateurs to dictate and implement sensitive foreign policy directives with serious negative long-term consequences for the United States. All this and Donald Trump’s engaging in his usual braggadocio turning his litany of failure into claims of wild success.

Think the economy is strong and will remain resilient? Have faith that the tax cut will pay for itself and not create a deficit? Believe China will cave to our demands? Adhere to the notion that the rest of the world will respond to our international goals if we continue to force them? Like the new American “moral high ground”? Counting on Israeli citizens to be safer after all this? Wanna buy a bridge in Brooklyn?

I’m Peter Dekom, and the most horrific realities have to be the long-term impacts of Trump on who we are and what we will lose in the future from his ignorant policies and practices.