Friends with Benefits

Temporary & as Long as Convenient

The list of Donald Trump’s friends, allies and bromances is long and profoundly checkered. When you know too much, when you have championed The Donald’s causes long enough, the mud that defines the President’s way of doing business undoubtedly rubs off on these friends-as-functionaries. Paul Manafort. Michael Cohen. Michael Flynn. Rance Priebus. John Kelley. John Bolton. H.R. McMaster. Anthony Scaramucci. Sean Spicer. James Mattis. Jeff Sessions. Roger Stone. Rex Tillerson… and dozens and dozens more. Rudy Giuliani? Absolutely on the “soon to be” list. A few took the bullet for the President and/or are doing hard time. Many more simply resigned. On the international front, you can add to that abandonment list every major leader of France, Belgium, Germany, Scandinavia for some of the highlights. UK’s Boris Johnson? Not yet.

Trump can’t fire Vladimir Putin, Recep Erdogan, Kim Jong-un or Xi Jinping. These autocrats are safe, even as he may approve an occasional sanction or nasty trade barrier against them, and hence they will always be his “friends.” But nothing brings home the fickle, amoral “use ‘em as long as possible, then dump them” philosophy like Israel. 

Start with the proposition that, in traditional American parlance, only a strong rogue Israel can foment the Biblically projected world-ending war-to-end-all-wars beginning in the Middle East (Armageddon), the prerequisite to the Second Coming of Christ and the Rapture. Thus, keeping Israel strong and aggressive is at the core of the evangelical segment of Trump’s base’s unwavering support for Israel. And nothing typifies an arrogant, anti-Arab provocateur like Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu, who has held power for over a decade, with exceptionally close family ties to Presidential son-in-law, Jared Kushner. It was evangelical perfection.

In 2016, when “Trump defeated Hillary Clinton in an upset, Netanyahu, relieved and pleased, ‘very quickly ... figured out that he had to become 100% an unadulterated sycophant,’ said Alon Pinkas, an Israeli diplomat and former consul general in New York. Then he got a bonus. He sized up the team that Trump appointed to work on the Israeli-Palestinian issue and realized they were inexperienced, pro-Israel men closely aligned with the president, including Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and two of his corporate lawyers… ‘Netanyahu knew there would be no pressure,’ Pinkas said. ‘He knew he was free on that issue.’ Los Angeles Times, November 1^st. Trump delivered.

Since his election in 2016, Trump had continued to defy the rest of the world to protect Israel from UN Security Council sanctions. Netanyahu’s efforts officially to designate non-Jews, hence Arabs, as second-class citizens with second-class rights, to abandon a UN/US two state (Palestine and Israel) policy and treaty goal and to oppose any efforts at détente between the United States and rising nuclear power Iran, have become the cornerstone of Trump’s foreign policy. US aid to Gaza is gone. He’s moved our embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, supported Israel’s announcement that the Golan Heights are forever Israeli territory and turned a blind eye to the explosion of new Jewish settlements on the West Bank. 

Trump had even actively issued what are pro-Netanyahu campaign supporting statements during Israeli elections. Netanyahu’s campaign was built around his special relationship with Trump as the poster pictured above affirms. Netanyahu extended his political career based on his ties with Trump and Trump’s family.

Trump’s support for Netanyahu has slowly evolved from what was once a solid US-Israeli alliance, with one of staunchest allies, into a Republican Party-Netanyahu’s-vision-for-Israel (represented by the Likud Party) cabal. Democrats not welcome. The goal: make any American supporting Israel vote GOP. Hard to do when the vast majority of American Jews are loyal Democrats. Effectively, Trump’s efforts have merely solidified his support among evangelicals.

Now that Bibi is on the edge of an indictment for corruption and is unable to cobble together a ruling coalition, it is clear that his time in office (or at least as the prime minister) is waning fast. The power is shifting toward more conciliatory and less radically right-wing candidates. The more centrist Blue and White Party edged Netanyahu’s Likud Party in the September 17^th election, and while B&W’s candidate, Benny Gantz has been charged with the very difficult task of putting together his own coalition, new elections are most probable. 

Netanyahu is increasingly seen as a loser within his own country. If Likud loses control in Israel, that GOP-Likud cabal is in jeopardy. Trump bet the farm on Likud’s sustainable victory under Bibi’s seeming invulnerable control, which seems to be slip-sliding away. Likud may itself be forced to pull Netanyahu from his of power within the party. Having thrown his and his GOP lot in with right-winger Netanyahu, now sliding off a political cliff, what will Donald Trump do? The obvious. Three years of all-Netanyahu-all-the-time are over.

“Instead of gushing over Netanyahu and boasting of what he called the warmest U.S.-Israeli relationship in history, Trump has gradually backed away. In September, he publicly distanced himself from the prime minister when asked about Netanyahu’s latest inconclusive election. ‘Our relations are with Israel,’ Trump told reporters on the White House lawn, not even uttering Netanyahu’s name.

“That same month, Trump came close to meeting with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, despite frantic attempts by Netanyahu to dissuade him. The meeting never materialized for other reasons.

“As Netanyahu’s political fortunes are faltering, and just when he could use an extra boost from Trump, the American president has instead cast his sights, and affections, elsewhere. People familiar with Trump’s thinking say he likes winners and now sees Netanyahu, who has failed twice to form a government, as a loser…

“Trump has already obtained much of what he wanted from Israel and Netanyahu…  ‘Trump uses people [until] they serve his purpose,’ said Ami Ayalon, former head of the Israeli domestic security service Shin Bet. ‘He used our prime minister, and it worked. At least for the short run.’” Los Angeles Times. Even Jared Kushner flew to Israel at the end of October… and met with Benny Gantz. Keep those evangelicals smiling!

Trump’s abandonment of Netanyahu, coming on the heels of his new Turkish-Syrian policy that left our former Kurdish military allies open to virtually unchecked Turkish military assault, simply reinforced the global image that Donald Trump was never going to be someone anyone could rely on to support long-term alliances, personal political relationships or treaty commitments. And since Trump was elected through the American political process, the United States itself seems to have received its own perpetual Scarlet Letter of unreliability.

            I’m Peter Dekom, and if the United States does not completely unravel in the meantime, how do you think our post-Trump political leadership can possibly restore our credibility and our reliability?