First get rid of the Palestinians, then let Jared Kusner build a giant Trump resort
Meanwhile, pay Trump a billion dollars!
Trump Tower. Trump Steaks. Trump University. Trump Watches. Trump cologne, candles, coins, robes, ornaments, towels, pens, gerbils, and gold-tipped suppositories. It’s hard to think of anything Trump hasn’t tried to monetize.
And now, from his premier fantasy collection, there’s Trump
UN.
Last September, while Trump was busy solving
eight wars that leaders of those countries say
never started, never ended, or had nothing to do with him, Trump
hatched a plan to line his own pockets with the misery in Gaza. He came up with
a Gaza
Board of Peace vested with magical powers to maintain order while
steering private investments to his friends and family.
Trump’s Billion-dollar racket
 |
| From a plan being circulated within the White House |
Trump, who invested
his dad’s money in Middle East real estate two decades ago, claimed
last year that the
U.S. would “run” Gaza, that he saw “long term ownership” possibilities
there. His “Riviera
of the Middle East” proposal with son
in law Jared Kushner floated luxury tourism and an economic hub,
describing Gaza as having a “phenomenal location, on the sea, the best weather”
with “unbelievable” potential.
The only hitch? Someone would first need to relocate more
than two million desperately poor Palestinians who have nowhere else to go.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, no
fan of international law or Palestinians, loved
the concept. Arab leaders, not so much. Palestinians, leaders of
surrounding Arab nations, and international organizations saw Trumps ‘Riviera’ as
ethnic cleansing, ripe for war crimes under international law.
Trump’s Peace deal didn’t survive, but his Peace Board did
After widely congratulating himself for the Gaza ceasefire,
Trump first mentioned a Gaza Board of Peace to
govern reconstruction of the rubble pile last October. The ceasefire never
really materialized—they’re still
killing each other— but Trump’s Board idea took hold of his ego and ran
with it.
As Trump
originally designed it, the Board would provide a forum where Israel,
the Palestinian Authority, and other Middle East countries could discuss
political reforms and reconstruction of Gaza, the latter rife with private
profit potential. Trump, who has already pocketed
$1.4 billion in loose emoluments since re-assuming the presidency,
magnanimously offered to serve as Chairman.
By the time he got around to presenting the Board last
week at Davos, it had become a barnacle attached to his id, distorted
beyond recognition. Last week the Times
of Israel published the Board’s charter, announcing that it would
“promote stability, restore dependable and lawful governance, and secure
enduring peace in areas affected or threatened by conflict.”
The feigned grandiosity of purpose was not limited to Gaza;
as the Times of Israel noted, the charter doesn’t even mention Gaza. Instead Trump’s Board
aspires to be a private, mini United Nationsdivvying up natural resources
and the spoils of war and operating under one thumb: Trump’s.
Democratic leaders politely declined
The Board is Trump’s power fantasy strutting on a catwalk.
Under Trump’s plan, he personally gets
to set policies for the world and declare resolutions by majority vote,
reserving veto power for himself. He also gets to name his successor,
which, preliminarily, will be Don
Jr. (when he isn’t in
a helicopter slaughtering animals endangered by Sr.’s climate
ignorance).
Trump has crowned himself and his smirking
spawn Chairmen of the Universe of Rogue States which
includes the current leaders of Hungary, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kosovo,
Mongolia, Morocco, Pakistan, Paraguay, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Azerbaijan,
Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Uzbekistan. They’re all royals or
dictators or both, or they’re wannabes buying access.
Their billion dollar entrance fee is a solid investment in their oligarchs that
will return dividends not just in the middle east but around the globe.
When Trump presented the idea at Davos, EU leaders were
already aghast at his Greenland
obsession. When he invited Canada, the U.K, France, Germany, Italy, Poland
and other European nations to join
his Board, the invitees had a sense of what he was up to. Unsure
whether to attribute Trump’s bombast to dementia, malice or some sick
combination of hubris and ignorance, their unified
response was to say no thank you, and back away. Fox News, meanwhile, lied
about the whole debacle and lauded Trump’s strength on the global
stage.
After solving 8 wars, what’s left for the Board to do?
Trump, while wrecking the global economy and starting
a civil war at home to slake his midterm woes, has awarded himself the
power to “administer
Gaza” even as European leaders roll their eyes and describe
his derangement as “dangerous.” They are also walking the talk, pivoting
away from Trump’s adulterated version of democracy.
This week India and the European Union closed a breakthrough
free trade agreement. German firms’ investments in China are at a four
year high. Working around Trump, Mexico,
along with Canada
and China are rapidly expanding mutual cooperation. Despite Trump’s
stated goal of weakening China economically, his tariffs accelerated
supply-chain reconfiguration, causing China’s 2025 trade surplus to surge
to a record-breaking $1.2
trillion. After treating Venezuela like a real estate acquisition, Trump
can’t even convince his own big
oil supporters to invest there. Real leaders, in short, aren’t buying
Trump’s “U.S. economy is hotter
than ever” schtick or his Gaza “Peace” Board.
Trump thinks he can fool the world, but he can’t fool anyone
outside the Fox News/Sinclair propaganda bubble. He may erect a giant gold
statue of himself in Gaza, but the civilized world, fed up with Trump’s
insanity, is already moving on.
Sabrina Haake is a columnist and 25+ year federal trial
attorney specializing in 1st and 14th A
defense. Her Substack, The
Haake Take, is free.