The end of the affair
Opinion: Trump doesn't care about Israel; he is a cold-hearted cheat who hasn’t a shred of a conscience, and Netanyahu’s wild gamble on him is dangerous and wrong-headed
Many Israelis believe that our relationship with the U.S. is a good deal, and some even think that the balance is in our favor — us, the little ally in the east. We are a military outpost, a testing ground for American weapons, a high-tech nation, a front-line fortress of democracy in barbarian lands. We are the most daring fighters against the terror that threatens America.
Trump, in truth, agrees with his predecessors in thinking that the U.S. should relax its firm grip on this malignant region. But while Barack Obama was honest about these intentions, Trump is a master salesman, who specializes in selling luxurious apartments made of cheap materials. Moving the embassy to Jerusalem costs nothing, whereas getting the troops out of Syria comes with hefty political profit. For him, not us.
If you wish to understand the wild and dangerous gamble that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu made when he decided to throw in his lot with Trump, spare a few hours and watch "Trump: An American Dream" on Netflix. You’re in for a nauseating adventure. The four episodes, from Britain's Channel 4, paint a dismal picture of Trump from the early days of his career as a successful building entrepreneur and the son of a successful building entrepreneur—all the way into the White House.
It’s a reliable offering, mainly because Trump’s image, as witnessed in endless articles, videos and books from the two years of his reign, tell a similar story about this man.
I’ve learned from this series that this is a man totally absorbed in himself. A liar, a cheat, a show-off, an aggressive man who has no self-reflection. In the circles that surround him you won’t find a single artist, thinker or activis, only businessmen, their lawyers, bankers, show business people, opportunistic women and politicians who need his money.
The palaces he’s built for himself are tasteless, grandiose monuments. The only color he knows is the gleam of gold, and his only standards are to go big and bigger— for that’s what he believes quality is: the tallest building, the largest casino, the highest-rated TV show, the best-selling book and the biggest harem with the most beautiful women.
The senior officials in his organization and the talented engineers who devote themselves to his building initiatives do not register with him. For Trump, there’s only complete victory that entails the total humiliation of his opponent. The man who resents investment in societal initiatives is running a ferocious battle against responsible politicians who object his demands for a tax exemption from the New York municipality, so that he may graciously acquire a bankrupt hotel and renovate it.
This megalomaniac isn't sorry for the dozens of investors who bought bonds and stocks to fund his “world biggest casino,” which cost a billion dollars and failed a week after it opened.
The only art he’s ever referred to is Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane—but he fails to realize the lesson in it about his downfall. I don’t know if he can be labeled as a psychopath, a person who doesn’t know right from wrong, but this documentary clearly proves Trump has no shred of a conscience.
America doesn’t need Trump—despite what he and his MAGA shouters assert. He’s a businessman whose policy is based on accounting, whether something is profitable or not. Of course, if it weren’t for our military prowess, Trump wouldn’t give Israel a second thought. But the majority of Americans see us as an island of liberal democracy in a deranged region of fanatics. This image is fading.
If we want true empathy we should not look to American politicians who claim to admire Israel, but rather among those who want to save the country from itself. Unsurprisingly, these aren't Trump followers.
