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'We Will Level It': Trump Proposes To Seize Gaza And Expel Palestinians

I had just finished watching Trump's press conference in the White House with Benjamin Netanyahu. The words in the headline for this column were spoken by Donald Trump in his prepared remarks about what he is going to do to Gaza. It's a cliche to say that Trump frequently talks like he's a still a real estate developer, but cliches can be true and tonight this one was.

He told the whole world that he’s going to take over Gaza and level it and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

For Donald Trump the world is now a gigantic real estate deal. He called Gaza “a demolition site.” Yes, dear readers, standing next to the man who bombed Gaza nearly flat, that's what Trump called it. "We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site," Trump went on as Netanyahu could barely suppress a smile. "We’ll level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings. Level it out, create an economic development. There will be thousands of jobs.”

But first Gaza’s new viceroy will have to deal with the people who live there, the two million or so Palestinians who after more than a year of punishing bombardment by the Israeli military still call Gaza home. Since the United States will be not only running the territory but will own it – Trump said, “I see a long term ownership position in Gaza” -- he plans on removing the Palestinian people to other countries in the Middle East which he claims will be eager to take them. Reporters couldn't get him to name those countries. Presumably he's talking about Jordan and Egypt and the Gulf states and Saudi Arabia, none of which have expressed any interest in stepping up and helping out with the problem that Gaza has become for the world.

Jordan's population is already sixty percent Palestinian because of the Palestinians who have been relocated there as refugees over the last 70 years. On January 26 Trump said of Gaza that he'd like to “just clean out the whole thing.” His suggestion that Jordan and Egypt should accept the Gazan Palestinians was met by what PBS news called a “hard no.”

And yet there Trump was, standing next to Netanyahu before a stunned press corps and some cheering White House staffers in the back, saying “Everybody I talked to thinks it's a marvelous idea that the U.S. owns this piece of land; it's a tremendous positive. Leaders of other countries in the Middle East love the idea.”

Asked by a reporter who he saw living in his purported Palm Beach on the Mediterranean, Trump said, “The world's people. I think you'll make that into an international, unbelievable place." Pressed by another reporter if he saw Palestinians living alongside the “world’s people,” Trump clearly didn't want to answer the question but finally said yes, along with Israelis and “anyone else who wants to live there. I see the world's people living there in harmony and peace.”

Trump proceeded to launch into another real estate pitch, talking about how beautiful it would be, how fantastic, he even bragged that Gaza would be better under U.S. ownership “than anyone has ever seen.”

Because of course he did.

In response to another question from the press corps that clearly could not believe what it was witnessing, Trump said that he would use the United States military to carry out his plans for Gaza. “We'll do whatever it takes,” Trump bragged.

I don't know what's been going on in the White House over the last two weeks, none of us really do, although we can see the effects over at the emptied out USAID and Department of Education, but with his pal Elon Musk acting like some kind of vengeful South African Caesar, the Donald Trump who sold himself during the campaign as an isolationist, who said his presidency will be measured not in wars we got into but in wars we avoided, has transformed himself into an American Alexander, a conqueror who thinks he can take his newly acquired military might and do to the world anything he wants to do.

Chaim Weitzmann, the first president of Israel, infamously called Palestinians “rocks of Judea, obstacles that had to be cleared on a difficult path." And now comes Donald Trump who proposes treating the Palestinians of Gaza like rubble that must be removed in order to create his dream of a Mediterranean Mar-a-Lago.

Trump has already said that he will “take back the Panama Canal” and he's talking about using the United States military to seize Greenland, which he claims is necessary for our “national security.”

At his press conference tonight, standing alongside a man the International Court of Law has already charged with war crimes, Donald Trump proposed to the whole world that he wants the United States to commit the war crime of ethnic cleansing by removing the Palestinian people – all two million-plus of them -- from Gaza.

Earlier yesterday, on the way back from an appointment to see an orthopedist about my broken wrist, Tracy and I were lamenting what's going on in Washington DC, as Elon Musk and his teenage hit men attempt their technological destruction of government agencies that were established by acts of Congress and have been in existence for decades. We were talking about how depressed everyone is and how it doesn't seem like there's anything that we as loyal American citizens can do about this rape of our democracy.

At that very hour, Trump was meeting with the first foreign leader he has invited to the White House to discuss jointly committing an unthinkable war crime in the Middle East.

It was bad this morning, it was worse this afternoon, and this evening we learn that the convicted criminal who was elected our president has now declared that he is at the helm of rogue state. It is 1939 all over again.

God help us all.

Lucian K. Truscott IV, a graduate of West Point, has had a 50-year career as a journalist, novelist, and screenwriter. He has covered Watergate, the Stonewall riots, and wars in Lebanon, Iraq, and Afghanistan. He is also the author of five bestselling novels. You can subscribe to his daily columns at luciantruscott.substack.com and follow him on Twitter @LucianKTruscott and on Facebook at Lucian K. Truscott IV.

Reprinted with permission from Lucian Truscott Newsletter.

Rep. Jamaal Bowman's Performative Politics May Lose His Seat

If polls are to be believed, as well as vibes by those in the district, New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman will lose Tuesday in a Democratic primary race framed around the war in Gaza, following AIPAC’s unprecedented spending in the race. Yet, if Bowman loses, it will be for reasons that go far beyond money or even the passions around the war in Gaza.

A HuffPost story from Sunday chronicles Bowman’s shift from a nuanced supporter of Israel’s right to exist (while criticizing right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s destructive policies), to calling alleged sexual assaults by Hamas on Oct. 7 “propaganda” and embracing some of the most strident anti-Israel rhetoric.

While Bowman’s district is solidly Democratic, he is now embroiled in a competitive primary, which requires a deft hand and sharp political instincts—both things that Bowman seems to lack.

New York’s 16th Congressional District comprises the northern Bronx and southern Westchester County, including the cities of Mount Vernon and Yonkers. It’s hard to get more ethnically and racially diverse than the 16th: 40 percent white, 29 percent Latino, 19 percent Black, and six percent Asian. Nearly 30 percent of the district’s population is foreign born. The per capita annual income of the district, nearly $63,000, is around 1.5 times that of the United States as a whole, and likely related, its education attainment (47.5 percent has at least a bachelor’s degree) is 1.3 times the national number. And Westchester County has a significant Jewish population.

What that all means is that entrenching oneself in this district requires judicious constituent service, being present and responsive to the vastly divergent interests of not just those larger communities but also the myriad subgroups within them. As we should all know by now, there is nothing monolithic about the white, Black, Latino, or Asian communities.

Even before Hamas’ October 7 attack, Bowman was failing the art of politics. His biggest misstep—one that’s been highlighted in plenty of ads—was his vote against President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill. His reason was sound as well. You might remember how progressives wanted to tie the infrastructure bill to Biden’s broader Build Back Better Act, a bill to massively invest in housing, education, and health care, among other programs. Biden and the Democratic leadership in Congress caved to West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin and ended up splitting the bills. Build Back Better failed to pass, though a substantially reduced version of it, the Inflation Reduction Act, did pass—and Bowman voted for it.

However, despite fighting for Biden’s broader agenda, Bowman’s vote against the infrastructure law has given his primary opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer, a clear line of attack. And it seems to be landing with voters in the area. From the aforementioned HuffPost story:

“The things that [Bowman and other leftists] are voting against because they’re not getting everything they want, to me, sounds very much like children who are packing up their toys and going home,” said Jim Metzger, an architect and photographer from Hastings-on-Hudson who supported Bowman in 2022.

If an elected official wants the freedom to cast statement votes, they need to rely on a strong base of supporters ready to have their back for casting those statement votes. And that brings us to some of the people Bowman has allied himself with …

Our political system has degenerated into an ungovernable mess where people think screaming and threatening is an effective way to influence policy and politics. Daily Kos has always promoted a programmatic politics in which we build public support before demanding our elected officials take on contentious issues. It does no good to force elected allies to cast futile votes that will hurt their chances of being reelected—and our chances of building political power to create lasting change.

Unfortunately for Bowman, he doesn’t seem to have that base of support in his district. Instead, he’s tried to court a far-left that appears to have little interest in engaging electorally. As one progressive activist told The Hill:

It’s disconcerting how many activists have pushed for Bowman to stand up for Palestinians, but as of yet, as of now, it doesn’t seem all the noise has turned into financial support and that’s why Bowman may lose.

No one is asking Bowman’s supporters to go toe-to-toe with the right-wing pro-Israel AIPAC, which has dumped a shocking $14.5 million into ousting Bowman. But if every pro-Palestinian activist in the country donated to Bowman, he’d have significantly more than the $4.3 million he raised, which is less than Latimer’s own $5.8 million. (Can’t entirely blame that on AIPAC.)

Worse, the far-left that Bowman has courted is now attacking some of the most progressive members of Congress. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has tirelessly defended Bowman, and Sen. Bernie Sanders held a weekend rally for Bowman in the Bronx. The pro-Palestinian group Within Our Lifetimes attended, but not to sign up to walk precincts, make phone calls, raise money, or otherwise help get out the vote for him. Rather, they protested the event, attempting to disrupt it because no one can ever be pure enough for them.

“AOC, your hands are red. Over 40,000 dead,” they chanted. Her crime? Seemingly, it’s that she supports Biden, whom many in this movement call “Genocide Joe.” On the issue of Gaza, specifically, few are as supportive of their efforts as AOC, and she’s ardently fighting for Bowman, who has adopted much of the same language as the protestors, even accusing Israel of genocide. And yet somehow, this group decided it is these representatives who need to be protested.

Can people possibly be more absurd?

This is the same crowd that would happily enable Donald Trump’s election, even though that would be orders of magnitude more catastrophic for the residents of Gaza. It’s the reason Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is rooting for Trump to win in November.

Yet Bowman is cut from the same cloth. Responding to Latimer’s promise to deliver “real progressive results, not rhetoric,” Bowman retorted in a debate that “rhetoric creates movements in grassroots organizing that leads to American revolutions! That is what we need in this moment. We need rhetoric and results. We have both.”

As someone who lived through a revolution, I can tell you there’s nothing romantic about them. People die. Societies are turned inside out. Families are shattered. And the results are seldom what people expect.

Indeed, in American politics, “revolution” is the pining for change unsupported by popular opinion. It’s the (seemingly) easy way forward.

But let’s be charitable to Bowman and assume that he means it as some sort of benign awakening where the magic of his words and that of his allies spur a political realignment. …

Sorry, can’t do it.

Here are some commonsense guidelines for political change that these activists don’t seem to understand:

1) If you have public support, do politics.

2) If you don’t have public support, do advocacy to build public support.

It’s simple, pragmatic, practical, and realistic.

These pro-Palestinian activists don’t have public support, so the votes just won’t be there for them (AIPAC or no AIPAC), and wishing for a revolution to give them what they haven’t earned is naive extremism.

So given that lack of public support, they could’ve focused on advocacy work to influence public opinion while strongly supporting their elected allies. Instead, they turned on those allies while being obnoxious and turning off anyone else potentially open to their message.

That’s the difference between practical politics and performative politics. The right does it too, like mandating the Ten Commandments in classrooms and feigning piety to those commandments while supporting Trump.

The performative left doesn’t have the power of its counterparts on the right, they are in no way equivalent, but that doesn’t mean that they aren’t doing MAGA’s bidding. Many would rather sink Biden’s campaign and hand Trump the victory than acknowledge that politics is messy and that progress takes hard work, money, and time.

New York’s 16th Congressional District seems set to remind Democrats that they value pragmatic results over performative rhetoric. Too bad that lesson will be lost thanks to AIPAC’s flood of cash. But elected incumbents don’t often lose, and it takes more than money to oust them.

If Bowman is defeated on Tuesday, he will have failed by losing touch with his district and by allying with people little interested in doing the hard work to have his back (preferring instead to damage him). The power of incumbency may save him yet. Odds are that it won’t.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Christian Nationalists And Right-Wing Media Hail War As Sign Of 'End Times'

Christian nationalists and several right-wing media figures have embraced the war between Israel and Hamas as a sign of the End Times, claimed “the role of Christians is to convert the Jews,” and asserted that Christians must support Israel because “God has a covenant plan as part of the End Times."

Hamas launched its attack against Israel on October 7, with militants from the Gaza Strip targeting both civilians and Israeli military personnel. Israel has since pledged to eradicate Hamas, leading the Israeli military to target Gaza in an ongoing conflict that has reportedly left more than 1,400 Israelis and more than 8,000 Palestinians dead. Right-wing media have spewed misinformation and hate about the conflict, spreading anti-Islamic bigotry and antisemitic conspiracy theories, defending the thousands of civilian deaths in the Gaza Strip, and even calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.

Right-wing evangelical support for Israel has long been connected to end-time beliefs and Christian Zionism. In a recent MSNBC op-ed, columnist Sarah Posner spotlighted this phenomenon in light of the war between Israel and Hamas:

For many “Christians Zionists,” and particularly for popular evangelists with significant clout within the Republican Party, their support for Israel is rooted in its role in the supposed end times: Jesus’ return to Earth, a bloody final battle at Armageddon, and Jesus ruling the world from the Temple Mount in Jerusalem. In this scenario, war is not something to be avoided, but something inevitable, desired by God, and celebratory.

Amid the Hamas-Israel war, right-wing and Christian nationalist media outlets and figures have connected the war to biblical End Times prophecy:

Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk hosted Christian nationalist pastor Jack Hibbs on his Salem Media radio show, where Hibbs connected the war to biblical prophecy of the End Times and urged listeners to convert Jews to Christianity. Hibbs claimed, “The government of Israel has been brought together by the will of God.” Kirk himself later noted that “when we start to see war and rumors of war break out … that is something that Christ our lord said explicitly in regard to the end of time.” Kirk also asked Hibbs to explain why Christians should support Israel even though it is not “a godly nation.” In response, Hibbs declared, “The Christian is commanded to provoke the Jew to jealousy,” and that Christians “need to look past the sins of Israel and the sins of the Jew and give them the hope of Jesus.”

BlazeTV founder Glenn Beck, who began claiming the End Times were imminent at least a decade ago, cited the ongoing war and claimed, “I know everybody's been saying that forever, but it's kinda looking like, you know, Jesus might be coming.” His guest, Daily Wire host Andrew Klavan, agreed that the End Times are near and asserted that “Jews are the theater in which God plays out his relationship with man.” Earlier in the week, Beck posted on X (formerly Twitter) that “the growing unrest around the world signals that end times are approaching.”

At an October 26 event attended by Republican members of congress and Israeli diplomats, right-wing pastor John Hagee — who has blamed Catholics for the Holocaust and called Hitler a “half-breed Jew” — cited End Times prophecy and called for military support for Israel and U.S. strikes on Iran. Hagee later echoed a similar message on Mark Levin’s Fox News program, declaring that Iran was behind Hamas’ attack and that God has a “covenant with [Jewish people] that they should own this land forever.” Levin praised Hagee and his group, Christians United for Israel, saying that it “doesn't get the attention that it deserves, you have millions of people who support this effort.”
At the outbreak of the war, Jenna Ellis, a host for Salem Media and former Trump lawyer who pleaded guilty to charges related to former President Donald Trump’s scheme to subvert the results of the 2020 election, told her audience, “When we see what's going on in Israel, it is very possible that this is setting the stage for the End Times, or the end of all things, to begin happening.” She warned that “biblical prophecy has been fulfilled so that the rapture literally could happen at any moment” and that Christians “will return with [Jesus] on white horses.” Ellis elaborated that because of the events in Israel, people “need to be prepared with the knowledge of God, with the hope of salvation, and with trusting in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to know that if the rapture happens today, or if you die today, you know that you will meet your creator.” Two weeks later, Ellis hosted Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) on her American Family Radio program, where Jordan declared that Christians should support Israel for both geopolitical and "scriptural reasons.”
On his radio show, self-described “Christian nationalist” Lance Wallnau said that Christians should “be encouraged” by the war, claiming that “God is going to have a harvest of nations and people, and you're going to live to see how this circumstance … is going to work out for that very purpose.” Wallnau expanded: “Only Christians can look at these events and see the patterns from the past, see them in the present, and weave them into the fulfillment of the Feast of Israel. Because I really believe we're watching the end-time feast. It will not be interrupted. It will not be stopped. Remember what the Lord said. He said, he said he's going to shake all the nations so that the glory comes where he wants it to go.”

On the Christian nationalist program FlashPoint, where Wallnau serves as a contributor and Republican politicians, including Trump, have been interviewed, he again cited the war as part of the End Times and said “the good part” of the war is that it will cause Jews in Israel to “realize how dependent they are on God.” Warning about a potential alliance uniting Russia, China, and Iran, Wallnau also said, “When you put Persia, Russia, and China together … you’ve got an End Time — the formation of the early phase of the beast. When you have that kind of starting to consolidate against Israel, you've got end-time stuff.”
Steve Strang, founder of the right-wing Christian outlet Charisma News, cited the war as a potential sign of the End Times and coming “tribulation.” Strang claimed that as part of the end of times “tribulation,” half the world's population could die. Strang also said that even though “most of the Israelis don’t acknowledge God,” Christians should support Israel because “God blesses those who bless Israel,” and “God has a covenant plan as part of the End Times.” Notably, Charisma News is a top corporate sponsor of the ReAwaken America tour, which Media Matters previously documented as having repeatedly featured antisemitic speakers who have praised or defended Adolf Hitler.
Several other right-wing Christian outlets also linked the war to biblical prophecy and covered the outbreak of the war as a sign of the End Times, including Trinity Broadcasting Network and Christian Broadcasting Network.
“Doomsday prophet” Jonathan Cahn, who posts so-called “prophetic updates” on YouTube, used the war to promote his “guide for the End Times.”
Christian nationalist singer and right-wing media figure Sean Feucht posted on social media that “this a prophetic hour and Christians everywhere must stand with Israel,” asserting that “a covenant keeping God never backs down from keeping his promises (Genesis 12). A two state solution will never be the answer for peace.” Feucht has been connected to high profile Republican politicians and has traveled the country promoting “Biblical moral law” on a joint tour with Turning Point USA.
Right-wing host of The Absolute Truth, Emerald Robinson, posted on X that, amid the war, “the role of Christians is to convert the Jews by preaching the Gospel to them.” She declared, “That’s what Jesus Christ commanded us to do.”

For years, prominent evangelical leaders and various right-wing media figures have warned that the End Times are either here or imminent, citing various conflicts in Israel. In 2011 on Fox News, Glenn Beck invoked “Gog and Magog,” as “a huge, huge sign,” of the End Times. (According to Britannica, in the Bible, “the names Gog and Magog are applied to the evil forces that will join with Satan in the great struggle at the end of time.”) In 2023, Beck is still invoking “Gog and Magog” as evidence of an imminent return of Jesus Christ, declaring last week, “We’ve got Gog and Magog for the very first time conspiring against Israel.”

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

Fake News About Israel And Hamas Spreading On Musk's X -- With His Help

As the terrorist organization Hamas launched surprise attacks on Israel, Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) had its first test amid a global crisis. The platform failed spectacularly, with misinformation proliferating as paid verified accounts spread misleading videos, a doctored photo, and other misinformation. Additionally, accounts on X impersonated a news outlet and another official entity, and Musk himself endorsed and interacted with accounts that spread misinformation.

Verified X Premium subscribers shared misleading videos, a doctored photo, and other misinformation

Since October 7, X Premium subscribers, which are often verified with a blue check mark, shared at least 6 misleading videos — including out-of-context videos and old videos purporting to be recent — that earned millions of views, along with other misinformation.

Accounts on X impersonated a news outlet and another official entity

One account claiming to be the Jerusalem Post but which misspells the city in its handle as “Jerusalam” spread false narratives about the ongoing conflict that were viewed hundreds of thousands of times. According to Forbes, “the account appears to be intentionally spreading misinformation during a time of confusion,” including falsely claiming that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netenyahu is ill despite a lack of evidence. While it appears X has suspended the account, the post that falsely claimed Netanyahu is ill was viewed by at least 500,000 people. [Forbes, 10/7/23, Twitter/X, accessed 10/9/23]
Another verified X account, which had the display name Taliban Public Relations Department, spread misinformation about the ongoing conflict, but Forbes reported that “there’s no evidence the account is actually controlled by anyone affiliated with the Taliban.” Its October 7 post, which has been viewed at least 2.5 million times, claimed that the Taliban “contacted his counterparts in #Iran, Iraq and Jordan, asking for permission for our men to cross their sovereign territory on their way to the holy land.” A spokesperson for the Taliban later denied the claims to an Indian news outlet, and the account has since changed its display name to “#FreePalestine 🇵🇸” and no longer displays a blue check mark. [Forbes, 10/7/23; Twitter/X, accessed 10/9/23]

Musk promoted and interacted with accounts that spread misinformation

On October 8, X’s owner and chairman Elon Musk “personally recommended that users follow accounts notorious for promoting lies,” The Washington Post reported. Musk, who currently has 159 million followers on the platform, said: “For following the war in real-time, @WarMonitors & @sentdefender are good.” Musk later deleted the post, but within three hours, it had already been viewed 11 million times. [The Washington Post, 10/8/23; Twitter/X, accessed 10/9/23]

— (@)

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

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Smart. Sharp. Funny. Fearless

'We Will Level It': Trump Proposes To Seize Gaza And Expel Palestinians

Rep. Jamaal Bowman's Performative Politics May Lose His Seat

Christian Nationalists And Right-Wing Media Hail War As Sign Of 'End Times'

Verified X Premium subscribers shared misleading videos, a doctored photo, and other misinformation

Accounts on X impersonated a news outlet and another official entity

Musk promoted and interacted with accounts that spread misinformation

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