According to a new book by Bob Woodward and Robert Costa titled “Peril”, former President Donald Trump stated in a meeting that his son-in-law and Senior Adviser Jared Kushner was “more loyal to Israel” than the United States.
Kushner was responsible for facilitating the Abraham Accords, which saw Middle Eastern nations like the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain normalize relations with Israel, and was a constant advocate for Israeli interests in the White House.
“‘You know,’ Trump joked in another meeting, mocking his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who was raised in a modern Orthodox Jewish family and was working on Middle East peace, ‘Jared’s more loyal to Israel than the United States,'” Woodward and Costa wrote in the book.
Trump is on to something here. The US should have normal relations with Israel, but nothing special. Some of Israel’s foreign policy interests, like getting into a conflict with Iran, or stealing sensitive American military technology and sending it over to China, do not align with American interests.
To his credit, Trump did not start a war with Iran. However, his maximum pressure policy against Iran and his assassination of Major General Qassem Soleimani played a major role in pushing Iran into China’s arms. On top of that, Iran is potentially going to become a member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, an Eurasian economic, political, and security alliance that functions as a de facto bloc of opposition to Western interests.
Sadly, this is the product of Trump’s policies, which were largely influenced by pro-Israeli forces within his administration. Going forward, Trump should surround himself with realists and foreign policy restrainers so that his America First foreign policy vision is realized.
Personnel is policy and selecting the wrong people will lead to suboptimal results. Populists should take note of this from now on.
