President Trump’s reality show covers comedy, farce, drama and tragedy.
Trump joined Bibi Netanyahu in assassinations and bombings in Iran–accusing Iran of wanting to cross the nuclear threshold although Iran is signatory to the Non-Proliferation Treaty operating a monitored and compliant nuclear enrichment program. Israel, on the other hand, never signed the treaty and possesses an unofficial 80 to 300 warheads nuclear arsenal it pretends it doesn’t have (and the US foolishly goes along with the ruse). Furthermore, Israel has automatically refused inspections by the IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and wreaked an unprovoked attack on Iran a day before negotiations were to continue between the US and Iran.
After declaring that he could stop the war in Ukraine in a day, Trump has concluded that he can do nothing to stop that war and doesn’t seem to care that his aggressions in Iran following Israel’s unprovoked attack will likely work against his goal of repairing relations with Russia and stopping the war in Ukraine.
In Gaza, Trump’s post-inauguration ceasefire gave Israel a chance to regroup and rearm, only to break the ceasefire and double its torture and starvation of Gazans with Trump’s full backing. Going from bad to worse, Trump supported Israel stopping all food aid into Gaza from the well-functioning UN food distribution system so that no food entered Gaza from March 2 to May 18. The UN system was then replaced with an Israeli-US system with the Orwellian title of the “The Gaza Humanitarian Organization.” At its handful of sites, starving Gazans try to get the meager food at the sites, only to be picked off by Israeli snipers leading to the system being accurately described as a “death trap” with a daily death toll among those risking the gauntlet—all war crimes.
Meanwhile, the chaos spread abroad by decades of US “forever wars” is being brought home by Donald Trump. Congress has responded to the emergency of billionaires desperate for more tax breaks by enacting socialism for the rich (take from the poor and strip and skeletonize our government) to feed the rich. The disfunction and increased inequality created will be paid for by the American people in the form of inflation and high interest rates. Elected leaders who dare to vote for this kleptocratic scheme of prioritizing resources for billionaires and the empire over working Americans. The scene will be set for the midterms.
-Cynthia Munley, Salem
