Welcome to the Quagmire

Photo by the White House, Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons

Who had Donald Trump trying to take over Gaza on their 2025 bingo card? Certainly not me.

Trump’s supporters say the president keeps his campaign promises. Well, sort of. He is keeping his big promise to wage a figurative war on immigration (and not merely illegal immigration) but he seems to have abandoned any attempts to drive down consumer prices, instead focusing on touching off a trade war that will raise the prices of many consumer goods.

Likewise, the attempted annexation of Greenland wasn’t really a campaign promise. One can wonder what Trump’s fixation on Greenland is, but it is easier to understand why he would want the frozen island than why he would want to embroil the US in Gaza.

Yes, you heard that right.

In comments at the White House with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump said that Gaza residents need to be resettled elsewhere and that the US will take an ownership interest in Gaza.

“The US will take over the Gaza Strip, and we’ll own it,” Trump said.

If you’re keeping track, Trump went from saying that Democrats wanted to start a war to talking about a US invasion of the Middle East in [checks watch] in 15 days. The move seems somewhat colonial and imperialistic with Trump stating, “We’re going to develop it… and it will be something the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”

This plan is insanity and does not fit into traditional MAGA isolationism. Trump had planned to exit Afghanistan and pulled the rug out from under our Kurdish allies during his first term. He has considered withdrawing from NATO and South Korea. Yet with no warning whatsoever, the president is now considering a unilateral open-ended foreign adventure of his own.

Gaza? Seriously?

Make no mistake, a US occupation of Gaza would be a war. Trump says, “I do see a long-term ownership position,” and there is zero chance that Palestinians would sit idly by while American soldiers and corporations take control of their homeland, even if our goal was to create “the Riviera of the Middle East.” Keep in mind that Islamic fundamentalists tend to resist the sort of materialism that goes along with the Rivieras anywhere.

Israel has struggled to deal with the Gaza problem since 1967. There won’t be any magic solution to bring peace if the soldiers involved operate under American flags rather than Israeli ones.

And what of Israel? The Jewish state [among many others] would have to buy in on any American occupation plan.

As I watch the video of the statement, Netanyahu seems like the cat who swallowed the canary. The Israeli prime minister looks as if he is barely able to suppress a smile.

And who can blame him? As stated above, Israel has been stuck in the Gaza tar baby for the past 58 years. If he can pass off the albatross around Israel’s neck to some other sucker, he would probably be happy to do so.

And he seems to be seriously considering the proposal. The Times of Israel reports that Netanyahu said, “I think it’s something that could change history, and it’s worthwhile really pursuing this avenue.”

But Israel should think twice before signing on to a plan of US administration. Our track record of foreign policy isn’t very very good. We’ve lost Vietnam and much of Southeast Asia, Iran, Afghanistan, and Iraq is struggling to stay independent from both Iran and ISIS. Ukraine has been one of our best success stories, but Trump’s own party seems bent on handing it to the Russians.

Israel should not depend on American steadfastness for its security. Not only does the Democratic Party have a strong pro-Palestinian wing, but the Republicans are becoming more and more isolationist, the zeal of Trump’s base to annex Greenland and Panama notwithstanding, and there is an anti-Semitic and anti-Israel contingent on the right as well.

Not to mention a strong anti-immigrant contingent. Trump and the Republicans have been on an anti-DEI crusade, but wouldn’t the annexation of Gaza bring a plethora of new Americans (if not citizens then citizens of a US territory) of a nonwhite and nonchristian variety? There are lots of questions about the idea, I don’t even think it deserves to be called a plan at this stage, but people from radical and militant Muslim states are generally the sort of people that MAGA wants to keep out of the US.

And maybe that is where Trump’s comments about resettlement come from. Maybe he wants Arab countries to divide up Gaza’s current population so the area can be resettled with people more amenable to living in a new Riviera.

Historically, Arab nations have not wanted to take Palestinian refugees and that seems unlikely to change. Egypt, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia are all resisting the resettlement idea as well as the notion that Gaza could become American.

So are members of Congress. The AP reports that politicians from both sides of the aisle are skeptical about the proposal. A loyal Trumpist, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) was circumspect in his criticism but Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) was not.

“He’s completely lost it,” Murphy said.

I tend to agree.

Congress would have to sign off on any long-term occupation and development of Gaza. There are appropriations bills and the War Powers Act to consider for starters.

As is his habit, Trump is thinking like an autocrat rather than the leader of a democratic republic. We’ll see how far it gets him. I really wonder what the Muslim and Arab Trump voters think of their choice tonight.

On a final note, Trump’s evangelical base views much of politics through a prophetic lens. Interestingly, biblical end-time prophecies foretell a peace treaty between the Antichrist and Israel (Daniel 9:27). With almost every potential Mideast peace deal being trumpeted as a possible gateway for the Antichrist, I will be curious to see if evangelical Christians similarly decry Trump’s Gaza takeover.

I’m not saying that Trump is the Antichrist (although I’ve long thought that he is one of many antichrists with a little “a”). If he is able to pull off this occupation of Gaza, I may have to reconsider.

Honestly, I’m sure the MAGA base will rally to the occupation of Gaza as a stroke of genius. The dark, prophetic undertones and obvious flesh-and-blood world difficulties won’t discourage them at all.

Having said that, I expect the whole policy to fail spectacularly and then be forgotten as quickly as the annexation of Greenland and low food prices. This sounds like another case of Donald Trump speaking off the cuff and throwing spaghetti at the wall to see what sticks.

Donald Trump is a man known for dumb ideas and this is one of the dumbest. It shouldn’t be taken seriously, but because he is president for the next 1,445 days, we have to.