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Somebody introduced the concept of pirates to my daughter yesterday, leading me to spend an hour in the middle of the night explaining that a home invasion…carried out by pirates…in Brooklyn… is not something she needs to worry about. Is it impossible? No, but highly unlikely. Little kids are so bad at critical thinking.
So if I’m a little less coherent than usual, that’s why. But today I wanted to talk about Joe Biden. Kidding! No Joe for the rest of the week, I promise. You guys are a tough audience for a free newsletter, but you keep me on my toes.
President Trump is wheels down in Qatar this morning for the second leg of his big Mideast swing. If you asked the average American voter what the headline from this trip has been so far, you would likely get an answer about the “donated” 747, or the shocking conflicts of interest, or any of the other naked self-dealing between the Trump business empire and these Gulf kingdoms looking to curry favor.
This is the folly of Trump. If it weren’t for the corruption, he really could have been a Great Man of History in this second term. Stay with me here, I can already hear the keyboards clacking away. I’m not saying Donald Trump is a great man, I am saying there are elements of what he is trying to do, particularly within the realm of foreign policy, that represent a massive break from the past and could herald in a new world order.
But they probably won’t, because what people will remember is the graft…the plane paid for with the same money that funds the murder of American citizens abroad, the crypto bribes, the golf resorts. Trump just can’t get out of his own way, which is really what’s behind the White House’s big frustration with the media. They complain: Why do you guys only cover the [insert insane thing Trump said or did here] and not the [more interesting policy idea]? To borrow the famous John Mulaney joke, the answer is because there’s a horse loose in a hospital. No one wants to hear about policy when there’s a friggin’ horse running around the hospital!
Let me explain. The president delivered a speech in Riyadh last night that represented a complete and utter cleave with the last 30+ years of American foreign policy. But nobody is talking about it. Here are some choice quotes:
“Before our eyes, a new generation of leaders is transcending the ancient conflicts and tired divisions of the past, and forging a future where the Middle East is defined by commerce, not chaos; where it exports technology, not terrorism; and where people of different nations, religions, and creeds are building cities together, not bombing each other.”
“The gleaming marvels of Riyadh and Abu Dhabi were not created by the so-called nation builders, neocons, or liberal non-profits like those who spent trillions and trillions of dollars failing to develop Baghdad, so many other cities.”
“Instead, the birth of a modern Middle East has been brought by the people of the region themselves, the people that are right here, the people that have lived here all their lives, developing your own sovereign countries, pursuing your own unique visions and charting your own destinies in your own way.”
“They told you how to do it, but they had no idea how to do it themselves. Peace, prosperity, and progress ultimately came not from a radical rejection of your heritage, but rather from embracing your national traditions and embracing that same heritage that you love so dearly.”
This is an American president declaring an end to the decades-long project of Western imperialism. He’s telling the Saudis and the rest of the Arab world: You are sovereign nations. If you just keep the Islamic fundamentalism in check, we won’t bother you. In fact, we’ll do business with you. Even the less savory among you. Trump even put his money where his mouth is, saying he’ll lift the longstanding sanctions on Syria to “give them a chance at greatness.”
I’m not making a value judgment here. As an American and a New Yorker who watched the towers fall from 20 miles away—recalling all these years later that 15 of the 19 hijackers were Saudi nationals—our relationship with the Saudis has always made my skin crawl. But I also understand that regimes change, and that the nation-building experiment we began back then, trying to “bring democracy” to the Middle East, was a massive failure that was kept alive by administrations of both parties.
Trump is acknowledging that and suggesting a new way forward. Is it self-serving, given his personal business interests in the region? Yes. Will it work? Who knows! But it’s something different. And when it comes to the snake pit that is American involvement in the Middle East, I’ll take different any day of the week.
Whatever Happened to Bipartisan Immigration Reform?
The first piece of legislation out of the current U.S. Congress was aimed at detaining illegal immigrants accused of crimes, hot off the heels of President Donald Trump’s election campaign focused on the issue.
Since then, Republicans have introduced multiple bills looking to amend immigration law, focused on known criminals, curtailing sanctuary policies, and enabling deportations. Democrats have countered with legislation aimed at stopping elements of the Trump administration’s policies.
But no lawmaker in either party has tried to re-introduce comprehensive immigration reform, despite Congress coming close to a rewrite of decades-old immigration laws last year, and a clear consensus from voters during the 2024 presidential election that the U.S. immigration system needs major, structural change. Read more from Newsweek’s Dan Gooding.
Also happening:
- Biden book bombshells: A bombshell new book from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson paints a damning portrait of then-President Joe Biden during the 2024 election, depicting a president with diminished physical and mental faculties that aides and advisers concealed from the public. Here are some of the biggest revelations.
- DNC drama: The chaos breaking out in the Democratic Party over the now-disputed election of a young activist to its upper ranks has reignited old debates about its recent past and new ones about its uncertain future. On Tuesday, a credentials body within the DNC voted to void the February election which elevated the young activist David Hogg to one of the party’s five vice chair positions. Read the story.
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