Maybe, and that’s a big maybe, peace has come at last in the Middle East, most jubilantly in Israel and Gaza. There was widespread joy on both sides over the two-year war that took an untold number of Jewish and Palestinian lives, and no celebrant could have been more pleased by the ceasefire than Donald Trump.
His victory lap, which many of his critics deemed nothing more than another ego trip, should provide him with more gravitas in his quest for the Nobel Peace Prize next year.
Even as he missed out on the prestigious honor this year, the winner, Maria Corina Machado, a prominent opposition leader in Venezuela against the governments of the late Hugo Chavez and current president Nicholas Maduro, believed that Trump should be given the award next year.
Popular entertainer John Legend has also voiced his support for Trump to be the recipient in 2026 (but only as a joke, saying he needs to “drop the dictator s—.”) This is sure to be a resonant theme for several months, particularly as Trump completes his tour of Israel and Egypt, and there are sure to be others cheering him on in this pursuit.
Don’t be surprised if Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu joins the chorus, especially since he desperately needs Trump’s help in the next elections in Israel. And how strange it was to have a ceasefire agreement with neither Netanyahu nor a major Hamas leader at the meeting. A cessation of gunfire doesn’t mean everything is settled between these contentious forces.
There was even a subdued rumble in the Knesset during Trump’s hour-long preface to the peace talks. Let us hope that Hamas is decommissioned, sets aside its weapons, and that the Israelis have acquired enough retaliation for the October 7, 2023 attack.
We know this is wishful thinking, and that any minor incident could precipitate another major round of combat. Maybe, and again maybe, Trump is sufficiently satisfied with this accomplishment and can return home and tend to the shutdown and put an end to his militarization of American cities. We know we have lots of maybes on the plate.
Trump will not be placated by any plaque or honor because he values only the acquisition, the “win,” not the intended honor.
He was raised in a hostile and demeaning environment where losers were reviled.
There is no end to trumps quest to be seen as potent, valuable, powerful or feared, which are the values that drive his relentless theft and greed.
Rage and narcissism fuel his acquisitions, and chaos is the modus operandus.
Neither honor, nor an envisioned end point are the goals.
Indeed, before condemning the Nobel ‘snub’, his wandering focus already fixed on another object of his wrath. To trump, the presidency is simply a deal making advantage to overpower and demean the opponent.
For two decades, Project 2025 has evolved as the architect to this unconstitutional game plan. Trump is the temporary mascot.
The nation is simply collateral, a pawn for this delusional and arrogant realtor.
Look at the Project 2025 goals and there you will discover the end game. Trump’s blather is distraction.
While the media covers these irrelevant stories, trump plods on; a predictable, willing actor in this brutal and tragic drama for the soul of the United States.