Much of the rest of the president's speech was an attempt to assure the world that what he had just declared was not as "fresh" and new as he at first claimed.
Trump: "I want to make one point very clear ... The United States remains deeply committed to helping to facilitate a peace agreement that is acceptable to both sides." We are "not taking a position on any final status issues."
Comment: It is at this point that you have to ask just what world the president is living in. Actually, the answer is not that hard to come by. It is a personal world that is singularly egocentric. As such it has no real relevance to U.S. national interests and certainly not to Palestinian-Israeli conflict resolution. Its only reference point is Trump's own, largely unrestrained, self-serving urges and needs.
According to reports coming from inside the White House, Trump was interested in the alleged prestige of being the president who actually went through with the promise to move the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem. "While previous presidents have made this a major campaign promise, they failed to deliver. Today I am delivering."
He sought out those who would encourage his goal -- those who are hardly any more knowledgeable than he -- his Christian Fundamentalist Vice President Mike Pence, and son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is a family friend of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Trump is also reported to have been encouraged to take this step by the Senate minority leader Charles Schumer, a man whose only foreign policy interest is in supporting Israel. Trump ignored the advice of his Secretary of State, Rex Tillerson, and Secretary of Defence, James Mattis, both of whom thought the move ill-advised. So now we have the Zionists and Christian fundamentalists standing behind Trump, patting him on the back. The rest of the world stands in front of him, aghast. Typical of the self-serving type he is, Trump only cares about the blandishments pushing him in the direction he wants to go.
That direction is decidedly backwards. Back in the direction of no rules, no international law, not even any binding treaties to bother with. Just free rein for the whims of the leader.
Part V -- Power and the Will
One gets the sense that Trump feels he can simply create a new reality by the exercise of his will. I want to emphasize the word "feels" here because I do not think the president reasons out these actions. He experiences a feeling that suggests to him a way he can change things. He does not weigh this feeling against history or contemporary reality. For example, take his description of the eventual new U.S. embassy in Jerusalem as "a magnificent tribute to peace."
This equating of what one feels or wills with what will actually be is a sign of a delusional personality -- someone who can't tell the difference between his own opinion and hard facts. To have such a person in a position of power is dangerous indeed. We know this from experience. The only things that may keep such impulsive people in check are rules -- rules that are at once humane and based on historical lessons learned, and rules that are enforced.
Such rules exist. They were introduced in the form of a growing body of international law as nations confronted the consequences of modern warfare and brutality. Unfortunately, today these rules are rarely enforced -- and never done so when it comes to superpowers and their close allies.
So Donald Trump, with his alleged "open eyes" and "fresh thinking," pays no attention to the rules. Announcing his recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, he leads us all backwards toward disaster.
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