Donald Trump’s “lebensraum”
To all the people out there who refused to vote for Kamala Harris as a protest against Joe Biden’s “tolerance” of Israel’s Gaza policy, I’ve got a question for you. How’s that working out for you now? If you thought Biden’s softer diplomatic attempts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza wasn’t sufficiently anti-Israel militant, wait till you see what Trump has up his racist sleeves. And if you’re now feeling like a completely stupid asshole, I sympathise. That is to say, I also think you’re a completely stupid asshole.
I don’t know if “we told you so” applies here because there was nothing to tell. When faced with a choice between calling the fire department and calling an arsonist when your house is burning down, why would anyone need to be told anything? Who but a contemptible moron would have thought Trump would have been a better choice than Kamala Harris, let alone any kind of alternative?
If it weren’t for the horrors about to be released on the Palestinians, I would almost find this funny, I would also enjoy watching the pious idiots who withheld their Harris vote squirm. But all I can think now is, like the rest of the world, Palestine is going to suffer untold horrors thanks to a bunch of smug, self-righteous, virtue-signalling schmucks. There’s nothing funny about that.
Trump has announced he’s in favour of ethnic cleansing in Gaza. He sees Gaza as a chance to make money for himself. He acts as if he somehow discovered Gaza. He thinks the two million human beings already living there don’t count, and should be swept out so he can make room for another of his shitty little golf motels and condo developments.
Trump further has said that his plan to “take over Gaza” would not include a right of return for the more than 2 million Palestinians living there. They will be shunted to Egypt or Syria or some other place they’re not wanted. Or simply murdered. In short, Trump believes he needs what Adolf Hitler called “lebensraum.” That’s German for “living space.”
If you doubt any of this, consider what Trump told Bret Baier of Fox “News.” Trump said that he would “own” the Gaza Strip and declared it would become a “real estate development for the future.” It’s dangerous to assume Trump doesn’t mean what he says he’s going to do. And if you don’t think Trump is serious, then what do you think? Do you think Trump is joking? If you think that then you’re the one who isn’t being serious. Trump doesn’t know what a joke is.
Trump’s announcement was welcomed by Israel’s far-right, loony settler movement, as well as their evangelical counterparts in the US. Both groups have heartily endorsed Trump’s proposed annexation of the Gaza Strip and other occupied Palestinian territories, including the West Bank.
The actual solution is for Israel to end its symbolic occupation and blockade of Gaza, recognise the Gaza Strip as an independent sovereign nation and provide the region with immediate humanitarian aid. Simple human kindness and political independence would end the conflict, restore peace to the region and give Gaza (and while we’re at it, the West Bank) the one-state solution that’s been needed all along. But that’s what adults would do, and Trump and Netanyahu aren’t adults. They’re spoiled toddlers playing with daddy’s loaded revolver, and we’re tied to chairs and forced to watch.
Robert Harrington is an American expat living in Britain. He is a portrait painter.