“Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on or by imbeciles who really mean it.”
–Mark Twain (Samuel Clemens)
Politics by its very nature is the art of duplicity in the service of ambition. Donald Trump’s victories in the selections of 2016 and 2024 (to say nothing of 2020, when his win was stolen in full view of any who cared or dared to notice) are a testament to the truth of that statement. All his campaigns were based on full-blown “Americanism”: MAGA (Make America Great Again). His first administration did not live up to that high standard. I do not expect his second will, either.
MAGA In, MIGA Out
My basic thesis when approaching the US political process is not to think of two main parties and scattered others, or two wings of a single “uniparty.” I see the Democrats and Republicans as two distinct Jewish-dominated factions sharing a primary concern for Israel, but differing fundamentally otherwise. These “faction fights” can be brutal, as earlier ones in the Soviet Union between Stalin and Trotsky or in China during the “Cultural Revolution” demonstrated.
The neoliberals running the Democrats are cultural Marxists, pushing a “woke” agenda on the altar of DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion). As long as Israel is safeguarded and supported, the rest of the world can generally wait.
The neoconservatives controlling the Republicans want none of that “woke” nonsense. Their focus is on a stable America using its declining but still great power in the world to finish destroying or disrupting Israel’s enemies at little or no cost to Israel itself. Then, and only then, will they look inwards.
Trump himself was too inexperienced in governing, embroiled in too many domestic issues and faced with too much internal disruption to do much about that agenda in his first term. He learned some hard lessons, and clearly intends to do things very differently in his second term. Not surprisingly, he cast his candidacy in terms of freeing Americans from the manifold abuses of the current administration and its minions throughout the country.
This is evident in his initial nominations and his opening policy statements, but they send a very mixed and more than a little unsettling message to his MAGA base. They come down hard against the DEI-driven practices of the Biden-Harris administration. There is a total absence of demented cross-dressers and delusional transgenders in his line-up, and his nominees are generally tough, smart and steady.
But steady for whom and for what? The face the US shows the world is initially the face of our UN Ambassador, and Trump’s appointee is like Nikki Haley, only worse: Elise Stefanik is a staunch Zionist primarily funded by AIPAC and praised by the ADL. Those others in his administration dealing with defense and foreign policy whose names have come forward are cast from the same mold. They are pro-Zionist war-hawks to the core, much like those who took us into Afghanistan and Iraq two decades ago.
The Secretary of Defense nominee even defines “Zionism” and “Americanism” as the two pillars of Western civilization. This is at best odd, since Jews and Jewish-dominated NGOs in the US and Western Europe are working feverishly to dismantle Western civilization. Indeed, they are so confident of success that they do not even try to conceal that anymore.
Beyond the world of Zionist war-hawks, Trump and many of his nominees are paying their Jewish pipers by signaling their intent to weaponize the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of “antisemitism” . This likely means moving the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act of 2024 forward in 2025, building on the precedents of similar legislation in 2018 and 2019.
It may not even take that long. Democrat Senator Chuck Schumer has inserted this legislation into the new NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act), due to be voted on before the current Congressional session ends. This is a standard tactic used by members of both parties in both Houses to get their own pork-barrel funding approved, or to slide controversial legislation through “under the public radar.”
This time it was noticed. If passed, Biden will probably sign it. If not, it can be reintroduced at the beginning of the next Congress, with even more support in both Houses than it had in the current Congress. Then Trump will certainly endorse it and sign it when it gets to his desk. Not coincidentally, that will also ensure speedier confirmation of many of his nominees.
It is important to understand precisely what this entails in order to appreciate where Trump and his administration are likely to go in the years ahead. The IHRA definition of “antisemitism” originated in the late 1970s, and is so all-encompassing that any criticism of anything Israel or Jews or their supporters say or do is included under it .
This means that people who criticize Israel’s ongoing military operations in Gaza or its occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem could be charged with Federal crimes under any legislation encompassing the IHRA definition. This was brought to a head by campus upheavals over the past year. Students who could see what was happening on the ground in Gaza protested what they saw without the media being able to conceal it. Not surprisingly, Zionists did not like that one bit.
Moreover, people who consider the semi-sacrosanct and utterly contrived Jewish “holocaust” in WWII would be criminals under the terms of this legislation. Perhaps most important to Jews themselves, anyone who criticizes – or even notices? – the preponderance of Jews and Jewish influence in (e.g.) our media and financial institutions could be hauled off to jail.
None of this is “antisemitism” in the classic sense. It is simply a rejection of excessive force and outright lies. But the IHRA in any form is essentially a blank check for Jews and Jewish organizations to use as they choose, to suppress criticism of Israel and the myths on which it is based.
Even with only stand-alone legislation, this situation would be dangerous and a flagrant violation of the 1st Amendment. Nevertheless, Trump has committed himself to extending it with executive orders during his first week in office.
So has his nominee for Secretary of Homeland Security, Governor Kristi Noem. She has stated categorically that she intends to make enforcement nationwide of antisemitism legislation her first priority after being confirmed in office. Apparently the millions of illegals and the open borders are a little further down her bucket list.
Trump campaigned on making America great again, but he really meant Israel. Both his nominees and public pronouncements since the election make that absolutely clear. All this nonsense about protecting America’s Jewish citizens, as if hordes of lynch mobs searching them out roamed the streets, is simply an exercise in deception to cloak his actual agenda.
Even the new Majority Leader of the US Senate has added his voice to the line-up, pledging to the Prime Minister of Israel that he could count on the US standing by its “best and closest ally” <sic.>. Not coincidentally, this includes shielding it from “antisemitic” criticism within this country, just as the US will continue to block sanctions against it at the UN.
The Outliers
There are two outliers in this matrix, with very different prospects that give insight into how this will play out. One is Tom Homan, the former director of ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), named by Trump to be his “border czar.” The other is former US Representative Matt Gaetz, a thorn in the Biden administration’s side who served on the House Armed Services and Judiciary committees, among others.
Homan is a tough, no-nonsense law enforcement professional. He has been tasked with the dual responsibility of securing the borders and deporting illegals, numbering around 20 to 30 million, largely males.
He has a thankless task, no matter how determined he might be. He will face continuous opposition from Democrat mayors and governors, continuous legal challenges in the courts slowing or blocking his moves, and resistance from the illegals who have no reason to leave voluntarily what has been such a boon to them. There is not a chance he can accomplish his task without the direct involvement of the US military using deadly force, and without widespread ensuing violence.
With or without adequate support, succeed or fail, I expect he will be allowed to try to do his job, with one exception. That is unless he takes on the Jewish organizations and NGOs facilitating the movement and care of those illegals. Then he has a problem.
Matt Gaetz is in a very different situation. He has the experience, intelligence, knowledge and toughness to be a fine Attorney General. This is something the Justice Department has sorely needed for many years.
He also incurred the wrath of AIPAC and other Jewish organizations for calling them out on this and related issues. He led the opposition to the Antisemitism Awareness Resolution in the House of Representatives, taking nearly two dozen other Republicans with him.
As a result, the ADL has condemned him for everything except being a denier of Santa Claus, and called for his nomination to be rejected by the Senate. Some Republicans, such as Susan Collins of Maine, have already come down against him. I seriously doubt Chuck Schumer will rally Democrats to his side.
I hope I am wrong, but I expect him to be a sacrificial lamb. His nomination allows Trump to say not all of his nominees are Zionists. His rejection by the Senate gives RINOs and Democrats something so they can support his other nominees. It is a great pity, but it is what passes for “business as usual” these days in “Sodom-on-the-Potomac.”
So Whence Trump?
It is going to be interesting to see how Trump’s base reacts as they dimly become aware that they are far less important to him than his donors and the interests t heyhave. I am sure Trump will put on a good show for his MAGA supporters. He is a carnival huckster and showman par excellence.
Trump will definitely have to throw his base some red meat. He can certainly take steps to eliminate DEI in the Federal government, and use what political and financial leverage he has elsewhere. And of course, his border czar will take some very public steps to do something along the border and to deport some illegals. Trump’s base will like that.
But Trump cannot do much about the teachers unions pushing their woke agenda, nor about Democrat-run cities and states who will delay or ignore any directives he might issue. They took Trump’s measure during his first term, and they know he has a spine of pure mush when confronted. Bullies and blowhards are like that, even if they say agreeable things.
Nor can he deport any large numbers of migrants without massive civil strife. But he cannot move actively in the Middle East if the US is in an uproar behind him. Civil strife may spark foreign adventures, but it rarely if ever helps sustain them.
Why move in the Middle East? Because his Jewish donors want it (put Miriam Adelson at or near the top of that list). They expect him to do it. That will mean supporting Israel in ending the fighting in Gaza by reoccupying all of it and, I expect, expelling the surviving Palestinians there into the Sinai.
It will also mean recognizing Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem and the West Bank, as he did for the Golan Heights in his first term. He will let Israel do what it wishes with the Palestinians there, and block any international intervention on their behalf at the UN. That should cause a convulsion or three in the region. And then there is Iran: I hope it has damn good ties with Russia and China.
Almost all of Trump’s nominees are on board with this, and none (with Gaetz removed) in open opposition to it. Trump’s emerging administration is the best Israel could want, and the Israelis as well as Jewish organizations here are making no secret of that.
All the while, Trump’s supporters will likely wonder what happened. Look for a new “Q” or yet another “Plan” or still more “insiders” muttering about “White Hats” and a lot of similar nonsense.
It worked in the early Soviet Union in 1921-23. It worked in the US, starting almost from the beginning of Trump’s first term and continuing thru Biden’s term. It will start up again, as reality seeps through the propaganda screen from both factions.
Yet at the end of the day, there will be no escaping the realization that Trump’s supporters have been had a second time running. It will be more than fascinating to see what they do when all of the choices and options open to them are bad.
So did we win or lose? Trump “won” the White House in November 2024 and was vindicated. Israel and the Zionists won big, they know it, and I expect a lot of people in many places will suffer and die because of it. The Democrats suffered a temporary but humiliating setback, which they have every prospect of recovering in four years. That, too, is likely a “plan” of sorts.
But aside from being the dubious recipients of scraps from the political table, conservative Americans and America itself lost. It may take a while for that to sink in amidst the fanfare attending the advent of Trump’s second term, but sink in it will.
I wonder if many will even think about the J6 prisoners in jail or awaiting trial. Trump himself visibly does not consider them a priority, or he would put them ahead of fighting a fictitious antisemitism epidemic here.
There is a great deal of truth to the old saying, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.” Trump’s MAGA die-hards should get a head start on feeling ashamed – They’ll need it .
Alan Ned Sabrosky (PhD, University of Michigan) is a ten-year US Marine Corps veteran. He served in Vietnam with the 1st Marine Division and is a graduate of the US Army War College. Dr. Sabrosky can be contacted at docbrosk@comcast.net
