It hardly seems worth going into Donald Trump’s whining about Volodymyr Zelensky. Trump is strongly suspected, with very good reason, of favoring Russia over Ukraine.[1] What’s important here is that Trump seems to have no concept that people should have any say whatsoever in who governs them; he seems to feel, if he even thinks about it to this extent, that the powerful and the wealthy will prevail in any event, so people should just accept that: Vladimir Putin is, to him, as good a leader as any other leader—who leads makes little difference to Russians and should make little difference to Ukrainians.
We see the same with Palestine. Trump’s son-in-law’s plan, the so-called “Abraham Accords,” for the region, focused on economic development and normalized diplomatic relations between Israel and Arab countries.[2] The Israelis are, in this thinking, are powerful and wealthy, so it is natural that they should rule. Notably, Joe Biden embraced the plan[3] even if he pretends to be more interested in Palestinian aspirations, as with the “two-state solution” that Binyamin Netanyahu stridently rejects,[4] while Biden pays for and arms Israel’s genocide in Gaza and expanding war in the Middle East.
Naturally, most Ukrainians and most Palestinians reject these imposed authorities, hence the ongoing wars in the regions that threaten to blossom into World War III.[5] There can be no real peace without justice,[6]but Biden favors Netanyahu and Trump favors both Netanyahu and Putin. The venal stupidity of both Biden and Trump boggles my mind—and Kamala Harris, who now aligns with neoconservatism,[7] has rejected even the slightest departure from Biden’s idiocy.[8] The prognosis is, inescapably, for ever more war.
But what this also shows is that Democratic Party bleating about Trump’s threat to “democracy,” really a constitutional oligarchy, notwithstanding, neither Biden nor Trump care even one bit for representative government. People may only be represented when they choose, in these assholes’ lights, the “correct” rulers.
[1] Seb Starcevic and Veronika Melkozerova, “Trump moans that Zelenskyy wants Harris to win US election,” Politico, September 24, 2024, https://www.politico.eu/article/us-election-donald-trump-volodymyr-zelenskyy-kamala-harris/
[2] Institute of Politics, “The Abraham Accords: A Pathway to Peace with Economic Prosperity, Harvard University, 2021, https://iop.harvard.edu/events/abraham-accords-pathway-peace-economic-prosperity; Asma Khalid, “Biden is building on the Abraham Accords, part of Trump's legacy in the Middle East,” National Public Radio, July 9, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/07/09/1110109088/biden-is-building-on-the-abraham-accords-part-of-trumps-legacy-in-the-middle-eas
[3] Asma Khalid, “Biden is building on the Abraham Accords, part of Trump's legacy in the Middle East,” National Public Radio, July 9, 2022, https://www.npr.org/2022/07/09/1110109088/biden-is-building-on-the-abraham-accords-part-of-trumps-legacy-in-the-middle-eas
[4] David Remnick, “The Price of Netanyahu’s Ambition,” New Yorker, January 14, 2024, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2024/01/22/benjamin-netanyahu-israel-gaza-hamas-war-hostages
[5] David Benfell, “World War III?” Not Housebroken, September 23, 2024, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/world-war-iii
[6] David P. Barash and Charles P. Webel, Peace and Conflict Studies (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 2002).
[7] David Benfell, “Kamala Harris, the neoconservative,” Not Housebroken, September 11, 2024, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/kamala-harris-the-neoconservative
[8] David Benfell, “The ‘Lesser Evil,’” Not Housebroken, August 23, 2024, https://nothousebroken.substack.com/p/the-lesser-evil