Trump and the Middle East
According to the new Glasser and Baker book, Trump’s relationships in the Middle East were just … oy:
The book details how normalization deals were made possible thanks to personal relationships Kushner forged with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman and then-crown prince and de facto leader of the United Arab Emirates Mohammad bin Zayed. The two met with Kushner in 2016 at the suggestion of Tom Barrack, a Lebanese American investor who is now under indictment for illegal foreign lobbying.
Even some Republicans were disturbed by the degree to which non-government officials could influence foreign policy in the Trump White House, according to Baker and Glasser. They write that former Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, who was chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was “dazzled” when he was called to Trump Tower in New York to interview for secretary of state and found Trump conferring with GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson.
Adelson, who was the largest single donor for Trump in the presidential election, demanded that Trump announce the relocation of the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem on the first day of his presidency, Corker recalled in an interview with the authors. “Trump was eager to oblige,” said the former Republican senator, who later learned that Trump “had to be talked out of literally announcing the embassy move in the first hours of the presidency.”
A year later, weeks after his decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Trump offered Jordanian King Abdullah II control of the West Bank, the book reveals. “Abdullah, we have got a great deal for you,” Trump reportedly told the king in a quick phone call while he was meeting with then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, in January 2018. “We are going to give you the West Bank.” Trump then hung up the phone, the authors write.
The Palestinian Authority had cut off ties with the Trump administration after the embassy relocation was announced in December 2017. A phone call between Trump and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas abruptly ended after a long rant on the day before Trump made the decision public.
“I thought I was having a heart attack,” Abdullah told an American friend in 2018. “I couldn’t breathe. I was bent doubled-over.” Taking possession of the occupied Palestinian territories would have led to the collapse of the Hashemite monarchy.
He was going to give him the West Bank? What the hell?
And it appears that it was Trump who was “in love” with old Vlad. Vlad was not impressed:
The authors report that Russian President Vladimir Putin appeared “unimpressed” with Trump’s popularity in Israel after the former president bragged during a 2019 meeting about the Israeli government’s intention to build a new settlement in the Golan Heights and call it “Trump Heights” in honor of his decision to recognize Israel’s control over the Golan.
“Maybe they should just name Israel after you, Donald,” Putin told Trump in the conversation that took place during the G-20 summit in Osaka, Japan, their first one-on-one meeting since the release of the Mueller report on the Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
Putin was also popular in Israel at the time, maintaining close ties with then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“For all of Trump’s schoolboy crush on Putin, aides could not help noticing that it did not appear reciprocated,” Baker and Glasser write. “He gave the impression to American aides watching their interaction that he couldn’t care less about winning Trump over.”
Well,he didn’t need to win him over, did he? Trump clearly loved him even more than he loved Kim Jong Un. And was willing to do whatever he wanted to see it reciprocated.
We are so lucky we survived this moron.
By the way, Trump pal Tom Barrack went on trial this week:
The trial of Thomas J. Barrack Jr., an informal adviser to former President Donald J. Trump accused of acting as an unregistered agent of the United Arab Emirates, could shed light on how foreign governments jockeyed for access to the Trump administration — efforts that may have created lucrative opportunities for businessmen close to the White House.
Jury selection for the trial, which is expected to last into October, began Monday in U.S. District Court in Brooklyn. Prosecutors have accused Mr. Barrack — a Los Angeles-based private-equity investor — of using his sway with Mr. Trump to advance the interests of the Emiratis and of serving as a secret back channel for communications without disclosing his efforts to the attorney general, as the government contends he should have.
While Mr. Barrack served the Emirati government, prosecutors say, he was also seeking money from the rulers for investment funds, including one that would support projects to boost Mr. Trump’s agenda and benefit from his policies.
In 2019, prosecutors say, Mr. Barrack repeatedly lied to the F.B.I. about his activities.
Imagine that …