An Unforced Error

If Mr. Trump has a unique talent as President it is the ability to ruin moments of true statesmanship with pettiness and vindictiveness.

Mr. Trump’s bringing the Peace Agreement together in Gaza is a significant accomplishment. I dare say it may warrant a Nobel Peace Prize for ending, at least for the moment, the terrors rained on that land by Israel and Hamas.

Whether it lasts or not, and history doesn’t offer much hope in these matters, is immaterial.

Whether Biden deserves some credit for starting the process is meaningless.

Whether the success was more timing–with Netanyahu accomplishing his purpose of utter destruction of the area to render Hamas ineffective regardless of the cost in innocent lives–than anything else is academic. To argue that Israel’s response was appropriate is to ignore reality. To justify or excuse the attack by Hamas that triggered the response because of the treatment of Palestine is abhorrent.

The fact remains that President Trump cajoled, threatened, persuaded, and convinced Israel and Hamas that ending the war was in both their interests, no matter how diametrically opposed those interests are.

But Mr. Trump cannot help being Mr. Trump the serial complainer. At his speech following the signing of the agreement, when a statesman would have intuitively known it was a rare moment of agreement that this was a good thing, Mr. Trump could not stop himself from going from talking about ending the hostilities to complaining about Joe Biden and Barrack Obama.

Had Mr. Trump acknowledged, as anyone with an iota of common sense would know, that the previous administration crafted the basics of the agreement, it would have done two things. First, it would demonstrate some fundamental understanding of the decades-long complexities of the regions. And, secondly, it would silence his most ardent opponents who delight in pointing out a lack of such understanding.

But he didn’t.

There is little hope that this is the end of the cycle of violence in the area. Ever since the nitwits who created the artificial borders and took the land for the Jews after World War II, the situation has been like a volcano erupting when the pressure grows too powerful to be contained.

I am no fan of Mr. Trump. I have no doubt the damage he continues to wreak on this country and the rest of the world will far outweigh any good actions such as this agreement. But he deserves our respect for bringing this to fruition.

The tragic part is he will not build on this moment. He will not use this as a basis for further successful actions on domestic or foreign matters. He has surrounded himself with trained parrots whose only job is to agree with him on everything.

Even those in his cabinet smart enough to see the opportunity here, merely repeat the party line.

Lincoln had his team of rivals, and they served him and the country well. Trump has his carnival of perfect charlatans, and they remain silent in the face of each moment of success wasted by Presidential obstinacy.