The Leopards Ate Your Face: Gaza Edition

Less than three weeks in and we're already seeing this administration's true colors.

From the BBC:

US President Donald Trump has restated a vision in which the US would take over Gaza, after officials in his administration appeared to contradict his earlier comments.

"The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting," Trump said on Thursday. He reiterated that the idea would mean resettling Palestinians, and that no US soldiers would be needed.

Trump's resettlement idea has prompted accusations that he is planning ethnic cleansing, and has drawn condemnation from the UN, human rights groups and Arab leaders. Analysts doubt it will ever happen.

After Trump's first comments on the issue, his officials suggested any relocation would be only temporary.

Under his plan, Trump wrote on Truth Social, Gazans "would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region". The US would then be part of an effort to redevelop the enclave, he said.

His post did not make clear whether the two million residents of the Palestinian territory would be invited to return.

Under international law, attempts to forcibly transfer populations from occupied territory are strictly prohibited.

White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Wednesday that any displacement would be temporary. In his own comments, made on the same day, Secretary of State Rubio said the idea was for Gazans to leave the territory for an "interim" period while debris was cleared and reconstruction took place.

These views contradicted Trump's initial comments on the matter. Speaking on Tuesday, when he proposed the development of Gaza into the "Riviera of the Middle East", Trump suggested that the displacement of Palestinians would be permanent.

"The US will take over the Gaza Strip and we will do a job with it too," he said on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who called the idea "worth paying attention to".

The announcement took even senior Trump aides by surprise due to a lack of planning around the idea, the New York Times reported, citing four anonymous sources with knowledge of the discussions.

Trump's fresh comment on Thursday that no American soldiers would be needed was more clearly in agreement with Leavitt, who said the US had not committed to putting "boots on the ground".

Speaking soon after at a prayer breakfast, the president reflected briefly on the situation in Gaza, but did not mention his stated plans for the US to "take over" the territory.

After turning his attention to the Middle East, Trump said he hoped "his greatest legacy will be being known as a peacemaker and a unifier".

There you have it.

Sixteen months later and your Middle East savior Donald Trump finally admits that he doesn't give a shit about Gaza and the 2 million people who live there. For a year leading up to the election Arab Americans and Hamas apologists bonded together against their mutual distrust for "Genocide Joe" and "Killer Kamala." Last February, Arab American leaders refused to meet with Vice-President Harris. Last March, a group of Arab, Muslim, and Palestinian leaders refused to meet with Joe White House aides in Chicago. The Uncommitted Movement withheld their vote in the primary and many refused to vote in the general election. The Arab American PAC refused to endorse either candidate. Overall support of Arab Americans for Kamala Harris was down nearly 20% from Joe Biden in 2020.

But all these groups got a hearty dose of reality last Thursday and have been reeling ever since.

Dearborn, Michigan, the center of the Arab American community, was a +20 point swing for Donald Trump in 2024. The community there was elated after Harris' election loss, convinced that her Gaza policies and support for Benjamin Netanyahu were key issues forcing away Arab Americans and younger voters. But this week, the reality of Trump's statement began to hit home for local politicians and activists. From NPR:

Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud, who did not endorse either candidate ahead of the election, wrote on social media Tuesday: "President Trump's proposal to ethnically cleanse Palestinians from Gaza and have the U.S. 'take over' is yet another chapter in the ongoing genocide."

"Deploying U.S. troops and using taxpayer dollars to invade Gaza is morally indefensible. Our commitment to justice remains unshaken, no matter who sits in the White House," he continued.

Abbas Alawieh is a Democratic strategist who organized the "uncommitted" campaign — which pushed Biden and Harris to call for a ceasefire and to halt weapons transfers to Israel. When Biden dropped out of the race, many uncommitted voters were hopeful that Harris would change course as the new Democratic nominee. Ultimately, the group urged voters to vote against Trump, but declined to officially endorse Harris.

Alawieh, who did end up voting for Harris, described Trump on Wednesday as being "reckless," "delusional" and "disgusting." He said that Trump came to Dearborn during the campaign and "lied to a whole bunch of folks saying that he would be a pro-peace president."

Ya think?

Of course, not everyone was willing to admit they were duped so easily. The group Arab Americans for Trump vowed to continue its support but conveniently managed to change its name to Arab Americans for Peace after Trump's most recent statement. The group Abandon Harris released a statement where it claimed that Biden/Harris' fifteen months of "inaction" was a much greater crime than Trump's recent pro-genocide statement. Democratic congresswoman Rashida Tlaib put out a statement managing to somehow blame both Donald Trump and bipartisan support in Congress for "funding genocide and ethnic cleansing." And human cicada Jill Stein has once again retreated into her hole, going off the grid to avoid making any public statements on the only major issue she ran on in 2024.

Meanwhile, there have been few, if any, protests on college campuses.

It's time to face facts: America got played on Gaza. College students, Arab Americans, impressionable voters. An unprovoked terrorist attack against Israel ended up becoming a psyop led by America's enemies. College students latched on, more than happy to protest an issue they knew nothing about. Arab Americans falsely believed that Kamala Harris would somehow be equally bad or worse for their community than Donald Trump despite having zero evidence to support this. Impressionable voters with no skin in the game were looking for a way not to vote for Kamala Harris. Her stance on Gaza became an easy out for them. The majority of these voters were likely left-leaning libertarians who couldn't bring themselves to vote for the Black lady.

The issue was never about Gaza. It was never about Kamala Harris. This was an issue used to divide up Democrats and pave the way for a second Donald Trump presidency. It involved all the usual suspects: Russia, Jill Stein, impressionable Democratic voters, and antisemitic Democratic officials like Rashida Tlaib. All of these so-called "single-issue voters" were more than happy to forget Donald Trump's Islamophobic past including implementing the racist Muslim Ban during his presidency. Blaming Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for not arranging a ceasefire was like blaming Frodo for not destroying the one ring of power sooner. They were doing what they could with the hand they were dealt. In their case, it involved negotiating with Benjamin Netanyahu, a man whose own self-interest and political capital were heavily invested in prolonging the conflict as well as Hamas, a terrorist organization that would not seriously consider a ceasefire until it reached complete and utter desperation.

We always knew Donald Trump didn't care about Gaza. That he was using Arab Americans for their vote. The fact that Arab Americans themselves could not see this for themselves will have repercussions for a generation or more. There was a clear choice in 2024 about which of the two candidates would actually work toward a viable solution for the Gazan people. Arab Americans helped elect the candidate who wants to turn Gaza into a riviera and displace all 2 million of its residents. In terms of all-time self-owns, this has to be up there among the most obvious. You were conned by a conman who has never once done anything of value for the Muslim community. He told you what you wanted to hear and now your ancestral homeland is in much greater danger than it ever would have been under President Kamala Harris. You chose this reality, not the 75 million of us who knew better.

Some will honestly be changed by last week's developments. Others will dig their heels in even further. No matter where you land, the damage has been done by electing Donald Trump. Benjamin Netanyahu now has the green light to proceed in whatever he feels keeps him in power for the long term. This would not have happened under Kamala Harris. For the 3.5 million Arab Americans, this may be a rude awakening. But you made your bed and now you must sleep in it. You trusted Donald Trump, a man who has not done a single thing throughout his lifetime to earn anyone's trust. You got played, plain and simple. As a result, Gaza is now infinitely more at risk than it ever would have been under a Democratic president with all 2 million residents at the mercy of a petulant, manchild that many of you helped elect with your vote and non-vote in 2024. This is the end result of your protest vote.

I hope it was worth it.