In light of the history-making peace deals signed at the White House this week -- just the third and fourth Arab-Israeli accords ever signed, since the modern state of Israel was established in 1948 -- it seems like a good opportunity to revisit some predictions that were made about President Trump's foreign policy. This clip, in particular, has ripened on the vine. Without further ado, here's former Secretary of State John Kerry, last heard from lying about the Iran nuclear deal at the DNC, warning Americans about the coming horrors at the hands of then-president-elect Donald Trump:
h/t @DrewHolden360 pic.twitter.com/AWeMy9VXEa
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) September 15, 2020
Maybe he meant we'd see an "absolute explosion" of peace deals? Moving the embassy, which presidents of both parties had pledged to do for many years (and Congress had explicitly voted for it) was supposed to set the region on fire. It did not. And the killing of one of the world's most ruthless terrorists, with gallons of American blood on his hands, was supposed to ignite World War III. In spite of intelligence about retributive plots, war has not arrived. But some peace accords have. Perhaps some of the "experts," especially those aligned with the Obama administration were just profoundly, disastrously wrong? Brit Hume has been flagging flashback predictions and assertions that have not aged well, which are worth revisiting. Be sure to peruse this thread, as well:
You see, there were many, many Democratic politicians who assured us the world would be ending before our eyes, and that it would be @realDonaldTrump’s fault.
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) September 15, 2020
That includes presidential nominee @JoeBiden and his functional head of policy, @ewarren. pic.twitter.com/X13OXEgMHp
No one should be arguing that the Middle East is fixed and peace is finally upon us. Nothing is permanent anywhere, especially in that region. But much of the apoplectic breathlessness of critics has been disproven by actual reality, and the Trump administration deserves credit. Rich Lowry writes:
The story of the diplomatic breakthrough is, at bottom, one of Trump making bold moves in the region, which set the conditions for new thinking to work, even as elite opinion was starkly — and, of course, unapologetically — wrong every step of the way. Rather than ending any possibility of peace in the region, moving the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem forged a tight relationship of trust with Israel that made everything else possible. Rather than alienating our allies, pulling out of the Iran deal drew our allies in the region closer to us. Rather than causing a war, as even some of Trump’s ideological allies feared, the killing of Soleimani sent an unmistakable message of resolve. “I think that the Soleimani killing was a huge boon,” says the senior administration official, “because it showed that the president was bold and was serious, and I think that shifted the Middle East massively.” Of course, all of this ran exactly counter to Barack Obama’s strategy in the region.
Pursuing the opposite of the Obama foreign policy strategy seems like a pretty good call, come to think of it:
Arab spring? Disaster.
— (((AG))) (@AGHamilton29) September 15, 2020
Iran deal? Disaster.
Iraq withdrawal? Disaster.
Russia policy re Ukraine? Disaster.
Israel policy? Disaster.
Syria policy? Disaster
Libya policy? Disaster
The only place the admin somewhat succeeded was cleaning up mess they themselves created w ISIS.
Another friend points out that perhaps Obama's best decision in this category was green-lighting the raid that killed Osama Bin Laden. Unfortunately for Joe Biden, he was against it. There's a reason Bob Gates said what he said. I'll leave you with a juxtaposition of how some hacks on the American left are trying to minimize this week's seismic shift with how it's playing in key Middle Eastern quarters:
Jerisalem old city walls, tonight#AbrahamAccords pic.twitter.com/ua5rhvCO0t
— Amichai Stein (@AmichaiStein1) September 15, 2020
Many Americans (and a fair number of so-called foreign policy experts) don't understand how incredible this is for those of us that traveled/lived overseas, especially in Asia and the Middle East.
— Pradheep J. Shanker (@Neoavatara) September 16, 2020
This is almost as big as the fall of the Berlin Wall, if the Saudis jump on board. https://t.co/8xjPKZxHS5
UPDATE - Hoo boy, this one is even better. The arrogant, impressively wrong smugness is off the charts:
John Kerry with a 2016 Middle East take that aged like milk in a sauna. pic.twitter.com/2Vae6yDJFt
— Noam Blum (@neontaster) September 16, 2020
Join the conversation as a VIP Member