Trump Endorses Iran Strikes While Standing Next to Netanyahu
Al Jazeera reports Donald Trump, standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Benjamin Netanyahu (a perennial favorite of AIPAC donors), declared U.S. backing for strikes against Iran. This isn't just a tough guy act for the cameras; it’s a direct echo of Netanyahu’s longstanding drumbeat for U.S. action against Iran’s nuclear and missile development, a drumbeat he's been banging since at least 2002, then
2006, 2012, and 2015—each time without a U.S. president actually initiating war with Iran. (See statements reported in The Guardian on October 1st, 2012, and The New York Times on September 28th, 2015, for consistent hawkish rhetoric.) One might wonder if the U.S. presidential candidates are auditioning for a different national anthem. The spectacle of American leaders aligning themselves so
explicitly with a foreign head of state's geopolitical demands raises obvious questions about whose interests are genuinely being served here. Are we to believe 'America First' now means 'Netanyahu First' again?