Hubris and excess – the Greek tragedians could have thought of no other terms. The core of ancient tragedy is the transition from hubris to nemesis: divine justice strikes down those who have defied the gods. Since his re-election, Trump has displayed a lack of restraint. This was evident in many signs, most clearly in his statement to the New York Times a few days after the abduction of Nicolas Maduro: “Yes, there is one thing. My own morality. My own judgement. That is the only thing that can stop me,” he said when asked whether there were limits to his power on the international stage. “I don’t need international law,” he added.
A president who possesses the power to start wars, including nuclear strikes, and who regards himself as his only limit! Is there a more glaring example of excess? We suspect that many more events will further fuel the tragedy: Will Donald Trump be subjected to the invocation of the 25th
Amendment
by his own party?
Even more than Israel – Christian Zionism
Israel’s influence on American politics has been evident since the presidency of Lyndon B. Johnson, who overturned his predecessor John F. Kennedy’s veto against the Jewish State’s development of a nuclear weapon. There has been pronounced differences in the influence of Tel Aviv and the Israeli lobby AIPAC between presidential administrations.
It can be observed that Israel’s interference in American politics crossed a threshold in the second half of the 1990s: it was at this point that Jeffrey Epstein began to build his network, seeking to exploit Bill Clinton’s sexual obsessions to Israel’s advantage. The initial aim was to compromise the Democratic Party – which, unlike the Republican Party, was considered too receptive to the Palestinians’ arguments. During these years, Benjamin Netanyahu began to play a significant role in Israeli and American politics.
And Donald Trump, one might ask? Born in 1946, Trump can conceive of nothing other than unconditional support for Israel. For he owes his career, among other things, to a series of contacts with American Jews, starting with Roy Cohn, the New York lawyer who mentored him in his early years in the property business. Trump feels at ease with staff such as Jared Kushner, his son-in-law, or Steve Witkoff: since his return to the White House, he has entrusted them with an excessive role in diplomatic negotiations. Among the donors to his two election campaigns are some of the major Jewish fortunes in the United States.
Paradoxically, in the case of Donald Trump, there is a lobby that seems to us even more important than AIPAC: the Christian Zionists. These are the American evangelicals who, on the one hand, espouse the thesis—contrary to Christian scripture—that Jews need not believe in Christ to be saved; and who, on the other hand, are obsessed with the Apocalypse, the notion that the State of Israel is a sign heralding the imminent return of Christ for the Last Judgement. These Christians are fanatical supporters of the State of Israel.
Trump had always managed to mediate between most of his electorate and the two pro-Israel lobbies – the Jews and the Christian Zionists. Yet there is one constant, one weakness in his character: since the 1979 hostage crisis, Trump has harboured an undisguised aversion to Iran.
What role did the Epstein case play in triggering the war with Iran?
It is often claimed that Trump has been severely compromised by the Epstein affair. We are more cautious on this point. We find it strange that revelations about Donald Trump’s possible connections to the paedophile only came to light after the Iran war had begun. If that were the case, it would have made sense to do so beforehand to prevent the conflict. As we do not have sufficient information, we shall refrain from making a definitive judgement one way or the other.
However, it seems obvious that part of Trump’s entourage is compromised. And this is less for moral reasons than for financial ones. Trump hesitated to release the Epstein files – not because he was particularly afraid of being attacked for his moral failings, but because of what the files reveal about American and Western financial networks in general. An election promise had to be kept. For a year, Scott Bessent from the Treasury Department engaged in damage control. However, when the pressure became too great, Trump allowed the release. From that point on, the Second Iran War became inevitable. One could even have longed for it: it made it possible to consign to oblivion the important role played by Jared Kushner, the President’s son-in-law, in the Epstein financial networks. The attempt to secure Kushner a new role alongside Steve Witcoff in the negotiations with Iran in Geneva in February ended in an embarrassing disaster: several nuclear experts expressed astonishment at the duo’s amateurism, as they refrained from consulting technical experts and thus fell prey to a series of misjudgements. The same amateurism can also be observed in the preparations for war against Iran. Trump’s entourage lives in a bubble, both cognitively and financially. That is the price of the deindustrialisation of the United States.
The Valdai Discussion Club was established in 2004. It is named after Lake Valdai, which is located close to Veliky Novgorod, where the Club’s first meeting took place.
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