A
s Donald Trump settles back into the Oval Office, his sights are set on a new frontier: geopolitics. The Panama Canal, Greenland, and Canada were already on his radar, but now he's got his eyes on the Gaza Strip. It seems he may be poised to grant it statehood, right alongside Canada. Who will get to claim spots #51 and #52?
Trump's Tuesday evening announcement sent shockwaves: "We'll take over the Gaza Strip." He didn't stop there, vowing to create an economic boom that would supply a limitless number of jobs and housing for its residents. The restraint crowd in Washington must be apoplectic.
The Pentagon is now staffed with intervention skeptics like Dan Caldwell, but Trump's plan to send in the Marines and claim Gaza rivals any previous neocon dreams of remaking the Middle East in America's image. It's a bold move, especially considering America's supposed pivot away from the region to focus on China.
Trump seems smitten with the idea, echoing his son-in-law Jared Kushner's notion that Gaza could be developed into oceanfront property. Who knew America's Manifest Destiny stretched all the way to the Levant?
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must be scratching his head, wondering what Trump is up to. "Create a wasteland and call it peace" – something like that seems to be Israel's strategy in the area.
Netanyahu was likely taken aback by Trump's earlier remarks about Gaza being a "hellhole." But at their joint news conference, Trump turned into a Mad Hatter, reveling in his own absurdity. The Arab League has denounced the plan as a threat to regional stability, but Trump seems undeterred.
His idea is to deport 2 million Palestinians en masse to countries with "humanitarian hearts," then swoop in and build casinos and hotels – the "Riviera of the Middle East." It's a wild scheme, driven by Trump's inner real-estate developer. He's not willing to give Israel first dibs on Gaza; instead, he's in acquisition mode, itching to build something.
Perhaps he can finance it with his new memecoin or maybe Elon Musk will come up with the coin to make it happen. Whatever the case, Trump seems invested in establishing an American outpost in the Middle East – literally.
