During his three presidential campaigns, Donald Trump ran as an opponent of serial military interventions and wars of “regime change” à la Iraq and Libya, which neoconservatives and liberal internationalists alike had embraced after the end of the cold war. He correctly sensed that many Americans had tired of “forever wars”.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s attack on Iran is a watershed moment for Trump. It will force him to reveal whether he truly represents a clean break with the foreign policy establishment, often referred to as “the blob”, or is in fact a continuation of it. It all depends on whether he decides to join Israel’s attacks on Iran.
Trump faces a tough choice. Israel has strong, longstanding, deep and variegated support in the US, and Netanyahu may seek substantial American military engagement, even military intervention. He’s already begun setting the stage. In a flattery-filled birthday missive, he gushed that Trump has “done great things for Israel” and that “we’re dealing with something that will threaten all of us sooner or later. Our victory will be your victory”.
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