MS NOW’s (formerly MSNBC) top-rated media personality, Rachel Maddow, has devoted countless hours to dissecting Donald Trump’s alleged ties to Russia and its leader, Vladimir Putin, since the president was first elected back in 2016.
During the height of the so-called Russiagate scandal, when former FBI Director Robert Mueller was investigating Trump’s 2016 campaign ties with Russia, Maddow became the Shahrazad of Russiagate, hosting 1001 Nights of inquiries into every possible connection between Trump and Putin on her cable news show.
Despite looking underneath every stone, Maddow has produced very little substance to back up her claims that Putin owns Trump, something she recently admitted on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: “I don’t know what Putin has on him, but he works for Putin, and it’s an embarrassment to this country.”
It’s amusing that Maddow has devoted so much attention to Trump and Putin’s relationship and so little to Trump’s relationship with Israeli leader Netanyahu. For starters, Trump has done more for Netanyahu than Putin.
In his first term, for instance, Trump signed sanctions into law against Russia while he delivered several gifts to Israel from moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem, recognizing the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights, closing down the PLO’s mission in Washington, cutting aid to the UN agency responsible for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA), and putting forth a so-called peace plan that would have permitted Israel to annex 30% of the occupied West Bank.
While Trump has been less theatiracally subservient toward Netanyahu in his second term, he has still done many things to make the Israeli leader happy from placing sanctions on the International Criminal Court, which has indicted the Israeli premier for war crimes, to clamping down on pro-Palestinian activism on campuses, including through deportation of foreign students, joining Israel’s bombing of Iran’s nuclear sites, and continuing the flow of arm sales to Israel and even turning a blind eye to Israel’s repeated violations of an ostensible ceasefire that Trump negotiated. And, just today, Trump acceded to not only Netanyahu’s Gaza demands, but also tentatively agreed to join in another attack on Iran.
It’s worth pointing out that in the lead-up to Trump and Netanyahu’s big meeting, the New York Times reported
Israel’s continued strikes in Gaza since the cease-fire appear to have angered the Trump administration, which wants to extend and build on the truce, not jeopardize it.
Similarly, Israel’s military actions in Lebanon and Syria appear at odds with the Trump administration’s efforts to stabilize governments in both countries.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly shown impatience with Mr. Netanyahu. And he could use their meeting on Monday to squeeze the Israeli leader on some or all of these fronts.
Mr. Netanyahu is expected to urge Mr. Trump to back him in continuing to apply pressure to Iran, which Israeli officials say is rebuilding its missile arsenal.
