The shock and awe of President Donald Trump’s tour de force visit to the Middle East has left former Biden administration members stunned, according to a new report.
Trump announced a multi-billion-dollar trade deal with Saudi Arabia and one topping $1 trillion with Qatar, met with the new leadership of Syria, and extended an olive branch to longtime enemies, including Iran.
“Gosh, I wish I could work for an administration that could move that quickly,” one former administration member told Axios, which did not identify the official.
“He does all this, and it’s kind of silence. It’s met with a shrug,” said Ned Price, a State Department official under former President Joe Biden.
“He has the ability to do things politically that previous presidents did not, because he has complete unquestioned authority over the Republican caucus.”
Ben Rhodes, a national security aide under Obama, noted that Trump leapfrogged all the protocols that stood in the way of recognizing the new government of Syria, which toppled longtime American nemesis Bashar al-Assad.
“It’s so clearly the right decision,” Rhodes said. “I don’t know why Joe Biden didn’t do this.”
“I don’t like Trump’s motivations for lots of things he does,” the long-time Trump critic said, “but one thing you will say is he’s not tied to this constant fear of some bad faith right-wing attacks or stupid Blob-type, ‘We don’t do this. We must leverage the sanctions for blah blah blah.’ No! Sometimes you just have to try something different.”
“It’s hard not to be simultaneously terrified at the thought of the damage he can cause with such power and awed by his willingness to brazenly shatter so many harmful taboos,” said Rob Malley, who held senior posts in the Obama and Biden administrations.
Do you like what Trump did on his Middle East trip?
Former Obama administration official Tommy Vietor agreed, according to Fox News.
“It’s a very big deal,” Vietor said. “So I think Trump deserves a lot of credit for this decision. It was politically difficult … but it’s unequivocally the right thing to do.”
One official told Axios the success of envoy Steve Witkoff comes from his freedom to act in whatever manner gets the job done.
“I suspect Witkoff doesn’t have to look over his shoulder as much as others have. His predecessors have had to make sure the secretary of Defense is on board and the secretary of the Treasury is on board, and the head of the CIA is on board. He just does it,” one former Biden official said.
During his Middle East visit, Trump noted a difference between his policies and those of other presidents.
“In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins … I believe it is God’s job to sit in judgement — my job [is] to defend America and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace,” he said, according to the White House website.
“In the end, the so-called ‘nation-builders’ wrecked far more nations than they built — and the interventionists were intervening in complex societies that they did not even understand themselves.”
“As I have shown repeatedly, I am willing to end past conflicts and forge new partnerships for a better and more stable world, even if our differences may be very profound,” Trump said.
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