Genocide Don

It's horrifying to imagine a major-party candidate would hint at delaying a ceasefire for his political benefit. But Trump is no normal candidate.

Each day without a ceasefire in Gaza means more civilian casualties, more destruction of infrastructure, and worsening conditions for the people of Gaza.

It's horrifying to imagine a major-party candidate for US President would even hint at delaying a potential ceasefire for his own political benefit.

But Trump is no normal candidate.

Trump has already left a trail of dead in his wake

Trump has frequently taken actions or made decisions that placed lives at risk solely for his personal political gain or to advance his own agenda:

• His withdrawal from the Paris Agreement was a massive setback for the world's fight against climate change, setting the stage for ongoing environmental degradation and untold future public health crises.
• His embrace of vaccine skepticism and lack of leadership during his first flu season as President contributed directly to thousands of preventable deaths across the US.
• By withholding military aid to Ukraine for 55 days in 2019, he hampered that country's ability to defend itself, emboldening Putin, and potentially adding to front-line casualties.
• In the midst of the pandemic in 2020, his psychopathic recklessness and malignant narcissism were on full display as he promoted fairy-tale thinking, promoted unproven cures, and even told Americans they should accept the deaths of their loved ones as a sacrificial donation to his re-election campaign.
• After being rejected by voters in 2020, he incited the January 6th insurrection, resulting in multiple deaths, numerous injuries, and significant trauma not just for all involved, but the entire nation.
• In May 2024, he publicly floated the idea that Putin should keep Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich imprisoned until after the election, clearly believing that his continued detention would benefit him politically.

Against this backdrop, it's entirely plausible that, as Judy Woodruff of PBS said yesterday:

"The reporting is that former president Trump is on the phone with the prime minister of Israel urging him not to cut a deal right now because it's believed that would help the Harris campaign."

Today, Woodruff has clarified that her televised statement was based on reports she had read in Axios and Reuters, reports that both Trump and Netanyahu have denied.

But given the corruption and mendacity of both these leaders—and the coziness between them that was apparent during Netanyahu's recent visit to Mar-a-Lago—they are not likely to admit to participating in such a despicable-but-entirely-plausible criminal conspiracy.

If true, this is "balls to the walls treason"

The Lincoln Project summed up what many were thinking, writing on X:

Donald Trump is undermining US foreign policy to win an election. He's willing to burn it all down to get what he wants. There's absolutely no line he won't cross.

As MSNBC's Steven Benen points out:

During Donald Trump’s presidency, the Republican expressed outrage when U.S. officials interacted with foreign officials without coordinating with his administration. In fact, at one point, Trump talked about charging former Secretary of State John Kerry with a crime.

The fact that Trump is meeting with and talking with Netanyahu in the midst of these negotiations is itself scandalous.

If he's using these conversations to boost his own political fortunes, that would be, in the words of actor Steven Pasquale, "pretty balls to the wall treason."

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P.S. Update to yesterday's story: After multiple users tweeted about the canceling of "Real Donald Drumpf," with comments directed both at Elon Musk and X Support, the account has now been fully restored. No response was received from Support and no explanation was offered for the sudden disappearance of all 36,400 prior posts.