While the White House meeting between Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump on Monday touched on tariffs and talks over Iran and Gaza, it was the political optics of the encounter that made the rounds on social media.
And the reactions weren’t too positive for either world leader.
“Trump (again) pulls out a chair for Netanyahu in a show of partnership,” UK activist Howard Beckett posted on X. “Netanyahu is a wanted war criminal with the blood of 60,000 Palestinians stained on his monstrous hands. “Fascism in full view of the world.”
“NETANYAHU IS A CROOK & A CRIMINAL,” University of California, Irvine political science lecturer Larry Tenney wrote on Bluesky. “That is all.”
Political commentator Jackson Hinkle stated bluntly in an X post: “Trump is a terrorist. Netanyahu is a terrorist.”
“God it must be so surreal to be conducting a genocide and have to fly to DC to talk Tariffs with Donald Trump,” economy writer Nathan Tankus wrote Monday on Bluesky. “Netanyahu tells reporters that he told Trump Israel 'will eliminate the trade deficit with the United States.' Netanyahu continued: “'We are going to eliminate the tariffs and rapidly.'”
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Tankus added in a follow-up post: “Good luck running balanced trade with the United States. Is this just going to be even more arms sales financed by U.S. government credit?”
While some political observers criticized Trump and Netanyahu’s policies, actor Brian Guest questioned the timing of the meeting: “Obvious that this was the plan from Netanyahu and Trump from the get go on tariffs,” he wrote on Bluesky
The White House meeting prompted Illinois attorney Sheryl Weikal to openly wonder on Bluesky: “Can we have ICE deport Netanyahu and then itself?"
This country won’t survive four more years of this chaos," Democratic activist Craig Schisel concluded of Trump cancelling a planned press conference before reversing course and moving forward with it. "Something needs to be done—and fast."