President Donald Trump has become little more than a sidekick to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to a pundit on MS NOW's "Morning Joe."
The 79-year-old president decided to join Israel in a military operation against Iran nearly three weeks ago, but his justification and goals for the strikes have shifted — and Americans are skeptical of their necessity. Journalist Anand Giridharadas said Trump's deference to Netanyahu was uncharacteristic for him.
"He promised nomore forever wars and these kindof stupid wars," Giridharadas said. "He promisedsafety, like just basic safety. He promised crackdown onrefugees and the border issue, and he promised costs wouldcome down. By doing this war – Iwouldn't even call this a warof choice, it's like a war ofwhim and maybe a war of like,following your friend offa cliff.
"He is, on all four ofthose issues, betraying not meand you or anybody else, buthis core base. Those fourpromises, 'No more stupid wars,I'll deal with costs because,you know, refugees and safety,because Iran is a terror state.'"
Trump has said the war was necessary to destroy Iran's missile capabilities, its navy and its nuclear program, in addition to ensuring the regime can no longer arm or support terrorism in other countries. But Giridharadas argued that Israel's goals were completely different in this joint military operation.
"It may not be able to win onthis battlefield that we'reseeing on our screen, but forthe next 20 years to come,we're going to all have to livewith the threat of terrorismthat has been re-ignited bythis kind of treatment," he said. "Thereare going to be refugee flowswhen all of this, you know, the Israelis apparently want state collapse. That's one of theirgoals, I read in the New York Times this morning. Well,that state collapse is goingto mean refugees on a giantscale. It's one of the morepopulous countries in the world."
Giridharadas said the dynamic begs the question of why Trump has taken a back seat to Netanyahu.
"Costs are going through theroof, and I think it's reallyworth asking as Americans:Donald Trump has demotedhimself to being sort of Bibi'sVP, right?" he said.
"Like, it's a verystrange. We fund Israel'sweapons, like, Israel iseconomically and militarilyviable because of Americansupport. So Donald Trump talksa lot about leverage and as youknow, is obsessed with thenotion of, 'If I'm giving yousomething, I want to be able todictate terms,' and his wholepolicy is now on every personaland and economic elsewhere isabout that.
"But in thisrelationship, he seems to bewilling to follow his friendoff a cliff," he added, "and veryinteresting, David Sangerreporting in the Times today about the Israelis having goalsthat are totally different from American goals, and yet the Americans are just, you know,along for the ride. So I'mcurious why someone who is sosensitive to his ownhumiliation is willing to be Bibi's VP."