His Orangeness wants to pave paradise

In the case of his Gaza idea, it is not hard to see how Trump thinks he see the light that the rest of the world missed

IT IS a sign of the times that when the orange-hued President of the US declared that his country would take over Gaza, no one could really tell if he was serious or that the whole world would remain silent and let this come to pass.

We’ve come to know Donald Trump’s idiocy well during his first tenure as president, but still, the sheer empty-headed proposition, devoid of any context to the history or rights of the people, is breathtakingly offensive.

In a normal world, such a proposition would not even have seen the light of day, let alone become an official stance of the US.

But this is just the latest in a row of dramas that Trump has unleashed upon the world, and his voters in the US.

After an unprofitable drama of his disingenuous tariffs, the plan to take over Greenland and an assault on the Panama Canal just days into his second presidency, we know it is going to be a rough ride. Emperor Trump has made these decrees, will the US and the world jump?

Normally, we would let Trump spew his nonsense and hope that common sense would prevail, but this is 2025, and there is a chance that bad decisions, no matter how incredible, may happen if we take our eyebrows off the ball.

In the case of his Gaza idea, it is not hard to see how Trump thinks he saw the light that the rest of the world missed.

You see, the world sees it as a rights problem, of ethnic cleansing and the illegal occupation and incarceration of a whole people.

Trump sees it as a real estate problem.

There’s a desirable piece of seaside property over there, with the bonus of sitting on top of a trillion cu ft of gas, which is being fought over by two sides. On one side is the Indigenous population that had been living on the land for millennia; on the other side are European settlers who have taken over the rest of Palestine with force and brutality.

In his public statements, Trump said his predecessors have worked on the issue. Two presidents of Egypt and Israel were killed in the process of solving the Gaza issue, and nothing ever came out of it, as Trump said last week.

He said the best they had managed was to propose to divide Palestine into two states by going back to the borders that were mandated by the United Nations in 1947.

And that has spectacularly failed as we have seen more than a year into a genocide.

In Trump’s mind, all of those who tackled the Palestine question before him did not have his level of genius.

Or were letting small matters like international law and natural justice hinder them? Or they were being too nice to people who were being tortured and murdered.

So, in comes Trump. Unencumbered by logic or history.

His years of grifting in real estate have taught him that he can get away with many things.

His years of experience in the make-believe world of reality TV have taught him that many people can’t tell the difference between soap operas and news.

So, what’s not to like about his proposal? Outlandish as it is, he breaks the rules and sees 40km of idyllic golf courses and Mediterranean-style homes.

The local population? Recently, more than two million, but now, who knows how many are left. He imagines he can sweep them under a rug somewhere.

And the scary thing is, in today’s world, that could happen, too.