Question asked about Israel’s horrific bombing of Gaza in April report Joined by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, Donald Trump laid out the message he would repeat over and over again over the next seven months: “Get this over with and let’s get back to peace and stop killing people.”

Trump’s greatest gift as a rhetorician is that he can say so much without saying anything. But right behind him is the ability to say two contradictory things at the same time. Yes, Trump campaigned “peace” candidateespecially like himself tried to woo Disaffected Arab American voters in Michigan. But the first part of Trump’s statement — “get this done” — never meant an immediate end to the bombing, the fighting, or the systematic deprivation of food and medical supplies. Trump made clear what he meant by this statement in his debate with President Biden in late June. He said “Let Israel finish the job” in Gaza in question. No one really noticed because his opponent couldn’t even say a coherent sentence, let alone foreign policy.

For for almost ten yearsTrump waged a relentless campaign against the neoconservative establishment and was close America’s “endless wars” have led many foreign policy observers to label it an “isolationist.” But this is wrong. Trump is not reluctant to use military force around the world; On the contrary, his complaint is mostly that the United States is not using enough force or not using that power correctly (i.e., he said in 2016: must have He “bought oil” in Iraq and vowed to “bomb the shit out” of ISIS; as president he avoided major turmoil but used US power freely, though not transparentlyin the Middle East and Africa). The reckless, aggressive and indiscriminate use of military force has always been at the heart of the Trump doctrine for as long as such a thing has existed; This does not make him much different from the neocons.

This is becoming clearer as the foreign policy team takes shape. While Trump has successfully exiled many of the establishment’s leading figures, such as John Bolton and Liz Cheney, he has replaced them with a new class of foreign policy leaders who, in what appears to be a break with the past, ultimately consider the power of the American military to a considerable degree. similar ways: They too believe in the use of force as a way to achieve the country’s strategic goals, often at the risk of terrible global conflict. In fact, the team Trump assembles may be as neoconservative as the team George W. Bush had when he entered the White House in 2001.

Following the appointment of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (a crazy person) to head the Department of Health and Human Services and Matt Gaetz (a sex pest) to head the Department of Justice, Trump’s foreign policy team relatively little attention. But this is just as extreme.

Senator Marco Rubio, Trump’s pick for secretary of state rabid Persian and Chinese hawkSo did Rep. Mike Waltz, his pick for national security adviser. Representative Elise Stefanik I got approval As ambassador to the United Nations, he makes it clear that he is pro-Israel; Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee, who was selected as ambassador to Israel, has repeatedly stated that he believes Israel has the biblical authority to annex Gaza and the West Bank. Steven Witkoff, a close friend of Trump and staunch supporter of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has been named special envoy for the Middle East. Rounding out the crew is CIA director John Ratcliffe, another loyalist who was previously Trump’s director of national intelligence. Tulsi Gabbard, who was picked for Ratcliffe’s old job, is a bit of an oddball on the team, but she’s still pro-Russia and pro-Israel (and pro-Assad and pro-Modi, too).

In total, it is a pro-war, pro-interventionist Cabinet. This group can certainly be expected to tell Israel to “get it over with”; This would likely mean the annexation of both Gaza and the West Bank. Trump and his foreign policy team are likely to pressure Russia and its murderous dictator Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, albeit on extremely friendly terms. This solution will increase the likelihood of global conflict; for Russia will be on the doorstep of NATO, either through Ukraine (or what remains of Ukraine), if the country continues to move towards membership, or through aggression against Poland, a future full NATO member. .

No matter how Trump’s team navigates the conflict in the Middle East, further conflict with Iran, one of whose nuclear facilities was destroyed by Israeli missiles, seems inevitable. Meanwhile, this group of advisors seems intent on using American power against Iran. The Biden administration’s approach to Israel has been incompetent, confusing and, in many respects, disastrous. But he made avoiding a wider war a priority. This will no longer be the case. At the same time, a more aggressive stance against China increases the likelihood of conflict in Asia. American foreign policy under Trump will be much more aggressive and the possibility of war will increase.

Trump can only be seen as taking a dovish approach towards Russia, which is also in line with his early foreign policy. This is it. Everywhere else, armed conflict and war are more likely.

The idea that Trump is a person “pigeon” He has always been a myth, and that myth first emerged in 2016 as part of a ludicrous effort to compare him to interventionist-minded Hillary Clinton. But Trump has always governed with the idea that America should threaten to use force, and sometimes actually use it. Including nuclear weapons. The team surrounding him is extremely alert. American voters have made clear time and time again that they reject neoconservatism. And yet he lives on.