Imagine the news cycle that would have ensued if President Barack Obama had met with an ex-jihadist, whom the United States had labeled a terrorist, and praised him as a “tough guy.” What if President Joe Biden’s first planned tour abroad was to the Middle East, but he spurned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hobnob with autocrats (and shake hands with the aforementioned ex-jihadist)? What if he struck a hostage deal with Hamas and kept it secret from Israel? What if he lifted sanctions on Syria after it was taken over by rebels once aligned with Al Qaeda?
“Can you imagine if a Democratic president had done that?” has been one of the defining clichés of the Trump era, whose 10-year anniversary is a month away. It is certainly true that Trump gets away with quite a lot that no one else could. Over the last few days, he has done everything listed in the paragraph above. But now, at least in some quarters on the left, the question is shifting to: Why didn’t a Democratic president do that?
Watching Trump’s flurry of moves, Democratic foreign policy experts sounded almost jealous—and it’s hard to blame them. “He does all this, and it’s kind of silence, it’s met with a shrug,” Ned Price, who worked in Biden’s State Department, told Axios. “He has the ability to do things politically that previous presidents did not, because he has complete unquestioned authority over the Republican caucus.” On Syria, Ben Rhodes, a national security adviser under Obama, told Tommy Vietor on the former Obama staffer’s Pod Save the World podcast that lifting sanctions on Syria was “so clearly the right decision. I don’t know why Joe Biden didn’t do this.”
Indeed. The full consequences of Trump’s trip to the Gulf are still not known, but the trip itself has thus far served as an indictment of much of his predecessor’s foreign policy. Yes, many of Biden’s most notable accomplishments came in that realm, such as strengthening global alliances and, foremost, aiding Ukraine. But in the Middle East, Biden and other Democrats were far too cautious. They were unwilling to risk controversy, at the expense of doing the right thing. And now Trump seems poised to accomplish things Biden should have done, like providing a badly needed lifeline to Syria and improving relations with Iran.
OK, yes, it’s true: The deal Trump reportedly is close to striking with Iran—lifting all economic sanctions in exchange for an end to its nuclear weapons program—is essentially a recreation of Obama’s deal (though Trump certainly would never admit it). And yes, when Obama struck that deal it created a firestorm that, at least on the political right, still burns today. Meanwhile, Trump is also busy finding ways for oil-rich Gulf nations to enrich his family businesses, not to mention his determination to accept a $400 million jumbo jet from Qatar that he’s angling to turn into his personal plane after he leaves office—controversies that almost certainly won’t have the staying power that even Hunter Biden’s relatively minor Burisma scandal has had. Vets of past Democratic administrations are right to be frustrated.
But when it comes to Israel, Biden has only himself to blame. Of all the black marks on his presidency, his steadfast backing of an Israeli prime minister who treated him with contempt as tens of thousands were killed in Israeli bombardments is the worst. Biden and his foreign policy team owe some responsibility for the horrific situation in Gaza now—and Trump’s current trip through the Middle East serves as a reminder that they could have done more.
Not that Trump’s Israel policy has been better—far from it. He’s done nothing to push back as Israel pushes Gaza to the brink of starvation by cutting off all aid, done almost nothing to advance a ceasefire, and has repeatedly said he would like the U.S. to take over the territory and essentially turn it into a colony. (That Marco Rubio reportedly chastised Israel for the current humanitarian situation in Gaza on Thursday is a sign of how bad that humanitarian situation is, not a shift in administration policy.) But at least Trump has shown a willingness to sideline Netanyahu, who played Biden like a fiddle during his last two years as president. Imagine if Biden had given Netanyahu the cold shoulder, and more importantly withheld military aid, toward the goal of ending the slaughter of Gaza? It would have been the morally courageous thing to do, and for all we know, given how the November election turned out, it might have been the politically expedient thing to do too.
What makes Democrats envious of Trump is that he simply doesn’t give a shit, which is a powerful attribute that can be used for good or ill. Even when Trump does the right things—as in Syria and Iran—it’s never entirely clear he’s doing them to promote peace or prosperity. His primary motivation in most of his dealings in the Gulf still, as ever, is promoting himself and his businesses, particularly a shady (even by his standard) cryptocurrency venture being hawked by his sons. But much of Biden’s foreign policy was too slow, too old-fashioned, too afraid of controversy. “I don’t like Trump’s motivations for lots of things he does,” Rhodes told Vietor. “But one thing you will say is he’s not tied to this constant fear of some bad-faith right-wing attacks or stupid Blob-type, ‘We don’t do this, we must leverage the sanctions for blah blah blah.’ No! Sometimes you just have to try something different.” Democrats have something to learn from Trump, after all—and these days they have nothing to lose, either.
