Donald Trump gives a speech for the ages in Israel’s Knesset.
Donald Trump was not the first American president to speak at Israel’s deliberative body, but his speech was a spectacle. He came to a country that loves him and spoke positively about Israel, its leaders, and its people. In the speech, one can see the rules of Donald Trump’s leadership.
1. Praise Those With Whom You Work
While Wilt Chamberlain once scored 100 points in a single game, a former teammate said that “Wilt the Stilt” was great not because of his prolific scoring but rather due to his greatness as a teammate. When he would handle the ball, he would not only pass it to a teammate but also encourage the latter: “Ted, drive to the basket!” or “Mike, you can make that shot.” Wilt Chamberlain was great and he made his teammates better.
Donald Trump spent a large part of his long speech praising others. He spoke well of numerous people present and not. On the Israeli side, he praised the prime minister (though he said that his speech was too long), the president, the speaker of the Knesset, the head of the opposition (“He seems like a nice man”), the IDF chief of staff (“right out of central casting!”), and the Israeli people. On the U.S. side, he praised almost all of his associates present. He heaped praise on his daughter and her husband, Jared Kushner, his cabinet members, Steve Witkoff, White House staff, and supporters. In several cases, Trump’s praise went on for a few minutes. Witkoff, General Dan “Raizin” Caine, Miriam Adelson and others stood in the Knesset as Donald Trump simply praised them to heaven and a little bit higher. I thought that the general who put together the flawless bombing of Iran was going to blush from embarrassment. Miriam Adelson did not want the praise—or the public reminder of her $60 billion worth!—but Donald Trump praised both her and her late husband. Trump said of Marco Rubio that he will go down as the best secretary of state in American history. When Trump turned to President Herzog and asked him to pardon Bibi Netanyahu for “some champagne and cigars” I thought that the Knesset would split in half like the Red Sea. Trump has previously praised Netanyahu as a great wartime leader and wants to keep him in office. The subject of the multiple cases against the sitting prime minister is beloved by the left. They desperately want to get rid of him. Trump’s request was a shocker, a 9.0 on the Israeli political Richter Scale.
Praise means little if there is no anti-praise. And so the president called Joe Biden the worst president in American history and Barack Obama a not-too-distant second. By the president, there are winners and losers.
Donald Trump’s detractors invariably call him a narcissist. His endless praise of so many people and his patiently sitting through speeches of others show the opposite of narcissism. Yes, he does take pride in his successes but a true narcissist would not heap such praise on so many others. By praising those around him, he knows that he guarantees both their loyalty and their continued 100 percent effort in their tasks. If he said that I was the greatest biochemist of our generation, I would not leave the lab until I produced whatever he asked for.
2. A leader is also a cheerleader
One thing that Joe Biden and the more recent version of Barack Obama never understood is that part of the task of a CEO, including the CEO of the United States, is to offer a positive vision of the future. Every company makes “forward-looking statements” on their formal filings and must identify them as such. FDR’s fireside chats were meant to inform the American people and to encourage them through the darkness of war through to victory. Donald Trump is not interested in the current Middle East. Rather, he sees a future of cooperation, respect, and peace. He offered in his Knesset speech his goal of a better Middle East that would include all players, even Iran. He noted correctly that the American and Israeli people have no beef with the Iranian citizenry. He offered them to join the Abraham Accords and the other countries that are benefiting from the agreements. One may note that Russia was offered assistance via the post-war Marshall Plan and turned it down. Iran’s leaders would rather lead their country into destruction than be part of a productive Middle East.
And this is the key point that will require testing. In his Knesset speech, Donald Trump said that the four countries that made peace with Israel are doing very well financially. He implied that trade and cooperation will bring nations together. On the other side is the strain of Islam that brooks no respect for Christianity or Judaism. So it’s Trump’s economic peace-making versus Islamic intransigence. Will Hamas give up its weapons and leave Gaza’s future to others? Will Turkey turn down its Israel hate and focus again on economic ties? Donald Trump is offering a vision of a better region. Will the players jump on the bandwagon and move forward or remain stuck in the same hundreds of years old mud?
3. Don’t Do Other People’s Work
I had a very impressive young professor at Harvard who, in discussing peace-making in the Middle East, noted that the U.S. had to be careful. If it was not engaged at all, then there would be no effort to make peace. If the U.S. took upon itself too much, then the parties would shirk their responsibilities to make concessions for a better future. There had to be some level of engagement but not too much. So while Donald Trump was praising Israel and many other countries whose leaders he later met in Sharm El-Sheikh, he made it clear that they would be the ones who would have to do the heavy lifting. He noted that several countries made a big effort to get Hamas to give up its biggest bargaining chip: the hostages. He also made it clear that these countries and Israel will have to work towards understandings that allow for progress and success in the region. Like with his staff and cabinet picks, Donald Trump knows that he needs to set a vision and then let those responsible do the work required. The U.S. is not going to force countries to make peace with Israel. Trump and the U.S. will set up conditions to encourage the same, but it’s up to Israel’s enemies to conclude that making peace with the Jewish state will lead to a better future for their people.
Israelis love the U.S. and its president. When Bibi Netanyahu said that Donald Trump was by far the best president for Israel ever, I imagined George W. Bush having heartburn. One of the released hostages related that Hamas was, not surprisingly, rooting for Kamala Harris. After Trump won, he said that Hamas started treating him better. People in this region respect power, and Donald Trump knows how to express the power and greatness of the United States. He breezily mentioned that during the attack on Iran, there were 52 tankers on station, ready to refuel any of the dozens of other aircraft that participated in the attack. I don’t know if Tel Aviv has 52 gas stations. Donald Trump came to the Knesset to use the power of the U.S. to get Israel and its neighbors to change their approach and make peace. Israel has always been ready for peace. The question still remains: are the Arab and Muslim countries ready to move on from Jew hatred to working together and building a better future? We’ll know soon enough.
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