Afrasianet - President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu both want to be autocrats, undermine the rule of law and so-called elites in their countries, and seek to eliminate what each calls the "deep state."
He wrote in his weekly New York Times op-ed that the emotions he felt when he saw a picture of Trump and Netanyahu in the Oval Office on Monday were a mixture of disgust and depression.
The article exudes harsh criticism of the US president and his Israeli guest. Friedman believes both are leading his country away from its ambition to be a beacon for nations, "toward a narrow and savage ethnic nationalism."
He noted that the two men treat their political opponents as internal enemies, not legitimate opposition, and that each appointed incompetent people to their own government.
They turn a blind eye to their traditional Democratic allies, and both believe that annexing more territory is a divine right "from the Gulf of America to Greenland," in the case of Trump, and "from the West Bank to Gaza," in the case of Netanyahu.
He pointed out that the American journalist and author Fareed Zakaria had published in 2008 a book entitled "The World After America" in which he foresees the future, expecting the relative dominance of the United States on the world to diminish as the Cold War era comes to an end.
Friedman was inspired by Zakaria's book that Trump and Netanyahu, each in their own countries, are creating a "post-American world" and a "post-Israel." By "post-America," he meant the United States , which is deliberately abandoning its core identity as a nation committed to the rule of law at home and the betterment of all humanity abroad.
"Post-Israel" means Israel, which is deliberately abandoning its basic identity "as a democratic state based on the rule of law in a region ruled by tyrants", he said.
In literary style, Friedman went on to say that America was a beacon of morality and politics, like "a majestic city built on rocks stronger than the oceans, blown by the wind, blessed by God, and teeming with people of all stripes living in harmony and peace; a city with free ports full of commerce and creativity. If there must be walls for the city, the walls have doors, and the doors are open to everyone who has the will and heart to get here."
But Trump and Vice President J.D. Vance want to turn it into a country that treats its democratic allies with contempt and is not at all concerned about maintaining its soft power, which they despise even though it is "the only advantage it has always surpassed Russia and China."
In a striking comparison, Trump ousted the FBI director on the pretext of not showing enough loyalty to him, while Netanyahu appeared poised to do the same with Shin Bet intelligence chief Ronen Barr, who is investigating some of the prime minister's top aides.
Friedman lamented that both leaders exploited divisions and used anti-Semitism to serve their political agendas, threatening to undermine the fabric of society.
Source: New York Times