Day 222 of Donald Trump’s presidency, and Russia’s war in Ukraine – which he promised to end on day one – shows no sign of having got the memo. This was not a single-use Trump promise; he made it at least 53 times. Yet the US president has failed to keep it, either literally or in his favourite manner: figuratively. Can you figuratively end a war? Not even, apparently.
What his most recent round of failure means, however, is that Trump is pivoting back to another war, the grotesquely horrifying and unlawful humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Gaza. Not the way he’d phrase it, possibly. This week he swerved commenting on either Israel’s invasion of Gaza City or the mounting declarations that famine and starvation are clearly under way in the territory, and instead announced: “I think within the next two, three weeks, you’re going to have a pretty good, conclusive ending.” Righto. Trump’s recipe for an ending to the horror has hitherto seemed to resemble the famous business plan of the South Park gnomes. Phase 1: Collect Underpants. Phase 2: ?. Phase 3: Profit.
