In his campaign for President, Donald Trump articulated an “America First” message that clearly applied to our foreign policy. Trump spoke of “ending the killings,” “being a peacemaker,” and so on.
Then, last week, Trump shocked the world with unapologetic plans for rebuilding Gaza, a city buried under 50 million tons of rubble.
“No one can live there, the place is hell,” Trump explained, only to proceed to proclaim the Gaza Strip would be remade to rival the Las Vegas Strip for “the people of the world.”
Is this putting America first? Is this cutting the size and cost of government?
As I explain in my latest column – read it below – Trump’s stated plans are irreconcilable with creating peace in the Middle East, and if he really wants to rebuild Gaza and promote peace, he should stop funding the Israeli blockade.
See my column below, and if you support Campaign for Liberty’s mission to bring about a true America First foreign policy, one rooted in non-interventionism, please support Campaign for Liberty with a contribution.
For Liberty,
Ron Paul
This week, President Trump upended U.S. Middle East policy by announcing that the United States would “take over” war-ravaged Gaza and turn it into “the Riviera of the Middle East.” President Trump also said the Palestinians living in Gaza would be (temporarily?) relocated to Jordan or Egypt.
Kentucky Senator Rand Paul came out strongly against the proposal. Senator Paul pointed out that the plan contradicted the American people’s vote for “America First.” What was more surprising was that South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham expressed skepticism about sending Americans to take over Gaza. This may be the first time in Senator Graham’s political career that he has opposed sending U.S. troops abroad.
Senator Graham is correct that most South Carolinians are not excited about sending Americans or U.S. tax dollars to take over Gaza. Neither are most other Americans. In fact, polls show that the majority of Americans oppose providing military aid to Israel or other countries.
One of the best comments was made by libertarian scholar and podcaster Tom Woods. He suggested that Trump’s Gaza proposal is the type of wasteful overseas spending that DOGE should be working to eliminate.
Trump’s plan has also been criticized by the government of Saudi Arabia. This could mean that if President Trump follows through with this proposal it will further push Saudi Arabia away from the United States and toward the BRICS alliance.
Some of the BRICS nations want to challenge the dollar’s world reserve currency status. One of the foundations of the dollar’s world reserve currency status is the “petrodollar.” This arose from the deal Henry Kissinger negotiated with Saudi Arabia where the Saudis agreed to use dollars for oil trade in exchange for U.S. support for the Saudi regime. Recently, Saudi Arabia has given signs that it will be willing to use other currencies, such as the Chinese renminbi, for its oil trade.
The loss of the dollar’s world reserve currency status would cause a major U.S. economic crisis. It would force the government to make massive cuts in warfare and welfare spending and could lead to violence and a government crackdown on our liberty.
U.S. “ownership” of Gaza, accompanied by forcible relocation of Palestinians, would cause increased resentment of the US. This could result in increased terror attacks against the U.S.
Even if a long-term U.S. occupation of Gaza went 100 percent according to plan, the U.S. government, which has an over 36 trillion dollars and growing debt, cannot afford another open-ended overseas military commitment. Instead, President Trump should follow through on his campaign rhetoric about withdrawing from unnecessary military commitments. This, not tariffs, will help make America more competitive on the international economy.
The best thing the United States can do to rebuild Gaza and promote peace in the Middle East is to stop funding Israel’s occupation and blockade of Gaza.
Instead, the U.S. should work toward peaceful relations backed by free trade with Israel and its neighbors.
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The mission of Campaign for Liberty is to promote and defend the great American principles of individual liberty, constitutional government, sound money, free markets, and a constitutional foreign policy, by means of education, issue advocacy, and grassroots mobilization.
