After a flurry of activity — the president’s tariff threats and showdowns with Mexico and Canada, his expressions of interest in Greenland, the policy changes obtained by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s trips to Panama and El Salvador, the release of arrested Americans in Venezuela — it seemed clear that the focus of Donald Trump’s foreign policy would be the Western Hemisphere.
And then, just a few days later, as he welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as the first head of government to visit the White House, Trump announced that “the United States will take over the Gaza Strip.”
This is obviously in tension with Trump’s and many Trump supporters’ opposition to U.S. military actions and “nation building” in the Middle East, and while Greenland is arguably within the Western Hemisphere, Gaza clearly is not. Cleaning up and policing Gaza…
