Democrats Should Praise Trump, Middle East Moves

“As someone who has been diagnosed by the far right with Trump derangement syndrome, let me give tremendous kudos to President Trump for his work on the Middle East in the past few weeks. Amazing job. He follows through, let’s give him that Nobel prize that he wants.”

It was a simple post on X (formerly Twitter) – one of scores that I send out in the world each week, but it gained an unusual level of engagement with my small following. The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, partly through his envoys, Jarod Kushner and Steve Witkoff, had just seemingly managed a deal to release the Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a renewed ceasefire and release of close to 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Democrats, and particularly Jewish Democrats, should praise this spectacular achievement to both recognize a tremendous feat and push him to remain engaged to finish the task at hand.

I am a lifelong Democrat who has served the party in unofficial ways, e.g., campaigning by the side of the road for Judge Denise Majette, and in official capacities, such as being on the board and holding office of Democrats Abroad while living overseas. I oppose most of President Trump’s policies, from his authoritarian tendencies to his economic policies.

As an attorney, I find his destruction of the wall of independence established post-Nixon between the Department of Justice and the White House and his disregard of court orders nothing short of horrifying.

But that is not the point.

When a public official, a leader of our beloved country, does something worthy of praise then he should be praised. President Trump took the qualities that he embodies that I find to be some of the most distasteful and used them to the advantage of the U.S., Israel, the Middle East, and the World to remarkable effect. President Trump bullies, demeans, threatens, and cajoles. He views all of life and the world on a purely transactional basis. And he used these characteristics, that I find so distasteful and ineffective in a domestic context, to remarkable diplomatic ends in the Middle East.

For President Trump, along with Witkoff and Kushner, put tremendous pressure on the stakeholders in the region to get them to this point. Reading news accounts of the behind-the-scenes activities, one can see President Trump not asking, but telling, the leaders in the Middle East exactly what they were going to do. When the books are eventually written about the past few weeks, the accounts will be fascinating.

Now, we Democrats should acknowledge this victory that he has at least partially achieved in the region. Recognition of this accomplishment demonstrates intellectual honesty and hopefully incentivizes and maybe presses President Trump to finish the hard work ahead.

Given the demands on the Office, focusing on a single issue for any length of time is hard for any President. Now, imagine how hard that must be for President Trump who has a notoriously short attention span. President Trump has been travelling in Israel and Egypt this week giving valedictory speeches that appear to assume that the hard part of the job is done. But anyone who has paid any attention to the region over the last 40 years knows that the hard part has only just begun.

Now, the President must remain focused on the Middle East and continue to bring the parties to a final resolution of the disputes there and a lasting peace. We Jewish Democrats can encourage that through acknowledging the good work that he has done so far and pressing him to continue those efforts. The next stages are hard, and we need our President to follow through and achieve a lasting peace.

If he does that, let’s give him that Noble Prize he wants so badly. I’m good with that.

Doug Weinstein is a criminal defense attorney and commercial litigator who practices throughout the State of Georgia.