1. Ridiculous. When you see how Netanyahu quickly dismantles any hope of a truce, when the systematic attacks on Gaza are accompanied by an offensive in the West Bank for the expulsion of Palestinians, then it is only from ignorance, impotence, or complicity that one can understand why everyone looks the other way, as if everyone looks the other way.
A few days ago, we were scandalized by the AI-generated video in which Trump and Putin sunbathed in a Gaza Strip converted into a luxury Mediterranean Riviera. It was so ridiculous that I wanted to think it was a cruel irony from Trump's enemies. Well, no, the president isn't ashamed; on the contrary, it serves to push his miserable economy of desire to the limit. He would be happy to make a scenario like that a reality, the fruit of the mentality of someone who believes that everyone should be at their disposal. He is the embodiment of nihilism: trapped in an unbridled ego—an indication of a deep-seated insecurity—he believes anything is permissible. This is the only way to explain why he was the one who shamelessly accelerated the video's dissemination. A character insensitive to others, incapable of considering not just enemies but any group as individuals.
The sense of the ridiculous, when one makes a living by turning one's delusions into reality, is nonexistent. And yet, it's no joke. Trump has offered us yet another exercise in mental cruelty that, given Israel's military movements of these days, could end up becoming reality. The objective: the expulsion of the Palestinians. Will no one react? And yet, while many Jews, especially the most educated, are leaving Israel, there are still people like the Israeli writer Dror Mishani, who explains in The World who believes it is his duty to stay "to try to combat the extreme right," at a time when "the trauma of October 7 has turned Israel into a society obsessed with revenge." And he points to the crux of the problem: if peace had truly been sought, "we would have considered the Palestinians equal, freed from our tutelage." But peace has never been sought. It is on war that Netanyahu and his followers sustain themselves. And there is no sign of how to break this vicious cycle, with the Israeli left between disarray and demobilization and the world looking the other way.
2. Disarray. And while in Europe the representation of impotence continues, little by little the traps are being exposed. Although part of the right has bought his rhetoric and already swears by it, Trump is beginning to show signs of ignorance of the balance of power and ignorance of reality. His ego leads him to overreact when it comes to setting the pace. A clumsy tactic, because it doesn't help him get a realistic picture of things: it makes his potential partner uncomfortable and puts him on the defensive.
In politics, the ability to grasp the sensibilities of an adversary is essential. Trump wants to take things for granted, stake out his territory at will, convinced that others will say yes to everything. And what was obvious has happened: Putin has let him do it, placing obstacles at every turn when the time comes. Putin is in no hurry. And he relishes every time Trump stalls. And who suffers? Europe, which feels powerless after seeing that, for different reasons, the United States, Russia and China (in the background, where they earn more than they risk) feel comfortable seeing our frustration.
In this context, it was very relevant last Sunday, Esther Vera's interview with Martin Baron, former director of the Washington Post, one of the great liberal American newspapers, now in the hands of Jeff Bezos, a member of the techno-caste that supports Trump, and where its journalists try to defend the profession despite the fact that the owner "has restricted opinion pieces to those who defend the free market and personal liberties." Baron has no doubt that Trump is an autocrat in the making and expresses his fear of a US shift toward authoritarianism. A warning that challenges us Europeans, who have become the mastermind of the masked struggle for hegemony that has Trump out of place, because Putin has outgrown him and is playing with him without qualms, while China paves the way to capitalize on the general mess.
