‘Riviera of the Middle East’: Trump sparks global fury over Gaza takeover comments

Welcome to Donald Trump’s America, where the administration’s policies often prioritize the interests of the wealthy elite.

While President Elon and co are cutting vital government programs and departments to ensure a Rio Grande’s worth of public American cash and data flows into private coffers and servers, failed steak salesman Trump is looking further afield. Namely, to the Arab world. In one of many recent embarrassing public rambles, the Home Alone 2: Lost in New York actor claimed that the United States could take over Gaza and do something “phenomenal,” before referring to the the war torn territory as “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

The one-time Apprentice host accidentally gave us an understanding into how he managed to bankrupt a casino. He described his vision for Gaza as “brilliant” and “magnificent,” before attempting to strike a more statesmanlike tone by throwing in a mention of the roughly two million Gazans being pounded by Israeli fired and American funded bombs.

The presidential urge to turn the Middle East into a Chicago School experiment is long documented, and has its roots in American intervention in Latin America. The second Bush and his cabinet of wannabe feudal overlords have long been accused of utilizing Iraq as a breeding ground for a cancerous form of Friedmanite orthodoxy, and not without evidence. Now, it seems Trump wants his own country to destroy with unfettered capitalism and tacky hotels.

Social media users were quick to point out how likely it was Trump would attempt to build his own resort in Gaza, if it were to be razed by U.S forces in the name of freedom. Before his political career, the twice-impeached president was mostly known for inheriting his father’s real estate empire, and slapping his name on literally anything he could, so a new resort isn’t out of the question.

Trump’s dream vacation spot, however, remains out of reach for now. The largest obstacle he and his friends face is the millions of displaced Palestinians who currently call the deeply scarred region home, and with this news things are looking even bleaker for them. While the politics of the situation are full of historical nuances and complexities, the reality of life in Gaza today is a stark one, with the full might of a radical conservative Netanyahu government falling on the citizens there.

Numerous organizations unaffiliated to either Palestine or Israel have declared there is an ethnic cleansing going on in Gaza by the U.S. backed state, and it’s doubtful Trump’s plan would require a softer approach than Israel’s current bombardment. Or, as one user of X put it, the President wasn’t “planning on building affordable housing there for the Palestinians.”

The whole notion does have a deeply sinister overtone to it, especially with the long and consistent recent history of American neocolonialism. While Iraq is the most recent and clear example of the U.S. attempting to use a rebuild a sovereign land into a vassal state for private interests, these skills were perfected helping banana growers and mining companies to suck Latin America dry of its natural wealth, leaving nothing for the impoverished locals.

As it stands, Gaza is still under attack. But it exists, as do its residents, and will hopefully continue to do so in the future. Let’s hope their current resistance isn’t for nothing.

Have a tip we should know? [email protected]