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Culture War Roundup for the week of February 3, 2025

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Trump, in Shock Announcement, Says U.S. Will Take Over Gaza After Permanently Displacing Palestinians

U.S. President Donald Trump made the shocking announcement on Tuesday during a joint press conference with visiting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he will pursue a plan where the U.S. assumes ownership of Gaza, shortly after calling for the permanent displacement of the Strip's residents.

"The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip and we'll do a good job with it too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out and create economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area," he said.

When asked if this meant that Trump would send U.S. troops to Gaza, he said "if it's necessary, we'll do that. We're gonna take over that piece and develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs. It will be something the entire Middle East can be very proud of."

Now there are a few problems with this. One is that Egypt and Jordan, the obvious candidates, are absolutely against it. Second is that it will be horribly embarrassing when an American soldier gets blown up by unexploded American ordnance that was donated to Israel. It's also somewhat incoherent - he's going to make it into some kind of big multicultural party zone?

"I envision the world's people living there. You'll make it into an international, unbelievable place. The entire world will be there - Palestinians also - many people will live there.

The US does have lots of leverage over Egypt though, their economy has been on the cusp of collapse for a while now. So maybe Trump's increased willingness to deploy coercion will bear fruit here.

Trump seems to be very interested in acquisitions and land. Maybe it's a legacy thing, or maybe he's just a real estate developer at heart. Possibly Bibi told him words to the effect of "we've got a nice patch of real estate for you on the Med, want to take it off our hands?" and Trump got suckered.

Possibly Bibi told him words to the effect of "we've got a nice patch of real estate for you on the Med, want to take it off our hands?" and Trump got suckered.

Yup, and in the same meeting Netanyahu gave Trump a gold plated pager and a regular pager as a “gift.” The hostile, esoteric symbolism of Bibi gifting Trump a gold pager is so clear it's infuriating our government is so captured by Israeli influence. A serious leader would have arrested Netanyahu on the spot for that insolence.

Everything Jews do isn’t esoteric symbolism

Ok. This is though.

Trump probably just thinks them blowing up the pagers is cool

Yeah, but the Israelis who designed the gift were obviously being symbolic. The gift represents Israeli deception and Trump itself. The people who designed this gift were aware of this, But Trump is not. It is a mocking threat.

Stop with the antisemetic conspiracy shit. It's just Netanuahu making an edgy present. "Mocking threat" ? Why mock and threaten your best ally? I am almost certain what your reply will be but honestly don't bother.

It's just Netanuahu making an edgy present

This degree of tastelessness is befitting a bloodthirsty teenager rather than head of state. I doubt SS' exact interpretation of the symbolism, but to deny that it's symbolic is just not serious. Indeed, you concede it is symbolic since you recognize it as a "joke" about a particular Mossad operation.

P.S.

Why mock and threaten your best ally?

(Assuming for the sake of argument that this is what was happening) because the nature of relationship isn't an alliance. Israel offers the US and Trump personally nothing except perhaps tolerance. They do not fight your wars, they do not contribute to your war chest. For all intents and purposes the US is simply doing Israel's bidding, and administrations that oppose this get nowhere and are replaced. Not just Biden, but the whole mighty edifice of the Left, wokeness, progressivism, neo-marxism, all those forces the advances of which had caused the creation of this community, crumbled from the aftershocks of Oct 7. If you don't notice this seismic shift I don't know what to tell you.

The same explanation applies if we assume it's a mere edgy joke, however. Simply put, Israel does not act like a small country dependent on its great ally.

TBH, it sounds to me like it may have been intended along the lines of the Pablo Escobar memorabilia that Hank was gifted in Breaking Bad: macabre, but "cool." So, yes, perhaps just an edgy joke.

Not just Biden, but the whole mighty edifice of the Left, wokeness, progressivism, neo-marxism, all those forces the advances of which had caused the creation of this community, crumbled from the aftershocks of Oct 7. If you don't notice this seismic shift I don't know what to tell you.

I think this overstates things a little, we're barely into the first year of Trump's second term and it's not certain that the progressive moment of late has actually passed.

I will copy paste some parts of my response to SS. ''Israel and the US are allies , the fact that you don't understand how that alliance is expressed and why it's expressed this way is a result of your lack of geopolitical knowledge. Not trying to offend you or anything but you should read more on this''. More specifically to what you are saying , you are incorrect in a number of points . Your first mistake is assuming that alliances mean i fight your wars or contribute to your war chest. This is not a correct, there are other ways for an alliance to be expressed ,especially in the modern world (intelligence , technology , trade etc, cultural similarities). Israel is very technologically innovative and is very culturally similar to the west , and I will follow up in just a second on how important this cultural similarity is so don't dismiss it. Your main mistake is assuming that Israel doesn't fight the US's wars, you are incorrect. The soviet union lost massive influence in the middle east after the Israeli victory in yom kippur , this is one such example. The thing is that the cultural similarity I mentioned before is really important to an actual alliance because it comes down to what people really value. You can't really trust that the geopolitcal interest of fanatical islamists ( who are not a minority in most arab states) will align with yours when it matters, you can't trust that they will inform you of terrorist attacks or be actual allies in whatever conflict you are in. But the truth is you can trust Israel because cultural similarities dictate that when you are fighting they are 'fighting' ( always meaning locally , not referring to a conflict in the pacific for example) when you were fighting Sadam (both times) the Israelis were very happy it was happening and were literally not fighting with you because you asked them not to fight so as not to inflame tensions in the arab world. Iran hates the US and hates Israel , and the Israelis would gladly bomb them , like they did hezbollah who again is an enemy of both the US and Israel. There are a thousand more things I can say but you must disentangle from this idea that being an ally means fighting a war with you, Saudi arabia fought in the first gulf war but the US should never consider them a serious and trusting ally. That may sound a little naive to you but its the truth , alliances are also about cultural similarities which by themselves create an actual almost humanalike relatioship. It is not only cold geopolitical interest that dictates them and you would be very very wrong to think so, in the midst of such differing cultures Israel is a natural US ally whose interests converge with the western entities by default.

More specifically in regards to the pager. Well like I said, hezbollah has shed so much American blood that the instrument of their defeat seems like a valid present.

Good post, to which I'd add: Israel is a nuclear state, and that alone makes them worth guarding.

As others have noted, its tastelessness seems tailored to the recipient. I would need information about Bibi's presents to other world leaders to figure out if he just does that to everyone or if it's just Trump he thinks would appreciate the "haha the exploding pagers" implication.

And yes, my objection to SS is over the "nefarious lying-but-can't-help-giving-hints Jew" proposed symbolism that's verging on the Illuminati memes, not the fact that there is a meaning beyond "a communication device that's made of gold".