Biden’s Israel trip and GOP chaos drowns out the Trump show – for now
Trump’s act has become the very thing that he once disrupted – an expected setpiece in the political stagecraft
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Your support makes all the difference.On Wednesday morning, President Joe Biden arrived in Israel to express solidarity with the state after the deadly attack from Hamas. In addition, Mr Biden responded to an explosion at the Al-Ahli Arabi Baptist Hospital in Gaza that provoked outrage by saying that US intelligence indicated the explosion was caused “by the other team.”
Meanwhile, back on American soil, the House of Representatives entered its third week without a speaker as Rep Jim Jordan (R-OH), the rightwing firebrand, failed to win enough votes to lead the lower chamber of Congress.
The split screen likely gives Mr Biden more than a small amount of glee, while many Americans see that his advanced age is not only a drawback. His 36 years as a US senator, particularly as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and his eight years as vice president, also give him wisdom and experience in handling international crises. Meanwhile, Republicans can’t even corral 217 votes to elect a speaker despite having the majority.
But what is being broadcast is just as notable as what isn’t being broadcast: news stories about former president Donald Trump. This isn’t for a dearth of coverage. As is always the case with the four-times-indicted and twice-impeached former president, a flurry of headlines always follow Mr Trump.
On Monday, US District Judge Tanya Chutkan issued a partial gag order against the former president to prevent him from making “disparaging” or “inflammatory” comments about people or entities involved in his election interference case.
Meanwhile, in New York, Mr Trump faces a $250m civil fraud trial after New York Attorney General Letitia James conducted an investigation and filed civil claims against him. On Wednesday, one New York court employee was arrested after yelling out at the former president.
But these stories have barely made a blip on the airwaves compared to the news surrounding war in the Middle East and chaos among House Republicans. It shows that Mr Trump’s influence has its limits.
The closest thing Mr Trump did to making news in recent weeks was last week when he called the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah “very smart” after the attack in Israel. He also called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “very hurt” politically by the attack and said, “He was not prepared and Israel was not prepared.”
At this point, Mr Trump’s legal battles have become familiar territory. His trials will mostly not begin until next year and most of the hearings are procedural at this point. Meanwhile, the war in Gaza and the House GOP chaos continue to take new twists and turns.
Mr Trump has also taken himself out of the news cycle. When he first campaigned for the presidency in 2015, he frequently insulted his would-be competitors on X, then known as Twitter, and made inflammatory remarks during debates. As president, the largest spotlight in the world shined on him because whatever the president does has national and international consequences.
That’s no longer the case. Despite Elon Musk reinstating his X account,Mr Trump prefers to post on his Truth Social site instead and has refused to participate in any of the Republican primary debates, having neutered his most formidable opponent, Florida Gov Ron DeSantis. He is largely able to do so because he continues to hold a double-digit lead in the early voting primary states like Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina.
Mr Trump also continues to dominate in the polls. Mr Trump’s seeming inevitability makes reporters less interested in covering his latest antics. For years, Mr Trump has pushed every socially acceptable boundary, breached every norm, said what should not be said and depleted the public’s capacity for outrage. In short, Mr Trump’s act has become the very thing that he once disrupted – an expected setpiece in the political stagecraft.
None of this means that Mr Trump’s actions don’t matter. They all reveal something about his qualifications for the presidency. The gag order shows his consistent flouting of the rule of law. His comments about Israel show his continued praising of authoritarians and how he views international relations through a purely transactional lens, something broadcast to all Americans during his presidency.
All of these warrant robust accountability. But as of right now, other stories have taken precedence and reveal Mr Trump’s greatest fear: He is not the centre of the political universe at all times.
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