Image by Sophie Popplewell.

After two weeks of Donald Trump at the helm, it’s clear the warnings about creeping fascism and America going rogue were too optimistic. The bar wasn’t just low, it’s six feet under, buried alongside the last remnants of US neoliberal democratic norms and illusions courtesy of Biden, Harris and Blinken.

In a spectacle of diplomacy with the delicacy of a bull in a china shop, President Donald Trump, flanked by his war criminal buddy Benjamin Netanyahu, announced his latest real estate venture — turning Gaza into the “Riviera of the Middle East.”

Forget the outdated Israeli tactic of “mowing the lawn,” it’s time to turn Palestinian property into a cash cow and AirBnB that muthaf*cka to the highest bidders.

Why get caught up in annoying details of an eight-decade-long occupation, mass displacement, genocide-for-land-grabs and trivial irrelevancies like international law? Trump’s selling a new ‘rules-based order’ so bold it might just earn him a Nobel Peace Prize, where he’d join the sordid pantheon of legendary “peacemakers” like Henry Kissinger, Barack Obama and Menachem Begin.

The plan? Relocate 2 million Palestinians like tenants overstaying a lease, clear out the “bad vibes” (read: unexploded ordnance) and roll out tacky luxury resorts faster than you can say “ethnic cleansing.” Perhaps, in this generous display of US benevolence, Trump might allow a token number of Palestinians to remain, just enough to staff his casinos and peddle discount tobacco and gasoline.

Il Duce 2.0

Back in the Wild West, the new lawless sheriff and his deputy Elon Musk have been busy consolidating control of the federal government, aiming to privatise and profit from every remaining inch of public welfare, enough to make Il Duce and the Fuhrer flush green with envy.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party politicians, including the newly-minted “Palestinian” Chuck Schumer, stand by, either unable........

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