Blow, hard
Last week, Trump delivered a speech, written for him by a son-in-law, that was supposed to showcase his savvy about Israeli-Palestinian relations. It failed — but at least he avoided stepping on too many rhetorical land mines.
A few days later, the New York Times interviewed Trump by telephone twice in one day about foreign affairs. Inevitably, the reporters raised the subject of peace in the Middle East.
In the first portion of a two-part interview Friday, reporters put this exceedingly simple question to the Republican front-runner:
“In terms of Israel, and in terms of the peace process, do you think it should result in a two-state solution, or in a single state?”
U.S. and Israeli policy call for two states living side by side in peace. A one-state solution either means telling the Palestinians that they will never win self-determination — or telling Israelis that the Jewish State would cease to exist as Palestinians take complete control.
Any casually well-informed observer of the Middle East is fully familiar with the one-state, two-state conundrum. So, Trump’s answer made the mind reel:
“Well, I think a lot of people are saying it’s going to result in a two-state solution. What I would love to do is to, a lot of people are saying that. I’m not saying anything.”
Because he had no idea what to say. Then, clearly, Trump’s aides took him to school.
In part two of the interview, recorded later the same day, a Times reporter offered a do-over:
“You had said earlier . . . that you had wanted to elaborate on your answer about Israel and a two-state solution.”
Trump responded with an excuse that was on a par with the dog eating his homework:
“Well, not elaborate. I just put it off because I was running out of time and I didn’t want to get into it too much because it’s actually not that. . . . Basically I support a two-state solution on Israel.”
Because that’s what someone told him to say. Too bad the Times didn’t follow up: “What do you mean, ‘Basically,’ Mr. Trump?”
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