The Challenge of Complimenting Trump  

I would love to satisfy some of my readers who believe I am too critical of the US president.  However, often he simply makes it so difficult to be complimentary.

For example, in an interview with Israeli news Channel N12 on Thursday, US President Trump said that Israeli President Isaac Herzog should immediately grant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a pardon so that our prime minister can concentrate fully on the war with Iran.

Trump added that he does not want Netanyahu “distracted by anything” other than the ongoing conflict, and urged Herzog to act without delay.   During the interview, Trump sharply criticized Herzog and claimed, as he had previously, that Herzog had earlier indicated that a pardon would be forthcoming. Trump said Herzog had “promised me five times” that he would pardon Netanyahu and asserted that the two men had discussed the issue repeatedly over the past year.

Herzog, as he has done regularly since Trump first mentioned this in a Knesset speech last October, rejected the allegation that he had made any commitment regarding a pardon and properly reiterated once again that the matter is not currently under consideration because of the ongoing war and will ultimately be handled according to the relevant procedures in place in Israel.

Trump called Herzog “a disgrace” and added a warning that he was prepared to make those conversations public. “Tell him I’m exposing him,” Trump said, according to the report.  Trump’s initial suggestion and his continuing pressure on President Herzog to do this is the classic example of “unmitigated gall,” that is trying to get involved in the internal affairs of this country.

Before my readers jump all over me and tell me I can never say a nice thing about President Trump, they have to admit that for those of us looking at the world through clear lenses, trying to be complimentary is quite challenging.  It seems that every time we want to say something nice, or to be grateful for all the good things this President has done and continues to do for Israel (that’s a compliment), he does something stupid that makes giving a compliment so much more challenging.

Yesterday it was the pardon for our prime minister while earlier in the day it was his hubris fed demand, in a telephone interview with Reuters, that the United States must be involved in choosing the next leader of Iran.  He added: “We’re going to have to choose that person along with Iran. We’re going to have to choose that person.” Do he or his advisors really believe that he will have a hand in choosing the religious leader of the Iranian Muslim community?  What’s next?  A seat in the College of Cardinals to choose the next Pope?

In addition to all of this, President Trump also promised during the campaign that he would not involve the US in foreign wars.   Yet the statistics show that during his second term, Trump has ordered military interventions in seven countries: Somalia, Iraq, Yemen, Nigeria, Syria, Iran, and Venezuela, in addition to naval operations in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific Ocean along with this week’s latest foray in Ecuador as well.

As Emirati businessman Khalaf Al Habtoor wrote today about Trump in a piece in Egypt’s Ahram on line: “You have carried out more than 658 external airstrikes in your first year in office, equivalent to the total number of strikes during the entire presidency of Joe Biden, whom you criticized for dragging the United States into foreign wars.”  So much for keeping that promise.

These are the kinds of things that make giving compliments so problematic. We all should, of course, work to see the good in people and compliment them on good things that they do.   Yet it reminds one of the words of Benjamin Franklin who famously said:  “It takes many good deeds to build a good reputation, and only one bad one to lose it.” Perhaps Trumps advisors should remind him of this from time to time.