It’s been a difficult few weeks for the world’s beta leadership class.
Last month, Britain’s Keir Starmer, France’s Emmanuel Macron, Canada’s Mark Carney and Portugal’s Paulo Rangel sparked fury among anyone who opposes Islamic terrorism when they recognized a Palestinian state. “Today, to revive the hope of peace for the Palestinians and Israelis, and a two-state solution, the United Kingdom formally recognises the State of Palestine,” said Starmer, blind to the oxymoronic notion that rewarding terrorism will ever bring about its end.
This demonstration of fecklessness was simply the latest chapter in a long history of pandering and placation, pushing the Western belief that if we’re nice enough to those who chant for our deaths, if we give enough money to those who want to erase our civilization, and if we give enough meaningless proclamations of support to those who are as uncompromising as they are relentless, the threat posed by radical Islam will evaporate.
The Iran nuclear deal was built on the same flawed premise—complete with pallets of cash.
Enter Donald Trump, who has again shattered this delusion.
During his first and second administration, Trump has shown what is necessary for actual peace to be achieved. After delivering the historic Abraham Accords—with Arab nations establishing or normalizing diplomatic and economic relations with Israel, the country they wanted to wipe from the map just decades earlier—Trump has now delivered a ceasefire and hostage return, ending—even temporarily—the brutal two-year-long war between Israel and Hamas after the latter carried out the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust on October 7, 2023.
And how did Donald Trump do this? He didn’t reward terrorists, or try to flatter his way into peace, or pretend like Islamic radicalism simply doesn’t exist. Instead, he stood behind Israel and collectively demonstrated unwavering and insurmountable strength, with Israel shaking off the burdens of the Biden administration by bringing Hamas to its knees and the American military striking a blow to the heart of the radical regime behind the ongoing violence in the Middle East: Iran.
In a single stroke, Trump did what the rest of the political class has failed to do for half a century: he delivered results. No empty peace conferences,self-righteous lectures about “restraint,” or arguments about both sides being morally equal. Instead, just hard-nosed negotiation backed by the threat of overwhelming force. Using the only language radical Islamists understand, predictably, the result was peace, not because everyone held hands, but because everyone knows that America—under Donald Trump—is in charge.
Sure, Trump’s brand of foreign policy isn’t pretty, but it’s moral. Not in the fragile, handwringing way that Macron and Starmer promote, but in the only way that matters: in its defense of civilization against barbarism. While other Western leaders still believe that weakness is virtue, Trump understands that peace only comes through strength. He doesn’t apologize for standing with the only democracy in the Middle East. He doesn’t stutter about “proportionality” while terrorists hide behind children. He knows that civilization either asserts itself or it collapses.
If it were up to leaders like Macron, Starmer, Carney or—God forbid—Kamala Harris, a State of Palestine would have been recognized while Israeli hostages continued to remain in the depths of Gaza. It’s really that simple.
Time after time, Trump has humiliated his critics by proving that his foreign policy is not simplistic or reckless or chaotic but devastatingly effective. Now, the world faces a choice. It can continue to follow its Macrons and Starmers and Carneys into submission, or it can embrace what American leadership should look like: one that not only leads, but wins.