Some years ago, I sat in a small plane circling over Punta del Este in Uruguay. There was a delay and we sat in tense silence until we began our descent. Outside the tiny airport, a taxi ferried us past private Lear jets; these had been the cause of the hold-up. The driver pointed to two planes side by side. “This one is a Trump plane.”
He pointed to the other, painted entirely black. “That one is Russian oligarch.” Why was a Trump jet parked up with some Russians? Sure enough, a Trump Tower was going up on the coastal strip bordering the Rio de la Plata.
Wherever he goes, he builds, so goes the myth he’s taken from thin air and fakery to stark reality. There’s that line you hear, “He’s a businessman; he’ll know how to run the place.” We’re used to a businessman running the country: every decision is about money. The only line is the bottom line. It’s great when a businessman runs the nation, just don’t complain if the place gets squalid. There’s no such thing as society.
In 2025, the world has a new vibe: Trump is conducting real estate foreign policy. No need to fly between tax havens negotiating with oligarchs, clogging the airways with private planes. If you want a location, you make an announcement. Greenland? We want it. The Panama Canal? Give it back. Canada? We’ll annex it. It makes Putin’s actions in Ukraine look eminently reasonable. It’s all about the Lebensraum.
After the ethnic cleansing, after the slaughter of more than 45,000 Palestinians, there’s a real estate spin on forced displacement. Gaza is the new opportunity. To international incredulity and horror (as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu kept his face under control) Trump proposed snipping this finest of ribbons. He was soft-spoken, suave; he was all class: “I don’t want to be cute, I don’t want to be a wise guy, but the Riviera of the Middle East ... this could be so magnificent.”
Of course, Gaza is waterfront property. When Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner mentioned this, it was passed over in appalled silence. And then the President ran with it. So, Gaza: you clear them out, you build, everybody wins, except the dead and displaced. It was such an eruption of the banality of evil, there was a rush to walk it back. And then Trump burst out with it again.
We have our own politicians who have taken up Trump’s “war on woke”. Can they go on channelling him now? To sup with the devil you need a very long … Is there no limit? Because you have to wonder about the details of real estate foreign policy.
How did Trump propose to transport two million Gazans? There don’t seem to be any trains. What about the dead bodies? Could there be a use for those?
During his first term, Trump had so many conflicts of interest, he buried the notion of ethics. Foreign entities sought favour by staying in his properties, breaching emoluments laws. Back then, he pledged not to enter into real estate deals. Now he’s updated: his company will do so, as long as parties aren’t foreign governments. Some of his recent property ventures could affect foreign policy decisions.
Who cares? Ethics are woke. An anti-woke warrior doesn’t care about “Freddie the frog” or justice or science – he’s indifferent to future humans. Caring is woke. Sometimes he gazes off centre, his speech becomes monotone.
The old guy with his war on rationality. His spoon is too short and his solipsism is total. He doesn’t have much future left; why should anyone else?
