Trump’s overseas triumph disarmed the Democratic attack machine: MARK HALPERIN reveals
The Merchant of Chaos has become the Colossus.
And in politics, as in nature, size matters.
Donald Trump has, for years, been dismissed by Washington’s professional class as an arsonist: a man of instinct, improvisation, and self-promotion, lacking in policy expertise, allergic to process, and indifferent to tradition and precedent.
But with his new Middle East peace accord, the president may have accomplished what generations of leaders, diplomats, think-tankers, and speechwriters have not. And the result is a moment that could reorder the American political landscape every bit as much as it could potentially reshape and help heal the region itself.
The optics of this latest Trumpian victory may be inescapably transformative; should the peace hold, Trump’s staunchest critics may be forced to proffer respect, no matter how grudging. Even Trump’s controversial recent use of military power, as in Iran, may be further validated, since the Israeli-Hamas deal would have been impossible without the Iran piece deftly addressed.
Trump’s immediate triumph deprives Democrats of one of their favorite contrasts: the moral superiority of delicate diplomacy over bluster. Democratic leaders, including President Joe Biden, who campaigned on restoring America’s steady hand abroad, now face a paradox—do they congratulate Trump explicitly, or risk looking petty by ignoring the achievement?
The Democratic attack machine, always swift to frame Trump as reckless or corrupt, finds itself momentarily disarmed. Criticizing a man who feasibly has brought Israelis and Palestinians into a new era of coexistence is a hard sell even for the most committed partisans.
For the first time in years, late-night comedians and liberal columnists are searching for the right line, a plausible spin—and coming up empty.
Ironically, the accord in Gaza could also help the Democratic Party in the long run. The peace deal may act as a solvent for one of its deepest, most painful, internal divides.
The optics of this latest Trumpian victory may be inescapably transformative; should the peace hold, Trump’s staunchest critics may be forced to proffer respect, no matter how grudging
Criticizing a man who feasibly has brought Israelis and Palestinians into a new era of coexistence is a hard sell even for the most committed partisans (Pictured: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauds while Trump addresses the Knesset on October 13)
The Israel-Palestine question has fractured progressives and centrists, pitting activists such as New York mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani against traditional figures such as Andrew Cuomo, who has been eyeing a comeback. If the Palestinian issue fades from the front lines of moral urgency, Democrats may rediscover unity heading into 2026 and 2028.
For Cuomo, in particular, the moment is political oxygen. With the conflict defused, his rival’s animating cause evaporates. A quieter Middle East may make for a quieter and less volatile New York primary, with a focus on pragmatic urban governance instead of symbolic tribalism.
Beyond the Beltway, the implications are cultural. The accord offers Israel and its American allies a priceless opportunity to rebuild goodwill after a bruising decade and poisonous two years. Public opinion toward Israel had collapsed not only on the left but increasingly on the populist right, where fatigue with foreign entanglements became fused with skepticism about elites. A credible peace allows Israel to reclaim its role as America’s embattled but morally admirable ally—a narrative that once united liberals and conservatives alike.
And the beneficiaries of this deal are not just Trump himself. The deal elevates Steve Witkoff, the New York real-estate impresario who, somewhat improbably, has become a preeminent envoy.
Trump’s confident selection of Witkoff—a businessman without diplomatic credentials—was ridiculed by experts. Now it looks visionary. So too with Jared Kushner, long accused of blurring the lines between diplomacy and deal-making. For some, this agreement retroactively sanctifies that fusion.
Kushner’s critics see conflicts of interest; his defenders see the new model of twenty-first-century power, where commerce and geopolitics are two sides of the same coin. And many who sniffed at Kushner’s nepo-baby-in-law status in the first Trump administration are now reluctantly recasting him as an bona fide emissary.
Within Trump’s circle, the vindication is near-religious. They argue that his methods—intuitive, transactional, personal—have unequivocally triumphed over the stale bureaucratic habits of Foggy Bottom.
Kushner’s (pictured with Ivanka Trump) critics see conflicts of interest; his defenders see the new model of twenty-first-century power, where commerce and geopolitics are two sides of the same coin
Trump’s confident selection of Witkoff (pictured, right) —a businessman without diplomatic credentials—was ridiculed by experts
In this telling, Trump is not the disrupter who stumbled into success but the architect of a new realism: cut through the jargon, find leverage, make the deal.
Finally, this realignment could carry national electoral consequences. Moderate Jewish voters, some of whom have drifted from Trump out of exhaustion or distaste, may return to the Republican fold. Their affinity will not be with MAGA rallies but with the man who brought calm to Jerusalem. And for JD Vance, Trump’s ideological heir apparent, the halo effect could prove invaluable: peace abroad as prologue to populist consolidation at home.
Perhaps the most remarkable aspect of the Trump peace deal is how faithfully it reflects his peculiar brand of statecraft. Every establishment rule he broke now looks like a stroke of genius. He ignored the experts, bypassed the diplomats, threatened allies, flattered enemies, and refused to take ‘no’ for an answer. He got leverage over Benjamin Netanyahu, a feat that has eluded multiple administrations. He operated by instinct, ego, and timing—and it worked. The art of the deal, indeed.
While Trump’s admirers cheer and his detractors fret that norms don’t matter, both sides believe that Trump’s success will harden his faith in himself and make it more challenging for aides to restrain him. Having delivered peace once, he will assume he can do it again—perhaps in Ukraine or Taiwan. Talk of a Nobel Prize no longer seems fanciful.
For JD Vance, Trump’s ideological heir apparent, the halo effect could prove invaluable: peace abroad as prologue to populist consolidation at home
All sensible people are celebrating on this day, but America’s ambivalence endures. The very traits that enabled Trump to broker this deal—his disregard for convention, his appetite for risk—are the same ones that make many uneasy about entrusting him again with power.
Is he a genius or merely lucky? A savant or a reckless gambler on a winning streak? Washington will debate the answer long after the ink on the Israel-Hamas treaty dries.
But for now, one fact is undeniable: the man once written off as a political sideshow has captured his place on the center stage of history, redrawing, for the time being, the map of both the Middle East and American politics.
He has seized the moral high ground and the media spotlight in a single stroke. And while his opponents fumble for talking points, Donald Trump stands taller—an unorthodox behemoth, his imposing silhouette cast across a suddenly quieter world.