Former President Donald Trump is pandering and fear-mongering at the same time, which could be a new feat for a presidential candidate. He met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago on Friday and declared that World War III is “close,” and then warned that if he does not win re-election in November it could erupt.

If that’s not pandering and fear-mongering then I don’t know what is.

This was a meeting of two of the world’s nastiest human beings. Netanyahu continues his reign of murderous terror that is really a holocaust that has led to the deaths of at least 39,000 Palestinians, and while Trump has a point (sort of), he doesn’t have what it takes to prevent such a catastrophe if (and likely when) it happens. He’s correct in noting that we’re moving closer to WWIII, as the Doomsday Clock also tells us, it’s just as likely, and perhaps more so, to happen if he is reelected.

Indeed, we are living in deeply troubled times, and Trump won’t make the situation any better. With his vitriolic language and continual need to be pandered to at all costs, he’ll worsen the situation, not ameliorate it.

And as Alternet notes, some consider Trump’s meeting with Netanyahu to be in violation of the Logan Act, with this being a critical time for the U.S. and Israel. Netanyahu is a Trump supporter, who, according to some critics, is refusing to end the war in Gaza.

I’m sure the 39,000 Palestinians who have died since October would agree if they were able to. But their voices have been silenced forever so we are left with an Israeli Prime Minister who addressed Congress Wednesday after being invited to do so by House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Chuck Schumer. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris met with Netanyahu on Thursday.

While I’m glad Harris is running, not a single one of these people will do anything to stop Netanyahu. Israel is just too lucrative for the U.S. We have comfy trade deals with Israel and the small country also benefits from our largesse as well, so Netanyahu won’t be going away any time soon.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) filed to obtain arrest warrants for Netanyahu, alleging war crimes. The warrants were filed in May but perhaps this is more symbolic than anything else since the man is still doing what he’s doing.

Trump also used the occasion to attack Harris, his likely 2024 presidential opponent, telling reporters she is “a radical left person, San Francisco, destroyed San Francisco. She’s really a destroyer. She isn’t a builder.”

“I actually don’t know how a person who’s Jewish can vote for her. But that’s up to them,” Trump continued. “Now she’s taken over and she’s worse than him. She’s actually worse than him. So we’ll see how it goes. But if it all works out. If we win, it’ll be very simple. It’s all gonna work out and very quickly.”

You may have noticed Trump provides no evidence for any of this. He’s almost always fact-free. He just spouts something and all of his naive supporters swallow it hook, line, and sinker. No questions asked. He’s deflecting because he thinks it works. And it does for some people. But others who dig deeper find his story lacking.

He’s not wrong in saying we are close to WWIII. As I said earlier, it is growing closer with frightening tenacity.

“If we don’t we’re going to end up with major wars in the Middle East and maybe a Third World War. You are closer to a Third World War right now than at any time since the Second World War. We’ve never been so close because we have incompetent people running our country,” Trump asserted.

Anyone remember how “competent” Trump’s Cabinet leaders were during his presidency? Mike “I plead the fifth” Flynn? Steve “Convicted felon” Bannon? Not to mention some of the other clowns who were in his Cabinet, like Sebastian Gorka, Stephen Miller and other nuts who make the Manson Family seem normal.

Do I need to say more?

Here’s a clip of Trump speaking to Netanyahu below.

Trump is having a fake cabinet meeting with Netanyahu at Mar-a-Lago pic.twitter.com/pKYwfJeSYD

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) July 26, 2024