Aaron David Miller

More popular in Israel, Dave, right now than Benjamin Netanyahu.

And the notion somehow that we don't intercede in Israeli politics and they don't intercede in ours is just an urban myth.

You saw what the president did during that speech to the Knesset.

And only three American presidents before have addressed the Knesset.

Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton...

and George W. Bush.

I mean, none of them would have even come close to basically turning to the president of Israel and saying implicitly, why don't you grant him a pardon?

I mean, you know, on trial for bribery, fraud and breach of trust in a Jerusalem district court four years now, almost five years in running now.

Yeah, I think that's a part of the calculation.

But staying in power and the vulnerabilities and risks to a leader.

He's the longest governing prime minister in history of the state of Israel.

He believes he is indispensable.

I'm sure they did.

In fact, if Trump cared about any part of the Middle East, the Gulf –

was the thing, partly for the reasons that you say, the seamless lack of boundaries between what constitutes Trump's business interests and the American national interests.

has long been erased.

The Abraham Accords, his signal achievement, don't want to take anything away from that.

In Trump 1.0, he relishes authoritarians that don't have democratic constraints.

He loves to be flattered.

No, the Gulf is the thing for him.