[COLUMNIST] Trump’s key cabinet pick - Recipe for a modern-day crusade

SINCE winning the presidential election with a so-called “landslide” victory, Trump has wasted no time in filling in cabinet appointments for key positions revolving around foreign policy.

It’s intriguing that Trump, supposedly the paragon of “America First” and advocate par excellence for less interventionism (recalling the paleo-conservative ideology of Pat Buchanan from the “right”, and to a lesser degree, Lyndon LaRouche from the “far left” albeit with significant differences on Israel, among others), would surround himself with hawks and neocons.

In other words, far from aiming to prevent and stall conflicts, these appointments could pave the way for the outbreak of a regional war in the Middle East where much of the world attention is currently focused due to the on-going genocide, no less.

Genocide in Gaza in and of itself presents the conditions that’d lead to a regional war.

Trump’s appointments could only accelerate the process.

As veteran Middle East observer and commentator David Hearst points out in “War on Gaza: Trump's cabinet is a recipe for all-out Middle East war” (Middle East Eye, November 14, 2024), “[f]rom Mike Waltz [Trump 2.0’s national security adviser] to Marco Rubio [new Secretary of State], the incoming US president's staunchly pro-Israel team will fan the flames of conflict”.

To quote Hearst further, “Waltz is a dedicated enemy of ceasefires [but] … the Arab world has changed in the last 13 months beyond recognition. Trump’s team [isn’t] returning to the same playground it fooled around in back in 2017”.

Hearst quotes former Foreign Minister of Jordan Marwan Muasher (and also the kingdom’s first ambassador to Israel and one of the authors of the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002) which is worth reproducing here: “[The] public, not just in Jordan but across the Arab world, has been very radicalised by October 7 today, and no one wants to talk peace today … A majority of people now think that the only way to end the occupation is through armed resistance, and that has never been the case, even among Palestinians”.

Now, Trump’s appointments would make the pro-Zionist Biden administration – as embodied by Vice-President Kamala Harris and Secretary of State Anthony Blinken – look like “goody two-shoes” by comparison.

It’d seem that either the restrainers within the MAGA (“Make America Great Again”) inner circles are either play-acting or genuinely unable to influence Trump to resist the hawks and neocons (neoconservatives).

Eurosceptic journalist Thomas Fazi highlights that “[m]any of the names chosen by Trump to fill key foreign policy and national security roles are, in fact, well-known neocons and war hawks who advocate a muscular foreign policy against countries such as Iran and China ...”.

These “… appointments don’t suggest a pivot away from Biden’s reckless interventionism and imperial overreach, but rather a return to policies that Trump once [criticised]” (“What happened to America First? Trump's cabinet picks seem more neocon than isolationist”, Unherd, November 18, 2024).

To add, “[as] is clear, fervent support for Israel is a common thread among all of Trump’s foreign policy nominees”.

Old-school conspiracy theorists would take note that the Trump administration has done what no other administration has done so far, at the risk of anachronism.

And that is to amalgamate Christian Zionism (itself a blending of theology and Zionism) and what’d be American Catholic neo-conservatism.

The influence of Christian Zionism is unabashed and out there “in front”.

The new Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth belongs to an “ultra-conservative” Reformed denomination with white supremacist instincts.

The words, Deus Vult, is tattooed on his right bicep with the Jerusalem Cross “emblazoned” on his right chest. The motto/battle cry and cross were associated with the First Crusades in the 11th century.

Hegseth is convinced that the Zionist claim on Palestine represents the continuing the story of “God’s chosen people”.

Hegseth has also stated that “Zionism and Americanism are the frontlines of Western civilisation and freedom”.

Then there’s Mike Huckabee, Trump’s choice for the next US ambassador to Israel, who embodies the Christian Zionist theological ethos.

As an evangelist and ordained Baptist minister from the Bible Belt, former Arkansas governor Huckabee is the very epitome of the Christian Zionist. He denies the existence of the West Bank, calling the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT) there adopting the Zionist settlers’ term of “Judea and Samaria”.

Less well known, however, is the significant number of American Catholics who’re neocons in Trump’s foreign policy appointments.

That is, the Catholic iteration (rogue, to be sure) of Christian nationalism (in addition to the Protestant version as embodied by Christian Zionism, among others, again also rogue) in American Christendom.

Trump is now surrounding himself with ultra/hardline right-wing Catholics.

The situation is unlike the Democratic party where Joe Biden is a “liberal” and, of course, we had the late great JFK (John F Kennedy), America’s first Catholic President – ending centuries of socio-political prejudice and bigotry.

It’s worth pointing out that JFK was determined to pursue an independent course of American foreign policy.

Conspiracy theorists such as Michael Collins Piper suggested that as a result, JFK was assassinated by the Zionists and perhaps as another matter of pure conjecture, due to his refusal to expand American intervention in the Vietnam War.

Trump’s foreign policy team is dominated by American Catholic neocons such as Marco Rubio (new Secretary of State as alluded to), Brian Hook (who will head the transition in the State Department), Elise Stefanik (new American ambassador to the United Nations/UN) and not least John Ratcliffe (new Director of America’s “premier” intelligence entity – the Central Intelligence Agency or CIA).

The exception would be JD Vance.

These neocons without exception are vehemently anti-Twelver Shiite Iran – with its own distinctive eschatological/apocalyptic worldview.

Whilst in line with the Church’s moral teachings, it has to be said that they stand in stark opposition to the Pope and the (ordinary) Magisterium’s stance on international relations issues, not to mention the Church’s social teaching on social justice and the principle of subsidiarity, etc.

Hence, the striking anomaly in terms of the religious profession/confession of these neocons with their political worldviews.

Perhaps, this simply reflects the Americanisation of confessional identity as also impacting conservative Lutherans, considered as “cousins” in the wider western catholic tradition (becoming in effect a fixed electoral deposit for the Republican party), especially the hardliners who’re in hoc to/enthralled with the America First ideology.

What’s not so anomalous is perhaps the prominence of American Catholics in the intelligence community, especially the CIA.

John Ratcliffe is simply following in the footsteps of his predecessors such as former Director of CIA William Colby. Incidentally, the latter’s grandson is Elbridge Colby, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Strategy and Force Development (2017-2018) under Trump 1.0.

Then there’s James Jesus Angleton, the well-known chief of counterintelligence in the CIA (see, “A CIA Chief's Chilling Dying Words and the JFK Assassination”, The Take, by John Miltimore, June 16, 2023).

This fact has been “acknowledged” by the Catholics themselves.

In an article entitled, “Why Catholics thrive in the CIA” (May 5, 2016) by Robert Wargas as published in the UK’s Catholic Herald (a mainstream journal, no less), the CIA as “… the best known of the 17 agencies that comprise the American intelligence community … has earned itself nicknames like ‘Catholic Intelligence Agency’ and ‘Catholics in Action’”.

This is due to the relatively high number of Catholics who have served as Directors of the CIA.

Other names include Walter Bedell Smith, John McCone and William Casey. All were staunch and faithful Catholics and “… devout Mass-goers – in many cases, members of groups like the Knights of Malta”.

Recent ones include Michael Hayden, Leon Panetta, and John Brennan.

Hence, the conspiracy theories alongside the alternate/parallel interpretations.

The “preponderance” of Catholics – mainly of Irish descent – in senior/high-level CIA ranks could be a socio-cultural phenomenon traceable back to its forerunner, i.e., the OSS (Office of Strategic Services – founded by Irish Catholic General William J Donovan in 1942).

It’s at a time when political suspicions against Catholics were still ingrained.

Hence, the need (psychological, emotional) for Catholics to prove themselves as loyal Americans via national security services which extended into the Cold War as embodied by the anti-Communist drive of Senator Joseph McCarthy.

It’s also due to the historic prominence of prestigious Catholic and Jesuit schools of diplomacy and foreign policy such as the prominent Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service (SFS) of Georgetown University which is the oldest in the country.

The same article pointed out that statistically speaking (i.e., in terms of the numbers), Catholics in key political appointments have been historically underwhelming (given the dominance of the Protestant/evangelical demographics).

Until now.

Under Trump 2.0.

With a big difference.

The dominance of American Catholic neocons in foreign policy, that is.

It bears repeating that these American Catholic neocons aren’t necessarily faithful (under the consensus fidelium/of the faithful) to the teachings and guidance of the Church.

Trump’s American Catholic neocons would do well to heed His Holiness Pope Francis’s condemnation of and stance on the genocide in Gaza.

Pope Francis has called for an inquiry into the genocide in Gaza which is also outlined in a forthcoming book, Hope Never Disappoints: Pilgrims towards a Better World, based on his interviews with Hernan Reyes Alcaide (“Pope Francis urges inquiry into Gaza genocide allegations”, Reuters, November 17, 2024).

These American Catholic neocons are simply “useful idiots” of the Deep State – which Trump himself has railed against in the past.

Instead, they should submit to the papal judgment and obedience (including unqualified assent to the Code of Canon Law for the laity).

While they’d be in obedience to the authority of the Church on her moral teachings (e.g., abortion – Gaudium et Spes, the Catechism) and arguably have latitude to derogate from fully accepting pastoral declarations such as Fiducia Supplicans (on the general application of blessing of same-sex couples), their worldview contradicts the Nostra Aetate (Declaration on the Relation of the Church to Non-Christian Religions) which moves beyond the history of the crusades and, therefore, with implications on foreign policy.

Americanisation has resulted in the capture/influence of the Catholic political mind by the prevalent dispensationalism (including Christian Zionism) – expressing extreme Protestant millenialist and apocalyptic/eschatological worldviews (American exceptionalism, Manifest Destiny, and neocon thought as being simply the political sub-set/dimension) – having roots in the dialectical thinking of Joachim of Fiore (the 12th century theologian, mystic and philosopher of history).

In the final analysis, Trump’s key appointments in foreign policy are simply a recipe for a 21st century crusade which can only ignite a regional conflagration in the Middle East and perhaps even further escalate into World War 3.

Perhaps, Trump’s appointments reflect his desire to avoid the fate of JFK, again as a matter of pure high-octane speculation. The assassination attempts – which Trump and his supporters attribute to the Deep State – must have taken a toll on him.

Notwithstanding, just like many of the conspiracy theories, there’s no definitive proof of the involvement of the Deep State.

Be that as it may, perhaps the one “consolation” is Tulsi Gabbard’s appointment as the next Director of National Intelligence of whom the Director of the CIA reports to.

Except for her latent Hindutva sympathies, if at all, her focus on combatting Isis and Islamic terrorism the world over (and championing the plight of religious minorities) should counterbalance the rest of Trump’s appointments.

Or could it?

If not, then to reiterate, what we’re about to see unfolding could well resemble a modern-day version of the crusades (in alliance with the Zionist entity).

At the end of the day, America First isn’t about putting the interests and welfare of the Americans first.

Its foreign policy has metamorphosised into a fanatical messianic vision driven by the twin evils of Zionism and neoconservatism which could only end up in Armageddon.

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Jason Loh Seong Wei is Head of Social, Law & Human Rights at EMIR Research, an independent think tank focussed on strategic policy recommendations based on rigorous research.

** The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the position of Astro AWANI.

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