Trump's AI Gaza Video and the Folly of Fear
How Zero-Sum Thinking Dooms Us All
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In the small town where I used to live in the Arkansas Delta, the local white community formed their own “white flight” private school.
It started in the early 1970s after the Supreme Court ordered immediate desegregation of all public schools.
More than a decade after Brown v. Board, white leaders were still dragging their feet or outright refusing to comply with the order to desegregate.
But this time the court set a deadline, and the white community faced an imminent decision—follow the law and see Black and white kids together in the same schools, or go around the law by starting completely new schools.
They chose the latter.
They started a private school that was de facto meant only for white students and preserved the racially segregated status quo.
In doing so, they diverted vital financial resources and community support from the local public schools which became almost entirely comprised of Black students.
The white parents not only acted immorally, they acted foolishly, too.
They could have kept their money and support in the local public schools, thereby uplifting the entire education system for all.
Instead, the public schools fell into disrepair and disorganization due to a lack of funding while the white private school flounders in mediocrity and craven segregation.
The white decision-makers succumbed to a fear and pettiness that tanked the entire education system by rejecting the simpler, more ethical option that would have resulted in prosperity for all.
I was reminded of this lamentable reality when I saw a video Trump shared.
Trump’s horrific vision for Gaza and the Palestinians, punctuated by an AI-Generated video he posted on social media, repeats the folly of zero-sum thinking.
We’ll Own It
Early in February, Trump shared a chilling vision for the land of Gaza and its people.
At a press conference seated next to ultra far-right Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump glibly stated:
“The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it, too. We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings — level it out. Create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. Do a real job. Do something different.”
Trump continued, “We're going to take over that piece. We're going to develop it, create thousands and thousands of jobs, and it'll be something that the entire Middle East can be very proud of.”
The comments set off a firestorm on social media and in opinion articles because it smacked of imperialism, colonialism, human rights abuses, and naked greed.
Then, on February 25, Trump doubled-down on his reprehensible suggestions by sharing on social media an AI-generated video that visualized his dystopian dream.
According to NPR,
The apparently AI-generated video includes depictions of Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu sunbathing in Gaza, and imagines scenes of destruction in Gaza transformed into a glitzy Riviera-style resort called "TRUMP GAZA."
The video also shows children running out of the rubble into a world of palm trees and luxury buildings, and a towering golden statue of Trump. It depicts men in apparent drag dancing in bikinis on the beach, Trump enjoying a belly dancer and a man resembling Elon Musk being showered with cash in the form of U.S. currency.
The AI video Trump shared demonstrates a reveals a powerful world leader willing to trample over human rights on the way to a payday.
It also reveals actual golden images of the man conjuring images of the golden calf which the Hebrews of the Old Testament offered idolatrous worship.
But I want to explore the fatal assumption that undergird the video and its vision of progress.
Zero-Sum Thinking
Trump’s solution to the decades-long, violent conflict between Israel and Palestine is not to use his position as President of the United States to broker a lasting peace that honors the humanity in all people.
Instead, Trump and those who side with him on displacing the Palestinians to develop beachfront resorts, repeat the folly of so many of the rich and powerful—that prosperity is a zero-sum proposition.
What a grave lack of imagination.
Instead of booting an entire people group off of the land they have literally died to remain in, why not invest that same money into rebuilding Gaza for Palestinians?
You don’t actually have to displace a people to improve their lives. You could simply rebuild and help them.
What supporters of a Trump-style dream for Gaza fail to appreciate is that it will not only harm Palestinians, it will harm the Israelis who support the plan, too.
They will live in fear of retribution from the Palestinians they wronged. They will not all benefit from the prospective financial gains as the ultra-wealthy hoard the riches for themselves. And they will always be burdened by the weight of the moral catastrophe they wrought.
If you need evidence, just ask the white people in the United States who can’t even bear to hear the history of racism in the nation without “feeling bad.”
Martin Luther King, Jr. wrote in his book Why We Can’t Wait, “We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.”
There is no way to rebuild Gaza without including the repair and uplift of the Palestinian people.
Even if the hotels, resorts, and tourism attracted waves of cash, it would still not be successful.
Until we realize that our healing is wrapped up in the healing of our neighbors, we will all continue to suffer the wounds of injustice.
The words of the stalwart civil rights activist and political organizer Fannie Lou Hamer should act as a filter when we see AI-generated videos venerating a man consumed by avarice and promoting rotten visions of prosperity for the few and suffering for the many.
“Nobody’s free until everybody’s free.”
What were you reactions to the Trump AI video about Gaza? Share in the comments below.
If you want to know where Trump’s brand of politics and greed stems from, be sure to watch my interview with Katherine Stewart on her essential book, Money, Lies, and God: Inside the Movement to Destroy American Democracy.
I cannot be objective about this child of God (I have to keep reminding myself,,,,,) This is precisely all that God abhors. Nothing is new about this man; no humility, no servant leadership, lying, cheating, swindling insecurity, obtuse racism, child-like disdain for and revenge exacted on anyone who doesn't play along. He puts himself on the throne and mocks an almighty God.
And this is only what comes to me at this moment. What a fallen, depraved example of humanity. Apparently there is no bottom.
You put it best: The AI video is brazen idolatry. It is also crass and arrogant and cruel. You echo Willie James Jennings, too, in rightly calling Trump's vision for Gaza a "grave lack of imagination." That's whiteness--such poor imagination, indeed. Thanks again for your necessary analysis and insights.