The Trump Administration: America Governed by Amateurs and Agents

 Norman Finkelstein

  · 

Ezz Elmasry ·deorstpoSn94M7330chmham75tg0c91raM3h 8680741Pca6g 8il2t: m7  ·

The Trump Administration: America Governed by Amateurs and Agents

The Trump Administration: America Governed by Amateurs and Agents

Opinion — March 2026

America has never seen anything quite like this. The Trump administration wasn't elected to govern the United States — it was assembled to hand it over. Hand it over to a remarkable combination of unqualified loyalists and foreign-aligned operatives, running the world's most powerful military as if it were a real estate deal on a golf course.

I. A Witness From the Inside — "This War Is for Israel, Not America"

On March 17, 2026, Joe Kent — Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, decorated Special Forces veteran, a man who lost his wife to a suicide bomber in Syria, and one of Trump's most loyal MAGA insiders — resigned. Effective immediately. His letter left nothing to the imagination:

"Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation. This war was started on behalf of Israel and its powerful American lobby. I cannot in good conscience support sending the next generation to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people."

Retired General Steve Anderson — who disagrees with Kent politically — didn't hesitate: "This is a massive blow to President Trump. It took incredible political courage. This is a MAGA guy through and through — and he's saying this war is getting worse, not better." Anderson added that he hopes more resignations follow, because "staying silent right now is a serious moral failure."

The Guardian then published the testimony of a diplomat with direct knowledge of the US-Iran negotiations, who said plainly: "We considered Witkoff and Kushner to be Israeli assets who dragged a president who wanted out of the war back into it."

II. A Golf Buddy at the Nuclear Negotiating Table

Here's where it gets almost unbelievable.

Steve Witkoff — Trump's personal real estate developer and golf partner — and Jared Kushner — Trump's son-in-law, who carries a custom pager given to him by Netanyahu and senior Mossad officials — were America's representatives in high-stakes nuclear negotiations with Iran.

Thirty-six hours before the bombs dropped, Iranian negotiators delivered a seven-page proposal through Oman's foreign minister. It offered the complete removal of their enriched uranium stockpile in exchange for a deal. Britain's national security adviser Jonathan Powell — who brought his own nuclear expert to Geneva specifically to understand the technical details — left the talks convinced a deal was within reach.

Witkoff and Kushner brought no nuclear experts. Scheduled technical talks in Vienna were canceled the following day.

When asked about his qualifications, Witkoff shrugged: "I won't claim to be a nuclear expert, but I've read a lot." Nuclear specialists described his characterization of Iran's program as "confusing and riddled with technical errors."

Foreign Policy magazine gave them both a failing grade, concluding they had engaged in "deliberate deception — pretending to negotiate while Trump and Netanyahu were already planning the war."

Even Republican Senator Thom Tillis called it out: "Witkoff and Kushner are successful businessmen, no question. But they have no Senate confirmation, no oversight. Having the same two people negotiate Ukraine, Iran, and Gaza simultaneously — that makes no sense whatsoever."

III. Hegseth and Rubio — The Lobby's Most Valuable Assets

Pete Hegseth was confirmed as Secretary of Defense by a 50-50 tie vote — broken only by the Vice President's tiebreaker. Half the Senate said he wasn't qualified. He was confirmed anyway.

He has a tattoo of the Crusader cross on his chest alongside Matthew 10:34 — "I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." (European Council on Foreign Relations) In 2018, he told a religious conference in Jerusalem that he hoped for a "miracle" that would lead to rebuilding the Temple on the Temple Mount (European Council on Foreign Relations) — which would mean the end of the Al-Aqsa Mosque. He has called the two-state solution "dead," dismissed ceasefire negotiations as "Hamas extortion," and in 2020 called for massive US military strikes on Iran's infrastructure and possibly its cultural sites. (Al Jazeera)

This man controls America's nuclear arsenal.

Marco Rubio is where the money trail becomes impossible to ignore. Rubio has received over one million dollars from AIPAC and the Israeli lobby since his Senate election in 2010. His appointment as Secretary of State was orchestrated by Miriam Adelson, who poured $120 million into Trump's 2024 campaign. (Axios)

But the most damning evidence came in March 2026. Investigative journalist Max Blumenthal obtained a leaked audio recording of AIPAC's CEO Elliott Brandt, in which Brandt explicitly describes Rubio, Mike Waltz, and John Ratcliffe as "actual Israeli assets" — and boasts that his organization "successfully planted its influence inside three of the top national security officials in the Trump administration." (dailypost)

Let that sink in. The CEO of a foreign lobbying organization is on tape bragging that he "planted" America's Secretary of State, National Security Adviser, and CIA Director. In any other country, that recording would trigger a treason investigation.

IV. Follow the Money — How America Was Purchased

The financial architecture of this takeover is now fully documented:

Miriam Adelson alone pumped $120 million into Trump's 2024 campaign. Combined with her late husband Sheldon, the Adelson family has invested over one billion dollars in American politics. (legalinsurrection) The Republican Jewish Coalition — AIPAC's primary political arm — spent over $14 million backing Trump since 2020. (Al Jazeera)

Here's what that investment bought:

Secretary of State — purchased by AIPAC for a documented $1 million+

Secretary of Defense — confirmed only by a tiebreaker, deemed unqualified by half the Senate

Nuclear negotiator — a golf buddy carrying a Mossad-gifted pager

Son-in-law diplomat — dragging a president toward a war he reportedly wanted to avoid

Counterterrorism Director — resigned saying "this war serves Israel, not America"

V. Europe Says No — A Historic Rupture

For the first time since the Cold War, America's closest allies publicly refused to support a US military operation — and went further, calling it illegal.

Germany rejected participation and demanded answers. Spain declared the strikes violated international law and permanently withdrew its ambassador to Israel. The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace said European criticism was "entirely justified." Not a single European leader endorsed this war as lawful.

Think about what that means. America's oldest allies — the nations that stood beside the US through every major conflict of the past century — looked at this war and said: not this time.

The Bottom Line

Thirteen American soldiers are dead since the war began February 28th. Over 1,400 Iranians have been killed. When Trump was asked who decides when the war ends, he answered: "I think it's mutual... we're talking. We destroyed together a country that wanted to destroy Israel."

A sitting US president describing an act of war using "we" — himself and a foreign government leader.

A Defense Secretary who dreams of rebuilding the Temple in Jerusalem. A Secretary of State who is, by his own patron's recorded admission, an "Israeli asset." A nuclear negotiator who is a golf buddy with a Mossad pager. A Counterterrorism Director who resigned rather than serve a war he called Israel's war.

This is not an American government in any recognizable sense. It is a service operation for a foreign agenda — staffed by loyalists too unqualified to ask questions and operators too conflicted to answer them honestly.

America was not defeated from the outside. It handed over its keys voluntarily.

And the soldiers dying in the Gulf are paying the price for a war that was never theirs.

Opinion — sourced from The Guardian, Foreign Policy, US Senate records, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and leaked recordings reported by investigative journalists