His immediate involvement in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, even before taking office, signals that the Middle East remains central to his agenda. Image: Reuters
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It started in paralysis and strategic incoherence, with the immigration raids where those Trump’s strategies particularly in his handling of regional crises, or a southern approach in his first week hours, they know they aren’t going anywhere.
Within hours of taking the oath of office, Donald Trump has unleashed what can only be described as a policy tsunami, demonstrating that his second presidency will waste no time with the electoral hangover. The sheer scope of his Day One actions points to a leader determined to reshape American policy at breakneck speed, with profound implications for the Middle East and beyond.
The contrast with his predecessor couldn’t be starker. Where Joe Biden’s presidency ended in paralysis and strategic incoherence, particularly in his handling of regional crises, Trump’s first 24 hours have signaled a dramatic return to the muscular strongman unilateralism that marked his first term’s most consequential achievements.
The numbers alone are staggering: dozens of executive orders signed and nearly 1,600 pardons issued in his first hours in office. Trump’s inaugural address, delivered in the Capitol Rotunda, threw aside pomp and ceremony for immediate action. “From this day forward,” he declared, “our country will flourish and be respected again all over the world.” He backed these words with immediate, sweeping policy changes that have left the stagnant global political elite reeling.
This is not the hesitant start of his 2017 term or the bureaucratic incrementalism of the Biden era. Consider the breadth of actions taken in just his first day: withdrawing from both the World Health Organisation and the Paris climate agreement, declaring a national emergency at the southern border, announcing plans for a 25 percent tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports, and issuing a mass pardon for January 6 defendants. Where Biden’s team spent months wringing their hands over regional crises, from Gaza to the Red Sea shipping lanes, Trump has demonstrated he intends to govern in his own bold, uncompromising style.
For those of us in the Middle East, Trump’s inaugural declaration that “our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable” carries particular weight. His record in the region is one that few American presidents can surpass, with his term including seminal moments such as the signing of the historic Abraham Accords normalising relations between Israel and several Arab states, the elimination of ISIS’s territorial control, and the strike that killed Iranian General Qasem Soleimani. Now, after four years of a White House riddled with uncertainty, confusion and moral compromise in the region, Trump returns to office amid a dramatically altered landscape.
His immediate involvement in the Gaza ceasefire negotiations, even before taking office, signals that the Middle East remains central to his agenda. When Trump proclaimed, “I was saved by God to make America great again,” following an assassination attempt, he was speaking to his base. But his actions suggest he views his second term as a divine mandate to reshape global order with unprecedented urgency.
The speed and decisiveness of Trump’s Day One agenda reflect lessons learned from both his first term and Biden’s failures. No longer a stranger to the Oval Office, Trump clearly has learned how to to wield executive power. His provocative declarations about “taking back” the Panama Canal and renaming the Gulf of Mexico to the “Gulf of America,” signal a brazen new chapter in American foreign policy—one that could fundamentally alter the international order.
For regional leaders, this new reality demands immediate strategic recalibration. Trump’s demonstrated willingness to act swiftly and unilaterally means that waiting on the sidelines is not an option. His previous tenure showed that personal relationships often trump institutional diplomatic ties, and his Day One sprint suggests this tendency will only intensify.
The implications for the region are profound. Saudi Arabia’s hesitation to normalise relations with Israel without progress on Palestinian statehood now faces a president who, quite literally, wrote the book on the art of deal-making. Unlike Biden’s ineffective attempts at balancing competing interests, Trump appears ready to force breakthrough moments through sheer force of will and executive action.
Trump’s declaration that America’s “golden age has just begun” proves that there is little time to be wasted in his second term – news that will be welcomed by a region that has been left scratching its head at four years of ignorant foreign policy marred by conflict and moral compromise. Perhaps it is not just the start of an American golden age, but one for the Arab world too.
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