Trump Launching the Board of Peace Makes Sense: Analyst

Thanks to Mari for that report. And joining us with analysis on Trump's historic visit to Davos is Jeff Krier. He's the host of Ringside Politics. Jeff, thanks for joining us. A lot happened in 24 hours. I'd like to start with the most recent, with this morning's historic ratification of the Board of Peace and the speeches that followed. Your reactions initially. Well, I mean, I think it's a master stroke. I think it's really the president saying that the UN has had all this potential for decades, but they haven't realized it. So he's organizing this entity to start in Gaza. But I wouldn't be surprised if they also take on other problem areas around the world after they deal with the situation in Gaza. So hopefully Vladimir Putin will come on board. Hopefully these European countries that are being reluctant will come on board and we'll get a large group of countries adding their name to this. But I think it's a good first step and I think it just shows the president's disappointment with the United Nations. And listen, a lot of these peace efforts over the past year have been really launched by President Trump, not by the United Nations. So it makes sense for him to start this entity. Yeah, the way you frame it's quite interesting, Jeff, because those same members of the UN are many of the key, typically participating countries in any international body, almost all of Europe really sitting out in what I thought was really a historic announcement. You had Ali Shah, the chair of the Palestinian National Committee, announcing the reopening of the Rafah gate. And then Jared Kushner actually showed what they're planning to build. And it just seemed, I mean, it looked like Miami. It looked like it was going to create a new opportunity for the Palestinian people. Your reactions to that? Well, I think it's needed. I mean, it's been a region that has been really in turmoil for a long time. It's been a region that's been consumed by conflict. And this is hope for the area and sort of builds upon the ceasefire that President Trump helped negotiate. You know, it builds upon the work that he's been doing over the past few years. The Abraham Accords, which he successfully achieved in the first term. So this is the next step forward. I think it's bold. It's it's typical of President Trump. He takes bold steps. And again, it's a hopeful beginning for this entity. And it really will be amazing if the Russian president does come on board this. Again, that's a Russian president joining an entity created by President Trump. So I think it'd be significant if that does occur. President Trump said yes. Vladimir Putin said he's considering it. Hopefully he will join. I mean, the fact that we're discussing not just peace in the Middle East, but actually a full revitalization of this area, you know, it's people sort of just take that for granted in that it is so historic just in that regard. But I do want to shift over to the interrelationship with the U.N. because 48 hours ago, a reporter asked Trump if Board of Peace would replace U.N. And he said maybe. And then today he had a very different tone. Can you explore that? Well, I mean, it's typical President Trump. I mean, he he'll take a position, which I think he he does for negotiating purposes. And then if he sees some movement, he's able to change that position and modify it. I mean, I personally do believe that this could be an entity that replaces a lot of the functions of the United Nations. But it's just starting. So you still have the United Nations. It's still housed, of course, in New York City. So it's it still has the promise, as the president said, it's got great promise. It just hasn't achieved that promise. And I think we really just look over the past few years at how they've failed. They failed with Ukraine, the war there. Who's the one really leading the negotiations right now to try to bring it into the war in Ukraine? It's not Ukraine. It's not the United Nations. It is President Trump and the Trump administration. He's sending the the diplomats back and forth to try to end the war. What is the U.N. really done? I mean, it's the biggest conflict since World War Two. I mean, it's coming up on four years. And then you could go through all the different other areas where the president has helped achieve a peaceful resolution. He says there are eight wars that he stopped. And and of course, it wasn't enough for the Nobel Peace Prize committee and and they didn't give him the Nobel Peace Prize. But then the woman who did won gave it to him. So he got it in the end, I guess. And Jeff, I wish we had more time because there's so much to explore with his over an hour long speech yesterday, defiant at times, kind of funny at times. But one of the themes was the interconnectedness between economic security and national security and energy policy and deregulation and immigration and how all those things fit together. He was kind of poking Europe. What what did you make of that? Well, I think he you know, he talked about the great promise that Europe has and the fact that they have embarked on policies that have been harmful to their national security, to their regional security. And that is the allowing of massive immigration into their countries, pursuing climate change or policies which have not been good for their economies, not pursuing enough on military spending. The president had to push them into getting at that five percent level that they will achieve by 2035. So, I mean, I think it was a wake up call for European countries. And he also reminded them without the United States, I mean, they'd be speaking German and a little bit of Japanese, he said. So it was a reminder that for over a century, the United States has really been coming to the aid of Europe in two world wars, the Marshall Plan, the Cold War protecting them. We currently have over 65000 troops and 38 bases in Europe. So it's the United States that has embarked on all those costs. And I think he's calling for Europe to share to share more in those costs and to take policies that are more, I guess, security minded as opposed to wanting to accept the world there. It really has been detrimental to their security by allowing those policies to continue. And Jeff, just in our last 30 seconds, he had many clever moments in the speech. Just one thing that you found, you know, revealing and or humorous in the Trump way. Well, I will say revealing. He's always funny and he's always someone that brings up interesting points. He talked about the election. He talked about the 2020 election in this speech to the World Economic Forum. So he hasn't stopped talking about the 2020 election. I assume he's going to be coming out with more information about it. So he said without that election, you know, the war in Ukraine would have never started. So he weaves it all together. So I think we'll be hearing more from President Trump about that election. And, you know, he continues to surprise the world. I'll tell you that. I thought it was a very, very good speech. Thank you so much for your analysis this morning. Good to see you. Thanks for having me.