It’s an all-too-familiar scene: U.S. President Donald Trump addressing the media from the Oval Office as cabinet members and foreign dignitaries take turns lavishing praise on him. Recently, this scene transpired with Trump flanked by the Lebanese and Israeli ambassadors, alongside Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. They had just concluded a second round of U.S.-sponsored Israeli-Lebanese talks, and Trump had announced a three-week extension of the countries’ cease-fire.
When Trump called on the Lebanese ambassador to speak, she made sure to thank him effusively. “I want to really say thank you to the United States under your leadership, for all your effort to help and to support Lebanon,” said Ambassador Nada Hamadeh Moawad. “And I think with your help, with your support, we can make Lebanon great again.”
“Thank you, I like that phrase,” Trump said. “It’s a good phrase.”
“MLGA,” Hamadeh added.
Hamadeh was flattering Trump a day after Israel had killed and wounded dozens in Lebanon, despite a U.S.-declared cease-fire. The dead included a prominent Lebanese journalist, whom the Israeli military had repeatedly bombed and then prevented first responders from reaching.
