By John Mac Ghlionn
Donald Trump’s "America First" mantra was supposed to be a game-changer—a promise to put American lives, resources, and priorities above all else. Yet, as his latest appointments reveal, it was nothing more than a shameless lie.
Marco Rubio, Mike Huckabee, and Tulsi Gabbard, all loud supporters of Israel, now stand as key figures shaping his administration’s direction. As TRT World recently pointed out, Trump’s cabinet selections span Zionist hardliners, self-styled Crusaders, and unabashed terror apologists.
In the Middle East, it’s not “America First.” It’s “Israel First.”
Huckabee embodies this ideological stance. The former governor, soon to serve as the US ambassador to Israel, openly advocates for a “one-state solution” while rejecting the very term “Palestinians,” dismissing their identity altogether.
These remarks aren’t isolated—they reflect a mindset that elevates Israel’s interests above all else, sidelining meaningful diplomacy and any semblance of balance.
Rubio, with his well-documented hawkishness, and Gabbard, who has done an about-face from her once anti-interventionist stance, only underscore this troubling trend.
Far from fulfilling his promise to dismantle the "War Machine," Trump is reinforcing it, aligning himself with those who see endless conflict as a feature, not a bug.
The betrayal feels personal because the promise felt real. Trump campaigned as a disruptor, someone who would end the costly foreign entanglements that have drained American lives and treasure for decades.
Instead, his administration increasingly looks like a rerun of the same well-worn script. Endless wars, unwavering support for Israel, and a foreign policy that leaves Americans wondering who truly benefits—this is the reality of "America First."
The author Tom Woods captured this grim inevitability best.
“No matter whom you vote for,” he noted, “you always wind up getting John McCain.” With Trump’s latest appointments, that sobering sentiment feels more accurate than ever.
A Republican senator and self-styled patriot, the late John McCain was the ultimate warhawk. He was a relentless advocate for military interventions, from Iraq to Afghanistan to Libya, often supporting policies that enriched defense contractors while leaving Americans to pay the price in blood and money.
McCain became a symbol of the bipartisan establishment that thrives on perpetual conflict, no matter the administration.
Draining the swamp or swimming in it?
As for Ukraine, Trump has promised to end the war—a grand pledge from a man whose track record reveals a habit of saying one thing and doing another.
His close relationship with Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, casts a long shadow over this promise.
Fink isn’t just any power broker; he runs the world’s largest asset management firm, overseeing trillions of dollars and exerting enormous influence on global markets and governments.
In many ways, he’s the embodiment of the “swamp” Trump once vowed to drain. And yet, they are very close allies, swimming together in perfect sync.
This relationship matters. A lot.
The longer Ukraine remains in turmoil, the greater BlackRock’s opportunity to reap massive profits. The firm has secured lucrative contracts to help "rebuild" Ukraine, a process that hinges on the ongoing conflict.
Its influence extends beyond mere economics; BlackRock is deeply embedded in Kyiv’s decision-making, including the deregulation of urban planning—a move that opens the floodgates for corporate exploitation of an already dire situation.
Ukraine becomes less about sovereignty and more about opportunity for those who stand to gain.
There’s no profit in peacetime, a fact not lost on BlackRock, a major architect of the 2008 financial collapse, now eyeing Ukraine’s chaos as their next goldmine.
The picture darkens further when you consider BlackRock’s deep ties to the US military-industrial complex. According to Corporate Accountability, a watchdog organisation exposing corporate threats to democracy, BlackRock holds tens of billions of dollars in investments in defence giants like Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, and Boeing.
These companies thrive on perpetual conflict. Every missile launched, every tank deployed, is money in their pocket—and BlackRock reaps the rewards as one of their largest stakeholders.
Meanwhile, American taxpayers foot the bill for wars that seem to have no end in sight.
Trump’s close ties with Fink expose a glaring contradiction.
The man who rails against globalist elites and endless wars is closely aligned with one of the most powerful figures in both realms. For all his rhetoric about peace in Ukraine, the influence of BlackRock—and by extension, Fink—casts serious doubt on his intentions.
Anti-war or anti-truth?
All of this must be viewed through a broader lens. Trump has long fashioned himself as the anti-war candidate, a maverick who would finally put an end to America’s perpetual entanglements. He’s leaned on this image for years, but it’s yet another lie. His claim that his first term was a “terrorism-free and war-free presidency” is patently false.
Despite the endless theatrics and grandstanding, Trump neither brought the troops home nor ended America’s endless wars.
In fact, he poured fuel on the fire. Under his watch, troop levels surged, and reliance on private contractors deepened, further entrenching the war machine he vowed to dismantle.
Aerial warfare, already devastating under prior administrations, was escalated to unprecedented levels. As Responsible Statecraft has revealed, the outdated 2001 and 2002 Authorizations for Use of Military Force—sweeping legal tools that have fueled decades of global conflict—remained untouched under Trump. Worse, their scope expanded, paving the way for even more US interventions.
At the same time, Trump presided over four straight years of ballooning Pentagon budgets, pumping billions into the very military-industrial complex he ostensibly opposed (and still opposes, supposedly).
Seen in this light, Trump’s recent picks shouldn’t surprise anyone. His track record shows a consistent pattern of deepening, not dismantling, the machinery of war.
The promise of “America First” was always a feckless fantasy. The winners here are not the American people, nor the countless lives ravaged by perpetual conflict.
The only true beneficiary of this administration’s foreign policy is Israel—a nation whose priorities have been elevated above those of the Americans Trump claims to serve.
For all his rhetoric about ending wars, Trump has proven to be just another cog in the machine. The American people—and the countless lives lost in Palestine and Ukraine—are nothing more than collateral damage in this relentless, profit-driven cycle
The author, John Mac Ghlionn, is a researcher and essayist. His work has been published by the likes of Newsweek, New York Post, Yahoo Finance and Sydney Morning Herald.
Disclaimer: The views expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions, viewpoints and editorial policies of TRT Afrika.
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