The New Press

For self-identified progressives, it is tempting to frame President Trump as a deviation from the political status quo. With regard to the Middle East, such a framing allows us to remain unaccountable for decades of giving left-wing support for—or at best tepid opposition to—policies that have undermined the possibility of freedom, dignity, safety, and self-determination for the Palestinian people.

Since Israel had stopped the Gaza attacks just three days before Obama took office, he was spared having to intervene to stop the fighting. He raised some hopes by endorsing a UN call for the easing of border restrictions for both goods and people in and out of Gaza, but did nothing to make it happen. Unsurprisingly, it did not happen.

I HAVE LEARNED MUCH FROM TAOIST THOUGHT; it has been a comfort to me since I read my first Taoist poem: Sitting quietly, doing nothing, spring comes, and the grass grows by itself. By Bashō, I believe. But there is also, from that tradition, this thought: A wanderer’s home is in the road. This has proved very true in my life, much to my surprise.