Former Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert Wilkie praised President Donald Trump's decisive leadership in the Middle East during an appearance Monday on Newsmax.
Wilkie said the president's firm message to Qatar following Israel's September strike on Hamas leaders in Doha has restored American credibility abroad.
Wilkie said on "Wake Up America" Trump's direct warning to the Qatari regime — "get on board" with his Gaza peace plan or face the consequences — demonstrated the kind of clarity and resolve missing from U.S. foreign policy for decades.
On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 people to Gaza.
"The president has told the rest of the Middle East it is time to stop it," Wilkie said, underscoring that Trump's approach has forced key regional players to fall in line after two years of war in the Palestinian-held territory.
The former defense official recalled how many in the media and Western diplomatic circles predicted disaster when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the strike inside Qatar.
"The press and the nuts in Europe said that once Netanyahu attacked Qatar, then that was going to be the unraveling — that President Trump would abandon Israel," Wilkie said. "Well, do you know what President Trump did? He told the Qataris, 'You see what our friends can do? You had better stop the nonsense and get on board.' They did. They told Hamas to get out and disarm, as well as the Saudis and some of the others."
"But this is what you get with a real leader who understands American power as opposed to the fecklessness of [former President Barack] Obama, [former President Joe] Biden, [former Secretary of State Antony] Blinken and [former national security adviser Jake] Sullivan," he added.
Wilkie, the chair of the Center for National Security at the America First Policy Institute added that Trump's recent use of American power to dismantle Iranian nuclear sites sent shockwaves far beyond the region.
"Look, we sort of forget that within one night, the president of the United States and the United States Air Force and the United States Navy destroyed Iran's nuclear program," Wilkie said. "And that sent a shiver, not just a shiver in the Middle East, because the enemies of the Sunni Arabs had been denuded, but it sent a shiver into Moscow and Beijing that this is not Joe Biden, this is not Barack Obama. This is someone who has the spine to do what needs to be done and I think the world is taking note."
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