President Donald Trump celebrated a historic peace deal between the United Arab Emirates and Israel on Thursday in an Oval Office appearance and touted his foreign policy accomplishments.
The president said, “I remember when I was elected, they said, ‘The war will start with somebody within days,’ and I’ve kept us out of war. You look at North Korea, everybody said — including President Obama — that’s the biggest problem. Everybody said you’d be at war, well, we’re not at war.”
He added, “You would have been at war if I wasn’t elected, if it was somebody else.”
Trump went on to praise the new deal between the countries and said that the Palestinians may be brought to the table, saying, “I think you’ll be seeing some very exciting things. Including ultimately with the Palestinians. I think that’s going to be happening at some point because it makes a lot of sense for them to let it happen.”
When asked if he supports annexation of Palestinian land, Trump said, “We’re talking to Israel about that right now.”
President Trump: "You would've been at war if I wasn't elected." https://t.co/777NnXuDLR pic.twitter.com/kQLsq4BtJ0
— The Hill (@thehill) August 13, 2020
Trump has enjoyed a good relationship with embattled Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and in January, the Trump administration announced a plan that would recognize Israel’s settlements in the West Bank.
The U.S. president has had a complicated relationship with North Korea, which seemed to be a major foreign accomplishment. He made history in July of 2019 when he became the first US president in history to step foot in North Korea.
The talks with the North Koreans lasted for years but have since deteriorated. In April of 2018, Trump announced that the North Koreans “agreed to denuclearization.”
Sleepy Eyes Chuck Todd of Fake News NBC just stated that we have given up so much in our negotiations with North Korea, and they have given up nothing. Wow, we haven’t given up anything & they have agreed to denuclearization (so great for World), site closure, & no more testing!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 22, 2018
But a recent United Nations report found that not only are the North Koreans still working on their nuclear program, but they have also likely succeeded in building “miniaturized nuclear devices to fit into the warheads of its ballistic missiles.”