There has been a media-created frenzy about First Lady of the United States (FLOTUS) Melania Trump making a speech at an international conference calling for the promotion of peace. The context is the fact that her husband, President Donald Trump, has unleashed a war against Iran and its proxies. It should not be assumed that simply because she is married to Donald Trump, Melania must necessarily have the same views as the US President. Indeed, the record shows that on several occasions, the First Lady of the US has made it clear that her views and those of her husband do not align. Trump does not appear to have any misgivings about this, else he would have shown them, being an individual who wears his views and preferences on his broad sleeves. Indeed, the same could be said of the Second Lady of the United States, Usha Vance, who made little effort to conceal her distance from some of the initial exuberant mirroring of the views of the President by Vice-President J. D. Vance. That phase appears to have cooled down, for lately the Vice-President has been very reticent in his public assertions, especially about the war now raging across the Middle East. Vance is the only official that President Trump cannot utter those famed words to, “You’re fired”, for his term is coterminous with the term of President Trump.
The J.D. Vance who wrote the Hillbilly Elegy is back, much to the joy of Usha Vance. He has begun to show that he has his own views on matters of state, as indeed is his right, for a Vice-President is different from a member of the Cabinet, in that he is elected as the President is. The dilemma concerning Iran is a practical one, for as long as the country is ruled by the Supreme Leader, it cannot be a partner in peace. The clerical regime expressly believes in the destruction of the State of Israel, as indeed it does that of the US itself. Posters as large as houses are plastered across Iran, calling for “Death to America” and “Death to the Jewish entity”, for the clerical regime cannot bring itself to even mention the name of a country that has been accepted the world over. The problem facing US operations in Iran is the obsession with ownership of President Trump. As in the case of Venezuela, he talks of running Iran and turning it into what it was under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, a protectorate of the US. Here is where a deft word from Melania can help. She needs to cure her husband of his obsession with ownership. Friendship is what counts. After all, only the people of Iran have a right to their country. Peace will come once the clerical dictatorship fades away. The US is a catalyst that must disappear once the clerical regime falls and unlike in the case of 1979, is replaced by a democracy. For this to occur, much depends on President Trump. First Lady Melania Trump can make her wish for peace come true if she ensures through her deft influence that her husband avoids the mistake of President George W. Bush, of seeking to control Iraq after he took over the country in 2003. The future of the Middle East rides on the outcome of the war now taking place between the US and Israel against the Ayatollahs in Iran.
