Proof that Trump Doesn't Give a Rat's Ass About Americans

Whatever America First means, it certainly does not mean Americans first.

My family is living proof. So are the American citizens still trapped in both Israel and Iran. Unlike its predecessors, this administration does not give a damn about any of us.

I am writing this newsletter from a plane that took off from London’s Heathrow Airport this morning. Why was I in Britain and how did I get here? To understand that, you have to first read the exchange I had with the American embassy in Israel, where I had been spending the week celebrating my son’s bar-mitzvah at the Western Wall.

Early on Friday morning, a siren went off in our Tel Aviv hotel room, alerting us to report to a safe room. We found out there that Israel had just begun bombing Iran. Shortly after, Israeli air space was closed and all flights home (or anywhere) were canceled.

In previous years, the United States has organized evacuations of Americans from Middle Eastern hot spots. Shortly after Hamas’ October 7th attack in 2023, the Biden Administration arranged chartered flights for American citizens who wished to leave Israel and the Gaza Strip. After the launch of the Lebanon War in 2006, the Bush Administration evacuated American citizens from Beirut by boat to Cyprus, as well as through other means.

To that end, I emailed the embassy a little after 9:30 AM on Friday.

Hello,
I am an American citizen visiting Tel Aviv with my husband and son. We are looking for assistance to get out of the country and back to the United States.

Is there a process where the embassy can help?

Here is the response I received:

Dear Julia,

Thank you for your email. There are no plans to evacuate or assist Americans in departing Israel at this time. Ben Gurion Airport is currently closed; land crossings to Jordan are currently open - but check their status before traveling to them.

Please check the status of Ben Gurion airport and the land crossings here.

As a result of the current security situation, the U.S. Embassy has directed all U.S. government employees and their family members to shelter in place until further notice.

This is provided for your information as you make your own security plans.

Please follow all Government of Israel Home Front Command instructions at: https://www.oref.org.il/eng/articles/info/iron-swords/1100.

US Embassy Jerusalem is closed today Friday June 13. Sign up to receive up-to-date travel advisory information from the US Embassy/Department of State at: https://travel.state.gov/content/travel/en/international-travel/before-you-go/step.html.

Sincerely,

American Citizen Services Unit

Embassy of the United States

Branch Office Tel Aviv

71 Hayarkon Street

Tel Aviv, Israel

IS73

With all due respect, are you fucking kidding me? First, how and why was the United States embassy closed on the very day that a massive new regional war was breaking out? That is when Ambassador Mike Huckabee decided the consular staff should stay home?

Second, and even more appallingly, the United States government admitted off the bat that its embassy would be doing nothing to assist American citizens who suddenly found themselves in a war zone. What are its consular responsibilities, if not to assist Americans abroad? Instead, it advised Americans to make their own security plans — as though most tourists have the first clue about what to do once they find themselves under ballistic missile attack.

If that is the case in Israel, I cannot even imagine what any American trapped in Tehran is dealing with.

Implying that Americans should make their way to Jordan without providing additional context was also irresponsible. The airport in Amman is en route for Iranian missiles hitting Israel. Jordan shut down its air space as soon as the war began, opened it up for a nanosecond and quickly shut it right back down. In essence, the United States government was telling Americans that they could choose to be stranded in Tel Aviv or in Amman. Regardless, we could all “make [our] own security plans.”

Look, I am realistic about the time it takes to organize an evacuation from a war zone. But unlike Lebanon in 2006 or Gaza in 2023, both of which were precipitated by surprise terrorist attacks against Israel, this war did not take the White House by surprise. Could they have not taken the heads up they clearly received from the Netanyahu government about its impending plans to come up with a plan for their own citizens trapped in Israel or Iran?

Our government’s refusal to send planes to Jordan or Egypt to evacuate Americans who can cross the border from Israel is a disgrace, pure and simple. It sends a stark message that our safety and security is not a priority for this Administration.

This is why you don’t put a reality show host in charge of the country and a weekend television host in charge of the Pentagon. As for Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he should take a few days off from trying to deport Muslim students to get his embassies in order.

Forced to take matters into our own hands, we first looked into chartering a boat to Cyprus but could not find anyone to take us. We discussed riding it out in Tel Aviv but that was impractical because we had no idea how long it would take for flights to resume or whether we could even quickly get a flight anywhere once they did.

Early on Sunday morning, when we hoped the missiles would not be falling for a little while, we set off in a friend’s car for an almost four hour trip from Tel Aviv to Eilat in southern Israel. Carrying our suitcases, the three of us walked across the Egyptian border into Taba. The only other people crossing the border into Egypt alongside us were a priest and several nuns from the Rumanian Orthodox Church and a few Ukrainians.

On the other side of the border, a bedouin picked us up for a three hour ride to Sharm-el-Sheikh in Egypt. We hung around Sharm for about seven hours and then got on a late-night flight to London, took a long bus ride from Stansted Airport to Heathrow Airport and then finally got on a flight back to New York.

Altogether, we will have been traveling through four continents and for over thirty-six hours when we touch down in New York later today.

Not everyone visiting Israel has the ability to do this. I cannot even imagine how anyone trapped in Iran is getting out safely. And yet the United States government has told Americans to figure it out on their own. The longer this goes on, the higher the odds that Americans will die as a result. To say that this should make each and every one of us incensed is an understatement.

If you need any more evidence that the people running our government today are out of their depth, with zero care for their own constituents, add this to the pile. Shame on them. And shame on the voters who put them in charge. Because if I had to guess, a number of them are sitting in Israel and Iran today, wondering just how the hell they are going to get home.

What happened to us in Israel is a harbinger of what will soon happen to American citizens in the United States, irrespective of political ideology. At a critical moment, when we will need our government the most, our government will fail us. We are all truly on our own.