Nearly 10 years ago, former US secretary of state Hillary Clinton watched her presidential hopes go up in flames after a humiliating defeat by Donald Trump. Since then, the two have had nothing but bad blood.

But in a surprising op-ed published in the Financial Times earlier this week, Clinton threw her support behind the President’s 20-point Gaza peace framework. “There is no alternative framework waiting in the wings. No rival coalition is quietly preparing a more viable proposal,” Clinton writes in her piece. “The 20-point plan is not the one many of us would have drafted, but it remains the only framework backed by sufficient leverage, political engagement and potential resources to move the parties toward implementation.”

She urges the world to support the so-called Board of Peace, arguing that “the choice for governments is not whether this process is ideal. It is whether they are prepared to help shape an imperfect framework from within or stand aside while more destructive actors shape what comes next.”

It’s unclear what spurred Clinton to write this piece: there are always all sorts of private considerations for any politician, let alone a Clinton, to engage with an issue as thorny as peace in the Middle East. But the publication of the op-ed is a sign that at least some Democrats are begrudgingly coming round to an unpleasant reality: it’s Trump’s world now, and we all just live in it.

This is demonstrated in every international issue, from the ongoing negotiations over the war in Ukraine to the question of whether the United States will be able to resolve its dispute with Iran without further bloodshed. As much as Democrats enjoy all the speculation about the 2028 presidential race, Trump, absent some kind of unforeseen crisis like a health problem, will continue to rule the United States for another two and a half years. The only way to make progress on issues that the federal government oversees is to find a way to work with him or influence him toward a better outcome.

There is, after all, now bountiful evidence that Trump is not an ideologue. After allowing Benjamin Netanyahu to convince him to go to war with Iran, he is now distancing himself from the Israeli leader. When Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers were involved in more than one shooting in Minneapolis, Trump chose to de-escalate the situation.

One benefit of having a former reality television host as president is that he can’t stand seeing a dip in ratings. And he’s willing to be flexible in his beliefs to recover his popularity — something he’s shown by making peace with New York City’s democratic socialist Mayor, Zohran Mamdani.

Mamdani was an early adopter of the strategy of working with Trump. During the mayoral election campaign, the President threatened to cut funding to New York City if Mamdani was elected. After one cordial meeting between the two, that threat disappeared, never to be seen again.

Whatever motivated Clinton to come out in favor of the Gaza Board of Peace, it’s clear that many Democrats have now concluded they can’t simply wish Trump away. He’s the man with the power, and if they’re not at the table with him, all their treasured causes may be on the menu.

---

Zaid Jilani is a journalist who has worked for UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center, The Intercept, and the Center for American Progress.

ZaidJilani

---