From an op-ed in Washington Post, a few days after Hamas fighters massacred more than 1,300 people in a surprise attack on Israel by land, sea and air:

For many years, Israel has been governed by a populist strongman, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is a public-relations genius but an incompetent prime minister. He has repeatedly preferred his personal interests over the national interest and has built his career on dividing the nation against itself. He has appointed people to key positions based on loyalty more than qualifications, took credit for every success while never taking responsibility for failures, and seemed to give little importance to either telling or hearing the truth.

“Substitute ‘president’ for ‘prime minister’ and who we talkin’ about?” said my neighbor Swamp Rabbit, who was reading over my shoulder.

“The orange hog monster,” I replied, noting that Netanyahu — “Bibi” to his admirers — and Donald Trump were good buddies when Trump was president. Both men are cruel blowhards who spend most of their time trying to undermine those who might threaten their power. Both depend on the support of religious fanatics and other rightwing kooks, and both use fear and loathing to divide and conquer.

Netanyahu seemed to become more pompous and arrogant as he aged. He was indicted on bribery and fraud charges in 2019, while serving as prime minister. He was turned out of office in 2021, but last year weaseled his way into another term, heading what is widely considered the most rightwing government in Israel’s history. He spent most of 2023 trying to weaken the Israeli judiciary, a move that threw the country into turmoil and arguably helped spark the attack last week by Hamas militants.

“I don’t get it,” Swamp Rabbit said. “Netanyahu graduated from Cheltenham High School, a good school just outside Philly, when his family lived in America. Didn’t he learn civics? Didn’t they teach him that dictators are bad news?”

I stared at him. “You’re putting me on, right? Trump went to the U. of P. and look how he turned out.”

Footnote: Now Netanyahu is back in his element, calling for an all-out attack on Gaza to distract constituents from his woeful failings as a leader. And apologists for Hamas are refusing to condemn the massacre of Israelis. I can’t help but think of a question posed this week by the writer Fintan O’Toole: What lessons do people actually learn from the cruelties they applaud and the ones they suffer in return? Forget it, the answer is too depressing.