Walid Phares to Newsmax: Trump Leads Through Coalitions

President Donald Trump's greatest strength on the world stage has always been his unmatched ability to form powerful international coalitions, foreign policy expert Walid Phares told Newsmax.

It's key to the president's foreign policy success.

"The secret of President Trump's success internationally is his ability, No. 1, to form coalitions," Phares said Monday on Newsmax's "Newsline."

"In the United States, when they see their president succeeding in bringing together such a large coalition, they have no choice but to support it."

Trump on Monday declared "peace in the Middle East" as he began a speech to a gathering of world leaders in Egypt to inaugurate his plan to end the war in Gaza.

Hamas earlier in the day released all the 20 living Israeli hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as part of the ceasefire deal pausing two years of war that started when Hamas terrorists on Oct. 7, 2023, murdered 1,200 people and kidnapped more than 250 people.

Phares recalled that during Trump's first term, his ability to unite nations, particularly in the Arab and Muslim world, was instrumental in confronting extremist threats and isolating hostile regimes.

"Let's all go back to the first term when he was able to gather a very large coalition of Arabs and Muslims," Phares said. "He spoke to them, asked them to drive the jihadists out, to isolate the regime in Iran. He, of course, convened the Abraham Accords."

The Abraham Accords, signed in 2020, normalized relations between Israel and several Arab nations, including the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan, marking one of the most significant diplomatic breakthroughs in decades.

Phares noted that this coalition was born not through appeasement, but through shared interests and clear U.S. leadership.

"When President Trump moved in, he formed the coalition. He isolated the regime," Phares said. "He's now going to be isolating Hamas.

"And that's the success of his policy — coalitions, leading coalitions."

Phares contrasted Trump's record with what he described as four years of diplomatic stagnation and regression under subsequent leadership.

He said the Egypt summit is part of Trump's renewed effort to rebuild the network of alliances that had once driven progress in the region.

"We had nothing after that for four years — actually, it was regressing," Phares explained. "And now he's back again to create that Sharm el-Sheikh summit, which in fact is going to end up becoming a coalition to impose peace or to help peace."

Phares said the summit could bring together Arab states, Israel, and Western partners to pressure radical elements, including Hamas and Iran, to choose between peace or further isolation.

"The choices are now going to be to the radicals," he said. "Will Hamas actually accept or admit its weapons?

"Will the Islamic regime in Iran choose the Abraham Accords' path? President Trump is showing everybody that there is no other alternative than going in that path."

Phares was sharply critical of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal negotiated under former President Barack Obama, calling it a strategic error that allowed Tehran to deceive the international community and continue developing its nuclear ambitions.

"They have been negotiating, they have been fooling the international community since 2014, 2015, when President Obama then signed this terrible Iran deal," Phares said. "But when President Trump moved in, he formed the coalition.

"He isolated the regime."

Trump's withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action in 2018 was a pivotal moment, Phares argued, signaling a return to policies rooted in deterrence and alliance-building rather than concessions.

That move, he said, laid the groundwork for a stronger regional alignment that is now reemerging under Trump's renewed leadership.

Phares emphasized that Trump's coalition-based approach doesn't only strengthen the U.S. position abroad but also unites Americans at home by demonstrating tangible results in foreign affairs.

"In Washington, when they see their president succeeding in bringing together such a large coalition, they have no choice but to support it," he said.

He added that when Trump was confronted by threats from Iran and its proxies, he made the difference between empty diplomacy and real results.

"His decision-making process, his ability to act when others hesitate, that's what defines his success," Phares said.

As Trump looks to expand his diplomatic efforts through new regional summits and renewed partnerships, Phares said the world is witnessing a revival of the kind of assertive, coalition-driven leadership that can bring lasting peace to one of the most volatile regions on earth.

"President Trump is showing everybody that there is no other alternative than going in that path," he said. "Coalitions work — and under his leadership, they deliver peace."

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