What’s With Witkoff?

Steve Witkoff is a billionaire real estate investor and golfing buddy of President Donald Trump. He currently serves as Trump’s Middle East envoy and special negotiator on Ukraine. He also talks too much. And that makes a lot of people very nervous.

There is a growing perception that Witkoff is out of his element in the area of international diplomacy. That view has been reinforced by Witkoff’s pronouncements in widely circulated interviews regarding his perceptions of Hamas, his assessment of Russia’s motivations and intentions in its war with Ukraine, and his affinity toward Qatar.

While it is not surprising that Witkoff tries to follow the policy lead of his patron and friend, it is troubling that the newly minted diplomat is doing so with the same kind of off-the-cuff remarks, arrogance and bravado as Trump. What Witkoff is learning, however, is that neither the world stage nor many of his own party leaders are as forgiving as the Manhattan real estate market.

In a recent podcast interview with Tucker Carlson, Witkoff contradicted the administration’s clearly articulated support of Israel’s pledge to annihilate Hamas when he said that he didn’t think the terror group is “ideologically intractable” and expressed the view that Hamas could be “involved politically” in Gaza if the terror group demilitarizes. He then stumbled in answering a question about Iran when he adopted Iran’s approach to development of “a verification program” for their nuclear activity rather than the administration’s unequivocal demand that the program be “dismantled.”

Further concern relates to Witkoff’s virtual adoption of Russian talking points about the Ukraine war. In the same Carlson interview, he said that he doesn’t “regard [Russian President Vladimir] Putin as a bad guy,” proclaimed that Putin “100%” doesn’t want to overrun Europe, and insisted that Putin doesn’t even want to control Ukraine. That left a lot of observers scratching their heads, including Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who took issue with Witkoff “acting like Putin is somebody you can trust.”

And then there’s Witkoff’s history of financial ties to Qatar that seem to blind him to Qatar’s promotion of terror and unrest throughout the Middle East and its duplicity. But rather than call out Qatar for its two-faced activities, Witkoff sounded more like a Qatar apologist as he fell all over himself declaring, “in the past, they’ve had some views that are a little bit more radical, from an Islamist standpoint, than they are today, but it’s moderated quite a bit.” Which begs the question: What’s “moderate” about Qatar’s continued support of terror activity and embrace of the Republic of Iran?

Frustration with Witkoff has been spreading. Eric Levine, a top GOP fundraiser and board member of the Republican Jewish Coalition, has called for Witkoff’s dismissal. In Levine’s words, “Witkoff’s performance is disqualifying because it demonstrates his utter incompetence,” and his mistakes are “an embarrassment to the country and the president he serves.”

Diplomacy is a cultivated art. Those who navigate it successfully understand the need for nuance, appreciation of history, a light touch and a degree of humility. The growing concern with Witkoff’s intransigence, arrogance and shoot-from-the-hip pronouncements could be his undoing.