"He's fine. He'll do whatever I want him to do. He's a very good man... I'm right now at 99% in Israel. I could run for prime minister, so maybe after I do this, I'll go to Israel and run for prime minister."
Asked about Netanyahu's willingness to hold off on Iran strikes during ceasefire negotiations, Trump answered in two parts: Netanyahu 'will do whatever I want him to do'; and he might run for Israeli prime minister because his approval there was at 99%. Both statements in the same answer at the same podium.
'Trump jokes he may run for prime minister of Israel.' Covered as a callback to the Venezuela joke. The first sentence — that a sitting foreign head of government would 'do whatever I want him to do' — was quoted and then moved past without a beat. The story was the joke. The story was not: the president described his relationship with the head of a nuclear-capable ally as one of command and compliance.
American presidents have historically engaged in 'quiet diplomacy' with Israel to avoid this framing. Trump did not engage in quiet diplomacy. He announced it in public. The press covered the punchline and skipped the paragraph that would have gotten any other administration in front of the Foreign Relations Committee.