It’s ironic that some of America’s worst presidents in terms of domestic leadership have succeeded spectacularly on the world stage.

Both before and after his disastrous presidency, Herbert Hoover was a leading architect of European reconstruction following both world wars. Richard Nixon was indeed a crook, but he also broke through decades of distrust to open relations with communist China. Jimmy Carter, beset by inflation at home and general haplessness abroad during his single term, nonetheless managed to midwife a landmark Israeli-Egyptian peace agreement that endures today.

To this mixed-bag lineup of presidential legacies, add Donald Trump’s brokering last week of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. It doesn’t alleviate or excuse Trump’s continuing assault upon the U.S. Constitution. But should the guns of Gaza remain silent, Trump will, for once, actually deserve the kind of praise he’s always demanding.

Those who recognize the existential threat to democracy that Trump poses at home will be tempted to dismiss or downplay his role in this breakthrough abroad. That would be a denial of reality verging on, well, Trumpian.

Like it or not, this president, who has so deliberately divided America, was in fact the key player in bringing together the parties for an agreement to potentially end the tragic two-year-old Gaza conflict. Credit where it’s due has come from such Trump critics as top congressional Democrats, former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, various Arab-nation leaders and Hamas itself.

And rightly so. Regardless of whether the ceasefire holds (this is the Middle East, after all), it has already won the release of Hamas’ Israeli hostages and Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners. Israel has agreed to partly withdraw its military from Gaza, allowing the infusion of crucially needed humanitarian aid.

Negotiations continue regarding what’s next. Under the U.S.-backed proposal, an international stabilization force would step in to guide reconstruction in Gaza and a transition to Palestinian governance without Hamas. Palestinian statehood, the long-held dream of generations of Middle Eastern peace-seekers, isn’t part of the proposed agreement, but it could provide a path there.

Trump’s success at bringing the parties together — deftly leveraging the participation of regional players including Egypt, Turkey and Qatar — seems to have been driven in part by his oft-expressed obsession with winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

It’s worth noting that this year’s Nobel winner, Maria Corina Machado, is cited for working toward democracy in the face of Venezuela’s oppressive government. She stands against a regime that calls itself socialist but is more accurately described as authoritarian in that it suppresses free speech, the free press and free elections and uses its military to intimidate its own citizens.

Does any of that sound familiar?

Trump’s success with the Gaza agreement is real and laudable. But this remains the same president who, here at home, tried to overthrow a valid election, threatens free speech and the free press, weaponizes the Justice Department against his perceived political enemies, ignores court orders and, most outrageously, deploys federal troops to Chicago and other American cities he doesn’t like.

Along the way, Trump has severely damaged America’s relationships with its NATO allies while cozying up to dictators. Last week’s Gaza success notwithstanding, Trump has, in real ways, made the world more dangerous for democracy. It’s difficult to imagine the Norwegian Nobel Committee overlooking that long, dark record based on one negotiated ceasefire.

Still. Trump’s extended victory lap celebrating the Gaza breakthrough is well earned. Perhaps the warmth of global praise for his success in de-escalating and demilitarizing this piece of the Mideast will incentivize him to do the same for the Midwest — as in, Chicago.

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