From “problematic” to “a couple of kinks in that Slinky” to “a bit of a stretch”, reaction from Republicans who weighed in on Donald Trump’s proposal to “own” Gaza was mixed on Wednesday, while some senior party leaders gave their blessing.
Some of the strongest criticism came from Rand Paul, the Kentucky senator who posted his opposition to the president’s plan on X on Wednesday morning.
“The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians. I thought we voted for America First,” Paul wrote.
“We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers’ blood.”
His comments contradicted those of Mike Johnson, the House speaker, who said he was backing Trump’s proposal.
“We’re trying to get the details of it but I think this is a good development,” he told Manu Raju, CNN’s chief congressional correspondent.
“We have to back Israel 100%. So whatever form that takes, we’re interested in having that discussion. It’s a surprising development, but I think it’s one that we’ll applaud.”
Paul’s critical comments were an outlier among Republicans, although Lindsey Graham, the South Carolina senator, said he foresaw issues if Trump were to move ahead with his declared intention of making Gaza “the Riviera of the Middle East”, and sending US troops to secure the war-torn territory “if it’s necessary”.
“We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that,” Graham said, reported by Politico.
“I think most South Carolinians would probably not be excited about sending Americans to take over Gaza. I think that might be problematic, but I’ll keep an open mind.”
He said Gaza “would be a tough place to be stationed as an American”.
Also adopting a “wait and see” approach was Josh Hawley, Missouri’s Republican senator.
“I don’t know that I think it’s the best use of United States resources to spend a bunch of money in Gaza, I think maybe I’d prefer that to be spent in the US first, but let’s see what happens,” he said.
John Thune, the Senate majority leader who claimed not to have seen Trump’s remarks, said: “I think we’re obviously all interested in facilitating a solution to the Middle East, particularly with the whole situation in Gaza,” per Politico.
“How we best achieve that, it’s a subject of conversation,” he continued.
Trump’s head-spinning pronouncement appeared to catch many Republican politicians off guard, including the North Carolina senator Thom Tillis.
“There’s probably a couple of kinks in that Slinky, but I’ll have to look at the statement,” he said.
“Obviously, it’s not going to happen. I don’t know under what circumstance it would make sense, even for Israel. If Israel is asking for the US to come in and provide some assistance to ensure that Hamas can never do again what they did, I’m in. But us taking over seems like a bit of a stretch.”
Meanwhile, two of Trump’s most vocal congressional cheerleaders, the South Carolina representative Nancy Mace and her North Carolina colleague Richard Hudson, posted their support to X.
“Let’s turn Gaza into Mar-a-Lago,” Mace wrote, referring to Trump’s palatial Florida club and resort he likes to call his winter White House.
“President Trump will never stop working to ensure historic and lasting PEACE!” Hudson wrote.
Both are members of the House Republican Israel caucus.
