ANALYSIS — With a metaphorical blowtorch in one hand and a fire hose in the other, President Donald Trump is acting as political arsonist and firefighter on everything from tariffs to TikTok’s future to a jaw-dropping plan to “own” Gaza and “resettle” Palestinians.
But some members of Congress, regional powers and former officials say Trump’s Gaza gambit should be extinguished immediately — and it could threaten to torch his “America first” campaign promises.
Trump has masterminded the opening weeks of his second term like the former reality television host and producer that he is, creating a series of policy cliff-hangers that await his final say. There’s what to do about popular social media app TikTok. Then there was the three-day drama around his proposed tariffs on Canada and Mexico, which he delayed for at least 30 days.
He also continues to let House Republicans battle each other over how to move forward with the budget reconciliation process to enact his agenda. History suggests it will be Trump who ultimately steps in to settle the family squabble.
Collectively, Trump’s arsonist-and-firefighter approach to the presidency comes down to one word: “Watch,” as he said Monday to CNN’s Kaitlan Collins when she asked about the Canada tariffs. After all, the former “Apprentice” host took questions for nearly two hours Tuesday over three different events at the White House.
After telling reporters his idea is for the United States to “own” Gaza and to “resettle” its mostly displaced residents to as many as 12 new communities in undefined countries, Trump said he envisioned turning the strip into “an international, unbelievable place.”
“I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world, will be there,” he said.
“Palestinians also. Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there,” Trump said before breaking with decades of U.S. foreign policy espoused by presidents of both parties. “But they’ve tried … and they’ve tried it for decades and decades and decades. It’s not going to work. … It didn’t work. It will never work. And you have to learn from history. … You just can’t let it keep repeating itself.”
Trump’s remarks appeared to display either ignorance or an outright rejection of the history of the Palestinians, who have endured multiple wars that have forced many of them to flee to other countries.
“If we could find the right piece of land, or numerous pieces of land, and build them some really nice places with plenty of money in the area, that’s for sure,” Trump said of Palestinians in Gaza. “I think that would be a lot better than going back to Gaza.”
But Michigan Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib, a Palestinian American, wrote Tuesday evening on social media that “Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. This president can only spew this fanatical bulls–t because of bipartisan support in Congress for funding genocide and ethnic cleansing. It’s time for my two-state solution colleagues to speak up.”
Former Florida GOP Rep. David Jolly said in a Wednesday email that Trump’s Tuesday remarks recalled his “complete ignorance of foreign relations and the volatility of such a suggestion of the U.S. occupying Gaza. What he does always accomplish, however, is shifting the ‘Overton Window.’”
That was a reference to a “model of policy change” under which “ideas become policy only after they move from being unthinkable notions that cannot become law to becoming popular ideas that elected officials are eager to ratify into law,” according to the Mackinac Center for Public Policy, a nonprofit research and educational think tank. “This can take days, or decades.”
‘Better than Monaco’
The practical effect could be that “Republicans will now entertain the [Gaza] idea and traditional foreign policy advisors will dilute it to something they find defensible,” Jolly said. “Trump sees it as an opportunity to dramatically shift Republican politics to a newly aggressive posture, and perhaps get a real estate deal out of it.”
Another House Democrat, Debbie Dingell of Michigan, said Wednesday that Trump’s approach to the presidency this time is designed “to make everyone’s head spin in so many different ways, you don’t know what to focus on.” In short, Trump and his team want to “cause chaos,” Dingell told CNN.
Paradoxically, the “America first” Trump returned to the White House last month in an imperialistic mood.
He has floated taking control of Greenland, snatching back the Panama Canal — both using U.S. military force, if needed — and making Canada the “51st state.” But perhaps the most paradoxical of all is Gaza, where he would not rule out an American occupation force.
A reporter asked Tuesday evening, “Mr. President, given what you’ve said about Gaza, [would] the U.S. send troops to help secure the security vacuum?”
“So, Saudi Arabia is going to be very helpful. And they have been very helpful. They want peace in the Middle East. It’s very simple,” Trump replied. “We know their leader and their leaders very well. They are wonderful people. And they want peace in the Middle East. As far as Gaza is concerned, we will do what is necessary. If it’s necessary, we’ll do that.”
The comment marks a seismic shift in Trump’s worldview. He campaigned for president the first time, in large part, against what he dubbed America’s “stupid” post-9/11 conflicts and “forever wars” in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq. It was Trump 1.0 who negotiated with Taliban officials the contours of America’s exit from Afghanistan.
Clear, hold, build
Trump’s decades in real estate also appear to be driving his instincts on Gaza. His son-in-law Jared Kushner first floated the idea of Gaza as a playground for the world’s rich and famous, saying during an appearance last February at Harvard University: “Gaza’s waterfront property could be very valuable.”
“It’s a little bit of an unfortunate situation there, but from Israel’s perspective, I would do my best to move the people out and then clean it up,” Kushner said, before later adding, “I am not sure there is much left of Gaza at this point.”
Prompted by conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt during an Oct. 7 interview, Trump first endorsed the Kushner plan: “As a developer, it could be the most beautiful place — the weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate. It could be so beautiful. … It could be the best thing in the Middle East, but it could be one of the best places in the world.”
Trump has made clear he is keen on the strip’s beachfront property and Mediterranean Sea breezes, telling Hewitt, “It could be better than Monaco.”
It was clear Tuesday evening that Trump has not let go of the idea, even if it flies in the face of core “America first” principles — and carries a potentially massive price tag, which surely would frustrate spending-averse House and Senate conservatives.
“We have an opportunity to do something that could be phenomenal. And I don’t want to be cute. I don’t want to be a wise guy,” Trump told reporters. “But the ‘Riviera of the Middle East,’ this could be something that could be … so magnificent.”
The Pentagon’s philosophy, spelled out in its long-shelved Counterinsurgency Field Manual, of “clear, hold, build” failed to produce many tactical and strategic victories in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The White House has yet to explain why Gaza would be any different.
Pointing to President Ronald Reagan’s decision to station U.S. troops in Lebanon, which culminated in the deaths of 241 Marines in a bombing at a barracks, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, a Trump ally, put it this way: “I fear putting American troops on the ground now in the midst of a raging Middle East will yield the same results as it did in 1983.”
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