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|---|---|---|
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unidentified
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C-SPAN 3. | |
| C-SPAN Now, our free mobile app, or online at c-span.org. | ||
| Saturdays on C-SPAN 2, exploring the people and events that tell the American story. | ||
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| Watch American History TV Saturdays on C-SPAN 2 and find a full schedule on your program guide or watch online anytime at c-span.org slash history. | ||
| Here's how the major papers took a look at this proposal from the president yesterday. | ||
| This is the Washington Post. | ||
| Move Gazans to another country is the headline Trump urges. | ||
| The subhead proposals that U.S. control enclave in an age-old conflict, President Risenu Fuhrer. | ||
| This is from the Washington Times. | ||
| From their headline, middle of the page, but above the fold, Trump floats the U.S. takeover or renovation of Gaza from the Washington Times. | ||
| The Wall Street Journal. | ||
| Trump urges U.S. takeover of Gaza. | ||
| President calls for Palestinians to be removed in a major break from policy. | ||
| And then the New York Times, Trump proposing takeover of Gaza as U.S. territory, brazen plan to relocate all Palestinians and rebuild the war-torn enclave. | ||
| These comments were made in a joint press session with the Israeli Prime Minister. | ||
| You can see that whole session if you go to our website at c-span.org or app, but that's where the proposal for the Gaza Strip came up. | ||
| And here it is from yesterday. | ||
| I also strongly believe that the Gaza Strip, which has been a symbol of death and destruction for so many decades and so bad for the people anywhere near it, and especially those who live there, and frankly, who's been really very unlucky. | ||
| It's been very unlucky. | ||
| It's been an unlucky place for a long time. | ||
| Being in its presence just has not been good. | ||
| And it should not go through a process of rebuilding and occupation by the same people that have really stood there and fought for it and lived there and died there and lived a miserable existence there. | ||
| Instead, we should go to other countries of interest with humanitarian hearts. | ||
| And there are many of them that want to do this and build various domains that will ultimately be occupied by the 1.8 million Palestinians living in Gaza, ending the death and destruction and frankly bad luck. | ||
| This could be paid for by neighboring countries of great wealth. | ||
| It could be one, two, three, four, five, seven, eight, twelve. | ||
| It could be numerous sites or it could be one large site. | ||
| But the people will be able to live in comfort and peace and will make sure something really spectacular is done. | ||
| They're going to have peace. | ||
| They're not going to be shot at and killed and destroyed like this civilization of wonderful people has had to endure. | ||
| The only reason the Palestinians want to go back to Gaza is they have no alternative. | ||
| It's right now a demolition site. | ||
| This is just a demolition site. | ||
| Virtually every building is down. | ||
| They're living under fallen concrete that's very dangerous and very precarious. | ||
| They instead can occupy all of a beautiful area with homes and safety, and they can live out their lives in peace and harmony instead of having to go back and do it again. | ||
| The U.S. will take over the Gaza Strip, and we will do a job with it too. | ||
| We'll own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site, level the site and get rid of the destroyed buildings, level it out, create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area. | ||
| Do a real job, do something different. | ||
| Just can't go back. | ||
| If you go back, it's going to end up the same way it has for 100 years. | ||
| I'm hopeful that this ceasefire could be the beginning of a larger and more enduring peace that will end the bloodshed and killing once and for all. | ||
| With the same goal in mind, my administration has been moving quickly to restore trust in the alliance and rebuild American strength throughout the region. | ||
| And we've really done that. | ||
| We're a respected nation again. | ||
| A lot's happened in the last couple of weeks. | ||
| We are actually a very respected nation again. | ||
| Those comments made yesterday, again, you can see them in full on our various platforms. | ||
| You can comment on this proposal by the president for the Gaza Strip 202-748-8001 for Republicans. | ||
| Democrats 202-748-8000 and Independents 202-748-8002. | ||
| Here's how Axios takes a look at the comments made by the President yesterday, saying there are two ways to view President Trump's epic, historic, shockingly unexpected declaration Tuesday evening that the U.S. should seize control and develop and hold a long-term ownership position in the war-destroyed Gaza. | ||
| One, it was a wild bluff or bluster to gain leverage in the Middle East. | ||
| Let's like threats of trade tariffs against Canada and Mexico, all consumingly controversial, yet instantly ephemeral. | ||
| This strikes most Republicans as the right interpretation, or two, the other, it fuses several Trump obsessions, his hope for a grand Middle East peace deal, his belief Gaza will be a hellhole for decades to come, and his genuine intrigue about developing the seaside land. | ||
| U.S. officials tell us Trump's words were premeditated and mirror ideas he floated to some staff and family members privately. | ||
| So these were made yesterday. | ||
| Let's hear from you as far as these comments from the president. | ||
| David in Arizona, Democrats line, you're first up. | ||
| Hello. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| Just am so confused about what this has to do with making America great again. | ||
| All I see is that it's making Trump great by getting him a place to build new condos and stuff. | ||
| There was a story he put out about a lady going in to buy two apples, could only afford one. | ||
| Well, I don't even think she can afford one now. | ||
| Egg prices have gone crazy. | ||
| Waffle House is charging 50 cents more per egg. | ||
| So how is this making America great? | ||
| I am really confused. | ||
| Pedro, I thank you for all the hard work you put in and appreciate you. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| Have a great day, everybody. | ||
| David in Arizona from New York and Grand Isle in New York. | ||
| Michael, Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
How are you doing? | |
| Yeah, I see this as a big international form of real estate terrorism. | ||
| Just like I saw the Los Angeles fires recently, where you notice in Los Angeles and the coast of California, all the golf courses are pure green, plush. | ||
| And you're sitting on a Pacific Ocean there where you could desalinate the water and put those fires out. | ||
| Now we're over in Gaza threatening to throw people out. | ||
| Who's these people of the world he's talking about? | ||
| Is this the homeless people in LA in that? | ||
| We're going to send them out there and give them condos? | ||
| Who are these people of the world with this real estate terrorism that they're using our military for? | ||
| To me, it's disgusting. | ||
| Have a good day. | ||
| Michael there in New York, the Wall Street Journal in its analysis of the proposal yesterday, or at least what was said by the president, quote, Senator Lindsey Graham, the Republican from South Carolina, a Trump ally, called the proposal, quote, interesting, but also, quote, problematic, and said his constituents wouldn't like the idea. | ||
| Senator Ruben Gallego, the Democrat from Arizona, a former Marines, said the president was outlining a quote invasion of Gaza. | ||
| Middle East experts were stunned. | ||
| Khaled Eljinjindi, a former senior advisor to the Palestinian Authority and negotiations with Israelis, called Mr. Trump's proposal, quote, totally bizarre and incoherent, going on to say none of it makes any sense. | ||
| Is he looking to develop Gaza as some kind of massive beachfront property? | ||
| Is he talking about a U.S. occupation of Gaza? | ||
| Will the U.S. force out 2 million Palestinians as part of the plan he asked Mr. Ojindi at Georgetown University now? | ||
| Let's hear from Bernie. | ||
| Bernie is in New York. | ||
| Democrats' line on this proposal floated by the president yesterday. | ||
| Go ahead. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Good morning. | |
| I think he's a genius. | ||
| I mean, he's really a bonafide genius. | ||
| Metternich and Bismarck have nothing on the greatest president of all time. | ||
| My only problem is I think that we should take France. | ||
| I don't understand why he's looking for the Gaza Strip. | ||
| It's so small. | ||
| We can't make any money on it. | ||
| So, well, sticking to Gaza, then why is it a genius idea in your mind? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, obviously, I'm done. | |
| You got to watch the language colors, especially when you call in the Wall Street Journal and its analysis. | ||
| Sorry, the Washington Post and its analysis following up saying that U.S. allies Wednesday began rejecting the president's proposal to take over Gaza, permanently moving Palestinians and turning the enclave into a, quote, Riviera of the Middle East. | ||
| Saudi Arabia immediately rejected the displacement of Palestinians, adding that it would not establish diplomatic relations with Israel, a long-term U.S. foreign policy goal, without an independent Palestinian state. | ||
| Britain and France reiterated their stances for a two-state solution. | ||
| Reactions from Egypt and Jordan, key regional U.S. allies who have found themselves thrust into the spotlight of Mr. Trump's second term, have been cautiously muted. | ||
| This story adding that far-right Israeli leaders applauded plans to permanently displace the Palestinians from Gaza while the Hamas militant group said it would, quote, pour oil on the fire. | ||
| Robert is in Michigan, independent line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hi. | |
| Good morning. | ||
| This is Robert Collin from the fascist Caspian town of the state of Michigan. | ||
| I haven't called in a while, but I have one question for both Republicans and Democrats who voted for Trump. | ||
| If he were to propose to take over Gaza like he's doing now, plus this Canada business, plus Iceland, plus Panama, and change the Gulf of Mexico in the Gulf of America, would they still vote for him? | ||
| And I would say the answer would be yes, because there's that many stupid people in this country. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| So, specifically to Gaza, what's your issue with the issue with the proposal? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, my issue is just like that last guy, but you blocked him. | |
| And I had to laugh because, I mean, this is what's happening. | ||
| This is what's causing these people to say this kind of stuff because of his idiot. | ||
| It's not going to happen. | ||
| You know, he's just not going to do it himself. | ||
| He's got to go through channels and everything. | ||
|
unidentified
|
It's a stupid comment to begin with. | |
| You know, and I'm not smart enough to really come up with some really educated answers to all this neither. | ||
| But, you know, I'm not that dumb to realize that, you know, what he's proposing is stupid. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Michael in New Jersey. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Democrats line, you're next up. | |
| Hello. | ||
| So we can say without doubt that this is a fascist government. | ||
| And his idea to invade other countries, you know, invading Gaza is just the ultimate expression of fascism. | ||
| The Constitution of the United States and the laws of this country are at severe risk. | ||
| And I believe it is time for representatives and governors to discuss this crisis. | ||
| This has gone beyond. | ||
| And I don't know how we survive the next four years. | ||
| It was after the comments that were made that the National Security Advisor, Michael Waltz, and the special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, talked about those challenges in rebuilding Gaza in a five-year period, which was negotiated under President Biden. | ||
| Here are some of those comments from yesterday. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Palestinians say that they want to go home to Gaza. | |
| Mr. President Trump has spoken about cleaning out Gaza. | ||
| So what does that look like? | ||
| Would there be a situation where you could forcibly remove people from Gaza? | ||
| Well, I would push back on that characterization of cleaning out Gaza. | ||
| I think President Trump is looking at this from a humanitarian standpoint. | ||
| You have these people that are sitting with literally thousands of unexploded ordnance and piles of rubble. | ||
| At some point, we have to look realistically. | ||
| How do you rebuild Gaza? | ||
| What does that look like? | ||
| What's the timeline? | ||
| I think a lot of people were looking at very unrealistic timelines. | ||
| We're talking 10, 15 years, not the five years. | ||
| And so that's what we have to work through. | ||
| That's part of what we'll work through with Prime Minister Netanyahu. | ||
| So let me just expand on what the National Security Advisor said, because we talk about this all the time. | ||
| In any city in the United States of America, if you had damage that was 100th of what I saw in Gaza, and I went there at the direction of the President and the National Security Advisor, so we would know right uphand, right very specifically what was going on, nobody would be allowed to go back to their homes. | ||
| That's how dangerous it is. | ||
| There's 30,000 unexploded munitions. | ||
| It is buildings that could tip over at any moment. | ||
| There's no utilities there whatsoever. | ||
| No working water, electric, gas, nothing. | ||
| God knows what kind of disease might be festering there. | ||
| So when the president talks about cleaning it out, he talks about making it habitable. | ||
| And this is a long-range plan. | ||
| They've dug tunnels underneath there that have basically degraded the stone that you make that would form foundations. | ||
| We have to examine that. | ||
| You do it with borings. | ||
| You do it with subterranean surveys. | ||
| And this guy knows real estate. | ||
| It's years on top of years. | ||
| The disposal effort in Gaza is, we estimate, three to five years just to dispose of all the things before you can look down but believe beneath the surface of the soil, and then before you get a master plan done. | ||
| And the president is intent on getting it all done correctly. | ||
| So to me it is unfair to have explained to Palestinians that they might be back in five years. | ||
| That's just preposterous. | ||
| Again, those comments from yesterday, also on exit Speaker Mike Johnson posting on X yesterday, the United States stands firmly with Israel and the people of the Middle East, which haven't experienced peace in many, many years. | ||
| Violence and hatred do not have to define the region's future. | ||
| Then he goes on to say President Trump took bold action in hopes of achieving lasting peace. | ||
| From Congresswoman Bethan Dunn of Texas, the world is looking to the United States for leadership. | ||
| And President Trump is delivering a lasting peace. | ||
| Today's announcement put Hamas Iran and all our enemies on notice. | ||
| The U.S. will not continue the status quo that has empowered terrorists. | ||
| She goes on from there. | ||
| Let's hear from Mary in Michigan, Republican line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah, just curious, you know, does the U.S. stand with all the other ethnic bodies? | |
| Do we stand with Ireland? | ||
| Do we, I mean, we're standing with Israel here heavily, and it has waged war with Palestine. | ||
| Two points: there is a Gaza Marine natural gas field off the coast. | ||
| Nobody's talked about that. | ||
| You ought to get some experts in there to discuss that. | ||
| There's a huge body of natural gas right there on the coast. | ||
| And of course, there are ulterior motives going on here. | ||
| And the other thing is, mega cities, the World Economic Forum and KLS, has tried to push on everybody. | ||
|
unidentified
|
So is this one of them? | |
| I agree with that guy that called about the LA fires. | ||
| You know, they're trying to make over our country's people. | ||
| And it's the bankers. | ||
| It's that tribe. | ||
| So thank you. | ||
| Laura's next independent line. | ||
| This is David. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hey, how are you doing this morning? | |
| I just wanted to address the Gaza and Trump's project there. | ||
| Hey, why don't we bring those 2.5 million people here to the United States? | ||
| Let them settle here. | ||
| Yeah, why not let that be a solution? | ||
|
unidentified
|
And we need to stop supporting Israel. | |
| Hey, Pedro, thanks a lot. | ||
| From the Wall Street Journal this morning, this adds that Egypt, I'm sorry, the Washington Post, this adds that Egypt and Jordan have hotly resisted Mr. Trump's attempts to cajole them into taking Palestinians during the reconstruction of Gaza, a process he said could take 10 to 15 years. | ||
| Also, in this story, it adds that ahead of the meeting between Benjamin Yetanahu and the president, the foreign ministers of Egypt and Turkey, another country that has been involved in brokering an end to the conflict, released a joint statement rejecting any proposal to displace or resettle Palestinians to, quote, countries outside the Palestinian territories, either for short-term or long-term purposes. | ||
| From Elizabeth in Maryland, Democrats line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| My position is that Trump is just insane about Gaza. | ||
| He wants to remove the Palestinian people and put them in Egypt or Jordan. | ||
| And as you just said, Egypt and Jordan reject that. | ||
| He wants to cleanse Palestine of all the Palestinian people, which is ethnic cleansing. | ||
| It's racist. | ||
| It will destroy all the Palestinian people. | ||
| He sees Palestine. | ||
| He sees Gaza as a tourist destination. | ||
| He's insane. | ||
| He wants to send U.S. troops into Gaza. | ||
| Why U.S. troops into Gaza? | ||
| U.S. doesn't belong in the Middle East at all. | ||
| U.S. doesn't belong in the Middle East at all, especially not in Gaza. | ||
| Let the Palestinian people live. | ||
| Let them, they want to stay in Gaza. | ||
| They want to live their lives. | ||
| They want to rebuild Palestine. | ||
| Let them stay in Palestine and let us help with aid to the UN, to the World Fukushim. | ||
| That's what Trump can do: send money to the World Fukushima and to all the UN agencies that help the people in Palestine. | ||
| That's all the U.S. can do. | ||
| And Trump is crazy about overtaking Gaza and sending U.S. troops in and turning Gaza into a turret destination. | ||
| Thank you very much. | ||
| And Connecticut, Republican line. | ||
| Anne-Marie is next. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yes, good morning. | |
| I'm going to be addressing this from a spiritual point of view. | ||
| I don't know who President Trump's spiritual advisors are right now, but they've either all gone woke or they're not communicating with our president. | ||
| I voted for President Trump three times. | ||
| I attended his inauguration in 2017. | ||
| I love this man, but this is totally preposterous. | ||
| First of all, you don't divide the land. | ||
| And when the Palestinians are crying out from the river to the sea, they want to push Israel into the sea. | ||
| You can't negotiate with demons. | ||
| Hamas is demon-possessed terrorists, okay? | ||
| And Israel has every right to eradicate that land of these terrorists. | ||
| But to the idea of rebuilding the land, what's wrong with that proposal? | ||
|
unidentified
|
Well, you don't get the first of all, what is the United States doing going over to Israel? | |
| I mean, that is totally preposterous. | ||
| And our president is way off saying that luck has anything to do with it. | ||
| This is not luck. | ||
| Most of the Middle East countries hate Israel. | ||
| They hate her. | ||
| Just read your Bible. | ||
| They're all going to come against her. | ||
| And the only thing to do is to stand with Israel. | ||
| I've been to Israel. | ||
| When you're there, you know that if they would just recognize Israel as a state, they could all live in peace. | ||
| Okay, that's Anne-Marie there in Connecticut. | ||
| Let's hear from Carl. | ||
| He's in Maine on our Independent Line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Yeah. | |
| Hey, thank you for taking my call. | ||
| I just wanted to thank all the progressives who sat out voting for Kamala because they were convinced the Democrats were going to perpetuate genocide since obviously they got their man, Trump, who is now actively interested in committing genocide. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Bill is from Michigan, Democrats line. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Yes, thank you. | ||
| I was just wondering what happened to American First Won't He try to rebuild California. | ||
| And that's all I have to say. | ||
| Thank you. | ||
| Again, you can make your comments on this proposal by the president that was floated during that press conference yesterday. | ||
| 202-748-8001 for Republicans. | ||
| 202-748-8000 for Democrats and Independents. | ||
| 202-748-8002. | ||
| Texting us is available too. | ||
| 202-748-8003 is how you do that. | ||
| Marsha, Republican line from West Virginia. | ||
| Hello. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| I can't believe that we're being fooled so much. | ||
| This is all just a distraction to show, to say, look over here, look over there. | ||
| And don't look at the Treasury. | ||
| Don't look at how I'm dissembling your government. | ||
| Don't look at that. | ||
| Look over here. | ||
| This is more important. | ||
| And if we're being fooled by it, we have a convicted felon for a president. | ||
| Okay, but what do you think about other Republicans like yourself who agree and are on board with the president's idea? | ||
|
unidentified
|
What was the question? | |
| What do you think about other Republicans like yourself who are with the president on this idea? | ||
|
unidentified
|
I don't understand. | |
| I just don't understand. | ||
| This man is mentally unstable. | ||
| It's proven. | ||
| The history will show that if our nation can get through this, history will show him for the pirate. | ||
| Okay. | ||
| Let's go to Mark. | ||
| Mark in Long Island, Independent Line. | ||
| Hi. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Hello. | |
| Mark and Long Island. | ||
|
unidentified
|
Go ahead. | |
| Yes. | ||
| Thank you for taking my call. | ||
| You asked another caller earlier about why he is a genius, because the idea of what he's doing, putting a friendly neighbor next to Israel, who has been attacked since 1948, is a good idea. | ||
| Taking land that is destroyed and building it and making apartments and condos and places where people can live, inviting the people back onto the land with a bunch of other people from the world that like to live in peace. | ||
| I think that's a wonderful idea. | ||
| And for the caller who called them unstable, I think we should all be unstable like Donald Trump. | ||
| It would be a better world. |