Posted on 02/05/2025 9:27:55 AM PST by RandFan
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 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 moved 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”.
(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
What?! Is he up for re-election?
These morons take Trump literally but fail to take him seriously. Trump knows this and thus trolls the crap out of them, outmaneuvering them every time.
STOP THE STUPID, PUBBIES!
I don’t believe he has any intent of occupying Gaza.
Rather, its how Trump re-sets the terms of the debate. He destroys old, ossified mental positions and creates brand-new paradigms - all with his speech.
I don’t know who exactly its directed at, but its the magic and mystery of Trump.
Take a look at the extent of the off shore natural gas fields off the coast of Israel and tell me that Trump is not dead serious about this one.
“We aren’t going to BUY GAZA!”
We’re going to get the neighboring countries to pay for it.
Sure hope you’re right.
Gaza would make a nice parking lot once the vagrants are cleared out.
Sounds like a ‘tar baby’ to me.
you go station there then and see what they think
Being taken seriously is not the same thing as being taken literally.
A lot more people need to read “The Art of the Deal.”
Saudi has the MONEY, they IMPORT TONS of foreigners to do all their work, so they could fill those jobs with Palis.
That’s Gaza.
As usual, the biggest blowhards in Congress have to get in front of a camera when they likely haven’t even talked to President Trump about it, and have no idea what it all entails.
As if they haven't learned anything from Trump's comments about the Panama Canal, Greenland and Canada as the 51st state.
If you found out that his son in law publicly talked about doing this a year ago, would that change your opinion?
It’s simple.
Trump is hitting the opposition from every side at once.
They don’t know what to protest or how to organize against him.
Now he dominates the news cycle to keep the Demoncrats message from getting out.
Give it 48 hours to play out.
Correct. Not an idea on my radar but let us discuss the implications.
Trump is trying to humiliate the Arabs into purposing an alternative plan. Many Arab nations have supported the ‘Palestinians’ and their constant hate for so long that they can’t have them in Arab countries because they are to big a threat to security. They also understand that GAZA has to be rebuilt, but who is going to pay for it. Trump’s proposal says the United States will come in and make it an American Paradise. They, of course, will have to move the people out first to an Arab friendly nation.
The Palestinians will howl, the Arabs will howl, they will see it as: 1. displacement of the Palestinians which will never get their land back. 2. Potential threat from the Palestinians who they bring in that are basically lawless. 3. A failure of their past policies of attacking Israel, with even more loss of land. 4. Worst of all, if the United States succeeds, they look like 7th Century Morons who couldn’t do it themselves.
It’s a giant negotiation and antagonism game, it’s the ‘deal’. Everyone should shut up and let Trump play the game, and maybe we actually can get peace in the middle east.
These morons take Trump literally but fail to take him seriously. Trump knows this and thus trolls the crap out of them, outmaneuvering them every time.
Exactly, he’s looking for a military base and Mar-a-Lago II
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