President Trump arrives in Israel as a massive delegation welcomes him with full red-carpet diplomacy. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu together with dignitaries from Israel and the U.S. negotiating team greet President Trump as he arrives at the airport. [Video Prompted]
President Trump will address the Knesset, the Israeli parliament, as the first steps of the U.S.-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas continue to come into effect. The first seven of the final remaining hostages taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, were returned to Israel on Monday as part of a prisoner exchange. Full schedule below the arrival video.
In an effort to keep the Daily Open Thread a little more open topic we are going to start a new daily thread for “Presidential Politics”. Please use this thread to post anything relating to the Donald Trump Administration and Presidency.
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Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. THY WILL BE DONE, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but DELIVER US FROM EVIL.
For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen †
China holds a monopolistic level of control on the industrial processing of rare earth minerals. The minerals themselves are not rare; it’s the processing of them into refined elements used in industrial electronic component manufacturing that gives China power.
The U.S. and China hold a current trade agreement saying, essentially, we will remain steady with the baseline tariffs in exchange for Beijing maintaining a consistent policy on the export of processed rare earth magnets and minerals. The announcement of export controls by Beijing violated the terms of that trade agreement, and President Trump responded by announcing an additional retaliatory tariff of 100%, effective November 1st.
China then sent a clarification statement saying current licensing and trade agreements would be honored. On his flight to Israel, President Trump said, “I think I know what happened, I know what happened” and downplayed the trade action. U.S Trade Representative Jamieson Greer gives some background. WATCH:
President Donald Trump speaks to journalists aboard Air Force One as he heads to Israel and Egypt to participate in a historic ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. WATCH:
President Trump delivered brief remarks from Joint Base Andrews as he departs the U.S. to attend events around the brokered peace agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. [Itinerary Below Video].
With Egypt controlling the critical southern border with Gaza, and with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi playing a critical role in facilitating the peace agreement, Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty appears on Face the Nation to discuss the first phase of the Gaza peace agreement.
As noted by Abdelatty, the regional coalition trusts the objectives and intentions of President Trump, and all the regional states are relying upon President Trump’s leadership to secure the future for Gaza and the Palestinian people. WATCH:
[Transcript] – MARGARET BRENNAN: We turn now to the Foreign Minister of Egypt, Dr. Badr Abdelatty, and he joins us this morning from Cairo. Welcome to Face The Nation.
EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER BADR ABDELATTY: Good to be with you, Margaret. Thank you so much for hosting me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So President Trump is headed to Egypt. I know he will be meeting with President al-Sisi tomorrow in Sharm El-Sheik to discuss this agreement about Gaza. But everything seems dependent on this hostage release and the conclusion of phase one, from what you know and hear from Hamas, will those hostages be released in the next 24 hours?
Vice President JD Vance appears on Face the Nation as part of his Sunday talk circuit. The video and transcript of the discussion is below.
[Transcript] MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning and welcome to Face The Nation. We begin today with Vice President JD Vance, who joins us from Cincinnati, this morning. Good morning to you, Mr. Vice President.
VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: Good morning, Margaret, thanks for having me.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We are getting very close to that 72 hour deadline for the hostage release. I think the world is holding its breath here. Is the administration seeing signs that Hamas and Israel are complying with everything they need to and that this will go ahead?
VICE PRESIDENT VANCE: Yes, Margaret, so knock on wood, but we feel very confident the hostages will be released, and that the President is actually traveling to the Middle East, likely this evening, in order to meet them and greet them in person. It’s a big day for their families, but I think more importantly, it’s a big day for the entire world.
The President of the United States said to his entire diplomatic team, especially Marco Rubio, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, to go and get a deal done, to stop the war in Gaza, to begin to rebuild Gaza so the population could live there in peace and prosperity, to actually eliminate the threat of terrorism to our friends in Israel- which is very, very important, and also to bring the hostages home alive. It was a very tall task. He pursued a very non traditional diplomacy with people who were not 40 year diplomats, but people who brought a fresh perspective to it. And of course, the President was criticized for it. The diplomatic team was criticized for it. But I think that because he chose a different pathway, he didn’t just do what everybody else in the past had done. We are now on the cusp of a sustainable peace in the Middle East. It’s a great moment.
Vice President JD Vance appears on Fox News with Maria Bartiromo to discuss the Israel/Hamas peace agreement over Gaza and other regional issues.
As noted by Vance, the Gulf Arab states are willing to provide boots on the ground to establish the security parameters for the Gaza area, as well as the vast majority of the funding to rebuild Gaza and monitor the stability therein. Additionally, Vice President Vance discussed the government shutdown and the ways President Trump and OMB Director Russ Vought are working through the process of funding priority. Tariff revenue will be a significant offset.
The conversation then goes to the Chinese trade actions and the new tariffs against Beijing. WATCH:
Amid all of this derision and division, a few people have asked for perspective. So here it is – my review in brutally drilled down simplicity.
Back in ’23/’24, the plan of Billionaire Larry Ellison and Elon Musk (w/collaboration, ie. K Griffin, R Bigelow etc.), was to divide the MAGA base through the promotion of Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. The Alligator Emoji base (evangelical conservatives) was the wedge.
They failed.
MAGA remained cohesive behind Donald J Trump. Ron DeSantis eventually quit the race, Ellison and Musk changed camps, Silicon Valley came along, and the rest is 2024 electoral history.
The point to remember is the key strategy was to divide the MAGA base.
Fast forward to 2025. Larry Ellison, David Ellison, Bill Ackman, Elon Musk, Rupert Murdoch, et al, are looking toward the political future and reverting back to their original objective – divide the MAGA base.
The wedge is the same, only the subject matter of emotional emphasis is Israel.
Look at the names. The wedge divide is identical.
In essence, MAGA is being played by billionaire games with the intent to politically divide in advance of the 2026 midterms. It also appears to be working swimmingly.
