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?

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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.

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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:

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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.

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President Donald J Trump has a remarkable schedule for the next 36 hours.

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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.

This thread will refresh daily and appear above the Open Discussion Thread.

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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 †

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Elevate, take the big picture, then understand exactly why the political operatives on the left are doing everything possible to stop the Trump tariff policies.

As President Trump secures a growing Main Street economy through the use of tariffs, the revenue generated becomes part of the financial mechanism to remove the leftist leverage mechanisms with income taxes.

PRESIDENT TRUMP – “Chuck Schumer recently said, “Every day gets better” during their Radical Left Shutdown. I DISAGREE! If nothing is done, because of “Leader” Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, our Brave Troops will miss the paychecks they are rightfully due on October 15th.

That is why I am using my authority, as Commander in Chief, to direct our Secretary of War, Pete Hegseth, to use all available funds to get our Troops PAID on October 15th. We have identified funds to do this, and Secretary Hegseth will use them to PAY OUR TROOPS.

I will not allow the Democrats to hold our Military, and the entire Security of our Nation, HOSTAGE, with their dangerous Government Shutdown. The Radical Left Democrats should OPEN THE GOVERNMENT, and then we can work together to address Healthcare, and many other things that they want to destroy. Thank you for your attention to this matter!” (source)

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President Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff speaks to a massive crowd from “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Speaking beside Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, Steve Witkoff delivered a message of thanks and appreciation to the people of Israel on the cusp of the release of the Israeli hostages and a historic Mideast peace agreement.

The Israeli crowd erupts in boos when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s name is mentioned, but erupts in applause and chants of “Thank you Trump”, when President Trump’s name is mentioned. Blessed are the peacemakers.  WATCH:

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It’s all inside baseball, but for those who are watching the effort to rein in the Fourth Branch of government it is also quite interesting.

CIA Deputy Director Michael Ellis (pictured left) has removed the acting CIA general counsel and put himself into the role until President Trump’s nominee Joshua Simmons can be confirmed by the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence.

Deputy Director Ellis, like DNI Tulsi Gabbard is a solid MAGA ally.  Without knowing the reason for his decision to remove the CIA general counsel, the New York Times is not happy.

WASHINGTON DC – Michael Ellis, the deputy director of the C.I.A., has abruptly demoted a career lawyer who had been serving as the agency’s acting general counsel since January and installed himself in that role, according to people familiar with the matter.

[…] It was not clear what was behind Mr. Ellis’s taking personal control of making legal judgments for the agency while continuing to help lead it, but the move raised alarms among some current and former intelligence officials.

[…] The C.I.A. did not specifically address questions about what was behind the move and whether it raised conflict-of-interest issues. But in a statement, a C.I.A. spokeswoman, Liz Lyons, noted that Mr. Trump had nominated a State Department lawyer, Joshua Simmons, for the role. The Senate Intelligence Committee has scheduled a confirmation hearing for him on Wednesday.

“The deputy director is a highly respected national security lawyer and intelligence professional,” Ms. Lyons said. “This temporary arrangement was approved by career agency attorneys while the Senate considers President Trump’s nominee, Josh Simmons, for C.I.A. general counsel.

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