President Donald Trump shocked world leaders and U.S. lawmakers by announcing plans to "take over" war-torn Gaza and turn the region into the "Riviera of the Middle East" after moving Palestinians elsewhere.
During a joint news conference Tuesday with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the longtime real estate developer proposed turning the coastal enclave into a resort following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that has killed at least 47,000 people, and the proposal was swiftly condemned by other nations and dismissed as "insane" by Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) and "problematic" by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC).
"Let's try to big-picture this to the extent that we can," said CNN's Kasie Hunt. "I mean, we tried to state exactly how enormous this potential policy shift would be. The question that I think a lot of people across the world are now asking is, is this real? Is this one of these situations where Donald Trump is saying something to set out a negotiating position like he does with tariffs? Does it amount to basically a threat that he will not follow through on, or does it amount to something that he is actually going to do?"
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CNN senior political analyst Mark Preston doubts the president would take any action on his proposal, but said his business mindset took precedence over his foreign policy acuity.
"I think you're all misinterpreting what he said here," Preston said. "Okay, because what he sees is investment, right? He sees timeshares, he sees casinos, he sees cotton candy stands. There's a lot of opportunity for investment at that moment when he said that, unfortunately, he meant it. Okay, now there's been some talk where it says, 'Oh, he says these things sometimes, and then we'll walk back.' This is not one of those situations. This is something that he has in his head."
Hunt called his attention to video footage of the bombed-out devastation in Gaza, but Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson said she was inclined to agree with Preston.
"So I'll agree with you, that there's that saying – when you're a hammer, every problem looks like a nail," Anderson said. "When you're a reality television real estate developer, every problem is a resort to be built. But, remember, there's just a couple of weeks ago, we were like, 'Oh, my God, Donald Trump's going to invade Panama,' and what that turned into was [secretary of state] Marco Rubio having a productive meeting in Panama and then withdrawing from China's 'Belt and Road' [initiative]. Look, I won't dispute that, I don't think the United States should have a quote, unquote, ownership position in Gaza, but I do think that it's not just that Donald Trump actually intends to build a resort there, I just think this is how he talks about every problem."
Political consultant Karen Finney, a former spokeswoman for Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign, wasn't so quick to dismiss Trump's comments as fantastical.
"I think that it's not that in this instance, because when he made the comments about Panama, it was a little more off-the-cuff," Finney said. "That was literally – he was looking at his piece of paper, like, that was on a piece of paper. That is a strategy, it is not surprising considering he is a real estate magnate. He probably is thinking about the value of that real estate and the hubris to think, 'Oh yeah, we'll just tell 2 million people they're going to have to move,' when this is literally the oldest conflict in the world, and it's all about where they're located."
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