On Thursday, ABC’s Good Morning America and NBC’s Today offered rare effusive praise of President Donald Trump for his leadership to broker a conditional peace deal between Israel and the Islamic terror group governing the Gaza Strip, Hamas. The two networks trumpeted it as a “huge” and “remarkable achievement” Trump “most certainly deserves credit.”
ABC chief global affairs anchor and This Week co-host Martha Raddatz was the most laudatory, arguing “if this goes as planned, if we see the remaining hostages freed and Israel begin its withdrawal, it is a remarkable achievement, and President Trump most certainly deserves credit for his role.”
“He has done this through diplomacy, pressure, and the sheer force of his personality and persistence. He dispatched diplomats again and again, made threats in the last few days to Hamas, saying if they did not sign the deal, all hell would break loose. And they had the bombing of Iran as an example of that. But perhaps most importantly, he pushed [Israeli Prime Minister] Benjamin Netanyahu in ways his predecessor and others have not,” she added.
Raddatz went on, citing Trump’s close, frank ties with Netanyahu as helping bring Israel along, concluding “if those hostages are freed, which would leave Hamas without their major bargaining tool, this is a huge moment for Donald Trump.”
Prior to Raddatz, chief foreign correspondent Ian Pannell hailed the “[s]cenes of jubilation, of relief, and finally hope realized” and “[t]wo years since the terrible war began, Palestinians and Israelis hope the long nightmare is coming to an end.”
“So, we’ve seen celebrations here, singing, dancing. The Israeli flag, the American flag, signs saying, ‘we love you Trump.’ In the words of one mother of a hostage, saying I could be a mother who hugs her son again,” he added.
Over on NBC’s Today, chief foreign correspondent Richard Engel gushed over the jubilant scene in Tel Aviv’s Hostage Square, arguing “a place that has been so sad and mournful” has shifted to one “you can judge for yourselves” as a crowd cheered and sang behind him.
Former Obama official and NBC analyst Jeremy Bash — who was one of those 51 former intelligence officials to claim Hunter Biden’s laptop was Russian disinformation — conceded “this is a huge accomplishment by the Trump administration to end the harrowing nightmare for the people of Gaza…and also for the Israeli people who suffered the trauma on October 7 and had 250 of their citizens taken[.]”
“[T]onight, I think those families can breathe a sigh of relief that the remaining living hostages will come home. But we don’t know yet exactly how Hamas is going to disarm and who will govern the Gaza Strip,” he added.
Asked by co-host Craig Melvin how Gaza would be rebuilt, Bash correctly replied the onus will be on other Arab countries:
It’s very difficult and it’s going to really require the Arab states to send in a security and a governance force. I don’t think U.S. troops are going to be there and certainly the idea is to get the Israeli troops out, so some other multinational force is going to have to put troops on the ground, provide a security presence, and they’re going to have to insist and demand that the current Gaza leadership, which is comprised of Hamas terrorists, leave the Gaza Strip. They’ve been offered amnesty under this Trump deal, but they’re going to have to lay down their arms. And the danger is, of course, that Gaza will retreat again into a failed state and again become a haven for terrorists.
CBS Mornings kept it more neutral, keeping away from an direct effusive praise of the President, but did not criticize him either.
In the show’s “Eye Opener,” it did play the clip of Gil Dickmann, a cousin of deceased one-time hostage Carmel Gat declaring form Hostage Square: “I want to thank President Trump for bringing this amazing victory. He deserves a Noble Prize.”
