President Donald Trump, left, greets Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, at the West Wing of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday. (Demetrius Freeman – The Washington Post / Getty Images)
By Joe Saunders February 5, 2025 at 11:00am
President Donald Trump’s bombshell plan for the U.S. to take over the Gaza Strip took the world by surprise on Tuesday — including Republicans in the nation’s capital.
Reactions ranged from outright hostility to endorsement, but many in the GOP were simply caught “off guard,” the Beltway news outlet Politico reported hours after the White House news conference where Trump announced the plan.
But even the early reactions showed how seriously Trump’s proposal was being taken.
Kentucky GOP Sen. Rand Paul, the Senate’s most outspoken opponent of government overreach, attacked the idea Wednesday morning.
“I thought we voted for America First,” he wrote in a post on the social media platform X.
“We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood.”
The pursuit for peace should be that of the Israelis and the Palestinians.
I thought we voted for America First.
We have no business contemplating yet another occupation to doom our treasure and spill our soldiers blood. https://t.co/hRM8UneLe1
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) February 5, 2025
Sen. Lindsey Graham — a South Carolina Republican in his fourth term and strong supporter of Israel — sounded his own note of skepticism, according to Politico.
Do you support Trump’s Gaza plan?
“We’ll see what our Arab friends say about that. 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.
However, Texas Rep. Brandon Gill, a first-term congressman from a district in the eastern part of the Lone Star State, declared Trump’s announcement an example of Trump keeping his word.
“President Trump is bringing peace to the Middle East, just as he promised,” Gill wrote in an X post, with a video of Trump making the announcement.
“PROMISES KEPT.”
President Trump is bringing peace to the Middle East, just as he promised.
PROMISES KEPT https://t.co/y4Egt73WRd
— Congressman Brandon Gill (@RepBrandonGill) February 5, 2025
Florida’s Sen. Rick Scott, a conservative who mounted a failed bid for Senate leadership in the fall, published a statement supporting Trump, though failing to comment on the proposal specifically.
“Hamas terrorists murdered babies and burned people alive. They are evil monsters,” he wrote.
“Thank God we finally have a president who is committed to standing with Israel and working with Netanyahu on how to support their efforts to get terrorists out of Gaza and bring every hostage home.”
Hamas terrorists murdered babies and burned people alive. They are evil monsters. Thank God we finally have a president who is committed to standing with Israel and working with Netanyahu on how to support their efforts to get terrorists out of Gaza and bring every hostage home.
— Rick Scott (@SenRickScott) February 5, 2025
Many Republicans questioned by Politico Tuesday night appeared to be withholding reaction until they could learn more about what, exactly, Trump has in mind and how the proposal would actually work.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakotan in his third term in the Senate and no favorite of Trump supporters, gave Politico what amounts to a masterpiece of understatement.
“I think we’re obviously all interested in facilitating a solution to the Middle East, particularly with the whole situation in Gaza,” he said, according to the outlet.
“How we best achieve that I think is still — it’s a subject of conversation, sounds like he’s got an idea on that.”
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro desk editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015.
Joe has spent more than 30 years as a reporter, copy editor and metro editor in newsrooms in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Florida. He’s been with Liftable Media since 2015. Largely a product of Catholic schools, who discovered Ayn Rand in college, Joe is a lifelong newspaperman who learned enough about the trade to be skeptical of every word ever written. He was also lucky enough to have a job that didn’t need a printing press to do it.
Birthplace
Philadelphia
Nationality
American
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