Trump takes a victory lap as Gaza peace deal is signed: From the Politics Desk

Welcome to the online version of From the Politics Desk, a newsletter that brings you the NBC News Politics team’s latest reporting and analysis from the White House, Capitol Hill and the campaign trail.

In today’s edition, Jonathan Allen takes stock of the Gaza peace agreement brokered by President Donald Trump and what comes next. Meanwhile, back in the U.S, there’s (still) no end in sight to the government shutdown. Our Capitol Hill team has the latest on the Obamacare rift driving the impasse.

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— Adam Wollner

There’s plenty left to resolve in the Middle East, not least of which is the question of whether Palestinians will eventually have their own independent state. If each step toward a lasting peace is successful, it will take days, months, years and perhaps decades to assess the full scope of the success of the deal to end the war in Gaza that President Donald Trump brokered, blessed and signed.

But what is clear today is that the remaining living Hamas-held hostages have been released, Israeli defense forces have pulled back to defensive positions, more aid is making its way into Gaza, and the United States — with Trump leading the way — is at the center of an international coalition dedicating itself to maintaining peace and rebuilding Gaza.

It’s hard to find political leaders in the U.S., or elsewhere, who think those are bad outcomes.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., a past and possibly future presidential candidate, nodded approvingly toward Trump in an X post today.

“After more than 2 years, prayers were answered after the President and others reached an agreement to bring the Israeli hostages home,” she wrote. “This is a significant step toward a durable resolution of the war. We must work to end the humanitarian crisis and secure a lasting peace.”

Outside the U.S., Trump’s ability to attract and maintain the trust of both Israel and a host of Arab- and Muslim-majority nations, spanning from the Middle East across the Indian Ocean, is a rare diplomatic feat. It required him to take a harder line with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu than modern American presidents have been willing to draw.

The Knesset, the Israeli parliament, greeted Trump with a standing ovation when he spoke there. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sissi gave Trump his country’s highest civilian honor later in the day.

“This is the historic dawn of a new Middle East,” Trump said in his remarks.

If that is indeed the case, Trump may well yet win the Nobel Peace Prize he seeks.

Read more:

• Celebrating a hard-won ceasefire, Trump pushes for ‘lasting harmony’ in the Middle East, by Peter Nicholas
• What’s next for Israel-Hamas truce following the hostage and prisoner release, by Chantal Da Silva
• Follow live updates →

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., slammed the expiring Obamacare subsidies at the center of the government funding standoff as a “boondoggle” as the shutdown approaches the two-week mark with no end in sight.

“The Covid-era Obamacare subsidy that they’re all talking about that’s supposedly the issue of the day doesn’t expire until the end of December. And by the way, it is the Democrats who created that subsidy, who put the expiration date on it,” he told reporters at a news conference on the 13th day of the shutdown.

“They put an end date on it because they knew it was supposed to be related to Covid, and it’s become a boondoggle,” Johnson added. “When you subsidize the health care system and you pay insurance companies more, the prices increase.”

Johnson’s comments escalate the battle one day before the Senate is scheduled to return to Washington, albeit with no clear path to end the shutdown. It will test the patience and resolve of both parties as federal employees — including members of law enforcement, air traffic controllers and TSA staff — are set to miss paychecks.

The speaker has kept the GOP-led House out of session since Sept. 19, and he is continuing the recess through this week, drawing heavy criticism from Democrats and even some Republicans who say they want to return to work.

Repeal redux: Johnson also weighed in on growing calls on the right to repeal the Affordable Care Act, a long-standing goal of conservatives, and said in a lengthy answer to NBC News that “Obamacare failed the American people” and that the system needs “dramatic reform.” He said he has “PTSD” from the GOP’s repeal effort in 2017 and remains frustrated that it failed.

“Can we completely repeal and replace Obamacare? Many of us are skeptical about that now, because the roots are so deep. It was really sinister, the way, in my view, the way it was created,” Johns said. “I believe Obamacare was created to implode upon itself, to collapse upon itself.”

Justin Chermol, a spokesman for the House Democratic campaign arm, responded: “Mike Johnson just admitted the GOP’s ‘health care plan’ isn’t only about slashing Medicaid and shuttering rural hospitals. Republicans are still desperate to repeal the Affordable Care Act and rip away protections for people with pre-existing conditions — as the Speaker made clear this morning while reliving his trauma after failing to take away health care in 2017.”

Read more →

That’s all From the Politics Desk for now. Today’s newsletter was compiled by Adam Wollner.

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