New “Board of Peace” Poised to Rule Gaza. Guess Who’ll Be In Charge?
Israel accepts Trump's peace plan. Here's what's in it. Why a government shutdown could double your healthcare premiums. Kirk shooting suspect in court. And who's mad about Bad Bunny?
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Today in this note I intended to focus on the implications of Trump’s deployment of troops and federal forces in Portland and Chicago, timed to his new memo defining “domestic terrorists” as those motivated by liberal views.
But then, news happened.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared at the White House and accepted Trump’s peace proposal. Democrats and Republicans admitted the government’s likely to shut down. Trump announced backbreaking (and impossible to implement?) new tariffs on Hollywood films made outside the US. Also, Trump doubled down on coal and posted about non-existent QAnon MedBeds. And then there’s the uproar over the NFL and Bad Bunny.
So, let’s get to the news.
Here Are Your Headlines
Breaking: YouTube has agreed to pay President Trump $24.5 million to settle a lawsuit he brought over the tech platform’s decision to suspend his account after January 6th. They’ll reportedly pay $22 million to the nonprofit Trust for the National Mall and the remainder to other plaintiffs. YouTube, owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, joins Meta and X (or Twitter), in settling lawsuits brought over their decisions to take down Trump’s accounts.
Art of the (Peace) Deal: Trump today released a 20-point plan to end the war in Gaza. Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, agreed to the plan and said it “achieves our war aims.” The deal includes terms Netanyahu has previously made clear he does not like. The foreign ministers of Qatar, Jordan, the UAE, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt issued a joint statement today, in which they “welcome” Trump’s proposal. Hamas has only just been presented with it. Trump said if Hamas does not agree, Israel will have Trump’s full backing to do what it “has to do.”
Governance and Security: The plan calls for an international body to oversee Gaza after the war. Palestinians would oversee day to day matters but they’d answer to an international body called the “Board of Peace” with Trump in charge. Former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair would be a member. The plan affirms that Palestinians will not be pushed out of the territory and those who leave will be allowed to return. A “Trump economic development plan to rebuild and energize Gaza will be created,” with international funding to rebuild. Hamas would be disarmed, and all Hamas military infrastructure including tunnels would be dismantled. AP reports that Egypt is training Palestinian police to manage law enforcement. Hamas members who pledge “peaceful co-existence and to decommission their weapons” could stay with amnesty. Others would be given safe passage to leave. Israel would keep a “security perimeter.”
The Short-Term: The plan, if accepted by Hamas, calls for an immediate ceasefire. Hamas would have 72 hours from Israel’s public agreement to release all remaining hostages. In return, Israel would release almost 2,000 Palestinian prisoners, most of them detained after October 7, 2023. Large amounts of humanitarian aid “will be immediately sent,” and overseen by “neutral international bodies” including the UN, Red Crescent, and other agencies “not associated in any way with either” Israel or Hamas. Read all 20 points here.
Statehood: The plan calls for Palestinian statehood eventually but only in vague terms. It offers that once the earlier terms have been met “conditions may finally be in place for a credible pathway to Palestinian Statehood,” and the US will help oversee the agreements. It calls for the Palestinian Authority to ultimately govern the territory.
Amends: Netanyahu called Qatar’s Prime Minister from the Oval Office to express “his deep regret” that Israel’s missile strike against Hamas targets in Qatar “violated Qatari sovereignty” and “unintentionally killed a Qatari serviceman,” according to a White House readout. Netanyahu also “affirmed that Israel will not conduct such an attack again in the future.”
Almost Out of Time: It sure looks like we are headed for a shutdown. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) met with Trump and senior Republicans today to try and reach a compromise to avert a looming government shutdown. No dice. Schumer said Trump “heard our objections” — namely, rising healthcare premiums and shuttering rural hospitals — but admitted “very large differences” remain. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-ND) said the Senate will vote on a House-approved bill to extend government funding for seven weeks — without the healthcare protections Democrats demand — tomorrow evening, just hours before the government will shut down.
What, Exactly, Dems Want: The White House is trying to portray Democrats as being unreasonable and responsible for a shutdown. Vice President JD Vance and Stephen Miller claimed “they demand we fund healthcare for illegal aliens.” That’s not true (obviously). But what is? Democrats are demanding Congress protect subsidies that help lower health insurance costs for plans bought through Obamacare marketplaces. These are set to expire at the end of the year and are left out of the GOP’s recent spending bill. About 22 million people received them in 2025; if they expire, average premiums would rise by 75%, an extra annual cost of over $700. About four million people are expected to become uninsured because they can’t afford the cost, according to KFF. So far, the White House and GOP aren’t agreeing. If they don’t strike a deal, the government shuts down this week.
Hegseth’s Command Performance: Trump has decided he wants to speak to the hundreds of top generals who Secretary Hegseth summoned from around the world for an unprecedented in-person meeting Tuesday. The meeting is raising concerns among some military veterans and analysts speculating about what Hegseth might have planned: a new oath? A new mission? “It’s just an ‘espirit de corps,’” Trump insists. “You know the expression…? That’s all it’s about. We’re talking about what we’re doing, what they’re doing, and how we’re doing.” Recall that in June Trump delivered a highly politicized speech to military staff, in which he attacked former President Joe Biden, California Gov. Gavin Newsom, the “fake news media,” “radical left lunatic” politicians, protestors, and other political enemies — drawing cheers and boos from a normally nonpartisan crowd.
Don Quixote: The Trump administration escalated its use of federal force this weekend, deploying troops and federal agents in more Democrat-run cities. He used false claims of violent unrest — incorrectly characterizing small, peaceful protests as out of control — to justify this growing crackdown.
Portland: The state of Oregon sued the administration over Trump’s “patently unlawful” federalization of 200 of the state’s National Guard troops. Trump claimed a Portland ICE facility was “under siege” and that life in the “War ravaged” city was “like living in Hell.” He authorized troops to use “Full Force” against “Antifa and other domestic terrorists.” (Again, Antifa is not an organization.) According to the lawsuit, and the state’s attorney general, Trump may have based these claims on a Fox News broadcast that included clips of massive protests from 2020. In fact, life in Portland is quite peaceful for most. A Guardian reporter went down to the ICE facility Trump claimed is under siege from terrorists and found a total of three people — one in a chicken costume with an American flag — protesting peacefully outside. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) posted this video on social media of the facility in question, where the protest is so quiet you can hear the wind whistle. Gov. Tina Kotek said she told Trump, “there is no insurrection or threat to public safety that necessitates military intervention.… Local law enforcement has this under control.”
The Real Criminals? Ironically, the ICE facility in Portland may well be in danger — thanks to the administration. The federal government may have violated city permits by using the facility for overnight detentions, placing too many people inside, and boarding up the windows.
Chicago: Federal officers arrested at least one journalist as part of a violent suppression of protests outside an ICE facility in a Chicago suburb. After agents deployed tear gas, rubber bullets, and pepper spray against demonstrators, Broadview’s mayor asked ICE to stop “making war” on her community. Local officials say agents responded by threatening a “shit show” — and then unleashing more violence.
Baited: How many heavily armed Border Patrol agents does it take to catch one man on a bike? Not a dozen, it seems. A video is going viral of a Chicago man taunting a large group of agents patrolling through Chicago’s downtown, shouting insults and taunting, “I’m not a US citizen!” About a dozen agents gave chase, but the man escaped.
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Ball in Motion: Tyler Robinson, the suspect accused of killing Charlie Kirk, virtually attended his second court hearing today. He did not enter a plea. His new attorney asked for more time to review the “voluminous” evidence. Perhaps as voluminous, if not more so, are the conspiracy theories surrounding Kirk’s death. People on the left refuse to believe Robinson was “leftist,” as the government claims; the right is filled with theories of external actors helping (or manipulating) Robinson. Many of the conspiracy theories baselessly blame Israel, which Prime Minister Netanyahu publicly called “a monstrous big lie.”
Plot Twist: Trump today announced a 100% tariff on “all movies that are made outside of the United States.” It’s unclear when this would start, or how it would work. In any case, it would likely cause higher ticket prices. Trump first threatened this tariff back in May; at the time, an industry insider told CNN it would “represent a virtually complete halt of production” if enacted. “But in reality, he has no jurisdiction to do this and it’s too complex to enforce.” When I asked studio heads and producers about this today the general response was a shrug.
Then There Were Three: Incumbent New York City Mayor Eric Adams dropped out of the mayoral race yesterday. Polls had him trailing the remaining three main candidates: State legislator and democratic socialist Zohran Mamdani (45% support), former Governor Andrew Cuomo (25%), and Republican Curtis Sliwa (9%). Analysts still view Mamdani as the favorite. Trump reacted to Adams’ decision by once again threatening Mamdani, saying once again that he would try to withhold federal funds from the city if Mamdani won. He previously claimed, without evidence, that Mamdani is an illegal immigrant.
Purges: FBI Director Kash Patel fired another roughly 20 agents, reportedly for being pictured kneeling at a racial justice demonstration in 2020. The FBI Agents Association slammed the firing as “unlawful.” Patel also refused to back Trump’s claim that FBI agents instigated the Jan 6 insurrection; he claimed agents were improperly “sent into a crowd control mission” as a result of “corrupt leadership.”
Dirty Burn: The following content, which includes information about the administration’s plan to revive the coal industry, the multiple mass shootings that occurred this weekend, a bizarre AI-generated video shared by Trump, and the superstar artist chosen to headline the next Super Bowl, is for paid subscribers. Thank you for your support. It makes our work possible.
