President Donald Trump is receiving bipartisan acclaim for his work to clinch a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas last week, including from some GOP rivals who challenged his foreign policy acumen during the 2024 Republican primary.
The praise comes as the president spoke before the Knesset in Jerusalem on Monday before heading to a peace summit in Egypt. Earlier, Hamas also returned 20 living hostages to Israel — a moment that may well represent the signature foreign policy success of his second term.
“After two long years, we can finally breathe a sigh of relief,” former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrote on X Monday. “This is the day the Lord has made; We will rejoice and be glad in it. God Bless Israel. God Bless the United States. Congratulations to President Trump and his team for paving the way to peace.”
One of then-candidate Trump’s chief rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, Haley last year decried his politics as isolationist, calling Trump “weak in the knees” when it came to Russian President Vladimir Putin and centering her record at the United Nations as a selling point for her candidacy.
Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, who on the campaign trail lashed into Trump for embracing “isolationism and appeasement” and fomenting what he called a “retreat on the world stage,” has also praised the president in the wake of last week’s ceasefire agreement.
In a talk with POLITICO’s Dasha Burns last week on C-SPAN’s “Ceasefire,” Pence credited Trump’s “consistent support for Israel doing what it had to do.”
“The ability to stay with Israel as they did what needed to be done and the president’s relentless pursuit for peace here and that of his team, I think is to be commended,” he said.
At the same time, the president is at increasing odds with Democrats over his handling of the government shutdown, now stretching into its third week. With federal layoffs cascading throughout Washington and voters blaming Republicans, Democrats are eager to keep their focus on the economy — and on soon-to-expireAffordable Care Act subsidies.
But several are cheering the president for the Gaza breakthrough.
“A weight has been lifted off the world as the remaining hostages are released,” Rep. Jared Moskowitz (D-Fla.) wrote on X Monday. “Amazing day for the families, and for @POTUS and all the negotiators who made this day possible. Let’s honor their return by staying committed to lasting peace so another October 7 never happens again.”
Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.), whose fervent backing of Israel throughout its two-year incursion into Gaza has inflamed many Democratic supporters, credited Trump “for a breakthrough ceasefire of this awful war.”
On Sunday, Jake Sullivan, former President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, praised Trump and his team for the ceasefire, but highlighted the Biden administration’s work in delivering many of the conditions that helped Trump and his negotiators.
Hezbollah, he said, was defrayed in a ceasefire spearheaded by the Biden White House. And much of Trump’s 20-point Gaza Peace Plan resembles the one left behind by the former president, Sullivan said, echoing a point made last week by Biden’s Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“In concept, it’s pretty similar,” Sullivan told CNN’s Dana Bash. “Hamas cannot remain in power. We need to see the rebuilding of Gaza, funded by the international community including the Gulf states, we need an interim governance structure, we need strong support from the Arab countries, we need some kind of international force to keep the peace in Gaza and we need a pathway to a two-state solution.”
