Last night, President Trump proposed a plan to displace all the Palestinians from Gaza, and get Jordan and Egypt to take them in, while the U.S. takes ownership of Gaza and rebuilds it into a Middle East Riviera. We'll talk with New Yorker staff writer Dexter Filkins about the impact of this proposal. We'll also talk with him about the recruitment crisis in the U.S. military, which has led military leaders to ask: can our country defend itself if not enough people are willing or able to fight? It's the subject of his latest article in the New Yorker.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. The show you're about to hear isn't the one we'd planned for today. So let me take a moment to explain. We intended to broadcast the interview I recorded yesterday about the recruiting crisis in the military and how Trump blamed it on the military's DEI programs, which is the subject of Dexter Filkin's latest article in The New Yorker.
In that interview with Filkins, we also talked about how the Middle East was being reshaped by the Israel-Hamas war and the overthrow of Syria's dictator, Bashar al-Assad. But last night, at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, Trump proposed a shocking way he'd like to reshape the region.
His idea is for all the Palestinians to leave Gaza, get Jordan and Egypt to take them in, while the U.S. takes ownership of Gaza and rebuilds it. He didn't rule out sending U.S. troops into Gaza. We brought back Falcons this morning to talk about Trump's proposal. In the second half of today's show, we'll hear the interview we recorded yesterday morning about the shortage of recruits in the U.S.
military and how that's leaving us vulnerable. Filkins is a staff writer for The New Yorker. He has been reporting on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Middle East for decades and is the author of the bestseller The Forever War. Let's start with a clip from last night's press conference when CNN's Caitlin Collins posed this question to Trump.
Just to follow up on what you were saying about the Gazans leaving Gaza, going to other countries. One, where exactly are you suggesting that they should go? And two, are you saying they should return after it's rebuilt? And if not, who do you envision living there?
I envision a world, people living there, the world's people. I think you'll make that into an international, unbelievable place. I think the potential in the Gaza Strip is unbelievable. And I think the entire world, representatives from all over the world will be there and they'll live there. Palestinians also. Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there.
But they've tried the other, and they've tried it for decades and decades and decades. It's not going to work. It didn't work. It will never work. And you have to learn from history. History just can't let it keep repeating itself. We have an opportunity to do something that could be... phenomenal. And I don't want to be cute. I don't want to be a wise guy.
But the Riviera of the Middle East, this could be something that could be so bad. This could be so magnificent. But more importantly than that is the people that have been absolutely destroyed that live there now can live in peace in a much better situation because they're living in hell. And those people will now be able to live in peace. We'll make sure that it's done world class.
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