President Donald Trump will spend the first part of the week in the Middle East to oversee a historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas, a landmark agreement expected to end the two-year war in Gaza and bring home the remaining hostages.

Before boarding Air Force One, Trump told reporters that the hostages could be released earlier and said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did a ‘very good job’ helping secure the deal.

‘The war is over,’ Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews before boarding a nearly 12-hour flight to Israel. After landing in Tel Aviv, Trump is expected to meet with families of hostages and then give an address at the Knesset, Israel’s parliament, in Jerusalem.

Trump will then travel to Egypt to attend an international summit in the seaside city of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday to finalize an agreement aimed at ending the war in Gaza. More than 20 world leaders, including Trump, are expected to attend, an Egyptian presidential spokesperson said, according to Reuters.

After a handful of hours in Israel and Egypt, Trump will board Air Force One and return to the White House in the early morning hours on Tuesday in order to honor the late Charlie Kirk with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian award.

‘It’s a very quick trip, but I’ll be making two major stops, and then I’ll be on the plane trying to get back in time for Charlie,’ Trump told reporters at the White House on Friday. ‘They’re going to have a great celebration at the White House in the East Room,’ he added. The award ceremony coincides with what would have been Kirk’s 32nd birthday on Oct. 14.

Kirk, the charismatic founder of Turning Point USA (TPUSA), gained recognition for his signature political debates on college campuses. He was assassinated on Sept. 10, during an outdoor event at Utah Valley University. The gathering was the first stop on TPUSA’s planned ‘American Comeback Tour.’

Kirk’s memorial service drew one of the largest public turnouts for a private citizen, with about 90,000 people in attendance at State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona and nearby overflow venues.

Trump previously announced last month that he would award Kirk the award posthumously.

Monday marks the 100th anniversary of Margaret Thatcher’s birth – an occasion that brings together leaders and supporters from across the Atlantic to pay tribute to her life. 

We at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation & Institute are honored to participate in the celebration, an occasion that also invites us to reflect on her legacy and connection with Ronald Reagan in the context of our modern era. Namely, what made her partnership with President Reagan so effective, and what might it teach us today about how civility can shape world affairs?

Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher’s effectiveness – both in dealings with each other and in other world leaders with whom they were less naturally aligned – depended on trust and civility. In today’s divided political world, their example is one we can all learn from.

When we think of the two leaders, we tend to picture strength: two leaders who stood firm against communism, championed free markets and restored confidence in the West. But President Reagan also believed that personal relationships were central to politics. In a 1989 letter in National Review, he crystallized that sentiment as follows: ‘personal relations matter more in international politics than the historians would have us believe.’

That was the core of his approach: even the hardest negotiations work best when leaders see each other as partners, not just opponents. It doesn’t mean that personal relationships supersede national interest – great leaders have to be unwavering at times – but it does mean that a key component of good diplomacy is the ability to remain civil and acknowledge others’ humanity, be they adversaries or allies.

Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan’s leadership in Soviet Union dealings demonstrates this principle in action. For instance, when Mikhail Gorbachev emerged on the world stage, Thatcher chose to approach him as a person worthy of negotiation rather than a caricature of Soviet power. ‘We can do business together,’ she pragmatically asserted. And she was right. Though their visions for their country were vastly different, grounding Soviet negotiations in respect and practical assessment made diplomacy possible.

Importantly, President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher never abandoned principle for politeness. They were strong leaders, firm and uncompromising in their convictions. But civility gave them the leverage to achieve what force or rhetoric alone could not. 

The INF Treaty, the fall of the Berlin Wall, and the eventual end of the Cold War all depended on this kind of disciplined, strategic civility. Leaders could disagree sharply and even spar aggressively, but they never allowed that disagreement to destroy trust or get in the way of progress.

Civility is not a moral high road, it’s a tool. It allowed these leaders to be candid with each other, trusting they would be received with understanding – and creating the strong foundation which underpinned the U.S. and U.K. alliance. Then as now, civility creates space for honest conversations. It allows important initiatives to move forward without unnecessary friction.

Today, that lesson is urgent. The United States and our democratic allies face pressure from resurgent authoritarian powers, global instability and domestic polarization. The instinct to respond with anger or mistrust is strong. But history shows that enduring security and progress come from discipline, mutual respect and the ability to maintain civility even under pressure. 

And in times of global tension, reinforcing alliances matters more than ever. We saw this exemplified by President Donald Trump in his recent meeting with U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer, where he declared, ‘We have a relationship like no other… we will always be united.’ His statement embodies the Reagan-Thatcher alliance at its best. This disposition is a precursor to any constructive discussions about advancing security and stability, especially when it comes to complex issues such as these.

President Reagan and Prime Minister Thatcher remind us that civility is not deference; rather, it is a practical strategy for getting things done. As we remember Margaret Thatcher on her 100th birthday, we should also remember the example she set. Civility enabled both leaders to be effective and, ultimately, to shape history. In a world full of uncertainty and division, their legacy remains as essential now as it was then.

The government shutdown is poised to enter a third week, and Democrats still appear to be struggling in the search for a cohesive messaging strategy.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., received a barrage of GOP-led attacks on Thursday after he told Punchbowl News, ‘Every day gets better for us’ in reference to the shutdown dragging on.

Meanwhile, House Democrats’ group selfie taken on Sept. 29, just before the shutdown, received criticism from both sides of the aisle. Former Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., who’s become a fierce critic of the GOP since leaving office, wrote on X, ‘These selfie things need to stop guys. Honestly, the democrats were great at social media but social media moved on from them. The kitschy, goofy ‘choose your fighter’ type stuff needs to stop.’

Democrats have been fighting to center the discussion on healthcare, and their argument that any deal to reopen the federal government must at least include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

And while polls show that Americans overwhelmingly do support extending the subsidies, surveys taken of the government shutdown have been more mixed, with a significant number of Americans blaming both parties.

A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released on Wednesday showed 67% of Americans believe Republicans deserve ‘a fair amount or a great deal of blame’ for the shutdown, compared to 63% for Democrats.

A New York Times/Siena poll taken on the eve of the shutdown showed that Democrats had a similarly thin edge over the GOP in the shutdown fight, but that 65% of people did not believe Democrats should shut down the government if their demands were not met.

‘Democrats keep choosing the wrong fights, including the shutdown fight. At best, the shutdown will give them a political draw where the public will blame both parties,’ Julian Epstein, a former Democratic staffer for the House Judiciary Committee, told Fox News Digital.

‘But they will not get a game change out of this conflict, and the risk for them is the longer it goes on, the public will see it’s the Democrats who are narcissistically voting to shut down the government after losing the election.’

During an appearance on ‘Real Time With Bill Maher’ earlier this month, CNN political commentator and former Obama administration appointee Van Jones said Democrats ‘do the wrong thing at the wrong time for the right reason.’

Jones said he was in favor of extending the Obamacare subsidies but argued that it may have been folly for his party to pick that fight over the shutdown before people even got notice of their premiums potentially rising.

‘I get it, the base is upset … ’Please do something, do anything,’ but the ‘something’ probably shouldn’t be throwing a bunch of people out of work in the federal government and crushing the American government’s ability to function right before the pain was about to start,’ he said.

And it’s not yet clear if Democrats have an agreed-upon roadmap for how to navigate the shutdown yet.

Late last week, just before Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., announced that the House would be out of session for another week while Republicans’ funding bill stalled in the Senate, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., unequivocally told Fox News Digital that ‘yes,’ he would call all House Democrats back to Washington to draw a contrast between the two sides.

He walked that back somewhat on Monday, however. When asked by Fox News Digital if he would still call the full caucus back, Jeffries said, ‘We have a caucus meeting at 6 p.m. today. We’ll have a House Democratic Caucus leadership meeting, that’s the full leadership, tomorrow. And I expect a strong presence of House Democrats throughout here in Washington.’

What he did not specify, however, was that the 6 p.m. caucus meeting was virtual.

At another press conference this week, Jeffries called a one-year Obamacare subsidy extension compromise bill ‘laughable’ despite it getting support from 11 members of his own Democratic caucus.

He walked those comments back again, ‘If anything is presented to us, of course, the caucus will consider it in good faith.’

But Republicans have also garnered their share of public criticism for shutdown messaging as well.

President Donald Trump’s aggressive rhetoric on federal employee layoffs put congressional Republicans in a difficult position earlier this month, though Trump has since softened his language and not yet carried out those firings.

The White House’s depiction of Jeffries in a sombrero on multiple occasions has also been panned as racist by critics.

Mike Nellis, a Democratic strategist and founder of campaign consulting firm Authentic, said Democrats were doing the right thing in focusing on health care while criticizing Republicans’ messaging.

‘I think that focusing on the health care subsidies, which are undeniably popular, has been a really smart thing for Democrats to do,’ Nellis told Fox News Digital.

‘I think that the Republicans have played right into their worst tendencies on this, which is, much of their messaging is aggressively online-focused. The sombrero stuff is mildly funny. But then they went all in on it, and they don’t have a good answer to the health care subsidies.’

Nellis also argued that Republicans’ touting of a ‘landslide’ electoral victory has set them up for a larger share of the blame.

‘When you create the conditions where you talked about the mandate that you have and the government shuts down on your watch, you’re responsible for the government shutdown,’ he said.

Still, he said he would grade Democrats with a ‘B, B minus’ on their messaging, adding that it’s ‘not perfect.’

‘Maybe the answer is … Republicans are losing the shutdown fight, rather than Democrats are winning it,’ Nellis said. ‘But I mean, I just think we’ve got a lot more right than a lot more wrong, which is the first time you can say that in quite a while.’

Republicans in New York’s congressional delegation are pressing their two Democratic senators to end the ongoing government shutdown, casting their opposition to the GOP’s funding bill as ‘radical and harmful’ to residents of the Empire State.

The government shutdown has entered its eleventh day with Republicans and Democrats still unable to agree on a path forward. Thousands of government workers, including members of the military and federal law enforcement, are set to miss their first paychecks next week barring a breakthrough.

‘You have abdicated your responsibility to New Yorkers. By consistently voting against the clean Continuing Resolution (CR), you have shut down the government with no willingness to reopen operations,’ seven House Republicans wrote to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

‘Throughout both of your decades in federal office, you have consistently supported clean CRs as a way to keep the government funded and open until Congress can pass bipartisan spending bills.’

The Republicans accused their senators of changing course now ‘to spite President Trump and congressional Republicans,’ and called it ‘a disservice to our nation and our institutions.’

‘In fact, both of you have been vocal about your past opposition to shutdowns and the dangers they wreak on the American people,’ they wrote.

The letter is being led by Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., and is signed by the six other House Republicans representing parts of New York: Reps. Nick Langworthy, Nicole Malliotakis, Claudia Tenney, Nick LaLota, Elise Stefanik, and Andrew Garbarino.

The House passed a measure to keep the government funded at levels roughly even to fiscal year (FY) 2025 through Nov. 21 — called a continuing resolution (CR) — on Sept. 19, mostly along party lines.

But Democrats in the House and Senate were largely infuriated by being sidelined in federal funding talks and are now demanding any spending deal also include an extension of COVID-19 pandemic-era enhanced Obamacare subsidies that are set to expire at the end of this year.

Democrats have argued that a failure to act on those subsidies now will lead to higher health care premiums for millions of Americans by the end of the year. 

Republican leaders who control the House and Senate have said they are willing to hold negotiations on those subsidies, but have insisted the CR must be ‘clean’ without any policy riders. CRs are aimed at giving congressional negotiators more time to strike a longer-term funding deal for FY2026, which began on Oct. 1.

Schumer had been under particular pressure from his left flank to resist the GOP’s plan after his vote was key to helping advance the same bill in March, which extended FY2024 federal funding levels through Sept. 30.

‘Just last year in 2024, you said that no reasonable member on either side of the aisle wants a government shutdown. I agree, Senator, your position now is unreasonable,’ the House GOP’s Saturday letter read.

The CR has now failed in the Senate seven times. Under the most recent tallies, five more Democrats would be needed to cross the aisle and meet the Senate’s 60-vote threshold to break the filibuster and advance the bill to a final vote. 

Fox News Digital reached out to Schumer and Gillibrand’s offices for a response but did not hear back by press time.

President Donald Trump secured a historic peace deal between Israel and Hamas this week that will end the war in Gaza and return the hostages, two years after the terrorist network attacked Israel Oct. 7, 2023 — all while the U.S. government remains in a shutdown due to a stalemate in the Senate. 

The president made the announcement on his Truth Social platform Wednesday.

‘I am very proud to announce that Israel and Hamas have both signed off on the first Phase of our Peace Plan,’ the president posted. ‘This means that ALL of the Hostages will be released very soon, and Israel will withdraw their Troops to an agreed upon line as the first steps toward a Strong, Durable, and Everlasting Peace. All Parties will be treated fairly!’

The president said the day of the agreement was ‘a GREAT Day for the Arab and Muslim World, Israel, all surrounding Nations, and the United States of America, and we thank the mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and Turkey, who worked with us to make this Historic and Unprecedented Event happen.’

‘BLESSED ARE THE PEACEMAKERS!’ he posted.

According to Israeli officials, the living hostages are expected to be released in a single phase within 72 hours. The return of the bodies of deceased hostages will take longer, but Israel insists on their inclusion in the deal.

Trump warned that if Hamas did not agree to the deal, Israel would have the full backing of the U.S. to carry out its operational plans in Gaza. 

Moments before the president’s announcement, photos emerged from the negotiation room in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, showing senior officials embracing and shaking hands as reports indicated significant progress toward a hostage release deal. Retired Israeli Defense Forces Major General Nitzan Alon was seen shaking hands with Qatar’s prime minister, with U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff in the background.

On the other side, Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and other senior officials appeared smiling. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement, ‘With God’s help, we will bring them all home.’  

Netanyahu added in a statement in Hebrew, translated: ‘A great day for Israel. Tomorrow I will convene the government to approve the agreement and bring all our dear hostages home. I thank the heroic soldiers of the IDF and all the security forces — thanks to their courage and sacrifice we have reached this day. I thank from the bottom of my heart President Trump and his team for mobilizing for this sacred mission of freeing our hostages. With God’s help, together we will continue to achieve all our objectives and expand peace with our neighbors.’

The terrorist organization Hamas announced in an official statement, ‘After responsible and serious negotiations conducted by the movement and the Palestinian resistance factions regarding President Trump’s proposal in Sharm el-Sheikh, with the aim of ending the war of extermination against our Palestinian people and the withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, Hamas announces the reaching of an agreement that ends the war on Gaza, provides for the withdrawal of the occupation, allows the entry of aid and implements a prisoner exchange.’ 

‘We greatly appreciate the efforts of the mediators in Qatar, Egypt and Turkey, and thank U.S. President Donald Trump for his efforts to bring about a final end to the war and the full withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip. We call on President Trump, the guarantor states of the agreement, and all Arab, Islamic and international parties to oblige the government of the occupation to fulfill all the agreement’s commitments, and not to allow it to evade or delay implementation of the accords.’

Trump is now expected to travel to the Middle East Sunday amid continued peace negotiations.

‘I may go there, sometime toward the end of the week. Maybe on Sunday, actually, and we’ll see,’ Trump said Wednesday from the White House as he kicked off a roundtable discussion event focused on the left-wing radical group Antifa. 

‘We have a great team over there, great negotiators, and there are, unfortunately, great negotiators on the other side also,’ Trump added. ‘But it’s something I think that will happen. Got a good chance of happening.’ 

Meanwhile, the government shutdown continued this week, as Senate lawmakers again failed to reach a budget agreement.

Now, senators have left Washington, D.C., and plan to return to Capitol Hill early next week, as Republicans and Democrats in the upper chamber remain in a stalemate.

Lawmakers voted deep into the night Thursday on the 2026 National Defense Authorization Act, which advanced on a largely bipartisan vote. But the $925 billion package, which authorizes funding for the Pentagon, effectively was the last hurrah for the week in the upper chamber.

While there was discussion of putting the House GOP’s continuing resolution (CR), along with congressional Democrats’ counter-proposal, on the floor for one last vote, the plan never came to fruition. Both likely would have failed for an eighth consecutive time.

The president has slammed Democratic leaders for shutting down the government amid one of ‘the most successful economies.’

Trump said he is ‘happy to work with the Democrats on their Failed Healthcare Policies, or anything else, but first they must allow our Government to re-open.’

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and most Democrats say they won’t support funding the government unless Congress agrees to extend expiring Obamacare subsidies.

Meanwhile, the president also saw two of his political foes face federal indictment this week. 

Former FBI Director James Comey appeared in federal court in the Eastern District of Virginia Wednesday morning and pleaded not guilty to two counts of making a false statement in the jurisdiction of the legislative branch and one count of obstructing a congressional investigation related to the Trump–Russia probe.

Comey’s trial is set to begin Jan. 5, 2026.

And Thursday evening, New York Attorney General Letitia James was indicted for mortgage fraud.

A federal grand jury in Virginia charged James with bank fraud and making false statements to a financial institution. The indictment centers on James’ purchase of a home in Norfolk, Virginia. Prosecutors allege she falsely claimed it as a second residence to secure better loan terms before leasing it to tenants. 

James has denied wrongdoing, describing the charges as ‘political retribution.’

‘These charges are baseless, and the president’s own public statements make clear that his only goal is political retribution at any cost,’ James said in a statement.

Lindsey Halligan, the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, said James faces up to 30 years in prison per count, up to a $1 million fine on each count and forfeiture if she’s convicted.

‘No one is above the law. The charges as alleged in this case represent intentional, criminal acts and tremendous breaches of the public’s trust,’ Halligan said. ‘The facts and the law in this case are clear, and we will continue following them to ensure that justice is served.’