Donald Trump has a lot on his plate these days. To be more precise there’s the government shutdown, getting worse all the time–then there’s the trouble in the cities and his authoritarian response of using US Troops or federalized national Guard to “solve” it–and finally, there’s the Gaza War and his plan to end it. At this point he seems to be winning on the last one and losing on the other too. But I am going to write, mainly, this time about Gaza.

What is going on with solving this mess is amazing, perhaps unbelievable. Of course, it must be remembered that it’s not quite a done deal yet. Trump has appeared to be on the verge of Something Great a number of time in the past, mainly on foreign affairs, then lost anyway. It could happen again. But this one has an early feeling of success about it, though perhaps success that will require more time and effort than we would want.

Trump’s plan has 20 points to it. I’m not going to go through them one-by-one–hey, I don’t even know them one-by-one. Some of them may stick the deal, slow it down, perhaps scuttle it. But the hopeful thing is that this is to be a step-by-step process. It is also hopeful that they appear–everyone involved–to be willing to take the first step–well, maybe now.

The first step means an end of the fighting within a day or two and the return of hostages on both sides. This is a powerful combination of things which seemed impossible a few months ago or maybe more recently than that. If it works, and it’s looking good so far, then it may serve as a pathway for the negotiators to follow as they move on to more complex and difficult items.

A top Israeli official has warned that there won’t be peace unless the hostages are actually returned by Hamnas. That wou;d be to be expected, but Hamas has expressed that they definitely would cooprate on that part. I think they will, although I overall dislike Hamas and would not trust them. But I think they are genuinely tired of the war and just as (or more) importantly, they know the citizens of Gaza are tired of it Gazans have come to be very anti-Hamas because of the war and now maybe this is a way out.

David Sanger, the top NYT writer also says this looks good, but that there are numerous possibililites of trouble along the way. Granted David, Let’s hope for the best.

On the the other two issues I can’t say much for the Administration. They are trying to play the shutdown for everything they can get out of it and they are sounding is if they will actually reduce the amount of health carer coverage to millions of Americans.

The troops in cities issue is obviously story number one in Portland and Chicago and could become no 1 nationwide if handled badly enough. I cannot give the Administration good marks on these two and I am setting aside(with no disrepect to the beleagured people of Ukraine)the Russia-Ukranian issue for the moment,

For now, I merely want to say, as a longtime Trmup opponet, I wish him well on this. If it comes off as planned it could be a great boon to world peace, or at least Mideastern Peace. As for the other two, we have to keep watch on the cities and the shut-down. We want to see some statesmanlike and intelligent action on both sides. That’s you, me, the Administration and everyone else in the US.