On CNN This Morning, in a discussion of President Trump pressuring Bibi Netanyahu over the latest Gaza peace proposal, Stephen Collinson, the ponderous CNN senior politics reporter, said:
"What's been missing in all of his peace efforts so far in Israel and in Ukraine, is his willingness to impose power and leverage, American leverage. We often talk about more nefarious ways he does it in the United States, but is this exactly what should be happening now, that Trump is finally standing behind his statements?"
So, suggests Collinson, Trump applying "nefarious ways" to Israel is "exactly what should be happening now."
Host Audie Cornish had highlighted a poll indicating that two-thirds of Americans oppose sending more weapons to Israel, and the same percentage support sending humanitarian aid to Gaza.
A chuffed Cornish quipped:
"There's a whole bunch of students out there who are probably like, hey, thanks for coming around."
Yes, keep up those pro-Hamas encampments, teaching disruptions, building occupations, and "From the River to the Sea" chants, kids! It's working, and Audie is with you!
While concerning, the poll numbers are not surprising. It's like asking people if they support war, or peace. Do you favor more weapons, or more humanitarian aid? The MSM continues to credulously report Gazan death numbers as provided by the Gaza "Health Ministry"—AKA, Hamas. Not only are the numbers undoubtedly inflated, but they also fail to distinguish between civilian and combatant deaths.
Photos of starving children surely play on American emotions. But the most impactful photo turned out to be deeply misleading. On July 25th, the New York Times published a large front-page photo -- a virtual Pieta -- of a Gazan mother holding a skeletal child. The Times subsequently was forced to admit that the child had a severe pre-existing muscular condition and a genetic disorder. The photo had also been cropped to exclude the boy's well-fed, healthy brother.
Note: Audie outdid herself today in assembling an all-lib panel. In addition to Collinson, the panel was composed of CNN senior media analyst Sara Fischer, whom we caught earlier this year suggesting that conservatives might have been responsible for George Floyd rioting destruction; Sabrina Rodriguez, a Washington Post politics reporter; and Joel Rubin, a former deputy assistant secretary of state in the Obama administration.
Here's the transcript.
CNN This Morning
10/6/25
6:29 am EDTAUDIE CORNISH: In the coming hours, delegations from Israel, Hamas, and the U.S. are set to begin key peace negotiations in Egypt. They hope to finalize a ceasefire deal based on President Donald Trump's Gaza plan. Hamas signaled it's on board with releasing the hostages. It stopped short of a full endorsement of the plan. President Trump took that as a win, now shifting his pressure to Israel. Boxing in Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, explicitly calling on him to stop the bombing on Gaza.
A new poll finds two-thirds of Americans opposed sending more weapons to Israel, and the same support sending humanitarian aid to Gaza, and I want to talk a little bit about this shift. You're nodding. Is this something you're getting a sense of as well?
SARA FISCHER: I definitely think there's wartime fatigue in America. So, first, you had the entire thing with Russia and Ukraine, fatigue around, why are we footing that war when we have so many domestic problems at home?
Now you're seeing a similar situation in Israel, but it's amplified by what people are seeing on social media, which is photos and videos of Gazans that are starving, kids that are dying, and that makes people in America very uncomfortable with continuing to support Israel's side of the war.
CORNISH: Do you think that is what has changed? I mean, there's a whole bunch of students out there who are probably like, hey, thanks for coming around.
STEPHEN COLLINSON: I think this is one of the effects of the war, which is going to be dangerous for Israel in the long term. Because it's made the Israeli-Palestinian question a domestic political issue in the United States, as it never was over the 40 years that you were talking about. Not just in the Democratic party, but more generally now.
CORNISH: Right. Meaning people, the average person has now opinions about Netanyahu, not Israel, but even about the government.
COLLINSON: Perhaps this explains some of the president's actions, because what's been missing in all of his peace efforts so far in Israel and in Ukraine, is his willingness to impose power and leverage, American leverage.
We often talk about more nefarious ways he does it in the United States, but is this exactly what should be happening now, that Trump is finally standing behind his statements?