As President-elect Donald J. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, engaged in talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel over a ceasefire deal in Gaza, on the speakerphone was Brett H. McGurk, President Biden’s seasoned Middle East negotiator. This McGurk was in Doha, Qatar, orchestrating the final round of ceasefire negotiations. It was a clear demonstration of cooperation between two men representing stark political adversaries. It’s a rare occurrence, if it ever happens, for teams representing current and incoming presidents from different parties to collaborate under such high-stakes circumstances, where the fate of American lives and the future of a ravaging war are at stake. Both Trump and Biden publicly claimed credit for the breakthrough. Trump, even before the deal was officially announced in the Middle East, took to social media to trumpet his ‘Historic Victory’ in November. At the White House, Biden told reporters that his administration had been tirelessly working for months to convince the two sides to cease hostilities, calling it ‘one of the toughest negotiations I’ve ever experienced’ and giving credit to ‘an extraordinary team of American diplomats who have worked nonstop for months to get this done.’ This entire spectacle seemed like a meticulously staged ‘performance of unity’.
Read from: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/15/us/politics/gaza-ceasefire-trump-biden.html