The politics of Trump's surprise Golan Heights announcement

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The politics of Trump's surprise Golan Heights announcement

President Trump says the U.S. will recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights; reaction and analysis from the 'Special Report' All-Star panel.

This is a rush transcript from "Special Report," March 21, 2019. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE POMPEO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Tonight, President Trump made the decision to recognize that that hard-fought real estate, that important place, is proper to be a sovereign part of the state of Israel.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT: I've been thinking about doing it for a long time. It's been a very hard decision for every president. No president has done it. This is very much like Jerusalem, moving the embassy to Jerusalem. I did that.

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: Israel has no greater friend than the United States, and United States has no greater friend in Israel. And I look forward to my visit next week to Washington where I will meet with President Trump, and I believe that we can carry this relationship even stronger. It's getting stronger and stronger and stronger.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, HOST: A big change in U.S. policy via tweet, it started out, with the Golan Heights being recognized by the U.S. for the first time in 52 years, fully recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights. And there you see the area right next to Syria. Not everybody, obviously, signing on. Tulsi Gabbard, Congresswoman who is running for president on the Democratic side, "Another example of Trump and Netanyahu putting their own political interests ahead of the interests of our respective countries. Will escalate tensions and likelihood of war between Israel, U.S., Syria, Iran, Russia. Shortsighted."

With that, let's bring in our panel and start there, national security analyst Morgan Ortagus, Charles Lane, opinion writer for "The Washington Post," and Tom Bevan, Real Clear Politics co-founder and president. Morgan, a big deal.

MORGAN ORTAGUS, NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes. This is a landmark shift in U.S. policy towards Israel. The truth is that Israel has been controlling the Golan Heights for quite some time. When you look at it, they've been attacked several times from there. When you look at the topography and the inherent military threat that Israel faces not only from Iran, Hezbollah, ISIS, any enemy that would want to attack, they need to of course continue to control this land.

The question here is did the president and his team, did they need to officially recognize it in this way? I think most Democrats will probably argue that we should just keep the status quo, keep a U.N. presence there, and keep it as it is. I think the president and his team signaled today that it's important for the U.S. to officially recognize this as Jared and Secretary Pompeo are working on a larger peace initiative. I don't think any analyst whose paid attention to senior for the last six years would want Assad or any of Israel's enemies to have control of this land or this territory.

BAIER: Chuck?

CHARLES LANE, OPINION WRITER, "WASHINGTON POST": I agree with much of that in the sense that this decision doesn't really change anything real on the ground, which, of course, is one indication that it wasn't all that necessary for Israel's security. I think there is a lot of politics behind this both in terms of the president trying to help Bibi Netanyahu's reelection. Bibi Netanyahu is in a very close contest. Trump is very popular over there. And I think perhaps a little U.S. domestic politics, trying to be a friend of Israel in this country.

But there is a downside to this, Bret, which is that Ronald Reagan in 1981 put the United States on record in favor a Security Council resolution denying what was then Israel's attempt to impose Israeli law, a precursor to actual annexation. And it's been U.S. policies since that time to uphold that Security Council resolution. And it's an important principle that whether it was defensive war or not, that borders should not change due to military action. And this lays down a different precedent now, which is that the United States government will unilaterally undo or violate or ignore a Security Council resolution in that respect, and I think that's something, say, for example, Vladimir Putin will take note of when he talks about Crimea going forward.

BAIER: Sure. Tom, this is ahead of Prime Minister Netanyahu's visit to the U.S. It's ahead of the big AIPAC meeting, which, by the way, a lot of Democrats are not attending this year. Secretary Pompeo specifically mentioning anti-Semitism on the rise, even in Congress. There is a political aspect to this, besides the big national security shift in policy.

TOM BEVAN, REAL CLEAR POLITICS CO-FOUNDER: I think that's right. Chuck just mentioned, I think part of this is the Democrats, with them boycotting AIPAC, with the stuff that's gone on with Rep Omar, that Trump recognizes that. And he's been a big supporter of Israel obviously. This is another issue on which he decided to move forward, in part I think to draw the contrast between himself, his administration, and whoever his eventual opponent is going to be in 2020. So definitely some domestic politics at play here as well.

BAIER: Morgan, and the other news, obviously, is ISIS in Syria. And what we've seen just over the past year-and-a-half in taking that map that ISIS had, the caliphate, control in Syria and Iraq down to one place, and now our man on the ground, who is risking a lot, Benjamin Hall and his crew, to be in eastern Syria, to show viewers that they think it's done.

ORTAGUS: His reports were amazing today, and we are certainly grateful for him. When you look at what this administration, of course what are men and women and our allies have done on the ground to defeat the physical caliphate, the physical state that ISIS had maintained, this is an extraordinary success that I think we have to really commend this administration for pursuing.

However, there are many things that we have to watch. The Institute for the Study of War has a new report out showing that ISIS has moved back to their historical strongholds in Iraq. We know the precursor to this organization of course was Al Qaeda in Iraq, AQI. And so they do have many places where they can hide, where they can fester.

I think there are a few things that we are going to have to watch post- caliphate. What do we do with the number of international terrorist prisoners that we have here? The international community has no answer for this and the SDF cannot hold these people forever. And what are we going to do with these safe zones? We need to continue -- Turkey is really crucial here. We're going to continue to have to work with Turkey to have these safe zones so we don't -- avoid a larger recalibration of ISIS. But again, congratulations to the men and women on the ground who have defeated this physical state. It's an important moment in history.

BAIER: And just, if you look back at what was being said when the president took over about the challenge and the impossibility of driving ISIS and this caliphate back, and their strength at this time, it's pretty stark to look at it now. Panel, stand by. Next up, and we are in an age where the president has to sign in order to restore freedom of speech on college campuses? The president thinks so. We'll discuss, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: In a few moments, I will be signing an executive order to protect free speech on college campuses. Just the thought of it sounds good.

Under the guise of speech codes and safe spaces and trigger warnings, these universities have tried to restrict free thought, impose total conformity, and shut down the voices of great young Americans. All of that changes starting right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: The president at the White House signing an executive order about free speech on college campuses. He teased this at the CPAC meeting. We're back with our panel. Tom, thoughts on this?

BEVAN: I think it's largely symbolic because it's already required by law, and the administration didn't really outline any complaints or enforcement mechanisms here. But I think it's important. I think this is an issue that certainly the base feels strongly about, the Republican base, and Trump supporters in general. But even moderates and independents I think recognize that political correctness has run amok on some of these campuses, and some of the sites that we have seen over the last couple of years. And so this is an issue that, again, could play well for Trump as we move into the 2020 election.

BAIER: Chuck?

LANE: I'm going to start by saying there is a contrast between the prominence and the energy with which the president is discussing this, which is a legitimate issue, and more recent flareups of white supremacy and racism, and so on. This is an issue, however, which I do think he has a lot of support not only from the base but perhaps from a wider audience.

Right now universities are not -- their image ain't great in America. There is a scandal over college admissions. "USA Today" is out with a poll today showing a large majority of the public doesn't think admissions are run fairly and objectively. There is a longstanding concern with the cost and the debt that people roll up.

And what struck me about today's meeting at the White House was that it wasn't limited to the speech issue. He went wider. He started to talk about the cost. He had points in that executive order about holding colleges accountable for how much they charge and the results they get. And that resonates. It may not be that people like his solutions, but he is with his usual instinct for finding an unpopular target, he's going after the universities very widely.

BAIER: Morgan, Chuck is right. They university are a black hat just as much as big tech, Facebook, Google, is also a black hat in Washington now. And it's ripe territory now.

ORTAGUS: Yes. I just paid my student loan payment today for my MBA, so I'm feeling very sympathetic to what Chuck just laid out. And I think when you look at this college admission scandal, when you put all this together, as Chuck just said, this is why people are very frustrated with universities today. While the executive order doesn't necessarily establish some new precedent, it is putting universities on notice.

And I think people around America are really -- and they should be evaluating, as we look at the enormous amount of student debt that people around the country have piled up. This sort of debt is unsustainable. And you ask yourself, is this four year arts degree at a college where I am ridiculed for wearing a MAGA hat really worth my time. And so perhaps it is good for us as a country to be recognizing with the amount of unsustainable debt that we are taking on from these public institutions.

BAIER: To go talking about that, let's talk about the China trade deal. A bit of a turn, but the president talking about the trade negotiations. I want to play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We are doing great in our deal with China. We are so far down, it's got to be a great deal. If it's not a great deal, we'll never catch up. And their economy is way down. I don't want their economy to be down. I want their economy to be up.

GAO FENG, CHINESE COMMERCE MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: Robert Lighthizer and Mnuchin will visit China on March 28th and 29th to hold the eighth round the China-U.S. high-level economic and trade consultations in Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Every time we ask about it, Tom, it's about the minutiae that is about the small things that they're down to the wire here. Is there a sense, do you think, that things are optimistic on this deal.

BEVAN: This trade deal, we keep hearing that it's coming to fruition, it's going to be finalized. But it hasn't happened yet. And we had 100 or so CEOs of the top companies in America in Washington today, and Trump meeting with them. And I'm sure they registered their concerns over - Trump talks about the Chinese economy going down, but there are warning signs now that the U.S. economy might be slowing down. And I think these CEOs see the trade deal as an impediment to keeping this economy humming along. I'm sure they let Trump know that. It's an issue that I think he needs to get resolved and get out of the way. The sooner, the better.

BAIER: Panel, thank you. Appreciate it.

When we come back, proof that sometimes things that have been lost, they really do find a way home.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BAIER: Finally tonight, lost, found, and returned.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's probably nothing to anybody else, but to me it's my world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Ninety-three-year-old Marie Gladman was devastated when she lost her most prized possession, her promise, engagement, wedding, and 50th anniversary rings all intertwined into one ring. She was shopping around town. The ring fell off her finger.

Four months later, a child turned that ring into the lost and found. Marie eventually got it. And she is grateful for the honesty, and she believes her late husband Wally had something to do with it. That is a great story. We need some great stories.

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