Trumpifying Gaza Aid

Plus: Columbia forced to release racial data, school choice battles, and more...

Don't worry, Gazans: The Donald is here.

Special envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump have allegedly been discussing plans for the U.S. to take over administering humanitarian aid to displaced people in the Gaza Strip, per two officials who spoke to Axios. This comes right after news that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will now pursue a full occupation of the Gaza Strip, entering a new phase of war. (Some internal dissent appears to be roiling efforts; more details here.) Ceasefire negotiations appear stuck.

"The IDF has said it opposes taking over the whole Strip, with the army assessing it could take years to clear all Hamas infrastructure," reports The Times of Israel. "It could also put hostages in danger of being executed by their captors should troops approach where they are being held."

But it's hard to say whether Trump and Netanyahu are working to pursue a sort of division of labor—with Trump taking over aid efforts and Netanyahu expanding the war—or whether this move by Trump could be viewed as antagonistic by Israeli senior officials.

Axios reports that "a U.S. official said it was decided that the Trump administration will 'take over' management of the humanitarian effort in Gaza because Israel isn't handling it adequately," possibly a nod at the recent criticism Israel has received for allegedly opening fire on Gazans at aid sites. ("Palestinians are approaching these distribution sites, waiting for food, but the Israeli forces are opening fire," says Al Jazeera's Hind Khoudary. The "same exact scenario plays out in Gaza every single day.")

Trump himself is apparently "not thrilled" about the idea of the U.S. taking over but believes "it kind of has to happen," per an official who spoke to Axios. "The president doesn't want to see the U.S. being the only country throwing money at this problem. It's a global problem. And he's been tasking Witkoff and others to make sure everyone is stepping up, our European friends and our Arab friends," said another official.

Israel's security cabinet is expected to meet Thursday and make a decision as to whether the country will be pursuing a full occupation of Gaza. There appears to be tentative support for Trump's plan in the Netanyahu administration, but it's not clear yet what that looks like or on what timeline things will unfold.

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Scenes from New York: "As part of the settlements struck with two Ivy League universities [Columbia and Brown] in recent weeks, the Trump administration will gain access to the standardized test scores and grade point averages of all applicants, including information about their race, a measure that could profoundly alter competitive college admissions," reports The New York Times. "The release of such data has been on the wish list of conservatives who are searching for evidence that universities are dodging a 2023 Supreme Court decision barring the consideration of race in college admissions, and will probably be sought in the future from many more of them." Yes. I have a hunch this will be a massive scandal and fascinating to go through. Watch this space.

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QUICK HITS

• Youth baseball players from Venezuela have been granted an exemption from Trump's travel ban so that they can compete in the Little League World Series later this month.
• Possible Marjorie Taylor Greene split from the Republican Party? "I don't know what the hell happened with the Republican Party," Greene told The Daily Mail over the weekend. "But I'll tell you one thing, the course that it's on, I don't want to have anything to do with it, and I, I just don't care anymore." The party "has turned its back on America First and the workers and just regular Americans," according to Greene, who has repeatedly been critical of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein files and recently called Israel's war in Gaza a "genocide."
• Prediction: Greater proliferation of school choice is going to lead to more of your taxpayer dollars being wasted on marketing consultants to…market public schools to parents who are excited to finally be free from them. A word to the wise: It's not about better school tours or trying to convince parents that actually higher teacher-student ratios are great; if you actually produce good results, parents will be more interested in enrolling their children. The problem is, that's not what's been happening in a lot of localities for years. 

kind of insane to use TAXPAYER DOLLARS to hire a marketing consultancy versus, oh i dunno, using that money to improve the schools pic.twitter.com/C0QW2Or1Qd

— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) August 5, 2025

("Governments' habit of spending your money to convince you to give them more money is getting ridiculous," writes Christian Schneider at National Review.)

• "The White House is preparing to step up pressure against big banks over perceived discrimination against conservatives and crypto companies with an executive order that threatens to fine lenders that drop customers for political reasons," reports The Wall Street Journal. The executive order, which might be signed later this week, "directs bank regulators to investigate whether any financial institutions might have violated the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, antitrust laws or consumer financial-protection laws. Violators could be subject to monetary penalties, consent decrees or other disciplinary measures, according to the draft."