How Trump’s Transactional Nature Led To The Ceasefire

Fresh Air

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🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 48 minutes

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Summary

Former State Department negotiator Aaron David Miller, now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, attributes the Gaza deal in part to Trump's transactional nature and breaking of traditional diplomatic crockery. Miller spoke with Dave Davies about the prospects for lasting peace and recovery in the territory.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Our common nature is a musical journey with Yo-Yo Ma and me, Anna Gonzalez, through this complicated country.
0:08.0	We go into caves, onto boats, and up mountain trails to meet people, hear their stories, and of course, play some music, all to reconnect to nature.
0:20.0	Listen to Our Common Nature from WNYC, wherever you get podcasts.
0:24.3	This is Fresh Air. I'm Dave Davy.
0:31.3	This week began with outbursts of celebration as the last 20 surviving Israeli hostages in Gaza
0:40.5	were returned to their families, and nearly 2,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons were released.
0:47.0	That was all part of the ceasefire agreement which finally halted two years of war in Gaza,
0:52.3	the conflict sparked by the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7,
0:56.4	2023.
0:58.1	Our guest today, Aaron David Miller, spent years in the U.S. State Department trying to forge
1:02.6	peace between Israel and the Palestinians, working under Democratic and Republican presidents.
1:08.6	He says that in bringing this ceasefire agreement to fruition,
1:12.3	President Donald Trump dealt with Israeli leaders in ways no other president has. He says
1:17.8	Trump's transactional approach to politics and diplomacy probably helped in this case.
1:23.6	Today we'll look at how the ceasefire came to be and consider the challenges that remain for Israel and the Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
1:32.6	Aaron David Miller spent 25 years in the State Department playing a key role in the Oslo peace process in the 1990s.
1:40.1	He's received the State Department's Distinguished Superior and Meritorious Honor Awards.
1:46.1	He's now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and the author of five books.
1:51.7	We recorded our conversation yesterday.
1:54.7	Aaron David Miller, welcome to Fresh Air.
1:57.0	David, it's great to be here with you.
1:59.0	I want to begin with an excerpt of President Trump's
	...

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