100 days in, Trump still working on campaign promise to end wars, free hostages
NEW YORK (WABC) -- In the first 100 days of President Donald Trump's second administration, some experts say his foreign policy has been inconsistent.
He threatened to take Greenland by force and threatened to seize control of the Panama Canal. He has even threatened to annex Canada.
But he also helped negotiate the release of more than two dozen American hostages from places like Russia, Afghanistan and Gaza.
The release of 33 hostages from Gaza was hailed as a huge victory for American foreign policy and especially for President Donald Trump.
Among the hostages released was American citizen Keith Siegel. He is delaying his recovery from 484 days of torture to advocate for the release of the remaining 59 hostages.
Last month in Washington he said it is all up to Trump to finish the job.
"I really really feel that President Trump has set the hostage crisis at high priority and that he is continuing his efforts to move forward," Siegel said. "And they are in a life-threatening situation, it's urgent to get them back."
The problem is no sooner did Siegel come home, the progress stopped cold.
As Trump spoke of "buying" Gaza and clearing Palestinians out, the cease-fire ended and fighting picked up right where it left off.
The president who campaigned on ending wars ran headfirst into reality.
"It's very hard for him to claim a victory anywhere," said Steven Cook with the Council on Foreign Relations.
Cook is a senior fellow at the Nonpartisan Council on Foreign Relations. He says the Middle East, where Trump revived a deal negotiated six months earlier by the Biden White House, is just one example of a world still on fire.
Candidate Trump promised to extinguish the flames from Gaza to the war in Ukraine.
But 100 days in, Russia is still bombing Ukraine.
Trump, whose Oval Office blowup with the president of Ukraine made headlines around the world, has resorted to yelling at Russia's president on social media.
"These are really hard problems, President Biden wasn't able to bring the Ukraine war to an end, wasn't able to resolve the situation in Gaza, wasn't able to get the Iranians into a negotiation," Cook said. "Of course he was criticized by President Trump and others for all of those things."
When it comes to Iran, Cook says recent talks geared toward reducing that country's stockpile look a lot like the Obama-era deal that Trump killed in his first term.
And as for Gaza, Israel won't settle for anything less than the destruction of Hamas - which won't release the hostages unless the war ends.
That is putting hostages and the families caught in the middle.
Brooklyn-born Ruby Chen is struggling to get the remains of his son Itay - one of the five Americans still being held by Hamas.
"President Trump has spoken about America first, and I say when it comes to America first, what about the remaining five U.S. hostages?" Chen said.
RELATED | After 484 days in Hamas captivity, former hostage Keith Siegel finds purpose in his new mission
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