Can Trump force Hamas to free the hostages they're holding?

The Iranian hostage crisis and President Ronald Reagan's election in 1980 could provide a preview for what could happen with the hostages being held by Hamas.

Roger Zakheim is director of the Ronald Reagan Institute and a former general counsel on the House Armed Services Committee. He is a commissioner on the National Defense Strategy Commission. 

The failure to get the hostages out proved to be an albatross to Carter’s reelection effort. Carter’s preoccupation with the crisis limited his ability to campaign against Ronald Reagan, which he badly needed to do since the situation was dragging down his polling numbers. Carter’s wunderkind pollster Pat Caddell – all of 29 when the hostages were taken – complained to Chief of Staff Hamilton Jordan as election day approached that the hostage situation was killing Carter politically: "We are getting murdered. All the people that have been waiting and holding out for some reason to vote Democratic have left us. I’ve never seen anything like it in polling. Here we are neck and neck with Reagan up until the very end and everything breaks against us. It’s the hostage thing."