Every time I say anything critical about Donald Trump I can be assured of one thing, I am going to lose subscribers. It’s like clockwork. So, I will begin this news item saying that Donald Trump on his worst day is light years better than Kamala Harris on her best day. I like Donald Trump. Had I been an American citizen, he would have received my vote. However, just because I support someone, it doesn’t mean that I can’t disagree with them and call them out when I believe they deserve it. And on this Middle East trip, I think he deserves to be called out in a few areas.
It didn’t begin with this trip. Even before he left for my neighborhood, his administration signed a ceasefire deal with the Houthis. Somehow in the hoopla of it all, he neglected to tell Israel about it, allowing us to learn about the agreement through the media. Essentially, he said that as long as the Yemenite terrorists don’t attack any American ships, he will refrain from dropping thousands of pounds of explosives on their cities and ports. Nowhere in that treaty does it mention desisting from firing cruise missiles at Israel. In fact, while Trump was in Saudi Arabia making a speech, a Houthi-fired missile flew over that country on its way to mine. The president also made statements about possibly allowing Saudi Arabia to develop its own nuclear program, a decision that Israel would like to have been a part of, considering the kingdom of Saud is our neighbor.
I will get into more details as they apply to the stories below. But let me say ahead of time that I understand that this is a business tour and the president is an America-first businessman. I don’t fault him for that. That is who he was elected to be, and for me to expect him to put Bible before business is unfair. Not only is he a businessman, but he is a New York businessman. That means he has had to deal with every type of person, no matter their character, in the unions, in construction, in government, in zoning, in the legal system, wherever. It seems evident to me that the truism that you catch more bees with honey than vinegar guides much of his philosophy. I try to keep that in mind when I see him hobnobbing with the Emir of Qatar and hear him calling the new Syrian president, who until four months ago had a $10 million bounty on his head, “a young, attractive guy.” Despite the fake news media, there are no indications that President Trump has thrown Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu under the bus. The United States is still our greatest ally, and I don’t see that changing under this administration.
Royal Welcome in Saudi Arabia
President Donald Trump landed in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on Tuesday at 10:00 AM local time, where he was greeted with the great pomp and circumstance befitting the most powerful man in the world. Meeting him at the plane was Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS), who is the prime minister and de facto leader of the nation for his ailing, 89-year-old father. The two world leaders had productive talks with the result that Saudi Arabia committing to invest $600 billion into the U.S. market, including $142 billion in a defense procurement deal. As I mentioned above, the president indicated prior to the trip that Washington may come alongside Riyadh’s ambition to become a nuclear power. It can be assumed that this subject was further discussed during Trump’s visit.
A President, a Prince, and a Terrorist
The title sounds like the beginning of a bad joke, and, in a sense, it is. On Wednesday, while in Riyadh, President Trump sat for a cup of tea with Crown Prince MBS and new Syrian president and former al-Qaeda and ISIS bad guy Ahmed al-Sharaa. As I mentioned earlier, because of Trump’s hard-knock construction background, he’s learned to look beyond the dark past of some shady characters to see the greater good of a beneficial deal. That is how I somewhat justify the president looking past all the mangled corpses that lay in al-Sharaa’s wake. “I’ve never believed in permanent enemies,” the president said. He went on to say that he sees in the new president a “real opportunity to preserve the unity of Syria”, and a possibility of the nation joining the Abraham Accords. If the president can see that in this man, then he must have much keener vision that I do. It would certainly be wonderful if he turns out to be right.
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