President Trump Speaks to the UN

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Darrell Castle talks about the President’s speech, last Tuesday, to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. He also discusses the administration’s decision to sell advanced F-35 stealth jets to Saudi Arabia.

Transcription / Notes

PRESIDENT TRUMP SPEAKS TO THE UN

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 25^th day of September in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat today is not war although there is some war in it. I will be talking about the President’s speech last Tuesday to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. In addition, I will say a few words about the administration’s decision to sell advanced F-35 stealth jets to Saudi Arabia and the Israeli reaction to that decision.

His speech was more of a campaign speech than a statesmanlike address to the world’s diplomats. He listed many of the things he claims to have accomplished during his term and if they we were all true I would be a reasonably happy man at least foreign policy wise. He said that when he left office the first time the country was a peaceful and prosperous place but when he returned he found it to be a mess he had to fix.

I’m just giving my own take on what he said but to me he seemed to be pleading his case to them that if they and the other decision makers of the world would just listen to him and do what he demands we would all be happy, peaceful, and prosperous. For example, he spent quite a bit of time explaining to the members that before he was President his company tried to get the contract to remodel the UN building in which he was speaking.

He said he told them he would guarantee a first-class job with marble floors and walnut walls for only $500 million guaranteed. They refused his offer and the resulting cost was about $3 billion and for inferior work. The man does know how to build beautiful buildings so that much of his speech is probably true, but as to war, well that’s another thing entirely.

He told them that he has stopped 7 wars and two more wars are raging but he is working night and day to stop them. The wars he ended were said to be unendable and would go on forever but he ended them. The war currently raging in Ukraine is really terrible because so many young men are dying but Russia can not be persuaded it seems. Now, an ironic thing he didn’t mention leads me to think that perhaps Russia is not so bad and can be dealt with.

Diesel prices are soaring in the US if the fuel is even obtainable so he told Zelensky to stop attacking Russia’s ability to produce diesel. Zelensky promptly attacked the same refineries again and then the day after Trump again asked him to stop he hit Russia’s biggest diesel refinery and bragged about it. So, what is the American president supposed to do with a man who takes our money, begs for more, then snubs his nose when the President needs his help for the mid-terms.

I have a suggestion for the President that I submit would end the war very quickly. Not one more dollar, not one more bomb, not one more bullet and most importantly no more targeting information. I at least understand why he attacked Iran but Ukraine is another matter. He attacked Iran because Bibi Netanyahu told him too but Ukraine makes no sense. I don’t see any Israeli interest there and he is certainly no friend of the Europeans. He has continually said that he and Putin are on very good terms so why keep funding Russia’s enemies.

Iran is a whole other matter because he campaigned on a promise that he would be known for the wars he didn’t start. I admit that message was music to my ears and it drew me in. If true it would have negated his abrasive personality but just about a year after inauguration he launched an unprovoked attack against Iran and started another costly, unending, unwinnable war. Whatever Bibi Netanyahu has on him is costing US taxpayers billions and costing the lives of a lot of people.

So, what is the solution in Iran. The same as in Ukraine except whatever hold Bibi has might be very embarrassing, but it should be made public for the American people to see what they have been buying. Maybe he could end it like he did as he explained to the diplomats in this quote.

“Likewise, in a period of just seven months, I have ended seven unendable wars. They said they were unendable. You’re never gonna get them solved. Some were going on for 31 years, two of them, 31, think of it, 31 years. One was 36 years; one was 28 years. I ended seven wars, and in all cases, they were raging with countless, thousands of people, being killed. This includes Cambodia and Thailand; Kosovo and Serbia; the Congo and Rwanda, a vicious violent war that was; Pakistan and India; Israel and Iran; Egypt and Ethiopia; and Armenia and Azerbaijan. It included all of them. No president or prime minister, and for that matter, no other country has ever done anything close to that. And I did it in just seven months. It’s never happened before. There’s never been anything like that. Very honored to have done it.”

Back to Ukraine for a moment because the G-20 conference is coming up soon in Miami. The top 20 economies in the world meet and greet and discuss plans for how they can make the world worse. This meeting is being held at the Doral Country Club and Resort and it is owned by Donald Trump. The President has specifically invited Vladimir Putin to the meeting which would obviously not be a neutral site but literally on Trump’s home turf. Putin has not publicly said whether or not he will attend but I hope he does and I hope something can be accomplished.

Well, now we switch back to the Middle East in honor of the opening paragraph of this Report. Yes, President Trump has agreed to sell F-35 stealth jets to Saudi Arabia and no one seems to know why. I’m guessing but I like to think of it as logic and not guesswork. The Saudis are under constant attack by Houthi drones and missiles and the attacks have included civilian targets in the Saudi capitol of Riyadh. I don’t remember missile attacks inside the capital before and the new Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salmon is very upset about it. He called on Trump and asked for military aide but apparently Trump said no. Many people seemed to think that decision marked the end of the US/Saudi alliance which has existed since1974 but maybe not.

The F-35 is an advanced stealth fighter with the capability of vertical take off and landing. It has problems which have grounded about 50% of the fleet from time to time. Nevertheless, when it is flying it is state of the art so naturally the Israelis are very upset about the deal or so they pretended to be. The Israelis publicly stated that they “demand” compensation for the sale. If you have ever wondered if the US has complete sovereignty when it comes to Israel this demand puts that question to rest.

What do they mean by using the word compensation. First of all, the Israelis like to pretend they are enemies with the Saudis but in reality the two countries are allies who have a common enemy at least currently. The Iranians are attacking inside both countries and they share intelligence and cooperate militarily against the common enemy. What they really mean, once again trying to apply logic is more free stuff and they want the stuff the US has refused to give them.

They asked Trump for the latest space-based munitions but he declined to provide that material or intelligence. The US Air Force just announced or admitted if you prefer that the US has weapons in orbit around the earth. The justification is that China is doing it too. Well, I hope that Trump does not give in to their demand and provide them with access to US space-based systems. Do you trust them to that degree because I sure don’t.

Let me take a moment and talk about how the F-35 program works. The US taxpayers pay to do all the research and development (R&D) of the program then they pay Lockheed Martin, General Dynamics and the others to build the airplanes. They pay for the testing and redesign when, inevitably, there are problems with something so complicated. Once the aircraft is built, tested and certified ready for service the taxpayers buy the airplanes from those companies. When there are crashes or other problems that must be tested and fixed they pay for that.

If the US decides to sell the aircraft to the Saudis the government gives permission for the US defense contractors to sell the aircraft. In this particular deal the US has assured the Israelis that the F-35’s the Saudis are getting will not be ready for five years and they will not be the most advanced version the Israelis have.

In conclusion folks, If I were in the office of president today, knowing no more that I know currently without access to the 17 US intelligence agencies, I would tell both countries that I would no longer sell them weapons. I would tell them further that they would be well advised to behave with their neighbors as if they no longer have the US military to back stop every bad decision they make with US blood and treasure. Such a decision might get me killed but that risk goes with the job.

Finally, folks, President Trump has said that he is the most powerful person who has ever lived but I suspect that Netanyahu, Zelensky, and a few others are showing us that he is mistaken.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.