The Two Faces of Evil

The Fool Who Would Be King

On September 30, 2025, Donald Trump had a “gathering” of some 800 U.S. Generals and Admirals from around the world to hear what the Secretary of Defense called “military standards and the warrior ethics.” Below, I have extracted excerpts where Trump spoke about himself, as well as instances where he spoke untruths or made unintelligible statements. This hour-plus speech is hard to read from both a content and a worthiness standpoint.

Unfortunately, I have had to spend several hours reading and trying to find the actual reason for this unprecedented call of all the military leadership to come together without being provided a reason for the meeting. Speculation by some, including myself, it was some sort of prelude to a military purge and a possible setup for another coup attempt. It seems I, like others, was mistaken. The actual intent of the meeting, as reported by all accounts, appears to have been to provide Trump with a stage for another performance.

Like the military parade on June 22, 2025, which was supposed to honor the U.S. Army’s birthday, was nothing more than an attempt to create an event similar to North Korea’s spectacular military parade. With its hundred thousand troops, marching in groups fifty abreast and a hundred rows deep in perfect cadence, it is always a demonstration of power and paying homage to Kim Jong Un. It made Trump’s parade look like a small town gathering. With just 2,900 U.S. troops in support and military equipment strung out far apart to give the appearance that there were more in the parade than there were, and with near-empty grandstands, limited spectators on the parade route, Trump’s parade was an embarrassing failure and an extraordinary waste of money.

The gathering of the generals followed the same path as the parade, an unprecedented gathering of the top military leaders, with media expectations of grand announcements, turned out to be just a stage for Trump to tell the world how impressive he is, and rant about all things he hates.

So, you can read the entire transcript for yourself and try to discern the objectives of this extremely expensive meeting, or you can make use of the hours I have spent researching it. I found no new information in this speech that warranted such a show, but it’s Trump, and he lives for the show.

What was it? According to a few present and past defense department officials, it was “More like a press conference than a briefing,” and it “Could have been an email,” and “It‘s a waste of time for a lot of people who emphatically had better things they could and should be doing.”

This was a ‘military campaign rally’ in which Donald Trump got to grab the spotlight and sell himself one more time. He got the ultimate ego boost; he was able to summon the top military leaders stationed around the world at his beck and call so he could spend an hour exalting himself. This was a meaningless exercise; he did not announce a single new initiative, or strategic realignment, or any policy, directive or even a cognitive thought could justify such an unprecedented calling of senior officers. What Donald Trump delivered was a message to the entire world that the United States of America has a President that mentally incapable, emotional irrational, and completely unable to execute his duties as the President of the United States. Instead of inspiring the audience, he related tales of his greatness, how he alone can fix it, with such insane comments as the new F-47 jet is being designated ‘47’ because he is the 47^th president, and that the United States should be building battleships because “I used to watch Victory at Sea. I love Victory at Sea. Look at these admirals. It’s got to be your all time -- in black and white,” and that “I (am) a very esthetic person. I don’t like some of the ships you’re doing aesthetically.” And digressing to the mundane, “I want to use the big, beautiful firm paper. I want to use the real gold writing” to the downright ignorance of reality, “They (Stealth fighter) were not seen. They were literally not seen” to the dangerous by divulging “I moved a submarine or two, I won’t say about the two, over to the coast of Russia” just prove his power.

I counted 27 separate times during his undisciplined ranting, that he exalted himself as in the case of taking personal credit for a peace plan, “(we) create something (a peace plan) that was my idea.” Then there is the one in which he is the world leader. “and they asked if I’d be the chairman of the Board of Peace, … I had the idea for the Board of Peace, …. because of that, every leader, every -- everybody wants to be on the Board of Peace.”

And if any of the above gave you pause, then this one should scare you to death. “…then we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military.”

What happened to intelligent thought, building on the successes of the past, embracing that diversity is a strength of this country, to get to the point where an overweight draft dodger has the temerity to tell the American military they need to be part of a new ‘Warrior’ Ethos’ where there is no room for anyone who doesn’t look like a Spartan warrior. The ratio of support personnel, logistics, medical, communications, engineering, and administrative staff ranges from 1 to 10 to 1 to 33, depending on the size of the army. Does he think we don’t need a fully qualified doctor or nurse because they cannot carry a fifty-pound backpack up a mountain or swim a mile in rough water? Or perhaps we should disqualify a man who is tops in engineering because he has a shaving profile. The America army, at least the one in which I served, is a collection of diverse men and women, each with their own set of skills and capabilities, all working as a team to accomplish the mission and get the team home safe. I served with thousands of soldiers, commanded hundreds, and I never asked if they were gay, lesbian, what party they supported, what religion they believed in, or if they supported the current administration, nor did I ever say they didn’t look their part. I only asked, Can you do the job?

I don’t have a clue what Trump and Hegstad think about the army, but what I do know is that no American soldier ever lost a war; wars were lost by fat-cat politicians who put soldiers in harm’s way because it was politically expedient, beneficial to their political future, or perhaps they were just ignorant.

In any case, Donald Trump, the ego-centric, narcissist, draft dodger, who cannot at times even finish a sentence, and who spends most of his time telling us what is wrong in the country and who is to blame for it, should not be telling anyone how to soldier.

The Office of the President of the United States is all about honor and integrity, and Donald Trump has none. Thus ends the lesson.

Below is an excerpt from Trump’s hour-long speech to the assembled military leaders. You should read his entire speech if you can stomach it.

NOTE: The (0:01) annotations reflect the time in the speech when the phrase was uttered. The TEXT in CAPS is my interpretation of the statement’s intent.

PART ONE – TRUMP’S EHALTATIONS OF HIMSELF

But first, upon his entrance, a threat to the group.

0:01 THREAT “Thank you very much, Pete. And great job you’re doing too, fantastic job. I’ve never walked into a room so silent before. This is very -- oh, don’t laugh, don’t laugh. You’re not allowed to do that. You know what, just have a good time. And if you want to applaud, you applaud. And if you want to do anything you want -- you can do anything you want.”

“And if you don’t like what I’m saying, you can leave the room. Of course, there goes your rank, there goes your future, but you just feel nice and loose, OK, because we’re all on the same team. And I was told that, sir, you won’t hear -- you won’t hear a murmur in the room. I said, we got to loosen these guys up a little bit.”

1:00 I SAVED THE MILITARY

“What a difference a presidential election can make. That’s all it is. It’s just a presidential election” COMMENT: CHECK ENLISTMENTS

1:02 Board of Peace

“Yesterday at the White House, we put forward a plan for peace in Gaza. We announced it and we’re going to create something that was my idea. But unfortunately, I got drafted. It’s going to be called the Board of Peace, and it’s going to reign over that territory.

1:02:23 IF IT WEREN’T FOR ME “What a difference a presidential election can make (in military enlistments). That’s all it is. It’s just a presidential election.

01:02:46 BECAUSE OF ME THEY JOIN

“And we’re going to get that done, and they asked if I’d be the chairman of the Board of Peace, I wasn’t counting on that. I had the idea for the Board of Peace, but I said yes. And I guess because of that, every leader, every -- everybody wants to be on the Board of Peace. And we’re going to watch over that very volatile part of the world and keep it nonvolatile, so you don’t have to get involved. COMMENT: WHAT IS THE BOARD OF PEACE

1:04 I’M A DOER AND HUGE SUPPORTER OF THE MILITARY.

“I rebuilt the military during my first term. It’s one of the greatest achievements.” COMMENT: The United States spends more on defense than the next 24 nations combined. Just how ‘rebuilt’ did it need to be?

1:27 LOOK AT ME I AM WONDERFUL.

“There could be no higher honor than to serve as your commander in chief. It is a great honor.”

3:15 I HAVE OVERCOME THE LEFT AND THE PRESS

“They’ve been after me for so many years now.”

3:32 CONTROL OF WORLD GEOGRAPHY.

“The Gulf of America, because to me”

5:53 IF I WERE IN CHANGE

“If the election were rigged. And if I were president, that war would have never happened, not even a little chance.” COMMENT: I am sure he meant to say ‘if the election were NOT rigged. But nevertheless, he’s been at it for nine months, and no end in sight.

8:33 I AM POWER.

“I rebuilt our nuclear, as you probably know.” COMMENT: He just transferred $890 million for the Restore the Nuclear Arms account to an unnamed DOD account. It just so happens that the estimated cost to get his new gold plane in the air is $890 million.

8:34 I AM SO POWERFUL

“I moved a submarine or two, I won’t say about the two, over to the coast of Russia, just to be careful because we can’t let people throw around that word. I call it the “n” word, there are two n words and you can’t use either of them. You can’t use either of them. And frankly, if it does get to use, we have more than anybody else.” (COMMENT: Does anyone us refer to ‘nuclear’ a the ‘N-word’?

16:22 I AM AMAZING, YOU LOVE ME.

“I love my signature, I really do. Everyone loves my signature.” COMMENT: That signature spells ego, it is not a signature.

17:07 OMG I AM THE WAR STOPPER

“I had -- India and Pakistan were going at it and I called them both. And in this case, I used trade, I’m not going to trade with you.”

17:50 “And I stopped the war. It was going -- it was raging for four days, but that was just the beginning, and we stopped it. It was a great thing…. he said, this man (Trump) saved millions of lives because he saved the war from going on and that war was going to get very bad, very, very bad. COMMENT: I guess Trump was the only one in the room.

18:29 THEY HONOR ME

“President Trump saved millions and millions of lives. That was a bad war. And I was very honored. I loved the way he said it.” COMMENT: It’s not that lives were saved, it’s how they said it that pleased him.

18:57 OH ME, POOR ME

“I got that one done and I’m very proud of it. So if this works out, we’ll have eight, eight in eight months. That’s pretty good. Nobody’s ever done that. Will you get the Nobel Prize? Absolutely not. They’ll give it -- they’ll give it to some guy that didn’t do a damn thing. They’ll give it to a guy that wrote a book about the mind of Donald Trump and what it took to solve the wars.”

20:01 “But to have done eight of them (Ended wars) is just such an honor.” COMMENT: Who talks about getting the Peace Prize?

28:28 I ALONE CAN SAVE US

“We want to fight, we want to win, and we want to fight as little as possible. You have to count on people like me to keep you out of wars because we don’t want to go into wars.” COMMENT: No comment necessary.

29:00 NAMING A JET AFTER HIM

“It’s the greatest fighting jet ever done and, you know, they’re testing all these planes. All the companies are testing and this one tested like through the roof. And they said we’d like to name it the F-47. I said let me think about it. Then after thinking for about two seconds, I said OK. You know that means 47, I’m 47. So, I’m 45, 46 and 47, you know, if you think about it, I just don’t want the credit for 46. I don’t want to have their open borders and people coming in from all over the world including jails and mental institutions.” COMMENT: First, the aircraft is designated F-47, as it is in a series of aircraft not him as the 47^th President. Second. How id open boarders follow the new plane name?

32:34 AMERICA MAKES UNPLEASANT LOOKING FIGHTING SHIPS

“And I’m not a fan of some of the ships you do. I’m a very aesthetic person.

I don’t like some of the ships you’re doing aesthetically.”

35:36 I SWEPT THE ELECTING IN AMENDMENT.

“We had the highest numbers every received in terms of, uh districts. You know, they have it broken up: 2,500 versus 525. We won every swing state.

37:01 THEY MAKE NAME ME DO IT

“You (I) have to go on television a lot because you can’t get a fair shake if you’re going to rely on somebody else.”

40:15 I AM THE BOSS; THEY DO ANYTHING FOR ME, EVEN CLEAN

“If you have five career criminals, they can make your numbers look very bad because they’ll commit many crimes a day. But we took out 1,700, and they took them out. There was no doubt who the boss was. They did an unbelievable job. Then they started even cleaning. I said, I don’t want them doing that. Sir, they wanted.” COMMENT: Apparently talking about the troops involved in the operation, not sure what ‘cleaning’ he could possibly be speaking about.

37:44 – 51:00. I’M A TOUGH GUY

“That’s a war too. It’s a war from within?” “If it’s OK with you generals and admirals, I’ve taken that off. I say, they spit, we hit. Is that OK? I think so. They spit -- it’s a new thing. They spit; we hit.” COMMENT: Enter the schoolyard bully.

54:33 EXCUSING HIS SLOW STEP WALKING

“I said it’s not our president. We can’t have it. I’m very careful. You know, when I walk downstairs for -- like I’m on stairs like these stairs, I’m very -- I walk very slowly. Nobody has to set a record, just try not to fall because it doesn’t work out well. A few of our presidents have fallen and it became a part of their legacy.”

“We don’t want that, need to walk nice and easy. You don’t have to set any record, be cool. Be cool when you walk down but don’t -- don’t bop down the stairs. So, one think with Obama, I had zero respect for him as the president, but he would bop down those stairs -- I’ve never seen, da da da da da da, bop, bop, bop, he’d go down the stairs, wouldn’t hold on. I said, great, I don’t want to do it. I guess I could do it, but eventually bad things are going to happen and it only takes once.” COMMENT: There is a report that he is afraid of steps.

55:55 I AM THE BEST WORLD LEADER

“I was with the king of Saudi Arabia, a great guy. I was with the Emir of Qatar. I was with the great leadership of UAE. “ “They said, one year ago, you were a dead country and now you’re the hottest country anywhere in the world. We are. We’re the hottest country in the world right now, the absolute hottest country in the world.” COMMENT: If they said that, the next thing they most likely said was, ‘Can I have the ….’.

55:27 I ALONE GOT NATO TO PLAY ALONG

“I have to tell you, now, as you know, I went over and I met with NATO, And NATO raised from 2 to 5, which everyone said 5 percent of GDP. Millions and now trillions of dollars are pouring in.”

58:59 “I was over there (Saudi Arabia, Qatar, UAE) We brought back $2 trillion and more.” COMMENT: And they gave him a jet.

SOME OUT RAGEOUS STATEMENTS

0:43 CITIES AS TRAINING GROUND FOR MILITARY

“But I want to salute every service member who has helped us carry out this critical mission. It’s really a very important mission. And I told Pete, we should use some of these dangerous cities as training grounds for our military National Guard, but military, because we’re going into Chicago very soon. That’s a big city, with an incompetent governor, stupid governor, stupid.”

05:04 “And you know, we want war because we want to have no wars, but you have to be there.”

06:33 NO IDEA “That’s lots of wars that’s all combined. That’s a lot of wars. Many of you were over there in many different capacities, in many different countries. That was a -- that’s a big -- that’s a big part of the earth. But if that works out, it would be eight plus I’m going to give myself two or three for that one.”

12:07 USING FALSE CLAIMS “They’re up on one of these ladders that goes way up to the sky rescuing people, and you have animals shooting at them -- shooting bullets at firemen that are way up in death territory.

Some other tidbits of wisdom,

“But the firemen go up on ladders and you have people shooting at them while they’re up on ladders. I don’t even know if anybody heard that. And actually don’t talk about it much, but I think you have to. Our firemen are incredible. They’re up on one of these ladders that goes way up to the sky rescuing people, and you have animals shooting at them -- shooting bullets at firemen that are way up in death territory.” COMMENT: Where are firefighters getting shot at while putting out fires?

38:28 ATTACKING BIDEN

“You know, we had 11,488 murderers allowed into our country by this guy who had no clue.”

40:33 “Washington, D.C. is now a safe city. In fact, I went out to dinner with my crew. I haven’t done that. In theory.”

45:05 “And that soldier standing there, he wants to knock the hell out of the person, but he’s not allowed to do anything. So they just stand there and they get abused. And a woman was this far away from his face and she starts spitting in his face and he’s not allowed to do anything.”

46:47 “I gave that order counterman (the Biden order), we haven’t had that problem. It’s very interesting. It’s amazing. It’s just like in Venezuela you’ve seen the boats going. We can’t find any more boats. “

“You know, these sleazebags (the media)”

“…but we fight through the corrupt press”.

“America is under invasion from within.”