MORNING GLORY: A triumphant trip for Trump

President Donald Trump’s tour of the Middle East would receive an A+ with an asterisk from any objective observer.

The asterisk is because of his meeting with Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa. The former Al Qaeda member battled and probably killed American troops in Iraq. The 42-year-old did time in Abu Graib prison and has been fighting the now-toppled Assad regime for years.

Syria has become, in effect, three statelets on its way to perhaps four or five, but al-Sharaa runs much of Damascus and its suburbs. From that position of strength he can block Iran from resupplying the Hezbollah forces in Lebanon —a very good result for Lebanon and the region.

TRUMP'S MIDDLE EAST TRIP HANDED ISRAEL A HISTORIC OPPORTUNITY – IF IT CHOOSES TO ACT, EXPERTS SAY

Trump met with al-Assad at the request of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ("MBS") and Turkey’s President Recep Erdogan.

According to the U.S. "readout" of the meeting, the U.S. president demanded the Syrian warlord deport Palestinian terrorists, sign the Abraham Accords recognizing Israel’s right to exist, exile all other foreign terrorists from the portions of Syria he controls, and battle ISIS where it remains in Syria.

That’s a good set of "asks" by Trump. If Trump’s conditions are met, remove the asterisk. Time will tell and not weeks or even months. If al-Shaara wants to stand up his own statelet, he will invite the U.S. to remove or destroy the chemical weapons depots that still exist in the hidden caches maintained by the Assad regime from the time when Barack Obama caved on his own "red line" in exchange for a half-hearted effort by Russia to remove some of the deadly weapons.

If Israel and Syria achieve a cold peace much less a warm one, more kudos to President Trump. The Middle East is being remade and Trump is poised to knock Iran off its remaining claim to power in the region if the mullahs in Tehran don’t see reason. The U.S. and Israel can conduct the operations necessary to cripple Ayatollah Khamenei’s dreams of a nuclear weapon without committing the U.S. to a war, and the president has said Iran has one of two choices at least a dozen times and without any ambiguity, including to me on air.

"I would much prefer a strong, verified deal where we actually blow them up, but blow them up or just de-nuke them," Trump told me. "But the other alternative, there are only two alternatives there – blow them up nicely or blow them up viciously." That’s tough talk, but Trump is a tough negotiator and his record of follow-through on threats made to foreign powers speaks for itself.

CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINION

With every Gulf nation seated at a circular table when Trump sat down with the Gulf Cooperation Council, the president repeated the same, stark choice before Khamenei, added in Iran’s abandonment of terror and added for good measure the Palestinian leadership’s renunciation of "rape, torture and murder," and explicitly demanded the release of the hostages as a "stepping stone" to peace, not part of a deal. Trump, in short, was at his bluntest best.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

The economic deals he signed are enormous and the potential for "AI" partnerships with Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are powering a surge in optimism for "AI"-based equities as the quartet of the U.S.-Israel-the Kingdom—U.A.E. Is impossible to top when it comes to a joint venture on anything, but especially for breakout "AI" advances. The other deals with American defense firms are great for that sector of our economy, its employees and shareholders in the U.S., and world stability that depends on a strong America with well-trained and equipped allies. Check and check.

Trump’s always "outside-the-box" when it comes to diplomacy. That’s why the U.S. embassy is in Jerusalem and the Abraham Accords exist. Trump doesn’t play by Council on Foreign Relations rules because he’s not interested in its seminars and the approval of its senior fellows but in creating seminal moments. Last week’s trip was one of the latter.

Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor, and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/tv show today.

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP