Road Slip
“Trump stood in front of a gathering of leaders from across the Muslim world and called on them to isolate a nation he said had ‘fueled the fires of sectarian conflict and terror.'” From the NYT: In Saudi Arabia, Trump Reaches Out to Sunni Nations, at Iran’s Expense. The target of Trump’s speech was especially interesting given that Iranian voters just gave moderate President Hassan Rouhani a landslide victory.
+ “Trump’s strategy differed most strikingly from Bush’s and Obama’s in its largely military approach to extremism.” The New Yorker’s Robin Wright: Trump’s Strategy on Jihadism. And from Politico: Donald of Arabia.
+ CNN: “Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross praised President Trump for a trip to Saudi Arabia that was so successful it didn’t draw a single protester.” Oh Wilbur…
+ In Saudi Arabia, Trump was treated like royalty, signed a big arms deal, and seemed to leave his domestic scandals behind for a couple days. In Israel, one of those scandals was brought back to the fore — by Trump himself — when he offered to reporters that he “never mentioned the word or the name Israel” in his conversations with the Russians in the Oval Office.