Trump shed his Maga Isolationism during the Middle East

Cnn
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For a guide who campaigned for a promise of “America First” with deep isolationists, President Donald Trump's second term that he may be emitted from the foreign policy doctrine of his first term – and more as a globalist may have turned out.

At least if it suits him.

He has already spent his first months to change the role of the United States in the world aggressively, and his four-day journey through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week underlined how dramatically he redesigned traditional alliances and has campaigned in global conflicts.

His decision to end the sanctions on Syria and be the first US president who met with a Syrian leader in 25 years signaled an element of risk and commitment, which is hardly part of the Maga Credo and does not fit properly into the point of view of some of his most passionate conservative allies. His meeting with interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa is behind closed doors, but it may be reminded of producing the most important moment of his trip.

During the trip, Trump implied a leading role in loosening the rapid rapid tensions in India and Pakistan. He suggested that the Iranian nuclear discussions could prove a “violent course” if Tehran did not respond appropriately to “friendly” negotiations with US officials. He said that Russian President Vladimir Putin would only have peace talks if Trump was personally involved. And he spoke about the United States, which establish a “freedom zone” in the war destroyed by the war.

“My priority is to end conflicts and not to start,” said Trump on Thursday the Al Udeid Air Base. “But I will never hesitate to cope with American power when it is necessary to defend the United States of America or our partners.”

While Trump hardly turns a new sheet, a few moments suggested on the way that she contradicts his first term. The same president, who issued a controversial travel ban from seven Muslim countries in 2017, visited the Grand Mosque of Sheikh Zayed in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The same president who displaced Qatar due to connections to terrorism accepted the nation's Emir this week.

The changes show that he is willing to deviate from typical GOP and MAGA positions, since Republicans have shown repeated reluctance to criticize their party leader in the congress and elsewhere. A top democrat underlines this point and praised Trump for his meeting with the provisional Syrian President and his general way of dealing with the trip.

“I don't have the habit of worthwhile Donald Trump,” said Jim Himes, member of the House Intelligence Committee, during a conversation with politico on Thursday.

Himes said he was concerned about the risk of Iran a week, the possibilities for the new leadership of Syria and the conflict in Gaza. At the end of the week, Himes said that he thought Trump “played the Middle East pretty well.”

With every stop on the way, the President presented himself as a dealmaker and peace pier – in both cases transactionally. Although it encompasses more globalist attitudes, many of his high foreign policy goals quickly came across a more difficult reality.

“I have concepts for Gaza that I think is very good: make it a freedom zone, let the United States get involved and only make it a freedom zone,” said Trump on Thursday during a round table in Doha.

This vision always seemed unlikely, still seemed outside the range when almost 70 people in the youngest wave of Israeli strikes were killed on the Palestinian enclave overnight. Trump still has to show how much pressure he is willing to exercise Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whom he did not visit this week.

An Iranian nuclear agreement has also proven to be difficult, although Trump was made progress after four talks between the special representative Steve Witkoff and the Iranian official. Trump said on Thursday that they were “very close” and suggested that Iran “somehow agreed”.

And this week Trump repeatedly said that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and warned of violent consequences if they do this – but these comments were observed with the anger of Iranian President Masoud Peesshkian, who thinks Trump “naive for our region, threaten us and hope that we reset against his demands.”

Similarly, Trump often pushed to Russia and Ukraine to hold peace talks in Turkey on Thursday, and even said he was ready to take part. But when it became clear that Putin would not go personally, Trump's tone changed.

“He would go, but he thought I would go. He didn't go if I wasn't there and I don't think something will happen, whether you like it or not until he and I come together,” said Trump early Thursday.

In Trump's numerous public considerations in particular, a focus was on human rights, a topic that its modern predecessors would often meet when visiting the region. The topic was not expected to appear publicly before the trip, and Trump praised his hosts.

During the trip, Trump largely scored in the friendship of the Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman and repeatedly shook his hand, a topic that was heavily excited in 2022 due to certain effects on human rights in 2022.

MBS was associated directly by the US secret service group with the murder of the journalist of the Washington Post Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul in 2018. A report said that he “approved” the operation that led to Khashoggi's death. When Biden met with the crown prince afterwards, he was carefully observed whether he would shake MBS's hand. Instead, bids offered a fist – which criticized with Democrats as excessively familiar.

But Trump found that bidges were not friendly enough for the Saudis or other Arab allies.

“They were starving for love because our country did not give them love. … He travels all the way to Saudi Arabia, in this case, and he gives him a fist. They don't want that. They don't want a fist. They want to shake his hand,” said Trump reporter to Air Force One.

One thing is clear: Trump defines his foreign policy and believes that it is about him. This was repeatedly illustrated by his emphasis on his role in the conversations of Ukraine Russia, the Iranian nuclear agreement and the break of the India Pakistan attacks. He said about the latter: “I don't want to say that I did it, but I contributed hell last week to regulate the problem between Pakistan and India.”

In the meantime, the trip has also telegraphed a message to the world executives: business transactions and investments in the USA as well as some TV pomps and circumstances can lead to favorable results.

Trump was the subject of the flattery of his hosts, complete with Arabic horses, a cavalry by Tesla Cybertrucks and endless hand shakes from some of the world's business elites. The White House worked, which it referred to as “transformative deals in Saudi Arabia” and pointed out to billions of billions in investments in AI data centers, energy infrastructure and technology. In Doha, Trump emphasized a big investment by Qatar in Boeing aircraft in the USA, and before the trip, Trump said that he was planning to accept an expensive luxury aircraft from Qatarian officials-cunning-cure of numerous ethical and security concerns at home.

In turn, Trump and his team signed numerous agreements with both countries to strengthen the intergovernmental cooperation for a number of defense and energy issues – which increases the global position of MBS despite earlier concerns regarding human rights violations. And Trump's presence in Qatar made history; He was the first sitting president too Make a formal state visit.