Trump claims Middle East victory
Hails his approach to the region as a winner, citing his ability to get Egypt to release hostage when Obama could not
NEW YORK // Donald Trump said his new approach to the Middle East was already bearing fruit, describing how his friendship with president Abdul Fattah El Sisi of Egypt helped to secure the release of an American prisoner. During a speech to mark his 100th day as president on Saturday, Mr Trump gave a list of promises he had made and kept and told his audience that the US had intensified its fight against ISIL.
His bombastic delivery, dark tone and boisterous crowd were similar in style to his campaign rallies, complete with a long attack on the media and the inclusion of a poem, entitled The Snake, which was a hit among his audience members last year.
“We have already stepped up the fight against ISIL and we will not stop until ISIL has been destroyed,” he told the crowd at a sports arena in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.
“We have strengthened our alliances and friendships all around the world.
“For instance, we were proud to work with the Egyptian government last week to ensure that an American citizen – a beautiful young woman named Aya – came home after being in an Egyptian prison for the past three years.”
Aya Hijazi, an aid worker with dual US- Egyptian nationality, along with her husband and others connected to their charity, was arrested and accused of child abuse in 2014. “President Obama worked diligently for three years, didn’t get ‘em out,” said Mr Trump to cheers.
“I met with president El Sisi and it worked out quickly.”
The location and timing of Mr Trump’s speech were selected for maximum effect.
Pennsylvania was one of the reliably Democratic states where blue- collar workers swung behind Mr Trump to deliver a shock victory over Hillary Clinton in the November election.
He appeared before the crowd on the evening when journalists were gathering in Washington for the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an event he declined to attend. He said he was happy to not be at the dinner at which, he said, Hollywood stars and outof- touch reporters would be consoling each other in a hotel ballroom.
‘ I met with president El Sisi and it worked out quickly Donald Trump US president
“I could not possibly be more thrilled to be more than 100 miles away from the Washington swamp, spending my evening with all of you and a much, much larger crowd and much better people,” he said. The crowd booed and chanted “CNN sucks”.
Several times police escorted protesters from the arena as they tried to disrupt Mr Trump’s speech, in another throwback to the campaign. Mr Trump highlighted for praise a downturn in illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, a surge in financial markets and his appointment of a conservative judge to the supreme court. His address contained much of the same simmering discontent of his run for the White House – railing against what he saw as unfair trade deals and an entrenched Washington elite.
At one point he read The Snake, a poem about a woman who takes in a half- frozen serpent only for it to bite her after she has tenderly restored it to health. During the campaign Mr Trump used the tale to illustrate what he said were the dangers of taking in Syrian refugees.
As well as revisiting his campaign themes, Mr Trump used his speech to offer an insight into one of his U- turns in the White House.
After campaigning on a tough line on China, and saying that he would label the Chinese as currency manipulators, he has since sought out the support of president Xi Jinping to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear weapons programme.
“I don’t think right now is the best time to call China a currency manipulator,” he said.
The speech ended with his familiar promise to “Make America great again”, and just like his campaign rallies he left the stage to the Rolling Stones’ You Can’t Always Get What You What.