Trump’s bracing clarity on terrorism
The words “The Middle East” and “optimism” are not routinely paired. But who would know that, given the reactions of the region’s leaders to President Trump’s recent trip?
“A turning point,” said Saudi Arabia’s King Salman.
“The reassertion of American leadership in the Middle East,” said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Capable of doing the impossible,” said Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi about Trump’s impact.
Sissi’s use of the word “impossible” was understandable. The optics in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where Trump gave his principal address, might have seemed implausible even a few weeks ago. But it happened: The rulers of 50 Arab nations gathered in one place to applaud an American President’s exhortations against Islamist “extremism.”
Even Trump’s domestic critics sounded impressed, with news reports citing the President’s “measured tone” and CNN’s Fareed Zakaria extending his ultimate compliment: The Trump speech was one former President Barack Obama could have given. Except on that point, he couldn’t have been more wrong.
In fact, the starkness of the Obama-Trump contrast was one most commentators noticed. While Obama’s 2009 trip to the Mideast featured a Cairo speech famous for its accommodationism toward Iran and
about America’s role in the world, Trump’s text showed none of the same mewling rhetoric. In Riyadh, he opted instead for an extended treatment of Islamic extremism, the frequent use of the word “evil” in speaking to the terrorists’ ideology and motivations, and a laserlike focus on Iran as an outlaw regime and chief breeding ground of Mideast mayhem.
We should all appreciate the fact that we now have a President who is straightforward that he’s at war with radical Islamists, a fact he’s not going to soft-pedal.
Unlike the last eight years under the Obama administration, when the commander-in-chief’s hesitancy to lead the world hobbled American action on too many fronts, there’s no doubt we now have a President who wants to fight and win this war. This kind of clarity of purpose is critical especially in the wake of the horrific killings like those that just took place in Manchester, England.
Trump’s assertiveness in repairing U.S. foreign policy, shoring up international resolve against terrorism, can rally the world to take strong action against the enemy.
One sour note in assessing the President’s trip came from Richard Clarke, who, writing in this newspaper, said Trump had abandoned American values and then speculated, contrary to what the Arab leaders actually said about Trump’s address, that they found the President’s call to “drive out” terrorists “sophomoric.”
Clarke’s take on the speech was a lonely outlier. In fact, it was a courageous speech in Riyadh — just as, in sum, it was a courageous trip to the holiest places in the three Abrahamic faiths.
It was also historic: No sitting U.S. President has made a direct flight from Saudi Arabia to Israel before. The two countries have no formal diplomatic relations, and because of Israel’s ongoing conflict with the Palestinians, Israeli passport holders are commonly denied entry to Muslim-majority nations. Trump is breaking down barriers by calling out the region’s common enemy and mutual interest: Defeating Islamic extremism. The threat is real, it is not going away, and the leaders of all these nations — with disparate ideologies — all recognize this to be true.
It’s not the phrase “Islamic extremism” — which the previous President kept at arm’s length — that offends them, but the radicals debasing their faith and killing their children that does. It’s the common tie that binds us to our allies.
Trump’s principled realism has allowed him to view the world as it is, not as it should be, and to develop pragmatic solutions that might not be otherwise considered by more ideologically bound Presidents.
Islamic extremism is an evil that needs to be rooted out. Only a coalition of nations, working together, can solve this problem. Developing and strengthening these alliances have been the aim of the President’s ambitious trip.
The American electorate voted last November for the candidate who promised bold change. Clearly, they are seeing their President make such boldness a vital and major element of his foreign policy.