First foreign trip leaves Trump’s troubles behind
Yet domestic headlines may color how he is received
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA President Trump will begin an ambitious five-city, nine-day foreign trip in Saudi Arabia on Saturday with the goal of uniting the Muslim world against terror — even as his presidency is embroiled in a quickly escalating controversy over his ties to Russia.
Presidents often turn to foreign affairs when there’s trouble at home, but Trump’s very first foreign trip comes amid a succession of breathtaking developments over his firing of the FBI director, contacts with Russian diplomats and the appointment of special counsel to investigate.
As the bombshells multiply in Washington, Trump himself appears eager for a change in subject. Asked about the Russia investigation at a news conference Thursday, Trump brought up the foreign trip.
“Tomorrow, as you know, I’m going to Saudi Arabia, going to Israel. I’m going to Rome. And we have the G7. We have a lot of great things going on,” he said. “So I hate to see anything that divides. I’m fine with whatever people want to do, but we have to get back to running this country really, really well.”
Those headlines put even more pressure on the White House to deliver a foreign policy victory, but White House officials seemed to be tamping down expectations.
“His current domestic political problems are a deepening concern,” said Jim Phillips, a senior fellow at the Heritage Foundation who has been supportive of Trump’s Middle East policy. “I think President Trump’s standing at home definitely will be a factor in the perceptions of friends and allies abroad, and in how they interact with him.”
But in Riyadh, there’s a clear sense of national pride that Trump chose Saudi Arabia as his first foreign destination as president. Electronic billboards line King Salman Road from the airport to downtown, showing sideby-side photos of Trump and the Saudi king under the banner “Together we Prevail.” Other billboards show President Franklin Roosevelt’s meeting with King Salman’s father in 1945, underscoring the U.S.-Saudi alliance.
But while the kings and crown princes who govern the region have been receptive to Trump’s opposition to the Islamic State and Iran, religious leaders are more wary.
“Any foreign trip is a high-wire act,” said Terence Szuplat, a former speechwriter for President Barack Obama. “It’s surprising that they’ve chosen this particular itinerary, given the dangerous mix of politics and religion that has burned other presidents.”