Trump calls out Muslim leaders
In a forceful address in Saudi Arabia, he urges united front against terrorism
RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA President Trump urged leaders of Muslim countries to stand up against what he calls “Islamic extremism” on Sunday, adopting a tough stance on terror that none- theless attempts to soften the anti-Muslim rhetoric of his campaign for president.
The use of that terminology appears to be something of a compromise: During the presidential campaign, Trump criticized President Obama for refusing to utter the words “radical Islamic terrorism” — a phrase Obama said would alienate the Muslim allies that the United States most needs to combat terrorism.
In an ornate conference hall in the Saudi capital, and speaking to a group of leaders from 50 Islamic nations, Trump called on Muslims to confront “the crisis of Islamic extremism and the Islamist and Islamic terror of all kinds.”
That means “standing together against the murder of innocent Muslims, the oppression of women, the persecution of Jews, and the slaughter of Christians,” Trump said at the Arab Islamic American Summit.
“Religious leaders must make this absolutely clear: Barbarism will deliver you no glory — piety to evil will bring you no dignity,” Trump continued. “If you choose the path of terror, your life will be empty, your life will be brief, and your soul will be condemned.”
Calling on people in Middle Eastern countries to decide what
kind of future they want for themselves and their children, Trump said, “a better future is only possible if your nations drive out the terrorists and extremists. Drive them out. Drive them out of your places of worship. Drive them out of your communities. Drive them out of your holy land, and drive them out of this Earth.”
But Trump also rejected the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric espoused by some of his more nationalistic advisers. His chief strategist, Stephen Bannon, has called Islam “the most radical religion” in the world and warned of a “major shooting war” in the Middle East.
“This is not a battle between different faiths, different sects, or different civilizations,” Trump said. “This is a battle between barbaric criminals who seek to obliterate human life, and decent people all in the name of religion. ... This is a battle between good and evil.”
While “Islamic” can refer to any aspect of the Muslim faith, “Islamist” refers more specifically to a fundamentalist ideology that espouses Islamic law as the basis of society.
A senior administration official noted that the prepared text of the speech used the word Islamist, but Trump changed up the language in his delivery because he was simply “exhausted.”
White House aides said that different teams of speechwriters had been working on as many as five different drafts of the speech, and that Trump worked to reconcile those different ideas into his own address.
The result was a speech clearly directed at two audiences — leaders from 50 Muslim countries assembled in Riyadh for the summit, and Americans back home.
“America is a sovereign nation and our first priority is always the safety and security of our citizens,” Trump said. To reconcile those “America first” policies with his attempts to build global coalitions, Trump promised that U.S. foreign policy would be guided by what he called “principled realism.”
To the Muslim leaders, Trump said the United States will seek “gradual reforms — not sudden intervention” in areas like human rights.
“We are not here to lecture,” Trump said, echoing a common conservative critique of Obama’s foreign policy speeches. “We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for all of us.”
Trump’s much-anticipated speech to the Muslim world came amid a day of meetings with Middle Eastern leaders on the second of a nine-day foreign trip.
In one-on-one meetings with the leaders of Bahrain, Qatar, Egypt, Kuwait, Trump hawked American-made military equipment in an effort to have those countries pay for a greater share of their own defense.
“One of the things that we will discuss is the purchase of lots of beautiful military equipment because nobody makes it like the United States,” Trump said in a meeting with the emir of Qatar, Tamim bin Hamad al Thani. “And for us that means jobs, and it also means frankly great security back here, which we want.”
“We are not here to lecture. We are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be. ... We are here to offer partnership.” President Trump