With Shloime Zionce on the ground in Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, Trump’s Gulf tour was packed with gold-plated meetings, billion-dollar deals and talk of peace.
When the White House announced a few weeks ago that the president would be traveling to the Middle East, I immediately started packing. The scheduled visits to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates were supposed to be the president’s first foreign trip during his second term, but the death of the pope changed that, as the president traveled to the Vatican for the funeral. Nonetheless, even as number two, the trip to the Middle East was bound to be both eventful and historic, with far reaching global implications. Amid the preparations, rumors were swirling about Trump’s plans for the trip, with speculation rampant that this signaled a disaster in the making for Israel.
The biggest story of the day was, of course, the $400 million plane that Qatar was supposedly gifting to the president, a move deemed extremely controversial by many, including, perhaps surprisingly, a large contingent of Trump’s biggest supporters. There was also speculation that Trump would sign a deal with Iran. The president’s agreement with the Houthis for a mutual ceasefire, which came as a surprise to many, was taken as an indication that Trump had sidelined Israel, and it made the possibility of an agreement with Iran more likely. That, in turn, raised suspicions about a nuclear agreement with Saudi Arabia, which Israeli leaders feared would set off a nuclear arms race in the Middle East. Next came the rumor that Trump would be meeting with Syria’s new leader, a former al-Qaeda terrorist whom nobody seems to be able to figure out. And lastly there was speculation that during the trip, Trump and the United States would recognize a Palestinian state. The million dollar question, at least for Trump’s Jewish supporters, was, of course, “Why is the president making this historic visit to the Middle East without even stopping for a moment to visit America’s greatest ally, Israel?”
I’ll try to provide some answers.
First, to set the stage. Generally, when the president arrives at or departs from the White House, it’s not treated as a momentous occasion, and most of the office staff and aides remain at their desks and posts, occupied with their work duties. This time, though, the South Lawn and all the areas near the Oval Office were teeming with activity. Almost the entire White House staff contrived to be outside, phones at the ready, as the president headed for his helicopter, Marine One. This might have been connected with the fact that almost everyone who is anyone in the White House, with the notable exception of Vice President JD Vance, was going on the trip. For the duration of the trip, the White House would be a pretty empty house.
Most of the staffers who were fortunate to be part of this Middle East jaunt had already left the White House and traveled ahead of the president to Joint Base Andrews (JBA), where they would be pre-boarding Air Force One.
President Trump seemed to have a lot on his mind as he walked past us reporters, as for once he did not take any questions. He was followed onto the helicopter by Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, a few other administration officials, his military aide carrying the nuclear football, and a young Marine who saluted before boarding the helicopter and dramatically closing its doors. When one of the reporters standing near me observed that no one who had boarded the helicopter was carrying anything larger than an attache case or a purse, I explained that all of their baggage had already been transported to the president’s plane. The rotors spinning as the helicopter disappeared over the Washington Monument was a perfect metaphor for the fears, hopes, rumors and whispers swirling around Washington regarding this trip.
The rotors also created a non-metaphorical wind that blew my yarmulke off my head and across the lawn, out of sight. A thoughtful person who may forever remain unknown, but to whom I shall always be grateful, found it and placed it on top of a tall stool that a photographer had used to get an unblocked view of the president. My head once again covered, I ran to catch my commercial flight to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia’s capital.
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