President Trump was more than 7,400 miles from Palm Beach, Fla., But he immediately looked out at home.
With its gigantic Crystal kronelers, polished marble, soft carpets and prominent portraits of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi Royal Court had the feeling of a Mar-a-Lago East.
On Tuesday, the first day of the four-day swing of the President Middle East, Kroonprins Mohammed bin Salman, the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, gave Mr. Trump the royal treatment.
Mr. Trump was escorted by Saudi airspace by three F-15 fighter jets who flanked on each side of Air Force One. The presidential limousine was accompanied by the Royal Court in Riyad, the Saudi capital, by riders on Arabic horses. Musical horns have been emitted. An guard of honor was in the attention when Prince Mohammed Mr. Trump to the field led along a long carpet of lavender.
The president could not stop smiling, and understandable. The Saudi royals are his friends and allies. They are His The business partners of the family. More than most they understand his taste and desires.
“I really believe we really like each other,” said Mr. Trump, while he was sitting next to the crown prince in the King’s executive office.
While he was strolling through the Royal Court with Prince Mohammed, the president seemed impressed by his environment. Goedelblad was everywhere: the frame and the tables and the legs of the blue velvet armchairs were all gilded.
Mr. Trump, who compared the United States with a ‘super luxurious store“Is installed Similar Decie in the Oval Office. He is planning to Install a ballroom in the White House and has the renewal From the rose garden, which changes it into a dining area in the Hagers, such as the patio in Mar-A-Lago, his house and club in Palm Beach.
After lunch at the Royal Court, Mr. Trump spoke The Saudi-US Investment ForumIn a ball hall where the Saudi government organizes its largest events, among chandeliers the size of tanks.
Defense contractors, international financiers and construction managers have circulated, an attempt to try virtual reality glasses and yaps at architectural models of the planned mega projects of the kingdom, including ‘The Line’, a 100-mile long cloud scratch with a mirror of the Land of the Land of the Land of the Land of the Land of the Country of the Country of the Country of the Country Van Het Landjena ‘of the’ Trojena ‘Town Land of the land of the land of the land of the land of the land of the land of the land of the land, in the northern land of the land of the land of the land of the land of the land, in the northern land of the land of the land of the land.
A handful of Maga hats could be seen between the traditional red and white checked headdresses worn by Saudi attendees.
Mr. Trump was given a tour of what his Saudi hosts called the ‘Gallery of Memories’, who told a story about ‘almost eight decades of Saudi-American partnership’.
He was then shown an agency in 1950 at the founding king of Saudi Aarabia, Abdulaziz Al Saud, by President Harry S. Truman. Saudi officials called on the meeting in 1945 between the king and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was described as a determining meeting “that laid the foundation for a lasting diplomatic relationship between the two nations.”
Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed were then accompanied to the stage while dramatic music played. After the crown prince had spoken, Lee Greenwood’s “God bless the USA” played a few minutes, while Mr. Trump listened with approval and sang together with the last line.
The long day of the royal treatment for Mr Trump started from the moment he got out of the Air Force at the Royal Terminal, a special section for VIPs on King Khalid International Airport.
Prince Mohammed greeted the president at the airport and marked the special status that Mr Trump enjoys with Saudi Arabia. When President Biden visited in 2022 – after he made the kingdom a ‘pariah’, and then realized that he needed the help to lower oil prices – sent the crown prince The Governor of Mecca to greet him at the airport.
After sunset, Prince Mohammed spoke to the passion of the president for real estate by taking him on a tour of a large development on the country where his ancestors once lived.
Diriyah, a historic city above Wadi Hanifah, a river valley on the outskirts of Riyadh, was the original seat of the Saudi royal family, 300 years ago. Nowadays a UNESCO site, with its mudstone walls, is being restored. Prince Mohammed wants to make it a magnet for tourism by building a commercial and residential project of $ 60 billion, connected to Riyadh through underground transport.
After he Mr. Trump had shown his scale model for the site, Prince Mohammed took the steering wheel of a golf cart and drove the president to the state dinner.
Mr. Trump remains the first night of his four-day trip on the Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, an impressive hotel on 52 hectares laid out gardens. The Riyadh Ritz is the same hotel where Mr Trump stayed eight years ago during his first presidential visit and where President Barack Obama stayed in 2014.
But the hotel is better known as Prince Mohammed’s five -star. In 2017 he used the Ritz-Carlton to hold opponents, including ministers, business people and members of his own royal family.
The crown prince conducted what he described as a corruption act. Others considered it a consolidation of power and an omen for his future regime.
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