President Donald Trump found himself to be a popular figure among Saudi Arabia's young adults during his four-day Middle Eastern tour.
According to The New York Times, "Citizens of the conservative Islamic kingdom say that Mr. Trump feels familiar to them. His family’s fluid melding of business and politics is the norm in Saudi Arabia — a country in which the Trump Organization has significant business interests and where government officials sit on the boards of listed companies."
The piece continued, "His reliance on relatives and friends to advise him and shape policy is unremarkable in Riyadh. And the conservative rhetoric he has adopted — in particular, his attacks on transgender people and reassertion of traditional gender norms — resonates with many in the kingdom."
The Times piece quoted a 40-year old Saudi man saying, “He says what’s on his mind, and he doesn’t care about what people think. Trump is about being yourself.”
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A 30-year-old gold salesman in Riyadh said, “From way back, I feel like he gets us. There’s affection," he said, adding, "The best thing he did is he stopped homosexuals."
In an ironic twist, the Saudis played Trump's campaign anthems during his visit, including the gay pride-themed "YMCA" by the Village People.
The article claimed that reliable opinion polling is hard to come by in the kingdom, "so it is impossible to accurately determine what proportion of Saudis has positive views of Mr. Trump."
Those who did take issue with Trump were upset over his "whitewashing" of the reputation of "authoritarian leader" Mohammed bin Salman, whom U.S. intelligence has linked to the killing of Washington Post reporter Jamal Khashoggi in 2018.
During Trump's visit, MBS addressed Trump as “my dear President Trump," and Trump called MBS an “incredible man” and “my friend.”
Before he left Trump was able to shore up a $600 billion dollar investment pledge from MBS.