Trump In Arabia: He Came, He Saw, He Plundered

Yusuf Dhia-Allah

Dhu al-Hijjah 05, 1446 2025-06-01

News & Analysis

by Yusuf Dhia-Allah (News & Analysis, Crescent International Vol. 55, No. 4, Dhu al-Hijjah, 1446)

In three days, Donald Trump collected more loot than any US president has ever done in three years or even eight, in the entire history of America. And that is saying something since US history is one of genocide and plunder.

Trump’s visit to three Arabian countries exposed the shameless, subservient and grovelling nature of his hosts. True, they are weak and their rule is illegitimate but there was no need to stoop so low.

Even Alexander ‘the great’ (‘great’ in western mythology) did not plunder so much wealth during his military campaigns across so many lands that Trump did it three days. What is it about Trump that he can shake down others so easily? Perhaps, it is more pertinent to ask why the Arabian rulers act in such a shameless manner.

On his first stop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Trump’s motorcade was accompanied by horse-mounted riders. He entered the Yamama Palace as a conquering monarch with the vanquished lined up, heads bowed, as if seeking mercy.

In Riyadh he not only signed a $142 billion deal for US weapons and training for Saudi armed forces, but also $600 billion—and potentially $1 trillion—in other investment deals. The large entourage of business CEOs accompanying him was proof that they had come to plunder ‘Saudi’ wealth. Saudi Arabia’s de facto ruler, Mohamed bin Salman (MbS), could only smile nervously before Trump.

What would the Saudis do with $142 billion in weapons? Their record shows that such weapons are used exclusively against other Muslims. The most recent example is Yemen where the Saudis launched a brutal 9-year war killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people and starving an estimated 1.2 million children. Ultimately, the Saudis sued for peace.

The spectacle of subservience was not over yet in Riyadh. Before departing for his next destination (Doha, Qatar), Ahmed al-Sharaa (better known as Abu Mohamed al-Jolani), the head of head-choppers-turned self-appointed president of Syria, also presented himself before the emperor. He grovelled for recognition and could not thank Trump enough for giving him the opportunity to meet him.

Al Sharaa also promised that no weapons would be allowed to reach Hizbullah in Lebanon. Further, that he would recognize the zionist entity even though the latter occupies large swathes of Syrian territory and continues to bomb incessantly, including the presidential palace. Supporters of Syria’s ‘revolution’ need to offer some explanation.

In Qatar, Trump was welcomed by a cavalcade of camels and Tesla’s Red Cybersecurity trucks. It was an imaginative amalgam of the traditional and the modern. Even before Trump landed in Doha, the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani had gifted a $400 million luxury 747-B jumbo jet for the emperor’s personal use. This took grovelling to a new level.

Sheikh Tamim also told Trump how honoured he was to receive him in his tiny sheikhdom. When you are the ruler a tiny sheikhdom with a local population of less than one million, visit by the world’s biggest gangster is bound to evoke awe.

During Trump’s visit, Qatar not only signed a $200 billion deal for Boeing planes for Qatar Airways but also another $600 billion and possibly reaching $1.2 trillion in other contracts. The planes’ order was the biggest in Boeing’s history and a major boost to its fortunes. It had suffered major reputational damage because several Boeing 737 Max-8 planes had dropped out of the sky. Not surprisingly, Boeing CEO Kelly Etberg was overwhelmed by the Qatari order. It was his lifeline.

The Emiratis indulged in even more shameless conduct. They lined up young girls to swing their uncovered hair as a ‘welcoming’ gesture for Trump. Some apologists have tried to explain this by saying that this tradition pre-dates Islam. In pre-Islamic Arabia, men used to bury their infant daughters alive. Would that be acceptable today?

This was not a dance of hospitality, but rather of shamelessness and submission to tyranny. It was an acknowledgement that they never had any dignity or honour. Why else would people bring their own daughters to shake their uncovered hair before a debauched individual who has been convicted in his own country of serious sexual misconduct?
Whatever happened to the honour and dignity of women that Islam emphasizes? We can ignore the silence of women’s rights crusaders in the west. Hypocrisy is their mode of operation. But what about Muslims? Do dignity and honour no longer mean anything?

Obviously not. That is why, men living in air-conditioned marble palaces with gold door knobs and toilet seats are so devoid of dignity. They sit on deep comfortable sofas sipping bitter coffee with chocolate-covered dates but do not want to be bothered by uncomfortable truths.

The word dignity does not exist in their lexicon. They do not like being reminded of it otherwise their head-choppers will be out with swords to separate the questioner’s head from his torso.

The starving, brutalized children of Gaza may be forgiven for asking why these Arabian rulers do not help them. Why do they give trillions to the oppressors but not spare even small change for the starving children of Gaza?

This, unfortunately, is how the world is structured. It is not based on justice or the rule of law. Illegitimate rulers are not concerned about the well-being of others. Their over-riding concern is personal survival, fully aware that they have no support among their masses. They have to buy protection by giving away trillions of dollars to the biggest gangster in town.