President Trump was over 7,400 miles from Palm Beach, Florida, but he looked at home.
With its giant crystal chandeliers, its polished marble carpets, plush and its portraits in good place King Salman Bin Abdulaziz, the Saudi royal court had the feeling of a Mar-A-Lago East.
On Tuesday, the first day of the Middle East switch of the four-day president, the crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman, the de facto sovereign of Saudi Arabia, gave Mr. Trump the royal treatment.
Mr. Trump was escorted by Saudi airspace by three fighter planes F-15 flanking each side of the Air Force One. Presidential limousine was accompanied by the Royal Court of Riyadh, the Saudi capital, by horsemen on Arab horses. Musical horns have exploded. A guard of honor was to the attention when Prince Mohammed guided Trump in the courtyard along a long lavender carpet.
The president could not stop smiling, and it is understandable. The Saudi Royals are his friends and allies. They are business partners from his family. More than most, they understand their tastes and desires.
“I really think we love each other,” said Trump when he was sitting next to the Crown Prince inside the king’s executive office.
While walking with Prince Mohammed by the royal court, the president seemed impressed by his environment. The gold leaf was everywhere: the moldings and the tables and the legs of the blue velvet armchairs were all golden.
Mr. Trump, who compared the United States to a “Super luxury store“, Installed Similar Decor throughout the oval office. He plans to Install a ballroom At the White House and ordered the renovation of the Rose Garden, transforming it into an outdoor dining room like the Mar-A-Lago patio, its house and club in Palm Beach.
After lunch at the Royal Court, Trump spoke to the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in a ballroom where the Saudi government hosts its greatest events, under the chandeliers of the tank size.
Defense entrepreneurs, international financiers and construction leaders have scrambled, trying virtual reality glasses and are looking at architectural models from the planned megaprojects of the kingdom, including “The Line”, a 100 -mile long skiing city with a mirror facade, and “Trojena”, a ski skiing city intends to discover the sterile mountains of the country.
A handful of Maga hats could be spotted between the traditional red and white headdresses worn by the Saudi participants.
Trump has visited what his Saudi welcomes the “Gallery of Memories”, which told a story of “nearly eight decades of American Saudi partnership”.
He was then shown an office given in 1950 to the founding king of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz Al Saud, by President Harry S. Truman. Saudi officials invoked the 1945 meeting between King and President Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was described as a decisive meeting “who laid the foundations for a lasting diplomatic relationship between the two nations”.
Mr. Trump and Prince Mohammed were then escorted to the scene while dramatic music played. After the Crown Prince spoke, “God injuries the USA” by Lee Greenwood played for several minutes, while Mr. Trump listened to approval, singing with the last line.
The long day of royal treatment for Mr. Trump began as long as he left the Air Force One to the Royal Terminal, a special section for VIPs at King Khalid International Airport.
Prince Mohammed praised the president at the airport, which means the special status enjoyed by Mr. Trump with Saudi Arabia. When President Biden visited in 2022 – after saying that he would make the kingdom a “pariah”, then realizing that he needed his help to reduce the prices of oil – the crown prince sent the governor of Mecca to greet him to the airport.
After sunset, Prince Mohammed called on the president’s passion for real estate by taking him on tour of a major development on the country where his ancestors lived.
Diriyah, a historic city above Wadi Hanifah, a river valley on the outskirts of Riyadh, was the original siege of the power of the Saudi royal family 300 years ago. Today, a UNESCO site, the city, with its mud brick walls, is restored. Prince Mohammed wants to transform it into a loving for tourism by building a commercial and residential project of $ 60 billion linked to Riyadh by underground transport.
After showing Trump his scale model for the site, Prince Mohammed took the wheel of a golf cart and led the president to the state dinner.
Mr. Trump stays the first night of his four-day trip to Ritz-Carlton Riyadh, an imposing hotel on 52 acres of landscaped gardens. The Riyadh Ritz is the same hotel where Trump stayed during his first presidential visit eight years ago and where President Barack Obama stayed in 2014.
But the hotel is better known as Prince Mohammed five -star prison. In 2017, he used the Ritz-Carlton to hold adversaries, including government ministers, businessmen and members of his own royal family.
The crown prince realized what he described as a repression of corruption. Others considered him as a consolidation of power and an omen for his future reign.
