Max Boot

Opinion columnist

At the beginning of his first overseas trip, President Trump spoke in Saudi Arabia on May 21. Four days later, he spoke in Belgium. The difference in tone between the two speeches is striking for what it says about his evolving foreign policy — and whom he regards as America’s true friends.

Saudi Arabia has been a difficult ally for the United States. It is one of the most repressive regimes in the world. It sent its armed forces to repress protesters in Bahrain and to bomb the Houthis in Yemen with scant regard for civilian casualties. It promotes a fundamentalist strain of Islam — Wahhabism — that has inspired countless terrorists. It is the homeland of 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers. There is no suggestion that the Saudi government sanctioned the attack, and the Saudis have done much to crack down on terrorism in the years since, but wealthy Saudis are still suspected of supporting extremist groups such as al-Qaeda.

Trump had lashed out at the Saudis in intemperate language. "Saudi Arabia and many of the countries that gave vast amounts of money to the Clinton Foundation want women as slaves and to kill gays," he wrote in a Facebook post last June. "Hillary must return all money from such countries!" In a presidential debate, he again attacked Clinton for taking money from “people that kill women and treat women horribly.” He also suggested on the campaign trail that “very secret” documents would prove that the Saudis were behind the 9/11 attacks.

Yet in his Riyadh speech, there was not a hint of criticism of Saudi Arabia — for anything. Trump began with a tribute to the Saudi-U.S. alliance, offered a fulsome tribute to King Salman for his “strong demonstration of leadership,” and pointedly promised not to preach about human rights abuses: “We are not here to lecture — we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship. Instead, we are here to offer partnership — based on shared interests and values — to pursue a better future for us all.”

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These soothing words were accompanied by pictures of Trump and his entourage partying with the Saudi royal family. Contrast this with the images emanating from Trump’s meetings with European leaders in Brussels. From his test-of-wills handshake with France’s new president, Emmanuel Macron, to his shoving aside the prime minister of Montenegro, Milo Dukanović, to get into the front of a photograph, there was a notable lack of warmth in Trump’s interactions with his fellow democratic leaders.

Trump has been critical of America’s NATO partners, suggesting that the alliance may be “obsolete” and complaining that the other nations weren’t paying their fair share for defense. And in Brussels, unlike in Riyadh, he did not bury old antagonisms.

“NATO members must finally contribute their fair share and meet their financial obligations, for 23 of the 28 member nations are still not paying what they should be paying and what they’re supposed to be paying for their defense,” Trump lectured, while allied heads-of-state squirmed in discomfort. “This is not fair to the people and taxpayers of the United States. And many of these nations owe massive amounts of money from past years.”

There were no tributes to shared trans-Atlantic values, no remarks on the history of the trans-Atlantic alliance, which has been the most important in history. Trump did not even affirm, as expected, Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty, the bedrock of NATO, which says than an attack on one member is an attack on all. Instead, Trump delivered an undiplomatic demand in public for more money.

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Should NATO allies spend more for defense? Sure. But, as noted on Twitter by Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO, “23 countries increased defense spending last year. Eight countries will spend 2% on military next year. All allies committed in 2014 to spend at least 2% on defense by 2024.”

Trump did not acknowledge this progress, nor did he thank the allies for sending troops to fight and die alongside U.S. forces in Afghanistan. He even added a bizarre demand for back payment of defense dollars. We should be grateful that he did not present Macron with a bill for D-Day. If Der Spiegel is to be believed, however, Trump did call Germany “bad, very bad” (or, depending on your translation, “evil, very evil”) for running a trade surplus with the United States.

While berating our NATO allies, Trump had next to nothing to say about the threat from Russia; he argued that NATO must focus on “terrorism and immigration” instead. European Council President Donald Tusk emerged from his meeting with Trump to say there is no “common position” on Russia, because Trump is much softer on Vladimir Putin than Russia’s neighbors would like. Apparently, Trump is less offended by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine than by Germany’s sale of luxury cars to Americans.

This is very revealing, and not in a good way. Trump clearly prefers autocrats to democrats. He views the Saudis as truer friends than the Europeans. And he doesn’t see Russia as a threat. In his first foray abroad, Trump displayed a worldview radically at odds with those of his predecessors going back decades.

Max Boot, a member of USA TODAY’s Board of Contributors, is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. Follow him on Twitter: @maxboot

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