President Donald Trump was more than 11,900 kilometers from Palm Beach, Florida, but seemed at home.
With its gigantic glass spiders, polished marble, plush carpets and portraits of King Salman Bin Abdulaziz in a prominent place, the Saudi royal court had an air to Mar-a-lago.
On Tuesday, the first day of the four -day tour of the president through Middle East, the heir prince Mohammed Bin Salman, de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, dispensed Trump the treatment of royalty.
Trump was escorted through Saudi airspace by three F-15 fighters that flanked each side of the Air Force One. The presidential limousine was accompanied to the Riad Royal Court, the Saudi capital, by riders mounted on Arab horses. Musical speakers sounded. An honor guard remained firm while Prince Mohammed guided Trump inside the court for a long lavender carpet.
The president could not stop smiling, and was understandable. Saudi royalty is her friend and ally. They are commercial partners of their family. They understand their tastes and desires very well.
“I think we like us,” Trump said, sitting next to the heir prince in the king’s office.
While walking with Prince Mohammed through the Royal Court, the president seemed impressed by what surrounded him. There were gold bread everywhere: the moldings, the tables and the legs of the blue velvet armchairs were golden.
Trump, which has compared the United States with a “very luxurious store”, has installed a similar golden decoration throughout the oval office. He plans to install a dance hall in the White House and has ordered the renewal of the Jardín de las Rosas, making it an outdoor dining room such as the Mar-A-Lago courtyard, his house and club in Palm Beach.
After lunch in the Royal Court, Trump spoke at the Saudi-American Investment Forum, in a dance hall where the Saudi government celebrates its most great acts, under spider lamps of the tank size.
Defense contractors, international financial and construction executives gathered around them, testing virtual reality glasses and looking at the architectural models of the megaprojects planned by the kingdom, such as “the line”, a skyscraper of 160 km long with a facade imitating mirrors, and “trojena”, a city of ski that the authorities intend to excavate in the arid mountains of the northwest of the country.
Among the traditional red and white plaid headdresses that the Saudi assistants wore, some Maga caps could be seen.
Trump made a tour of what his Saudi hosts called the “Gallery of Memories”, which reported “almost eight decades of Saudi-American Association.”
Next, he was shown a desk that President Harry Truman gave in 1950 the founding king of Saudi Arabia, Abdulaziz al Saud. Saudi officials invoked the 1945 meeting between King and President Franklin Roosevelt, which was described as a decisive encounter “that laid the foundations for a lasting diplomatic relationship between the two nations.”
Next, Trump and Prince Mohammed were escorted to the stage while sounding dramatic music. After the heir prince spoke, he rang for several minutes “God Bless The USA”, by Lee Greenwood, while Trump listened with approval, singing the last verse.
The long day of real treatment for Trump began at the time he got off the Air Force One at the Royal Terminal, a special section for VIP visitors at Rey Jalid International Airport.
Prince Mohammed greeted the president at the airport, which means the special status that Trump enjoys with Saudi Arabia. When President Joe Biden visited him in 2022 – after saying that he would make the kingdom a “outcast” and realize that he needed his help to lower oil prices – the heir prince sent the governor of Mecca to receive him to the airport.
After the sunset, Prince Mohammed appealed to the president’s passion for the real estate sector leading him to visit a large urbanization in the land where his ancestors lived.
Diriyah, a historical city located on Wadi Hanifah, a river valley on the outskirts of Riad, was the original headquarters of the Saudi Royal Family Power, 300 years ago. The city, with its adobe walls, is being restored and was declared as a World Heritage by UNESCO. Prince Mohammed wants to turn it into a magnet for tourism by building a commercial and residential project of 60 billion dollars, connected with Riad by underground transport.
After showing Trump his place mock, Prince Mohammed took the flyer of a golf cart and took the president to the state dinner.
Trump will stay the first night of his four-day trip at the Ritz-Carlton Riad, an imposing hotel located in 21 hectares of landscape gardens. Riad’s Ritz is the same hotel where Trump stayed during his first presidential visit eight years ago, and in which President Barack Obama stayed in 2014.
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But the hotel is better known as Prince Mohammed’s five -star prison. In 2017, he used the Ritz-Carlton to stop opponents, including government ministers, businessmen and members of their own royal family.
The heir prince was carrying out what he described as an offensive against corruption. Others considered it a consolidation of power and an omen of their future reign.