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Rhiannon12866

(203,037 posts)
Sun May 21, 2017, 10:53 PM May 2017

Trumps Saudi Arabia visit was bizarre, unseemly, unethical and un-American: WaPo columnist

Washington Post columnist Anne Applebaum blasted President Donald Trump and his administration on Sunday for choosing Saudi Arabia as the destination for Trump’s first international trip as president.

Citing the oil-rich nation’s extensive record of human rights abuses, its all-powerful royal family’s grip on the nation’s finances and its abuse of women — who are forced to cover their faces, not allowed to drive and who must ask a male relative for permission to travel — Applebaum took Trump and his advisers to task on a number of points.

“(H)ere is a list, for the record,” she said, “of just a few of the ways in which President Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia was bizarre, unseemly, unethical and un-American.”

Saudi Arabia was a rotten first choice, she said, of all the nations in the world the new president could visit.

“The past four American presidents, two Republicans and two Democrats, made their first trips to either Mexico and Canada, countries that are close trading partners, close allies, compatible democracies and of course neighbors,” she said. “Trump chose, instead, to make his first presidential visit to an oligarchic kleptocracy which forces women to hide their faces and forbids them to travel without a male guardian’s permission.”


More: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/05/trumps-saudi-arabia-visit-was-bizarre-unseemly-unethical-and-un-american-wapo-columnist/



President Donald Trump in Saudi Arabia (Screen capture)

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Trumps Saudi Arabia visit was bizarre, unseemly, unethical and un-American: WaPo columnist (Original Post) Rhiannon12866 May 2017 OP
Is that Merideth Magiver mercuryblues May 2017 #1
don't know, wondered who it was and why she was there; thought maybe part of Secret Service? northoftheborder May 2017 #9
I think she's the translator. Maybe from the embassy? Chellee May 2017 #12
Yes she is radical noodle May 2017 #17
She also translated for Obama BumRushDaShow May 2017 #20
Shocking radical noodle May 2017 #29
She might be a (high grade) civil service BumRushDaShow May 2017 #34
I thought it was Bannon in drag. n/t woodsprite May 2017 #15
you won the mercuryblues May 2017 #21
What was all that zombie walking about? DURHAM D May 2017 #2
I know and did you see him at the Saudi security center? LeftInTX May 2017 #5
From today: LeftInTX May 2017 #6
Leave it to the Sauds to have a Oujia ball. nt DURHAM D May 2017 #8
What the heck is that? n/t murielm99 May 2017 #13
It's an illuminated globe LeftInTX May 2017 #16
It's from LotR lmao... Pluvious May 2017 #30
Stylized globe. That view shows mostly the Pacific... JHB May 2017 #32
It looks eerily like CGI nuxvomica May 2017 #23
Can You Imagine RobinA May 2017 #27
Oh Boy!!! LeftInTX May 2017 #28
Link to WAPO column: emulatorloo May 2017 #3
Thank you! Rhiannon12866 May 2017 #4
it's about his personal business JI7 May 2017 #7
And the huge donation to his spawn's "charity" More_Cowbell May 2017 #10
That's all this whole thing has been about from the beginning, a "get richer" scheme Rhiannon12866 May 2017 #19
LOFL !!! That's going to be the next 3.5 years !!!! uponit7771 May 2017 #11
Is Trump the "rough beast, slouching towards Bethlehem to be born"... First Speaker May 2017 #14
'fraid so. dchill May 2017 #18
Did they allow Dump to witness any beheadings? HAB911 May 2017 #22
Contrast Trump's fawning posture and visage to when he met Merkel: WinkyDink May 2017 #24
Completely Understandable RobinA May 2017 #26
What's That Hand RobinA May 2017 #25
I don't know, but it's about twice the size of his muriel_volestrangler May 2017 #31
Thing had a falling out with the Addams family... JHB May 2017 #33
It was also hateful and divisive. kentuck May 2017 #35

Chellee

(2,086 posts)
12. I think she's the translator. Maybe from the embassy?
Mon May 22, 2017, 12:21 AM
May 2017

You can find pictures of her with President Obama as well when he was speaking to the Saudis.

BumRushDaShow

(127,319 posts)
34. She might be a (high grade) civil service
Mon May 22, 2017, 05:12 PM
May 2017

but don't know for sure. She apparently works out of the embassy. The guy who preceded her in that position was well known and had that position for 4 Presidents as I understand.

DURHAM D

(32,596 posts)
2. What was all that zombie walking about?
Sun May 21, 2017, 11:04 PM
May 2017

I had the tv on but was not actually watching and every time I passed through the tv room they were just walking and walking very slowly.

LeftInTX

(24,560 posts)
5. I know and did you see him at the Saudi security center?
Sun May 21, 2017, 11:14 PM
May 2017

With the lit floors.....

(I can't find a pic online, but it's posted somewhere on DU)

The weird walking and security center seemed cultish to me

LeftInTX

(24,560 posts)
16. It's an illuminated globe
Mon May 22, 2017, 01:41 AM
May 2017

At a terrorism monitoring facility. The place has lit floors, which adds to the eeriness of the photo.

There is a video at the link
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2017/05/21/donald-trump-orb_n_16742998.html

JHB

(37,132 posts)
32. Stylized globe. That view shows mostly the Pacific...
Mon May 22, 2017, 03:08 PM
May 2017

You cam make out Australia at the bottom left. The little orange hand is smothering Mexico (typical), and that hook-like thing is supposed to be Alaska. I'd be more worked up over that if they hadn't given us Palin.

More_Cowbell

(2,190 posts)
10. And the huge donation to his spawn's "charity"
Mon May 22, 2017, 12:01 AM
May 2017

Now that that's over, I wouldn't be surprised if he just goes home.

Rhiannon12866

(203,037 posts)
19. That's all this whole thing has been about from the beginning, a "get richer" scheme
Mon May 22, 2017, 06:04 AM
May 2017

Maybe he was bored with real estate or golf courses or whatever - or from what I've read here, nobody would do business with him. So he decided to try something new and different, and it fulfilled his need for adulation and attention. He became addicted to the rallies. He wants it to be like that all the time, he doesn't want to be bothered with the running the country stuff. And after it became an issue, he insisted he'd give up his "business" interests, but he hasn't and nobody's talking about it anymore.

First Speaker

(4,858 posts)
14. Is Trump the "rough beast, slouching towards Bethlehem to be born"...
Mon May 22, 2017, 12:59 AM
May 2017

...prophesied by Yeats in *The Second Coming*? The thought of him in the Middle East makes me feel that the poem's time has finally come...

RobinA

(9,878 posts)
26. Completely Understandable
Mon May 22, 2017, 08:03 AM
May 2017

considering we're talking Trump here. The trappings of a filthy rich absolute monarchy would be more his comfort zone than those social Democratic Europeans.

muriel_volestrangler

(101,155 posts)
31. I don't know, but it's about twice the size of his
Mon May 22, 2017, 02:59 PM
May 2017

Not that that narrows it down much ...

I think it's part of a creepy illustration behind him. Another hand grabbing a globe or something like that.

JHB

(37,132 posts)
33. Thing had a falling out with the Addams family...
Mon May 22, 2017, 03:10 PM
May 2017

...and is now in Saudi royal service. Donald's furry scalp-parasite needed a massage.

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