Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir hold a briefing shortly after President Donald Trump and Saudi King Salman signed a series of agreements, including a historic military sales deal.
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump Arrive in Riyadh Saudi Arabia for Day #1 of the Arab Islamic American Summit. Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud personally greets the visiting U.S. dignitaries.
The royal family of Saudi Arabia are presenting the highest level of royal diplomatic treatment for the first family. Such honors are rarely seen for international guests.
(Via Daily Mail) President and Mrs. Trump flew to the capital Riyadh overnight on Air Force One – becoming the only president to make Saudi Arabia, or any majority Muslim country, his first stop overseas as president.
His arrival following a 6,700-mile flight was met with the pomp usually reserved for a Papal welcome in South America. The president got the red carpet treatment – literally – and airport workers took off their shoes before manicuring it with brooms in 97-degree heat.
There were 30 US flags at the ready, a tiny fraction of the thousands that line streets and highways between the airport and the city center. (link)
Nothing makes the perpetually depressed liberal gnats more angry than beautiful people enjoying a fun, happy and beautiful life. So you can just imagine the level of apoplectic rage today brings as President Trump and First Lady Melania, together with Ivanka Trump and Jerrod, depart for their first overseas trip.
Oh, the ‘splodey heads are deliciously epic.
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WHITE HOUSE – Mrs. Melania Trump is pleased to announce some of the stops on her first foreign trip as First Lady of the United States of America.
On Friday, May 19, 2017, the First Lady will join her husband President Donald J. Trump on an eight-day, five-stop trek to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Israel, Rome, Brussels, and Sicily, returning to Washington, DC, on Saturday, May 27, 2017.
The First Lady will join her husband throughout each day, but will also participate in many of her own events. In the latter part of the trip, Mrs. Trump will attend spousal programs at the NATO and G-7 summits. She will conclude the trip by delivering remarks to United States military personnel and families in Italy.
President Trump and First Lady Melania Trump held an event yesterday to honor military moms at a White House celebration in honor of Mothers Day Weekend.
Both the President and First Lady thanked the military moms gathered in the audience. The words of honor and appreciation from Melania Trump were exceptionally personal and tenderly delivered. Top shelf.
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Melania Trump: I’m honored by your presence, especially as we celebrate National Military Appreciation Month and Mother’s Day on Sunday.
As everyone in this room knows, mother is a title that claims your heart and changes your life forever. In fact, it has been said that having a child means allowing your heart to walk around outside of your body. For the mothers of someone who has or is serving our country, this must be especially true. As you all know, I, too, am a mother.
Earlier today President Trump and first lady Melania welcomed the President of Argentina Mauricio Macri and his wife Juliana Awada to the White House.
One of the key topics on the agenda for President Macri is trade with the U.S., specifically the Argentinian export of lemons into the U.S. Understandably California, and to a lesser extent Florida, citrus growers are opposed to large scale imports of competing crops.
Additionally, during the customary Oval Office photo-op President Trump remarks about the ongoing NAFTA trade issues, and the phone calls yesterday between Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau and Mexico’s President Peña Nieto:
“If I’m unable to make a fair deal for the United States–meaning a fair deal for our workers and our companies, I will terminate NAFTA.”
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The U.S. media are considerably invested in framing NAFTA trade issues around their ever-present need to oppose the White House (Trump Derangement Syndrome); and many of the recent media narratives around NAFTA are entirely false.
Today President Trump, together with first lady Melania Trump, presented a Purple Heart medal to Army Sgt. 1st Class Alvaro Barrietos during a visit to Walter Reed National Medical Center.
President Donald Trump presents Purple Heart award to Army Sgt. Alvaro Barrietos. First lady Melania Trump and wife Tammy Barrietos are behind
The soldier who received the Purple Heart — awarded in the name of the president to military members wounded or killed while serving — is Army Sgt. 1st Class Alvaro Barrietos. Sgt. Barrietos suffered a serve leg injury while serving in Afghanistan. His wife, Tammy, attend the ceremony Saturday.
Trump thanks Barrietos and said that when he heard Barrietos would receive the medal he went to Walter Reed because “I wanted to do this myself.” The medal is the oldest, continuous military award, dating back on 1917.
The President Trump first family celebrate Easter at the White House with the annual Easter Egg Roll festivities:
President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump celebrate Easter at Mar-a-Lago after attending Sunday church services:
Perhaps it’s because the complexity is difficult to distill; maybe it’s because some just can’t give President Trump any credit; or perhaps it’s because the scope is too challenging to comprehend against the constant belittlement meme du jour. Regardless of reason, President Trump is fundamentally realigning international geo-political alliances and almost no-one is connecting the dots.
President Trump obviously held a long-ball strategy with the Chinese; he’s described the approach in his books and lived the approach in his business life:
At the outset, position yourself at the furthest oppositional point when it costs you nothing; then leverage inward toward your opponent as they expend their resources to meet your stance.
Almost no-one is noting the scope of what President Trump has accomplished simply by positioning himself at the furthest extreme from the best interests of China, and then working his leverage back toward dual-interests as the Chinese expend capital to meet the point of mutual benefit.
President Trump has expended nothing other than his sheer will, and yet he has leveraged gains that are jaw-droppingly consequential.
♦ What’s the goal of identifying China as a currency manipulator? To stop China from manipulating currency, right? Well, arm-chair opposition says President Trump has reversed his position simply by ‘not doing something’. However, that opposition doesn’t seem to acknowledge the end-goal of the labeling has been achieved without expending an effort. The doing is unnecessary when merely the threat of the doing changes the behavior of the doer.
In two days, April 6th and April 7th, President Trump met with Chinese President Xi Jinping. What actions has President Trump taken, other than ‘not’ doing something, and what actions has President Xi Jinping taken? (more…)
