Trump's hypocrisy and stupidity was evident the moment he stepped on Saudi soil. The hypocrisy is obvious enough, but the hand gesture is open to debate. According to some sources for business etiquette, the thumbs up gesture literally means "up yours", or that you wish to sodomize someone with your thumb. The bullet list below is from the U.S. Embassy, and that's what they recommended to him as well. Apparently, Trump didn't get their memo, or just ignored it.
Whether this really is recognized as rude in Saudi has been questioned, with even the Saudi King himself using it in a visit to France in 2007.
Still, more boorish behavior from Trump, But that's to be expected from him. Always.
Source: The Independent
Donald Trump has touched down in Saudi Arabia on the first stop on his first international trip since taking office in January.
Saudi and Arab news channels showed footage of Trump's plane arriving in the Saudi capital Riyadh and the US President being welcomed by Saudi king Salman bin Abdulaziz al-Saud. The two leaders exchanged pleasantries and Trump said it was "a great honour" to be there.
The elaborate welcoming ceremony also included a flyover by military jets.
Mr Trump's wife Melania was dressed demurely in a black pantsuit, but did not wear a headscarf. In declining to adhere to strict Saudi dress codes where women are expected to cover their heads, Ms Trump followed the leads set by recent high-powered visitors like Theresa May, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Michelle Obama, who all avoided wearing headscarves.
In 2015 it was a different story for Trump, naturally. (And back then he didn't bother to correct his misspelled tweets.)
The Washingon Post has more background on this today.
It is thought, however, that the speech Mr Trump is due to deliver about his hopes for a peaceful vision of Islam and the need to confront radical ideology has been drafted by Stephen Miller, a senior adviser who played a key role in drawing up the travel ban.
He will also join the world leaders to attend the inauguration ceremony of the World Centre against Extremism, an important counter-radicalization initiative by Saudi Arabia.
But Obama’s presidency did not herald a sea change in U.S. policy in the Middle East and the sharp increase in drone strikes that he oversaw also exacerbated antagonism toward the United States in the region in some respects.
And at all of Trump’s five stops on his first overseas trip, his team has spent weeks trying to build daily downtime into his otherwise jampacked schedule.
Even his hand gestures were likely to draw scrutiny in the Middle East, where the thumbs-up sign – a signature move of Mr Trump’s – is considered taboo.
