Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP
Photo: BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP

Ideas

The Saudis Learn the Truth About Trump

The president is happy to receive money and gifts, but don’t expect favors in return.

First published in The Atlantic on July 24, 2026.

by David Frum, The Atlantic
July 30, 2026 | reading time: 4 Min.

Faithless, chaotic, and corrupt: Donald Trump's character also shapes his foreign policy. The latest victim is Saudi Arabia—not a sympathetic victim, maybe, but a victim all the same.

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