During Wednesday’s Katy Tur Reports, the eponymous MS NOW host Katy Tur and her panel defended Europe amid President Trump’s attacks due to their lack of assistance in the Iran war. They instead wanted Trump to attack Gulf allies, like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, for not helping enough, even though they have pledged to do that exact thing, even though they do not have the same robust military power of some European countries.
The discussion about the war in Iran got to the question of what will happen to the Strait of Hormuz. Tur posed a question about how the closure of Hormuz had and would affect our relationship with the Gulf countries and Israel.
Rick Stengel, MS NOW political analyst and former Under Secretary of State for Diplomacy and Public Affairs in the Obama Administration, had the first complaints of Trump’s words toward Europe and wanted them shifted to the Gulf:
What's interesting and kind of frustrating about Trump attacking our allies for not being courageous enough to help open the strait is, what about our gulf allies who stand to actually benefit, to benefit or be hurt from this? They're the true free riders in the sense that they're not involved in helping keep the strait open. UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, they are right there. And they -
On Tuesday, MS NOW host Katy Tur and her panel defended Europe amid Presidents Trump’s attacks due to their lack of assistance in the Iran war. They instead wanted Trump to attack Gulf allies, like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar, for not helping enough. pic.twitter.com/VRsdXlON9H
— Nick (@nspin310) April 2, 2026
Stengel would be surprised to know that Middle Eastern countries, especially the UAE and Saudi Arabia, have reportedly pushed for more operations in Iran. Even the UAE reportedly pledged to assist in opening straits. Their efforts had been stymied by the fact that their militaries were essentially glorified palace guards.
Tur followed up and Stengel decided to bring up the old Qatar airplane story:
TUR: So, you're saying he should be leaning on them more to participate?
STENGEL: 100 percent. 100 percent.
TUR: Why do you think he’s not?”
STENGEL: I don't know because Qatar gave him an airplane. I don't really know why. I mean, I don't know why he's so resolute about attacking our allies, where we have so much in common. And not asking people who depend on us in the Middle East, who, who we give money to, who we do business with to help keep the strait open.
It could also be as simple as the many in the Gulf have pledged to help open the strait, something that Stengel, the paid political analyst, and maybe even Tur seem not to know.
Ashley Parker of The Atlantic implied Trump only likes the Middle East countries because they “have proven themselves far more willing to transact with him in sort of more crude brass tacks ways like, as Rick mentioned, the airplane from Qatar.”
Max Boot, whose wife was charged for being an unregistered foreign agent, connected the situation back to Putin, and said he’s giving Putin a pass due to his "bizarre affection” for him.
Tur ended by echoing her panelists' points about business deals with the Gulf to “make him rich that he can’t do to the same degree from other western democracies,” while she accused him of having a “man crush” on Putin.
Or it might just be that, as former Rep. Peter Meijer tweeted from a quote in a Politico article, NATO had clearly not tried much to help the U.S. in its military and defense ambitions, and in some cases hindered, something the European lovers at MS NOW want omitted.
The transcript is below. Click "expand":
MS NOW’s Katy Tur Reports
April 1, 2026
3:09:32 PM Eastern
(...)
KATY TUR: What would it do to our relationships, both in the region with UAE, Qatar, Israel even? And what would it also do to our relationship with our other allies who rely on the oil that comes out of that strait?
RICK STENGEL: Yes. By the way, the Europeans used to buy most of their oil from Russia, but at our behest - we asked them to start boycotting Russian oil. They now buy most of their oil from us. We're the largest oil producer that goes to Europe.
What's interesting and kind of frustrating about Trump attacking our allies for not being courageous enough to help open the strait is, what about our gulf allies who stand to actually benefit, to benefit or be hurt from this? They're the true free riders in the sense that they're not involved in helping keep the strait open. UAE, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Oman, they are right there. And they -
TUR: So, you're saying he should be leaning on them more to participate?
STENGEL: 100 percent. 100 percent.
TUR: Why do you think he’s not?
STENGEL: I don't know because Qatar gave him an airplane. I don't really know why. I mean, I don't know why he's so resolute about attacking our allies, where we have so much in common. And not asking people who depend on us in the Middle East, who, who we give money to, who we do business with to help keep the strait open.
TUR: I think this is a good thing to linger on. Ashley, why is the president not harsher on Saudi Arabia, on Qatar, on the UAE, in the same way that he's so hard on France and the UK and all of our NATO allies?
ASHLEY PARKER: It's a good question. I mean, I will say being harsh on NATO allies for President Trump in many ways is muscle memory. I can recall being on foreign trips with him showing up at NATO headquarters with true suspense of whether or not he was going to reaffirm Article Five or declare that he's withdrawing from the treaty.
He has long believed, even before he became president, that, as he would put it, America's getting ripped off, America is getting a bad deal. He views everything in transactional terms.
I will say some of these countries in the Middle East have proven themselves far more willing to transact with him in sort of more crude brass tacks ways like, as Rick mentioned, the airplane from Qatar.
TUR: Yeah. Max, you too on that.
MAX BOOT: Yeah. No, it's baffling. And it's not just the fact that he's not calling on the gulf allies to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. He's also not calling on our Asian allies, Japan and South Korea and others, which also rely on Persian gulf oil. And at the same time, he is giving Vladimir Putin a complete pass on the fact that Russia is reportedly providing drones and intelligence to Iran to help kill Americans.
Trump has not had one word to say about what Putin is doing, at the same time that he's excoriating our allies for not being helpful enough, Putin is going beyond being unhelpful. He's actively helping the other side, and Trump will not call him out. So, it's all baffling. And it really comes down to, you know, Trump's bizarre affection for Putin, which is one of the long standing -.
TUR: The enduring questions. I wonder if it is just as simple as what Ashley and everybody has been laying out, you included. He thinks he can get money from Russia, he can get money from Saudi Arabia and get money from Qatar. He can get money from the UAE, he can do business deals with them that will make him richer that he can't do to the same degree from other western democracies.
Well, is that it? That he just believes that he's going to make money off of them? And that's why he's so nice to Vladimir Putin and is so obsequious and strange. Does he have a man crush? What is it?
(...)
