People who follow the news from the “mainstream media” are constantly being barraged with poll after poll that claim Donald Trump is constantly hitting new “record lows” in his popularity across the country.
Besides the possibility that these pollsters were among those who confidently proclaimed that Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton would trounce Republican Donald Trump in last November’s presidential election, people in the press have avoided reporting on at least one place where the GOP leader is more popular than his Democratic predecessor: the Middle East.
According to an article written by The Daily Caller's Will Ricciardella, “Trump’s leadership is favored over Barack Obama’s in the Middle East, according to Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, a claim he made Monday in an interview with Politico that received very little media attention.”
During the interview with Politico's Susan B. Glasser, the prime minister asserted that the reason for Trump’s popularity is because of his “clarity” and the hope for a more decisive approach to problems in the Middle East.
Hariri noted that “he and other Arab leaders prefer Trump,” and “the troubled, war-torn region [is one of] the few places on the planet -- outside Russia -- where Trump has been more popular than the president he succeeded.”
According to Ricciardella:
Many in the establishment media who have framed Trump as “anti-Muslim” have largely ignored Trump’s favorability in the Arab world.
Perhaps they see the Lebanese prime minister’s claims the Mideast region favors Trump’s leadership to Obama’s as a threat to their narrative.
As an example, the reporter quoted the headline of “a piece titled ‘I Think Islam Hates Us’” in the Washington Post during Trump’s trip to Saudi Arabia in May. That article referred to Trump’s interview with Cable News Network anchor Anderson Cooper and proceeded to list the president’s “anti-Muslim” comments.
Not to be outdone, USA Today posted an article in June that asked if “Donald Trump’s anti-Muslim words” would hurt the chances of his travel ban in court.
“During the same trip,” Ricciardella stated, “the New York Times published an article titled “Donald Trump Discovers Muslims.” The article claims Trump “walked back his anti-Muslim rhetoric” and “seems to have discovered something called the Palestinians.”
Also piling on the President was Newsweek, which released an article under the headline “Young Arabs Say Donald Trump Is Anti-Muslim” and claimed his rhetoric would not only hurt relations with the Arab and Muslim world, but actually create more terrorists.
“Hariri, no stranger to radical Islam as elements of his own government incorporate the terrorist group Hezbollah,” has as his main concern “a power vacuum that has been seemingly filled by Russia under President Obama’s watch,” Ricciardella stated.
The Lebanese Prime Minister called the situation “[t]he unfortunate consequence of not acting,” the reporter noted. “Another reason, according to Hariri, is the expectation of a more hawkish approach towards Iran, who along with Russia, are Syria’s largest backers and a major threat to stability in the region.”
Ricciardella added: “Hariri ‘repeatedly’ brought up Obama’s conciliatory approach towards Iran when pursuing his nuclear deal with the country as an example of how the ‘U.S. lost its way in the region.’”
“Much of Hariri’s critique of Obama comes down to naivete,” Politico’s Glasser indicated, “and the big gap between America’s inspirational rhetoric and its actions.”
The Prime Minister “points to Obama’s inaction in Syria after Assad crossed his ‘red line’ of using chemical weapons against his own people,” Glasser added. “Instead of a bombing campaign, Obama made a deal with Syria to remove the chemical weapons” while “relying on Russian inspections to ensure the Syrian President Bashar al-Assad regime followed though.”
“We know their actions. We know their lies,” Hariri continued. ”So when Bashar al-Assad says that, you know, he’s going to get rid of the chemical weapons, he’s not.”
“Obama’s tepid response rather than an enforcement of his red line sent a message of weakness to our allies and enemies in the region,” he claimed.
“In response to another chemical weapons attack in April under the Trump administration, the president ordered a military strike, launching 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles at a Syrian airbase where the gas attacks originated,” Ricciardella stated.
While both the Russians and the Assad regime condemned the attack, many Middle East leaders saw the strike as a significant change in foreign policy by the new U.S. president.
Hariri was clear about his opposition to ISIS [the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria]. “Despite this,” he said, “the Mideast remains optimistic about ... Trump’s presidency."
“[T]he thing is, in the Middle East, we appreciate the leadership of President Trump, and I think this is something ... we see [having] an impact on the region,” the prime minister concluded.
