David Fuller's view

In the last two weeks we have seen the worst and the best of President Donald Trump.  He appeared unhinged before leaving the country for the Middle East. Impeachment talk was rife. Even Republicans were fed up with the annoying tweets, his self-pitying narcissism and amateurish, unilateral changing of policies on an almost daily basis. 

Has any previous US President ever manage to irritate so many people from the two branches of government with whom he must be able to work?  I doubt it and Trump was fortunate to be leaving Washington on his first overseas trip with a large entourage from his Cabinet. 

Trump was clearly relaxed on arrival in Saudi Arabia to meet first with King Salman bin Abdulaziz, who presented him with an impressive bit of bling - the Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud Medal, the kingdom’s top civilian honour, at the Royal Court in Riyadh. 

In fairness to Trump, the self-described ‘greatest dealmaker in history’, he did sign the single largest arms deal with Saudi Arabia, worth possibly $350bn over 10 years.  Similarly, the visit to Israel was also a success with Trump being appropriately presidential.  These moves should temporarily dampen criticism in Washington, but I am sure Trump is already thinking about his next overseas trip.  

Apologies for Login problems which delayed the posting of this copy.