What is Trump doing in the Middle East?

Americano

The Spectator

Politics, News, News Commentary

4 • 714 Ratings

🗓️ 14 May 2025

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump is an America Firster, but he has an undeniable affinity for the Arab world. He would have made a good sheik: he doesn’t drink, he loves developing flashy properties to show off his power and wealth, and he’s brutally realistic about the role of oil (and other commodities) in world politics.

On his tour of the Middle East, he signed an enormous arms deal with Saudi Arabia and announced all US sanctions on Syria would be lifted. Historian and former diplomat Charlie Gammell joins Freddy Gray to discuss what Trump really wants in the Middle East.

Transcript

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0:00.0	On Thursday, the 15th of May, the Spectator is hosting a live book club event.
0:05.4	Sam Leith will be joined by former Telegraph Editor-in-Chief and military historian Max Hastings.
0:11.1	It will be an opportunity to talk about Max's new book, Sword, D-Day, trial by battle,
0:16.3	as well as mark the 80th anniversary of VE Day.
0:19.6	The full details are as follows. 730 on Thursday
0:22.7	the 15th of May at the Shaw Theatre in Houston, London, and tickets start from £27.50, although
0:29.0	I believe there are ticket options that include a signed copy of the book. For those tickets,
0:34.0	go to www. Spectator.com.com.com. We look forward to seeing you there.
0:43.7	Hello and welcome to the Americano podcast, a series of discussions about American politics,
0:53.2	power and prejudices. It is 2025 and Donald Trump
0:58.4	is president once again of the United States. We will, of course, be following the moves of the
1:05.0	Donald and his second administration very closely. However, it won't just be politics for us this year.
1:11.6	We'll also talk a lot and cover American culture, life and the arts.
1:17.3	I should also remind you, because my producer Natasha will not let me hear the end of it,
1:22.2	that we are on Spectator TV.
1:24.9	So head to our YouTube channel to watch that.
1:38.3	I am delighted to be joined today by Charlie Gamal, who is a Middle East commentator.
1:42.7	We've had on Americano a few times and a contributor to the spectator and also a novelist.
1:46.1	His latest novel, Cabell Returns, is a very amusing and entertaining work. It's a combination of Flashman meets with Nail and I, if there
1:53.9	is such a thing. But we're going to be talking about Trump's Middle Eastern policy, because there's a lot
2:00.7	going on with Donald Trump in the
2:02.7	Middle East. Yesterday he gave a pretty extraordinary speech in Riyadh in front of the Crown Prince
	...

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