From the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal, this is Potomac Watch.

President Trump wraps up a four-day visit to the Middle East, including a major speech in Saudi Arabia and a meeting with the new leader of Syria.

What are some of the highlights from this trip and how is Trump now

steering U.S. foreign policy in the Mideast in his second term? Welcome, I'm Kyle Peterson with the

Wall Street Journal. We're joined today by my colleagues on the editorial page, Elliot Kaufman, and Kate

Batchelder O'Dell. In the first overseas travel of his second term, President Trump this week

visited Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates. And the leaders of those countries have

certainly rolled out the red carpet, or in the Saudis case, it was a lavender carpet. The greeting

in Qatar included mounted camels and red Tesla cyber trucks. And don't forget about that gift of a 747 jet

that Trump wants to retrofit to use as Air Force One. Elliot, plenty of news has been made on this

trip. And we'll talk about some of the specifics. But what's your read overall on what this trip

says about Trump's foreign policy toward the Middle East in his second

term? I think that's the right question to ask. I mean, this was his first major foreign trip,

and he took it not to London, Ottawa, Berlin, Tokyo. Instead, he went to Riyadh. And I think

that means something. The very first thing that I would say is the Middle East clearly isn't peripheral to Trump's

foreign policy vision.

As some have been pushing for over many years, let's stop thinking about the Middle East,

focus elsewhere.

Well, the Middle East brings US presidents back, and I think we are seeing that

now. Now, I mean, what did Trump come to do? He came to make deals. Huge deals, dollar figures

with Saudi Arabia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates. The exact figures, you know, a trillion dollar each,

are more marketing gimmick than reality. But I would say they're meant to be taken seriously, not literally in this case.

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