Retired US Army officer: Trump’s Saudi visit message

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00:00So in terms of the optics of this visit and what sort of a message it sends out,

00:04particularly the choice of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia as the first stop of the regional tour,

00:09what message comes out of it and who is that message directed at?

00:13I mean, I'm wondering, perhaps preempting your answer here,

00:15I mean, do you think an element of this is to send a message to Iran?

00:20Well, there's multiple messages being sent.

00:22One, certainly to the American people that this is important to the Trump administration.

00:29To the entire world that this is important for America, even to Israel,

00:35because it should be noted that on this trip, he is not stopping by Jerusalem.

00:41So in some ways, Israel might feel slightly miffed in some ways.

00:47But it's an important message also to China and Russia that the U.S. is going to make it a priority

00:55to have an alliance, if not a very close relationship with Saudi Arabia.