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Sunday, May 21, 2017

More Things Being Ignored

If you've read or heard news about President Trump's visit to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, have you heard any coverage about the following:

1.  President Trump did or did not bow to the king.

2.  The First Lady did or did not wear a head scarf.

3.  The President did or did not participate in a Saudi dance.

4.  The point of the trip is or is not to draw attention away from the President's troubles at home with regard to Russia.

5.  President Trump is or is not going to address the leaders of roughly 50 Muslim countries who are jointly agreeing to oppose the jihadist movement in Islam.

6.  The Saudis are or are not buying hundreds of billions of dollars of American arms.

7.  The Saudis are or are not making a huge investment in American infrastructure projects.

8.  The President did or did not tell the Saudi king that former FBI director Comey is a "nut job."

If you look at the headlines, you would only hear about items 1, 2 and 4.  There might be a picture of the Saudi dance referenced in item 3.  In a few mainstream media outlets you might get the story of the Saudi arms purchase along with a condemnation of the deal because -they will say - the arms will be used in Yemen.  Nothing, however, will be said that the fighting in Yemen is an uprising by rebels supported by Iran who are trying to overthrow the elected government (who the Saudis support.)

That's about it.  No one who hasn't spent a lot of time searching the coverage has heard much about details of the President's upcoming speech to the Muslim leaders.  You may know there will be a speech, but there is precious little about the group to whom he is speaking or the agreed outcome of the meeting.  Similarly, you will know very little, if anything, about the enormous Saudi deal to invest in US infrastructure projects.  The investment is being made through a new venture between the Saudis and Blackstone, an American capital management company.  Once debt is added to the investment, this could fund at least a quarter of a trillion dollars of new infrastructure projects.  President Trump campaigned on a proposal to bring about a trillion dollars of infrastructure construction which would be funded in imaginative ways to save taxpayers money.  This deal may get the President one quarter of the way to his goal, but the media has hardly noticed.  Of course, maybe they have noticed but decided not to mention it because it is a major accomplishment for Trump and they can't have him looking successful.

It would not surprise me if you read about item 8 above.  It's not true; it didn't happen, but when did that stop the media?

The real key is that both today's speech to the Muslim leaders and the Blackstone/Saudi deal announced yesterday are enormous successes for our country.  The mainstream media may not tell you, but you should know about them nevertheless.

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