How Donald Trump betrayed American values and Jeffersonian legacy with trip to Saudi Arabia

Patrick Mendis says the transactional president is undermining US democratic ideals with his economic determinism, as seen in his closeness to the Saudi kingdom, which he previously condemned as a top funder of terrorism

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Published: 4:56pm, 1 Jun 2017Updated: 6:09pm, 1 Jun 2017

A disoriented White House has transmitted the exact antithesis of American values – on religious freedom, human rights, democracy and personal liberty – that would emphasise the country’s moral vision and current standing in the world. Illustration: Craig Stephens

In his highly choreographed first overseas trip, President Donald Trump appeared to have repeated president Richard Nixon’s trip to Saudi Arabia and other countries in the Middle East during the Watergate crisis some 33 years ago. Like Nixon, the returning chief American diplomat remains entangled in a major scandal – Trump’s involving Russia.

Unlike Nixon, however, Trump’s choice of the Saudi kingdom as his first stop not only undermined America’s democratic allies but also disregarded the founding Jeffersonian values of the republic. His selection seemed to compensate for his anti-Islam rhetoric and minimise his disastrous immigration policy of banning Muslims from countries other than Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, where the Trump family has business deals.

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Saudi Arabia has for years been considered one of the worst human rights offenders. The disoriented White House has thus mistakenly transmitted the exact antithesis of American values on religious freedom, human rights, democracy and personal liberty that would emphasise the country’s moral vision and current standing in the world.

Trump, a former businessman, is a transactional leader as opposed to a transformational one. The Trump White House, with political operatives as his brain trust, is a hodgepodge of short-term tacticians, neither fully immersed in US history nor in international affairs. Their policies appear to be measured in pure financial terms.

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The foundation of American primacy has, however, derived from the reflective actions of “transformational” leaders like Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and Ronald Reagan.