Cash plays: Trump heads to Middle East seeking deals

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

73% : That's why all three will give Trump the honor of an official state visit and dinner -- and why they will announce multibillion-dollar investments in the U.S. and commitments to buy American-manufactured weaponry.
71% : And Trump has come to admire that the small country of just three million people boasts the world's highest per capita income.
65% : Just as he did in his first term as president, Trump is upending decades of diplomatic protocol and choosing to embark on his first major foreign trip with a visit to Saudi Arabia.
59% : Trump teased making Saudi Arabia his first foreign trip just hours after taking office, reminding a reporter in the Oval Office that he eschewed tradition his first term and traveled to the kingdom "because they agreed to buy $450 billion worth of our product."
56% : The administration has been vague about specific goals or "deliverables" on the trip -- until Sunday, when Trump, in a social media post, appeared to confirm reports that his administration is planning to accept the donation of a luxury 747-8 jet from the Qatari government that the Pentagon would then upgrade so it could serve as Air Force One.
54% : The Israeli leader was the first head of state Trump welcomed at the White House after taking office this year, but the relationship appears to be souring somewhat.
50% : Trump and his team see formal relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia as an ultimate prize, but Saudi officials have made clear that Israel will first need to take significant action toward establishing an independent Palestinian state.
46% : Beyond business, Trump also has come to see these three Arab allies as key diplomatic partners in the region -- in dealing with the Houthis in the Red Sea, the roiling conflict between Israel and Hamas and efforts to reach a new nuclear deal with Iran -- and even beyond.
45% : Trump is also likely to visit the Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar, the U.S.'s largest military base in the Middle East, the people familiar with the matter said.
44% : Qatari Emir Tamim Al Thani visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago last fall prior to the election.
36% : The official described the three stops as "safe" at a moment when Trump has struggled to bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, and as U.S. relations with the rest of the world are more fraught due to the economic upheaval over Trump's sweeping tariff regime and upending of alliances.
33% : One U.S. official, asked why Trump wouldn't visit, said there was no point when nothing would be gained.
32% : Former President Joe Biden initially shunned the kingdom as a result, though he too ultimately relented in 2022 amid spiking oil prices following Russia's invasion of Ukraine, concluding, like Trump, that the relationship with the world's biggest oil supplier was more important than the statement about human rights.
23% : Trump has largely dropped his controversial proposal to relocate Palestinians out of Gaza, which Netanyahu enthusiastically supported, as Israel has resumed its bombing campaign.
21% : Donald Trump, for the most part, has not.
19% : While Trump bemoaned Democrats and others raising concerns about the deal as "World Class Losers," Qatari officials cautioned that conversations about the jet were ongoing.

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