Trump once condemned Qatar. How things have changed | Mohamad Bazzi

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

63% : The leaders of Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates went out of their way to show Trump that they respect him more than his predecessor, Joe Biden.
62% : Witkoff has been publicly praising Qatar's leaders for their mediation efforts with Hamas since he took office in January - and the envoy's praise is clearly resonating with Trump, who has dramatically changed his approach toward Qatar.
58% : " For Trump, who sees all diplomacy as transactional, that is the ultimate favor he can bestow: US protection for a foreign leader who is trying to resolve regional conflicts - and also happened to offer the president an extravagant gift.
57% : He bragged about economic agreements he had signed with Qatari leaders the previous day, which the White House valued at more than $243bn. Trump also expounded on the value of Qatar's loyalty: "I don't think our friendship has ever been stronger than it is right now."
53% : While Trump frequently praised Saudi and UAE leaders during his first term, he was highly critical of Qatar, a small emirate that is rich in natural gas but usually overshadowed by its two larger and more powerful neighbors.
53% : In this term, Trump has surrounded himself with longtime friends as top advisers, including Steve Witkoff, a billionaire real estate developer who is serving as the president's Middle East envoy and all-around troubleshooter.
49% : It's yet another way that Trump is using the presidency to enrich himself and his family business, which has ongoing deals for Trump-branded real estate projects and golf resorts worth billions of dollars in the three wealthy Gulf petrostates that Trump visited last week.
49% : Qatar's role as a mediator that can resolve regional conflicts is particularly attractive to Trump, who sees himself as the ultimate dealmaker.
48% : Qatar still walks a tightrope of proving itself crucial to the US and western powers by being one of the world's largest and most reliable suppliers of liquified natural gas, and also maintaining ties with non-state groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Taliban.
45% : After news broke of Qatar's plan to donate the luxury jet to Trump, some figures in the president's Maga movement revived complaints about the emirate's support for Hamas and other Islamist groups.
43% : (Those neighbors, especially Saudi Arabia and the UAE, have tried to impose their own foreign policy directives on Qatar, as they did during the blockade that Trump supported in his first term.)
40% : So far, neither Congress nor US courts have tried to sanction Trump over the US constitution's foreign emoluments clause, which forbids the president from accepting gifts or payments from a foreign government without congressional approval.
37% : In June 2017, Trump said Qatar "has historically been a funder of terrorism at a very high level" and he supported a blockade against the country, led by Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
37% : That's partly an indication of how Trump has successfully banished or ignored many hawkish Republicans and neoconservatives during his second term, preferring to negotiate with Iran and other US adversaries.
37% : On Thursday, as Trump wrapped up his visit to Qatar, he delivered a meandering, campaign-style speech to US troops stationed at the base.
29% : "We cannot accept a $400 million 'gift' from jihadists in suits," Laura Loomer, a far-right activist who last month convinced Trump to fire six White House national security staffers, wrote on X. She added: "I say that as someone who would take a bullet for Trump.
28% : The country's charm offensive and global mediator role - as well as a $400m plane - reveal a complicated relationship On his tour of the Middle East last week, Donald Trump was treated like royalty by the leaders of the wealthiest countries in the Arab world.

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