Shortly after he was elected, failed, one-term, twice-impeached former President Donald Trump decided to make his first overseas visit to Saudi Arabia, which left many foreign policy experts scratching their heads. After all, the Saudis aren’t our closest ally (that would be the United Kingdom) and are only of strategic significance because they’re sitting on all that crude oil.
But thanks to the New York Times, we now know exactly why Trump chose the Saudi kingdom for his initial foreign trip: Because he knew the ultrarich Saudi royal family would shower him with gifts in order to buy goodwill with the new president.
What sort of gifts? Well, coats and robes made of tiger and cheetah fur and a dagger with an ivory handle.
But it turns out the Saudis pulled a trick out of the Trump playbook and gave the Donald fake furs that had little to no value:
“Wildlife inspectors and special agents determined the linings of the robes were dyed to mimic tiger and cheetah patterns and were not comprised of protected species.”
Faux fur. Sounds like the kind of crap Ivanka would sell in her clothing line, most of which is now going for bargain basement prices at clearance outlets across the world. Seems no one wants her crap clothes because her daddy has made the Trump name as toxic as Saddam Hussein’s.
The Times also notes that the Saudis lavished Trump with lots of gifts, and the nine most pricey ones had to be submitted for a determination of value. That’s how they found out that the furs were cheap imitations:
“Nine of the most expensive presents — the three furs, three swords and three daggers — were sent to the White House gifts unit to be assessed and appraised but never appeared on any of the Trump State Department’s legally required annual filings for foreign gifts, according to a review of government documents.”
Trump was so convinced that he’d received something of value that he held off reporting the gifts until his very last day in office. He also likely didn’t want to admit he’d taken the goodies for fear it would lead to yet another impeachment trial. Of course, Donnie still goes down in history as the only president to ever be impeached TWICE and also the only one to be impeached during his first term. Since he didn’t get a second term, that means the Donald will likely be regarded by historians as the biggest failure to ever hold the office of president.
But hey, at least he got some nice fake tiger and cheetah coats. Maybe he can hawk them on the street outside Trump Tower after the banks he owes seize his assets to pay back all those loans that are about to come due.
