As a political storm continues to rage in D.C. President Trump arrived Saudi Arabia to a warm welcome on what is his first foreign trip since winning the White House. Already, the right-wing blogosphere is writing headlines like, “No bowing for this President!”
According to BizPac Review, a pro-Trump website that pushes the occasional fake news story, “Trump shook hands with the Saudi king” which was “a stark contrast to former President Obama, who bowed to Salman in 2009.”
While it may be true that Obama bowed to foreign leaders while on trips abroad, there’s still debate as whether or not he actually bowed to the Saudi King while there in 2009. Nevertheless, the ogling of this non-story from Trumplandia is a picture-prefect example of the amusing hypocrisy this kind of narrative vomits forth. Trump did shake King Salman’s hand upon arrival, but it was when he was given the honorary Collar of Abdulaziz Al Saud medal that he seemingly did something even more subservient than Obama’s alleged groveling: he genuflected.
After the medal was placed around Trump’s neck, he gave a brief acknowledgment in the form of a genuflection. One journalist on Twitter described it as a ‘curtsy’:
https://twitter.com/aravosis/status/865959229672345600
As Axios‘s Alex McCammond points out, “the right-leaning press has been relatively quiet on the matter, or if they are addressing it, they’re spinning the news to be pro-Trump.”
In the video, Trump clearly gives a brief dropping of one knee in acknowledgement of receiving the medal. But the focus on this moment is more about the hypocrisy of the right-wing narrative when Obama bowed or showed ceremonial respect to foreign leaders. Trump’s bowing, or genuflecting, or curtsying, etc., is a non-story for the most part. What’s notable is how non-stories are created into propaganda, and how easily people reject that propaganda when it’s applied to their favorite politicians.
Watch video of the moment below:
Featured image via screen grab
