Trump Begins His Religion World Tour
The American president’s first international trip has been explicitly framed in terms of religious identity.
When the country-music star Toby Keith performs in Riyadh on Saturday, will he sing of red Solo cups and drunk Americans before his conservative Muslim hosts? As he takes the stage alongside an Arabian lute player to honor Donald Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, will Keith explain, as he does, that “[putting] a boot in your ass” is “the American way”?
The concert is a fitting image at the start of a fraught trip. On his way to the NATO Toby Keith concert, may be awkward, Trump’s itinerary is consistent with some ofhis emerging rhetoric on international affairs. This president has put counterterrorism at the center of his foreign policy—and religious identity, specifically around Islam, is at the core of that effort.
