Why is Trump so obsessed with other men’s looks?
Flattery is only part of the story for a president who behaves like the star of his own movie.
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Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa meets with US President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman in Riyadh, on May 14.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Jemima Kelly
Donald Trump’s bumper tax-slashing, debt-swelling spending Bill is not the only thing he professes to consider beautiful. His tour of the Gulf earlier in May amounted to a full-blown compliment spree focused on other men’s appearance – Syria’s President was a “young, attractive guy”; the UAE’s was “magnificent”.
As for Saudi Arabia’s de facto leader, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, and the Emir of Qatar, “they’re both tall, handsome guys that happen to be very smart”, he said. “You sort of remind me a little bit of each other.” (They also happen to be very good at treating him like a fellow royal: smart indeed.)

