Victoria Coates - V.P. National Security, Heritage Foundation Joins Houston's Morning News

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Well, and at least two of the countries he went
to he was treated like a rock star. Victoria Coach
joins us VP of Natural Security at the Heritage Foundation.
Talk about the Trump Middle East trip. Let's start with
the trip to to see the Saudies first, where he
got the full treatment there right, the red carpet and
the I Love you signs, and the and the chest,
you know, the heart, taking your hand and patting your heart.

(00:24):
I mean it was. It was also like a love
fest between the Crown Prince and the president.

Speaker 2 (00:31):
Good morning. Yes, no, I think President Trump was received
like a rock star in Saudi Arabia. We had the
sort of spectacle of the Crown Prince Mohammed ben Salman
NBS people call him, greeting him and driving him around
in a golf cart. You know, clearly, this is not
the kind of relationship we had during the Biden administration,

(00:54):
where then Biden referred to the kingdom as a pariah
nation that he was going to isolate and had a
very fractious relationship with them. This was President Trump arriving
and saying, you know, we're going to have a new
approach to the Middle East. We're going to have commerce,
not chaos, technology not terrorism, and so you know, I

(01:16):
think that it was a very powerful visual along those lines.

Speaker 1 (01:20):
I think the thing that impressed me most about Saudi
Arabia is how much that country has changed, how much
they have modernized, how much they have built up, how much,
how involved they're getting in technology, how their economy is booming.
And it looks like Saudi Arabia is a pretty good
template for what other Middle Eastern countries need to do
to get into the modern world.

Speaker 3 (01:43):
Absolutely, and you know, this is not your father's Saudi Arabia.
I was actually living there in twenty twenty for a
number of months, and I did something I didn't expect
to do ever in Saudi Arabia, which was drive a
car and came out and they stared, and pictures were taken,
and it was in the paper. And it was because

(02:06):
it was a hydrogen car. Nobody cared that I was
a you know, a Western woman driving the car. What
they cared about was it was air products hydrogen car,
and they wanted to come see the hydrogen car. And
it just for me that was such a clear symbol
of how things had changed, because, you.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Know, a woman driving a car was no longer remarkable.

Speaker 1 (02:27):
Yeah, much has been made of the President accepting a
jet from a guitar. Do you see this as as
a problem for the president to accept this gift? Number one?
And I guess number two is do you trust the
government of Guitar because there's a lot of people out
there who don't seem to trust them very much.

Speaker 2 (02:46):
Well, let's put it this way. I don't know that
I trust anyone in the region that all that strongly.
I think, you know, we we have partners and allies.
We have countries that are strategic partners for the United States,
and I think that was the message of the president's trip.
It's why he went to all three and he went

(03:08):
from Saudi to Qatar to Uae. That he's not been
pick and choose. That these are excuse me, three of
the wealthiest countries in the region. They're highly dynamic, and
you know, he wants all three of them in the
US tent to be to be our partners and allies
and to then isolate Iran as much as possible in

(03:30):
the region, and all that is very important. Now that said,
you know, the plane is sort of a distraction in
my opinion. You know, there's nothing illegal about taking it.
We hand out stuff, you know, around the world all
the time. I think that's kind of the president's point.
Somebody wants to give us a gift, why can't we
accept it? And Boeing is so far behind with the

(03:52):
air Force one that he ordered during the first term.
I don't think it's either going to be delivered until
twenty twenty seven at the air earliest. So I think
from his perspective, this is perfectly logical. I would say
from a pr perspective, it's a distraction. You know, it's
something for people to criticize and carp about in what

(04:12):
was an extremely successful trip. So you know, I'm not
losing sleep over it, but you know it's a distraction.

Speaker 1 (04:20):
Yeah, well, I think it's a distraction that's rapidly disappearing though.
I guess that's the good news. Victoria, thanks for coming
on the show. Good to hear from you. DP it
natural security at the Heritage Foundation, Victoria Coats, it's five
point fifty seven