Trump highlights new Middle East policy during 100-day speech

The US had already intensified its fight against ISIL, Donald Trump said during a speech marking his 100th day as president, as he ran through a list of promises made and promises kept.

US president Donald Trump appears on stage at a rally in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, on April 29, 2017.  Carlo Allegri/Reuters
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NEW YORK // Donald Trump said his new approach to the Middle East was already bearing fruit, describing how his friendship with President Abdul Fattah El Sisi of Egypt helped secure the release of an American prisoner.

During a speech to mark his 100th day as president on Saturday, Mr Trump said the US had already intensified its fight against ISIL as he ran through a list of promises made and promises kept.

His bombastic delivery, dark tone and boisterous crowd were similar in style to his campaign rallies, complete with a lengthy attack on the media and the inclusion of a poem, entitled The Snake, which became a huge hit among audiences last year.

“We have already stepped up the fight against ISIS and we will not stop until ISIS has been destroyed,” he told the energetic sports arena crowd in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

“We have strengthened our alliances and friendships all around the world.

“For instance, we were proud to work with the Egyptian government last week to ensure than an American citizen – a beautiful young woman named Aya - came home after being in an Egyptian prison for the past three years.”

Aya Hijazi, an aid worker with dual US-Egyptian nationality, was controversially arrested and accused of child abuse in 2014, along with her husband and others connected to their charity.

“President Obama worked diligently for three years, didn’t get ‘em out,” said Mr Trump to cheers. “I met with President El Sisi and it worked out quickly.”

The location and timing of Mr Trump’s speech were selected for maximum impact.

Pennsylvania was one of the reliably Democratic states where blue-collar workers swung behind Mr Trump to deliver a shock victory over Hillary Clinton in the November election.

And he appeared before the crowd on the evening when black tie-clad journalists were gathering in Washington for the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, an event he declined to attend.

He contrasted that occasion, where he said Hollywood stars and out-of-touch reporters would be consoling each other in a hotel ballroom, with his decision to come to Pennsylvania.

“I could not possibly be more thrilled to be more than 100 miles away from the Washington swamp, spending my evening with all of you and a much, much larger crowd and much better people,” he said.

The crowd booed and chanted “CNN sucks”, revelling in the populist message.

Several times police escorted protesters from the arena as they tried to disrupt Mr Trump’s speech in another throwback to the campaign.

The address was the final event in a week designed to hit back at his critics and trumpet the achievements of his first 100 days.

He took credit for a downturn in illegal immigrants crossing the southern border, a surge in financial markets and highlighted his appointment of a conservative judge to the supreme court.

Yet the tone was as dark as it was celebratory. It contained much of the same simmering discontent as his run for the White House, railing against unfair trade deals and an entrenched Washington elite.

At one point he read The Snake, a poem about a woman who takes in a half-frozen serpent only for it to bite her after she has tenderly restored it to health. During the campaign Mr Trump used the tale to illustrate what he said were the dangers of taking in Syrian refugees.

As well as revisiting the campaign, Mr Trump used his speech to offer an insight into one of his U-turns in the White House. After campaigning on a tough line on China, and saying he would label the Chinese as currency manipulators, he has since sought out the support of President Xi Jinping to pressure North Korea into giving up its nuclear weapons programme.

“I don’t think right now is the best time to call China a currency manipulator,” he said.

The speech ended with his familiar promise to "Make America great again", and just like his campaign rallies he left the stage to the Rolling Stones' You Can't Always Get What You What.

foreign.desk@thenational.ae