To those who are perpetuating false narratives against the United Arab Emirates and President Sheikh
@MohamedBinZayed personally, you are full of it. I met with him today for an hour and a half. Not only is he alive, but he is also well and as sharp as I’ve ever seen him. To those powers that feel the need to attack MbZ and the UAE for doing the right thing - you do so at your own peril.
Our meeting today was very enjoyable and informative. We discussed the historic moment that is facing the region. I told him how much I appreciated his courage and vision to create an Islamic country that can be integrated into the world in a win-win fashion, both for the people of the UAE and for those who visit and do business with the country.
However, there are other voices in Islam that have the darkest vision of mankind. Those voices are distinctly in the minority, in my view.
MbZ’s decision to embrace the Abraham Accords and to modernize his country while still maintaining the faith is the biggest change in the Middle East in my lifetime. What the United Arab Emirates have done to try to integrate the region with the whole world is one of the bravest and most consequential decisions any Middle Eastern leader has made. I was very candid with MbZ that he cannot do this by himself. Other people in the region have to buy-in to what’s happening with the UAE, not just be casual observers.
To the region: Understand that history is about to be made. President Trump wants a region that looks more like the UAE and less like the Ayatollah. The region can only move forward if it follows the vision that embraces the light instead of going backwards into the darkness. The UAE’s vision for the Middle East and the 2030 vision previously expressed by the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia is something I would fully embrace because it would be great for South Carolina, and great for America.
The forces that are merging here recently are trying to undercut the movement toward the light. They are going back to the old way of doing business, playing cheap politics. Your actions have not gone unnoticed by me or others. If this continues, it will do enormous damage to the best opportunity I've seen in hundreds of years to change the Middle East for the better.
Finally, to those who believe that the region still flourishes if the ayatollah’s regime survives, I could not disagree more. If this religious Nazi regime in Iran still stands after all this bluster and the people are shut out and continue to be oppressed, it puts everything we’ve worked for at risk, including the Abraham Accords.
Now, I am off to Saudi Arabia where I look forward to meeting with the Crown Prince who has shown a lot of courage and wisdom and has embraced, in the past, a vision that will forever change the Middle East for the better.
Time will tell as to what happens.