Democrat President Joe Biden has caved and will visit Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to beg the kingdom to pump more oil.
The move comes after the president has shut down domestic output, leading, in part, to soaring gas prices.
As gas prices skyrocket to record highs across the country, Biden may view the trip as a chance to save his presidency.
However, it could still backfire if Biden can’t get the Saudis to dramatically increase production
Biden may have to go with his tail between his legs when he meets Prince Salman as, during his campaign, he famously called Saudi Arabia a “pariah.”
Nevertheless, Biden’s move may be too little too late for most.
And there it is: Saudi Arabia announces Biden will meet with Mohammed bin Salman while visiting the Middle Eastern country https://t.co/weQuBNbnYH pic.twitter.com/z2kZj6VfBE
— Alex Ward (@alexbward) June 14, 2022
“President Joseph R. Biden, Jr. will visit the Middle East region from July 13-16 to reinforce the United States’ iron-clad commitment to Israel’s security and prosperity and attend a Summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council plus Egypt, Iraq, and Jordan (known as the GCC+3),” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement.
“He will also meet with counterparts from across the region, to advance U.S. security, economic, and diplomatic interests.”
“While we recalibrate relations, we’re not seeking to rupture relations because Saudi Arabia has been a strategic partner of the United States for eight decades, and we share a host of interests with Saudi Arabia, from containing Iran to counterterrorism to helping protect its territory, where, importantly, 70,000 Americans live and work,” an administration official told Fox News.
“And I just think that’s an important fact.
“I mean, Saudi Arabia has faced hundreds of missiles and UAVs over the last 18 months, many of them targeting areas where Americans live and work.
“And so we have been engaged very deeply and very constructively with the Saudis to help defeat those threats.
“And that’s something, obviously, that is going to continue.”
President Biden will visit Saudi Arabia next month, after once vowing to make it a pariah for the grisly murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Notably, he will go to Jeddah, not the capital of Riyadh. The visit will happen following a stop in Israel in mid-July.
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 14, 2022
The Saudi embassy says Biden and the Saudi crown prince will hold “official talks,” but the White House hasn’t gone that far on an official meeting. Sen. Dick Durbin says he would tell Biden that he “can’t trust these people.”
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) June 14, 2022
