In the middle of President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, something strange happened, and the whole world noticed immediately.
Following his speech in front of the Arab Islamic American Summit on Sunday, Trump along with his wife, Melania, Saudi’s King Salman, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, and the entire summit of leaders entered a dark room filled with computers. They then proceeded to touch a glowing, translucent orb, which was actually a sphere depicting Earth [shown above].
The Internet felt that treachery was afoot given the plethora of memes. Reports surfaced that a four by four foot sinkhole formed outside Trump’s Mar-a-lago resort, and social media thought that the orb was to blame, possibly signaling the end of times.
It should be noted that while the internet remains undefeated, the orb actually had nothing to do with the sinkhole.
Touching the orb might seem odd to the Internet, it’s actually part of the newly opened Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology based in Riyadh. Its placement is purely decorative, but it signifies the new partnership in the fight against terrorism.
The GCCEI’s mission is “to actively and pro-actively combat, expose, and refute extremist ideology, in cooperation with governments and organizers concerned.”
Trump’s speech to the AIA summit was certainly hopeful that a renewed U.S.-Saudi partnership would help defeat terrorism. Many of his critics have dragged the president for ignoring Saudi Arabia’s reprehensible human and women’s rights records.
On the campaign trail, Trump said that he would hold world leaders’ feet to the fire. And while his rhetoric on Saudi behavior was tepid, the ultimate goal is rooting out groups like ISIS and Al-Qaeda, which are arguably far more evil than any autocratic regime currently in the Middle East.
