Avenge at home, Trump does its indulgent side during the tour of the Middle East

At home, President Trump orders investigations to his political opponents and finds creative means to use his executive power to ruin the life of some of his softer criticism.

Abroad, Trump sent a different message: that you have passed through. Even if these Bygons involved trying to assassinate it or work with Al-Qaeda.

In a series of speeches and remarks out of the blow during the first big foreign trip of his second term, Trump told the public in the Middle East that he was ready to put the past in the interest of peace and profit.

“I never believed in permanent enemies,” Trump said in a speech on Tuesday at the Saudi investment forum in Riyadh. “I am different from many people.”

His declaration on permanent enemies was linked to his awareness of Iran – whose government is accused of having plotted to assassinate it after his departure. (Iran denies this.) But a little later, in the same speech, Mr. Trump offered a more surprising olive branch.

He announced that he would raise American sanctions against Syria, throwing an economic rescue in a country ravaged by decades of repression, civil war, terrorism and poverty exacerbated by international isolation.