So... why was he there?
RE: So... why was he there?
We have to understand that Muslims live in a world of psychological disconnect. YOU CANNOT BE A CONSISTENT MUSLIM IF YOU WANT TO LIVE IN THE MODERN WORLD.
Hence, Most try to live in the modern world and do understand that they CANNOT take everything the Koran or the Hadiths say seriously.
Yet, they DO LIVE in a culture and adhere to a religion that tells them to make war on infidels and that their prophet is a man of war, a polygamist and a pedophile.
This is DENIALISM and we, who are non-muslims ought to at least breath a sigh of relief that such denialisms are PREVALENT in the Muslim world.
We understand that most Muslims IGNORE those parts of their faith that are incompatible with living in the modern world.
We also understand that the more seriously a Muslims takes his religion ( i.e. the more NON-DENIALIST and CONSISTENT he tries to become ), the more radical and dangerous he is.
There is also the other factor — A DIVIDED MUSLIM WORLD where Sunni and Shia hate each other. The Sunni Arab leaders (e.g. Al-Sis, the UAE and the King of Saudi Arabia ) are at least making an outward show of support for the western World. The Shia leaders ( the Iranian Ayatollahs ) on the other hand, make no bones about wanting to annihilate Israel ( the little Satan ) and America ( the great satan ).
Given the above realities Trump understands that :
1) He needs the help of denialists since fighting the radicals will require their help.
2) Most Muslims still value life over death.
3) He needs to DIVIDE the enemy and pit what he perceives to be the more acceptable version of the Muslim world with the less acceptable version.
“Why is he there?”
**To reach certain short term goals that will have far reaching benefits.
**To form business deals with the Saudis. Over $300. Billion
**To present a low pressure opportunity for the Saudi’s to show some form of willingness to work with Israel, Egypt and the USA against enemies in common such as Iran and North Korea.
**To encourage the Saudi’s to take Trump’s request that it should mainly be Muslim countries who go after and destroy ISIS. Otherwise, America remains mired in Afghanistan-like quagmires, with the citizens of those countries hating us, and not terribly concerned with fighting against the Taliban or latest form of ISIS.
The psychological term I was looking for is COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
In psychology, cognitive dissonance is the mental discomfort (psychological stress) experienced by a person who simultaneously holds two or more contradictory beliefs, ideas, or values. The occurrence of cognitive dissonance is consequence of a person’s performing an action that contradicts personal beliefs, ideals, and values; and also occurs when confronted with new information that contradicts said beliefs, ideals, and values.
This mental discomfort is PREVALENT in the Muslim world.