Love to Damocles: Our Trump First Foreign Trip Grand Tour

#Photojournalists so get it. Fetching. 📷@evanvucci #Trump101 #TrumpinSaudi #RiyadhSummit2017 pic.twitter.com/XSLHtjQ14h

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 21, 2017

We aren’t sure how Trump earned such high marks for his first foreign trip, especially the early part. Chalk it up to that familiar low bar?

Trump was over buttered by the Saudis who indulged Trump’s vanity and all that glittered while scoring an arms deal of unprecedented size. For a political instant, the kingly spectacle provided cover from the scandals hanging over Trump’s head like the sword of Damocles.

The Israel/West Bank leg was filled with perfunctory symbolism, the Palestinians squeezed in. That’s not to mention Trump revealing Israel as the source of his recent leak to the Russians and the rushed visit to Yad Vashem, the Israeli museum and memorial to the Holocaust, and his Disney-like note in the famed visitor log.

There were at least two tarmac incidents in which Melania brushed off the president, emphasizing that the couple’s public face was just that. There was also example after example punctuating the fact that the Trump’s lack the communications people or the visual common sense to advantageously manage a photo-op or to make effective use of the White House photographer.

The Pope played Trump brilliantly, looking incredibly stern over the Donald’s primitive climate change and immigration policies one minute, while disarming him the next (and charming Melania in a classy way that clearly went over Trump’s head).

Finally, the NATO Summit and the G-7 (or G-6 + Donald) were an embarrassing display of belligerence and detachment. If Trump’s first foreign trip was successful in any way, it was only in its Groucho notes and the respite from the Russian tornado back home.

Exemplifies trouble taking Trump/trip seriously. It may be Air Force 1 en route, but @PressSec still in the bushes. 📷@REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst pic.twitter.com/2IWvmzMryf

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 22, 2017

 

Incredible welcome for @POTUS in Riyadh when he arrives – billboards/red white blue lights everywhere. #potusabroad pic.twitter.com/0kmdlhNzOp

— Sarah H. Sanders (@SHSanders45) May 19, 2017

Lesson 4: Glitz is His Middle Name
Class: Trump 101
Location: Riyadh 17 https://t.co/fnYj858aUa

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 20, 2017

Before dining with King Salman at Murabba Palace, @realDonaldTrump took sword in hand and joined a Najd region traditional victory dance. pic.twitter.com/1idfnOJCgy

— Stephen Crowley (@Stcrow) May 20, 2017

Screw you, Damocles. #SaudisSoSmart https://t.co/xrZJ2dOKcN

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 20, 2017

Salman @POTUS & El-Sisi open “Global Ctr to Combat Extremist Ideology.” Present company included? Going by map, global = US. #TrumpGlowBall pic.twitter.com/3pPdprykfj

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 21, 2017

 

Well this is embarassing https://t.co/XaPL1AbCm5 pic.twitter.com/mumhuQHDFz

— Haaretz.com (@haaretzcom) May 22, 2017

Here’s what you can do w your milk and honey? I want to wake up in the city that never sleeps? Two state solution? Not my sea lion? https://t.co/MUQYUFziMX

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 22, 2017

 

Really confusing moment here where Trump stops the press from being ushered out of his photo spray with PM Netanyahu. Full video—> pic.twitter.com/A7UVcw3Zt2

— Tom Namako (@TomNamako) May 22, 2017

 

Textbook micro-example. How neurotic cocktail of authority, impulsity & defensiveness undermines the most routine flow. #25thAmendment https://t.co/Uo05ywQ23X

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 22, 2017

 

Distance, scale & eternity of the bushes challenges us to consider how much #Trump at #WesternWall is forgettable or memorable. @reuters pic.twitter.com/nKPS5s51AM

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 22, 2017

 

Of the few shots catching Trump passing #WestBank separation wall, this most ironic. Against Temple Mount & peace dove. #TrumpInIsrael 📷@AFP pic.twitter.com/g9H1x7oFMx

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

 

Looking a little cramped. #territorialanalogies @Stcrow pic.twitter.com/VL3IgrBclX

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 23, 2017

 

Not just flippant, generic as sin. Sacred “never again” transfigured to my good time. @YadVashem #CouldbeDisneyland @Reuters #TrumpIsrael pic.twitter.com/oSZ9m1tYHp

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

 

Infectious, but not in a good way. More about deadly #Trump – #photography relationship. 📷@reuterspictures #womenwearingmasks #TrumpItaly pic.twitter.com/nydfGuvT8J

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

 

Apologies to Michelangelo, this is much more informed by snark & videos of #Melania rejecting Trump’s hand. They know about it. @Reuters pic.twitter.com/GnARiXJMDu

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

 

Likely most honest photo of @POTUS @Pontifex visit. You can count on @AP‘s @EvanVucci. And you can cut the tension w a knife. #TrumpItaly pic.twitter.com/etVuyooWQ8

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

As defamatory as self-indulgent. W Trumps, having audience says all. (This token for their own.) And wire pic? WH photographer should quit. pic.twitter.com/EfbHZTqLPG

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

We meant a normal WH would use pix by their own photographer instead of wire pix, as is the case here, making them look awful. Don’t get it. https://t.co/M1Emy5yW24

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 24, 2017

 

At end of the day, #Pope charms/disarms w protocol quip and deadpan q if she feeds Donald a delicacy from home. Total class. @Pontifex pic.twitter.com/69ftpAebsg

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 25, 2017

 

Haven’t seen a political pic this demoralizing for some time. Even more painful if you still seem them holding hands in your mind. @Reuters pic.twitter.com/Aj2LMm79BJ

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 25, 2017

 

Despite all the petulance, what’s considerable, by #NATOSummit tradition, is that it’s a family photo. Can’t divorce your family. @Reuters pic.twitter.com/tW5aaGYwKG

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 25, 2017

 

Did someone manage arrangement of NATO First Ladies at #Magritte Museum? The gap between Trump & rest of the Europeans is surreal. @Reuters pic.twitter.com/JQPLzlhFjE

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 25, 2017

 

He only knows to strong-arm. Records #Trump‘s “get the hell out of my way.” #NATOSummit #Brussels https://t.co/uRRajphXb8 pic.twitter.com/mCmJX3PrdQ

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 27, 2017

 

After acting out, recovery effort riddled w tension. Croatia prez looks it right in the face. #Trump #NATOSummit https://t.co/ZSkBYx5vXt pic.twitter.com/1Ta1bbZDLe

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 27, 2017

 

Physical or mental dunno. Still, #Trump #NATO final stroll distance pings Groucho: can’t be part of a group that would have him as member. pic.twitter.com/QDJ66URQqN

— Reading The Pictures (@ReadingThePix) May 28, 2017

 

Photo: Evan Vucci via Instagram Caption: President Donald Trump poses for photos with Gulf country leaders in Riyadh.