Seducing him to behave better?
[IsraelTimes] Syrian leader posts photo of present, harking back to White House meeting where Trump gave him a similar gift before asking him how many wives he hadSyrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa has thanked US President Donald Trump
...New York real estate developer, described by Dems as illiterate, racist, misogynistic, and whatever other unpleasant descriptions they can think of, elected by the rest of us as 45th and 47th President of the United States...
for a gift of Trump cologne, a callback to their historic meeting in November when the American leader lavished his fragrance on the Syrian jihadist-turned-statesman.
Sharaa was the first Syrian leader to visit the White House since the country’s independence in 1946.
"Some meetings leave an impression; ours apparently left a fragrance," Sharaa wrote in English on X late on Tuesday, including an image of two Trump-branded fragrance boxes, one red and the other black.
"Thank you, Mr. President @realDonaldTrump, for your generosity and for topping up this precious gift. May the spirit of that meeting continue to shape a stronger relationship between Syria and the United States."
After the November meeting, a video emerged showing Trump gifting Sharaa his cologne, spraying some on him and on Syrian Foreign Minister Asaad al-Shaibani.
At the time, Trump also gifted Sharaa a perfume box for his wife, jokingly asking him "how many wives" he had.
A note to Sharaa from Trump, pictured alongside the new boxes, read: "They’re all talking about the picture we took when I gave you this great cologne — Just in case you ran out!"
The cologne’s website says the fragrance, which sells for $249 a bottle, "embodies strength, power, and victory."
Since ousting longtime Syrian ruler and Washington foe Bashir
Pencilneckal-Assad
Before going into the family business Pencilneck was an eye doctor. If he'd stuck with it he'd have had a good practice by now...
in 2024, Sharaa and his new Islamist authorities in Damascus have rebooted ties with the US.
Trump has ended sanctions and taken other steps to boost Sharaa at the urging of the Syrian leader’s allies, Saudi Arabia
...a kingdom taking up the bulk of the Arabian peninsula, largely made up of sand and oil rigs. Its primary economic activity involves exporting oil and soaking Islamic rubes on the annual haj pilgrimage. The country supports a large number of princes in whatcha might call princely splendor. Formerly dictatorial and steeped in Olde Tyme Religion, deferring to Salafist holy men on all issues, it has now done a 180 and is making a serious effort to modernize, so as not to be left in the sand by its Gulf Arab neighbors. The holy men have been shoved to the background and the nation is now still dictatorial but somewhat rational. That doesn't make them trustworthy, but it's a start...and
...the decaying remnant of the Ottoman Empire...
, despite Israeli misgivings.
Trump met Sharaa for the first time in May last year in Saudi Arabia during a regional tour, dubbing the Syrian leader "a young, attractive guy."