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Trump Takes Credit for Qatar Diplomatic Crisis

Implies that he believes the U.S. ally and military base host country is a supporter of terror organizations.

President Trump on Tuesday seemingly took credit for a feud between Gulf states in which four nations severed diplomatic ties with Qatar, alleging that the small country funds terror organizations. “During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Leaders pointed to Qatar - look!” However, while in Riyadh for his foreign trip last month, Trump met with the emir of Qatar and said they had discussed the sale of “beautiful military equipment” to Qatar. Additionally, implicit in Trump taking credit for the diplomatic crisis is the suggestion that the U.S. now endorses the belief that Qatar is pro-terror—a comment certain to further rile tensions as Qatar is a U.S. ally and hosts the largest American military base in the Middle East. But Trump was on a roll Tuesday, adding, “So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding...extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!”