Wiretap: Trump flies all the way to Saudi Arabia and forgets to say “radical Islamic terrorism”

Donald Trump gave his big Saudi speech on terrorism without saying the words “radical Islamic terrorism.” And the same Trump who once said, “I think Islam hates us,” called Islam “one of the world’s great faiths.” And so we have Anne Applebaum on what she called Trump’s bizarre, unethical, unseemly, un-American Saudi trip, via The Washington Post. And Robin Wright on what she called Trump’s simplistic take on jihadism, via The New Yorker.

The full transcript of Trump’s speech, Via Politico.

And how a Trump speech turned out to be so, so, so surprisingly politically correct, Via The Atlantic. Or, in the view of The National Review, so statesmanlike.

Syria’s famed ancient city, Palmyra, is now also known for the artifacts left behind — such as a report on a trial for adultery and verdict of death by stoning — from ISIS rule. Via The Los Angeles Times.

Remember the safety net? Much of it may just be a memory if Trump’s new budget plan were to become law. Most of it won’t, of course, but huge cuts in Medicaid and big changes in food stamps and other programs are now definitely on the table. Via The Washington Post.

A Harvard study shows CNN and NBC 93 percent negative in their Trump coverage. How much of that is Trump and how much of it is the media? Via The Washington Examiner.

In the Oval Office meeting with the Russians in which Trump called James Comey a “nutjob,” did he also press the Russians on their interference with the 2016 election? One of the people there, H.R. McMaster, refuses to say. Via The Guardian.

In case you thought things might get better any time soon, Newt Gingrich goes all in, spreading a fake-news conspiracy theory on Fox. Via The Washington Post. Meanwhile Vox says that Democrats are falling for fake news, too.

Democrats have been too skittish to get anyone’s hopes up in the Montana House special election, but Republicans are clearly worried and the polling shows the race to be extremely close. Via The National Journal.

Once upon a time, the city of Pittsburgh welcomed Uber’s driverless car experiment with open arms. Nine months later, those same arms are ready to push Uber away. Via The New York Times.

Photo courtesy of the White House, via Flickr: Creative Commons