Trump’s unsavory Middle Eastern friends - Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Thani should be considered long-term enemies of the USA.
Joseph Puder | January 29, 2026
President Donald J. Trump has accumulated major achievements in the domestic economic arena, including drastically reducing the number of illegal infiltrators into the United States and bringing energy costs and the inflation rate down. In 2021, under President Joe Biden, inflation stood at 7.03%, whereas in 2025, under President Trump, the rate was 2.68%. With other factors at play, the cost of living has risen, and the tariffs imposed by the Trump administration affected consumer prices, though there has been an appreciable decline in recent weeks on milk, eggs, cheeses, and gasoline.
The relative success of Trump’s domestic policies notwithstanding, his list of current foreign “friends” is worrisome. During his previous term in office, he scored major triumphs, including the historic Abraham Accords that brought about normalization of relations between Israel and four Arab-Muslim states — Bahrain, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, and partially with Sudan — as well as his decision to move the U.S. Embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018, a pledge made by previous administrations but never realized.
Trump’s present foreign policy in the Middle East is problematic because he is pandering to his unsavory “friends”: Erdoğan’s Turkey, the emir of Qatar, and the Syrian jihadist Ahmed al-Sharaa. Ostensibly, his romance with al-Sharaa is meant to please Erdoğan and the Saudis at the expense of the Syrian Kurds, the staunch U.S. allies engaged in the fight against the Islamic State. It is apparent that Trump is ignoring the quest for self-determination of the Kurdish people and the plight of the besieged Syrian minorities, including the Alawites, Christians, and Druze.
On a number of occasions, Trump has referred to Recep Tayyip Erdoğan as his “close friend” or “good friend” and stated that they have a “great relationship.” Trump has emphasized their strong personal bond and mutual respect, even during periods of significant U.S.-Turkey policy disagreements, as with Turkey's purchase of Russian missiles and actions in Syria, including the butchering of Kurdish civilians in northeastern Syria by Turkish military and proxy forces. Strains in their relationship have not deterred Trump from praising Erdoğan's leadership and seeing him as a key partner.
The truth is being obfuscated. Erdoğan is a dictator and a leading antisemite, whose strong Muslim Brotherhood ideological leanings pose a threat to Israel and the West. Erdoğan’s megalomaniacal ambitions to expand Turkey’s influence in the hopes of dominating areas where the Ottoman Empire once ruled and beyond make for a risky scenario for Israel and the West. Turkey's expanding ties with Russia, its actions in Syria, and its assertive foreign policy challenge Western interests and is creating friction with its NATO members, some of whom regard Turkey as pursuing an independent, multipolar agenda. Additionally, its increased trade and ties with Iran, a key adversary of the West, signal a shift away from traditional Western alliances. As of January 2026, Turkey is reportedly in talks with Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to form an Islamic NATO pact. Critics warn that this “Islamic NATO” could undermine nonproliferation efforts by bringing Turkey closer to Pakistan’s nuclear capabilities.
Israeli and foreign security officials currently view Turkey as an immediate threat to Israel that may eventually surpass the risks posed by Iran. Turkey has established a dominant military presence in Syria, propping up Al-Sharaa, and directing him against Israel and the Kurds.
President Trump has refrained from supporting America’s Kurdish allies (the Syrian Democratic Forces) in Syria, who are being subjugated by Erdoğan, whose proxy jihadist forces of al-Sharaa’s Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) have now been integrated into the Syrian army and the Syrian National Army (SNA) — both instruments of Erdoğan’s terror.
Turkey’s actions have also diverged from NATO goals regarding counterterrorism (e.g., hindering missions against ISIS) and the promotion of democracy. Its “double game” — balancing NATO membership with Russian military purchases and BRICS interest — is making a mockery of the alliance’s founding principles. Turkey’s Muslim Brotherhood ideology has been described by some analysts as a “systemic, long-term penetration” of Western societies, culturally and educationally.
Qatar, the financier of the Muslim Brotherhood, has perverted American higher education while spreading antisemitic, anti-Israel, and anti-Western propaganda on U.S. campuses and beyond with impunity. An explosive report from the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP), cited by the New York Post, claims that Qatar has invested roughly $20 billion in American schools and universities as part of a strategy to promote Islamist ideologies. ISGAP notes that the funding aligns with the objectives of the Muslim Brotherhood and represents a deliberate influence campaign on U.S. campuses. The report also points to the support by the Qatar Foundation for campus organizations such as the Muslim Students Association (MSA) and Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP), described by ISGAP as being particularly effective in spreading the goals of the Muslim Brotherhood among university students.
In 2017, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, along with the other members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) boycotted and expelled Qatar due to its support for Islamic terrorism and close ties with Iran.
Recently, Trump unveiled a “Gaza Executive Board” to oversee the postwar management of the Gaza Strip, which includes representatives from Turkey and Qatar — choices that Israel bitterly opposes. Both Qatar and Turkey are wholly committed to having the terrorist group Hamas remain in control in Gaza, which contradicts Trump’s stated commitment to disarm and end Hamas’s control in the Gaza Strip.
President Trump learned a lesson about his “friends” Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey when they lobbied the U.S. against attacking Iran and communicated to Tehran that their territories would not be used as launching pads against the ayatollahs. The question begs to be asked: Why hasn’t Trump learned, by now, that when the chips are down, Israel is the only ally America can rely on in the region.