News of contacts between Donald Trump and de facto Saudi leader Mohammed bin Salman has cast a spotlight on the Republican presidential candidate’s “America First” policies if he returns to power later this year. How it affects the rest of the world.

There seem to be any number of dictators and despots, Viktor Orban From Xi Jinping in Hungary to Xi Jinping in China, they all cheer for Trump publicly or privately.

“I think people like Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping would rather have Trump back, even if they don’t admit it,” said Rex Lee, a professor of international relations at King’s College London. “Trump is not interested in civil rights or democracy. His approach is 100 percent transactional. He only cares about America first — or his own business.”

It is unclear what Trump and bin Salman discussed or whether this was their first conversation since Trump left office in January 2021.

But most observers believe the contacts between the twice-impeached former president and the ruthless Saudi prince suggest that if Trump returns to the White House, his dealings with the wider world will be business as usual.

As early as 2016, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe all expressed support for the then-Republican candidate. The autocratic Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen declared: “If Trump wins, the world will change… Trump does business, so Trump doesn’t want war.”

Trump loves doing business — especially when it benefits his own or his immediate family’s coffers. (Think Jared Kushner, the real estate mogul’s son-in-law, who used his connections in the U.S. government to win Saudi Arabia invests $2 billion in its equity firm. ) but his populist, trade protectionist policies It does little to help the health of the U.S. economy.

However, the 77-year-old is less concerned about defending democracy.

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump made little or no mention of promoting civil rights, historically a key pillar of U.S. foreign policy. His concern for democracy and free speech evaporated since then, and it remains evident.

Trump’s desire to maintain contact with bin Salman also highlights this.Saudi prince is Charged by U.S. Intelligence In 2018, the Saudi consulate in Istanbul ordered the murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Bin Salman denies ordering Khashoggi’s killing.

A U.S. official told Washington post At that time, bin Salman was still a capricious and arrogant People who “don’t seem to understand that there are some things you can’t do.” If Trump had any self-awareness, this description would sound familiar.

Nine months after murder, Trump is called Mohammed bin Salman is “a friend of mine” and has praised him for his “excellent work” in allowing women to drive and relaxing Saudi Arabia’s criminal laws.Civil rights there remain abysmal, Riyadh continues Execute hundreds of person tried in kangaroo court

Trump’s Democratic rival Joe Biden pledged during the 2020 campaign to treat bin Salman as a “pariah” because of Khashoggi’s killing. But once in office, realpolitik took over, and Biden has spent much of the past three years working uncomfortably to mend ties with the Saudis. Trump is not hampered by moral concerns.

this New York Timesbroke the latest news Trump’s discussion with bin SalmanNoting that the contact comes as the Biden administration engages in delicate negotiations with Saudi Arabia to build a lasting peace in the Middle East based on diplomatic relations between Israel and a number of Arab countries – a process that began Trump Administration 2016-2020.

But bin Salman is not the only tyrant with whom Trump hopes to rekindle friendly relations once he returns to the White House.

Putin also expects it will be easier to deal with the United States with Trump back at the helm. Six years ago, in the summer, Trump met the Russian president at a summit in Helsinki, and their relationship was very good. Trump ignored warnings from his own intelligence services and told Putin he believed him when he said Russia did not interfere in the 2016 U.S. election.

Many intelligence experts believe that Putin has resumed campaigning for Trump this time, and that Russian hackers are now using artificial intelligence and deepfakes to attack Biden ahead of November 5.

Come January, Trump and Putin may be working together again—at the expense of American democracy, Ukraine, international security, climate, and world trade.

In 2018, Trump cemented their friendship in Helsinki, blithely covering up the Russian invasion of Crimea, in addition to humiliating his own intelligence officials, and Novichok chemical attack In southern England.

Trump’s confidence in his ability to leverage personal relationships has allowed him to be played like a fiddle by autocrats like Putin and Kim Jong-un, as well as by the most powerful, Xi Jinping.

Professor Zeng Qingsheng, director of the China Institute at Africa University, believes that despite the vulgar anti-China remarks made by the Republican Party, the Chinese dictator would rather see Trump in the White House. “I don’t think Beijing will view Trump 2.0 in such a negative light,” he said. “He can be bribed, and it’s proven to be much more difficult for Beijing to bribe Biden.”

On the key issue of the United States’ commitment to defend Taiwan, trump card It already seems contradictory. And China This seems to have been noticed.

If in a few years the United States can produce enough of its own semiconductors and no longer rely on Taiwan for microchips, will the small island’s democracy be worth defending in Trump’s mind? “This is a key question,” Professor Li said. “If the United States under Trump believes that Taiwan’s values ​​have declined, then the United States’ willingness to defend Taiwan will also decline.”

That would be the insidious message the re-election of the disgraced former president, who faces 91 criminal charges (all of which he denies), would send to the world. Democracy doesn’t matter, crime has a price.

“If the United States cared less about human rights, it would give many authoritarian regimes a free hand,” Professor Li said.