It almost seems like it must be a joke, like some trick that's being played by whichever god you happen to believe in. Everything I would do, everything I currently believe in, everything I think – the president of the United States does and believes and thinks the complete opposite.
I agree with the comedian John Oliver's recent assessment on Last Week Tonight: "Literally every decision [Donald Trump makes] is the worst possible one."
I would pour money into education, whereas Trump wants to strip it out. I would cut spending on defence, while the president will massively increase it. I would ramp up measures to protect the environment, while the Donald is ditching them. And obviously I would choose not to sell billions and billions of dollars worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia – so what do you think Trump has just done?
As a normal citizen of the world you're left scratching your head: why Saudi Arabia? Why actively support an autocratic country in which women aren't allowed to leave the house alone without a signed permission slip from a male guardian, where they're not allowed to drive cars, where they have to be sworn in to a court of law by a man?
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And that's not to mention the country's links, both financial and spiritual, to Wahhabism, identified by the European parliament in 2013 as the main source of global terrorism. Or Saudi Arabia's intention to rid the world of the Shia sect of Islam practiced in countries such as Iran, Iraq and Lebanon.
Why is it OK that this is the US president's first international visit, the place where he chooses to sell off a $US110 billion stockpile of weapons? Why is it OK that he then skips over to Israel, which is actively expanding illegal settlements in the West Bank, which operates a system of apartheid in which Palestinians are denied basic rights, to discuss intelligence arrangements and shore up the military aid that the US provides?
It's the seemingly arbitrary nature of these designations of good and bad that is so frustrating. Saudi Arabia: good. Iran: bad. Israel: good. Palestine: bad. Russia: good. Mexico: bad. Why?
Thousands of Americans cross the border into Mexico for Spring Break every year. Photo: STRINGER/MEXICO
When you're on the ground in those "bad" countries (and also the "good" ones) you see how ridiculous this is, how the global power games of politicians and royalty impact on normal people just trying to create a better life for themselves. The people you meet in Iran, the friendliest people you'll probably come across, are not your enemy. The citizens you meet in Palestine, drinking in bars in Ramallah, hanging out at markets in Nablus, are not people to be afraid of.
And yet the official line from governments is that they are.
To hear that Trump has rarely travelled outside the United States, to hear his only forays overseas are usually lightning-fast jaunts to sign business deals or play a few rounds of golf, comes as absolutely no surprise. Travel breeds empathy – an emotion the US president seems drastically short on. Travel enables human interaction with people you might otherwise never meet, forcing you to consider how many grey areas there are in the world, how difficult it is to sort entire countries into boxes marked "good" and "bad".
See also: Why there's no better time to visit the Middle East
That Trump has never done that makes complete sense. It would be so much easier to dehumanise the average citizens of Iran, or the average Joes in Palestine, if you'd never actually met them. If you had never set foot in their homeland, if you had never walked their streets or eaten at their restaurants or drunk tea in their homes, you could easily form a hostile opinion and never have to challenge yourself to alter it.
That's what I see in the US president: someone led by dollar signs and business deals instead of genuine experience with human beings. It's the opposite of the way most travellers that I've come into contact with tend to think.
This is all pretty maddening to watch from the sidelines, but imagine how intensely frustrating it must be for the people who are affected by Trump's choices of enemy. The Iranians just re-elected a moderate president who favours dialogue with the West, and their reward is to still constantly be spoken of as the deadly rival of the United States.
What do you do if you live there and you're just trying to get by? There must be a sense of powerlessness that outsiders can only understand in a very abstract way.
Trump's bonkers decisions affect people who had no opportunity to vote against him, and never will. And yet he either doesn't appreciate that fact, or doesn't care.
Maybe the answer is that he needs to get out more.
Do you find Trump's dealings with the Middle East frustrating? Do you think travel makes you think differently about the world?
See also: Travel guide to the Middle East: Where to now?
See also: What it's like to cross the border from San Diego, USA to Tijuana, Mexico
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