May 15, 2025 - Trump Middle East trip and presidency news

Our live coverage of Donald Trump’s presidency has ended for the day. Follow the latest updates or read through the posts below.

President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One to depart Al Udeid Air Base on Thursday, in Doha, Qatar.

For a leader who campaigned on a promise of “America First” with deep isolationist strains, the first major overseas trip of President Donald Trump’s second term signaled he may be breaking from the foreign policy doctrine of his first term — and emerging as more of a globalist.

At least when it suits him.

He’s already spent his first few months aggressively transforming the role of the US in the world, and his four-day trip through Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates this week has underscored how dramatically he has reimagined traditional alliances and inserted himself into global conflicts.

While Trump is hardly turning a new leaf, several moments along the way suggested contradicting views from his first term. The same president who issued a controversial travel ban on seven Muslim countries in 2017 paid a visit to the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi on Thursday. The same president who blasted Qatar for ties to terrorism embraced the nation’s emir this week.

The changes show he’s willing to depart from typical GOP and MAGA positions, as Republicans in Congress and elsewhere have shown a repeated reluctance to criticize their party leader. Underscoring that point, a top Democrat praised Trump for his meeting with the interim Syrian president and his general handling of the trip.

Read the full story on how he displayed engagement.

House Republicans continued to voice a range of concerns about the Trump’s agenda bill Thursday afternoon, showing House Speaker Mike Johnson still has some distance to cross in getting the bill across the finish line.

Rep. Keith Self said he is currently a “no” on the bill and said there must be “major changes” to the bill.

“I think everybody knows that we’ve got to get major changes to it,” he said, citing the deficit as a primary concern.

Rep. Don Bacon, though, voiced more optimism and said he believes Republicans are “pretty close” on the bill.

“I think we’re like 90% there — 95% there,” he said.

He said he had three issues with the bill, calling them “little loose ends I’m trying to tighten up.”