Bashar al-Assad and Vladimir Putin make fun of Trump in Damascus, talk about changing him 'for the better'
Both friends and foes treat President Donald Trump alike. In December, a number of leaders from the West appeared to mock the president at the Nato anniversary celebration at London’s Buckingham Palace and the latter, reportedly irked by it, left the summit early. Among the leaders who seemed to have ridiculed the mercurial Trump were Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, British Premier Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron, Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte and others. Even a video of the same had gone viral and Trump’s exit was not too far from that.
A month-and-half since then, he was mocked again and this time by the other side. At a recent summit in Damascus, Syria, the country’s president -- Bashar al-Assad and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin were caught making fun of the ‘most powerful man on earth’ in a video that has now become viral.
The two leaders, known to be allies, were even found giving a biblical reference to joke about the Republican’s personality. During a visit to a Greek Orthodox church, the pair talked about the biblical story of Saul’s conversion to Christianity on the way to Damascus. In the video which was tweeted by a Russian journalist, Assad was heard saying: “If Trump also traveled on this road, it would fix him.”
'It will change Trump for better'
His words left all of those present, including Putin, amused and saying that would change Trump “for the better”, he urged Assad to send an invitation to the American president. “He’ll come,” he said.
Assad, who has successfully defied the West with his war against the countrymen, responded saying he was ready. Putin then said he would tell Trump about it. Putin made a surprise visit to Syria last week where he met Assad at a Russian military base to discuss the military situation there. Russia is one of the strongest allies of Syria in its battles and with its formal joining of the Syrian civil war in 2015, it saw the tides turning in favor of Assad.
Trump has been less confrontational with Putin compared to previous American administrations even though he is not sympathetic towards Syria. While a section of observers expected that Trump would be less attacking over Syria because of his will to have a good relation with Russia, he did not stop short of launching missile attacks against the Assad regime in 2017 and 2018 following two chemical weapons attacks. He has not spared Iran, another close ally of Syria, and ordered the assassination of one of its top military leader Qassem Soleimani, who played a key role in helping the Syrian regime in fighting rebel forces.