Trump amid the shifting sands

Keeping track of criticism of President Trump can be dizzying. This week, one is that he is too accommodating of America's Muslim allies.

Trump's weekend visit to Saudi Arabia has drawn fire from critics in politics and the press who warn, in the words of The Washington Post, that he "shouldn't get too cozy" with the petrostate's royal family. Trump's inveighing against Islamic extremism while he stood on Saudi soil was inappropriate, these critics argue, because the Saudi's support Wahhabism, the philosophy behind much terrorism.

We'd argue, on the contrary, that if Saudi-backed Wahhabism is at the heart of today's terrorism problems, then the Saudi capital seems the perfect place in which to proclaim it.

Trump's decision to make Saudi Arabia his first overseas trip as president also upset those who saw it as a sign of accepting the kingdom's human rights abuses, illiberal ways and severe restrictions on women. This is simplistic. Washington has always found it necessary to work with unpleasant regimes in order to advance strategic goals.

Think of FDR, all smiles with Stalin. Or, less long ago, Nixon engaging with China as a Cold War maneuver. Every administration since then has continued to work with China for trade and diplomatic ends, even in the face of its egregious human rights abuses.