I am not so sure that is a good enough assessment. Biden could have 'talked' to them as well if the explanation were that easy. AI is not that new.
The country I am in, the folks mostly seem favorable about Trump when USA politics come up. I think most people simply respect a strong leader if they do not know the nuances of that country's politics.
They do polls on world leaders and the last I saw Trump was 7th.
Of course Modi is far and away the leader -- 76%. Milieu also has a very high favorable rating there.
But the rest of the top few are pretty decently rated. Albanese is surprisingly strong, even though they have many issues they need to work on, he has made some strides. But many folks there are getting somewhat jaded.
Sheinbaum, Carney, and Keller-Sutter (who is the only European higher than Trump) are all still in a honeymoon phase. So, I am not sure how their ratings will be in a few months.
Then you have a nice drop-off to the folks that are consistently below 50% down to 35% -- Meloni, Tusk, Støre, Wever, Sanchéz, Lula de Silva, Schoof.
But for Trump to essentially trail Modi and Milieu and the three new leaders is a decent sign. I would not be surprised with the issues Canada and Mexico have that he might pass those two. He might pass Keller-Sutter if she does not fix their economic slowdown and banking and housing issues they have looming.
But overall, I think most countries simply respect a strong leader and Trump is that for sure. You can hear what the other leaders of countries and pundits are saying, even in the Middle East countries.
Yes, there are four main things that need to be at the forefront of most developed countries and energy and AI are two of them. So, yes, there are reasons for the Middle East to talk. But the reasons have not changed in the last 3-4 years, at least. They simply did not respect Biden, and Biden and his advisors misunderstood how to talk to them anyway.
Like the guy over there said the other day, you can tell Trump really just wants peace in the area.
It does not necessarily have to get results right away. In the first term it was not immediate. Then you had the move of the capital in Israel, the Abraham Accords, then more oil.
So, it is a good thing that they were receptive to having him visit. Because he wants to establish a relationship and support with the power players there for several reasons. To get some settlement with Iran on nuclear goals and terrorist support. Peel the ME away from China and Russia and bring down the price of oil. That way he will curtail Putin's, more or less, only source of income. Then he is attempting to use his Jacksonian-type deterrent on foreign policy. This is antithetical to his base that prefers simple negotiations to any potential hostilities. The other dichotomy is the oil industry back home prefer the industry to grow.
Time will tell if he can get results and not frustrate his base at the same time. But there was far, far more to it than just oil and AI. So, it is nice to set up a good potential relationship with the leaders in that region.