The perplexing image of Donald Trump, lost in a state of cult-like concentration, his lower chin ethereally lit by the glare of the glowing orb he was clutching alongside King Salman of Saudi Arabia, confounded the Internet. Twitter users, already unsettled by videos of Trump jiggling to a traditional ardah sword dance in an idiosyncratic gait of rigid mortification, were then set for a further shock. Pictures showing the exterior of the Ritz Carlton in Riyadh were circulating. It was illuminated with a scowling projection of the president’s face. Presumably, the hotel-sized reincarnation of his visage was meant to stand as a symbol of allegiance between Saudi Arabia and the United States of America. In reality, it looked more like a lurid, SunnyD-induced, sci-fi nightmare.

As the Internet spawned a thousand memes, Trump stood up to make his first major speech on the international stage Sunday, and befuddled audiences yet further. Addressing 50 representatives from Muslim countries, the courtier of controversy struck a curiously emollient tone. “We are not here to lecture, we are not here to tell other people how to live, what to do, who to be, or how to worship,” said the president, in a languorous, 33 minute-long speech. “We are here to offer partnership-based on shared interests and values.”

As the president begins the second leg of his international tour Monday in Israel, it is worth noting the brazenness of this pivot, even for Trump, who is virtuosic at spinning clashing narratives. Speaking in the confines of the opulent ballroom, he praised Saudi Arabia as a “magnificent” and “sacred” land. Last year, in his bid to put America First, he claimed the kingdom, ruled by an absolute monarchy, wants “women as slaves and to kill gays.” He has also been vocal in blaming Saudi for the 9/11 attacks. "Who blew up the World Trade Center? It wasn’t the Iraqis,” he said to Fox & Friends in February 2016. “It was Saudi—take a look at Saudi Arabia, open the documents.”

But this weekend, both administrations skidded over their checkered history, and the rickety foundations of their relationship. Indeed, before the president had even arrived at the Ritz Carlton, he was driven through a city decked out like a Trump tribute act, filled with American flags and billboards flashing with his tweets. In turn Trump (who fiercely castigated Obama for bowing to the Saudi king on a previous visit) drew on his newfound willingness to dance—both physically and ideologically—to Saudi Arabia’s tune.

Trump’s attempts to deepen ties with Saudi Arabia have come in tandem with a raft of business deals announced over the weekend, which includes a $110 billion arms deal, to fan out over the next ten years. The wider implications of this flourishing economic and diplomatic alliance tie in neatly with the less amicable aspect of Trump’s speech, in which he attacked Iran. If the Obama administration worked at thawing relations with Iran, implementing the famed nuclear deal, Trump has sweepingly negated this work, accusing the nation of stoking the “fires of sectarian conflict and terror in the region.”