Story highlights Trump's pitch to a room full of leaders of Muslim-majority nations: We are all in this together

But the benefits of his speech will pale when measured against the firestorms that are sweeping his White House

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia (CNN) With his address in Riyadh, "Our friends will never question our support," President Trump sought to roll back perceptions that America's ambitions in the Middle East are in retreat.

By design or coincidence, his remarks Sunday mirror those made in a similar setting five years ago by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov, who told Arab League leaders in Cairo that "Russia will always back its allies."

Back in December 2011, the US under Obama did nothing to stop President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in Tunisia and President Hosni Mubarak in Egypt from being toppled during the Arab Spring.

And in 2011 Lavrov, who recently was a guest of Trump's at the White House and has been at the center of controversies Trump left behind in Washington, was also trying to win over the US's Arab allies.

Fast forward to today and Trump is challenging America's old Arab allies about "honestly confronting the crisis of Islamist extremism and the Islamist terror groups it inspires."

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