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Gertz: Trump's Blunt Style a 'Refreshing Change' From Obama

Washington Free Beacon senior editor Bill Gertz discussed President Donald Trump's first foreign trip since taking office on "Politics and Profits with Rick Amato" in an interview published Sunday.

The theme of the trip, Gertz said, was America reasserting its leadership role again.

Gertz said Trump's trip was "very successful," beginning with the arms deal with Saudi Arabia, a reset of the "disastrous" Obama administration foreign policy, a historic first visit to the Western Wall by a sitting U.S. president, and a warning to NATO allies to meet their defense spending obligations.

Gertz added that Trump's unpredictable style kept European leaders off-balance.

"He cultivates that unpredictability," Gertz said. "He's very blunt and very outspoken, and, of course, that upsets a lot of the European elites, especially the leadership elite. But I think it's a refreshing change from the past."

"I'm confident that they'll get the message that basically America is back," he added. "It may have been in retreat under Obama, but clearly American leadership is once again reasserting itself. I think that was kind of the underlying theme of the Trump travel mission there."

Gertz said that the liberal press was too focused on pushing "conspiracy theories" that the Trump campaign colluded with Russian officials to meddle in the election.