Donald Trump was met with an enthusiastic reception as he bantered with Saudi business and political leaders on Wednesday. The former president, speaking at the US-Saudi Investment Forum, humorously remarked about the absence of ‘transgender’ and ‘liberal’ individuals in Saudi Arabia. From the stage, he shared a hearty laugh with the audience, suggesting that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s people would be astonished by the ‘woke’ happenings in America. Trump further boasted that after his return to office, the notion of ‘woke’ has become ‘virtually illegal’ in the United States.

His comments came while addressing an international audience in Washington, D.C., following a meeting with the Saudi Crown Prince at the White House. Trump faced criticism for his effusive praise of the leader, commonly referred to as MBS. At the Kennedy Center, Trump continued his accolades, describing MBS as the ‘most respected man in the room’, and claimed he frequently mentioned the prince’s name to highlight the accomplishments of his administration’s first year back in office. As Trump veered off script to discuss the contentious issue of biological men participating in women’s sports during Joe Biden’s presidency, he noted the confusion among the Saudis in attendance, jesting, “A lot of the Saudis are sitting here saying, ‘What the hell is he talking about transitioning?’ They don’t do a lot of transitioning.”

Trump went on to label supporters of transgender issues in the U.S. as ‘crazy.’ In Saudi Arabia, while not specifically illegal, any transgender expression, including cross-dressing, is criminalized under uncodified moral and Sharia-based laws. The kingdom is notorious for its harsh penalties against homosexuality. Continuing his critique, Trump asserted that the term ‘liberal’ is non-existent in the Middle Eastern nation. He joked, “I don’t know about in your country – I don’t know if you know that word ‘liberal,’ the word ‘liberal’ doesn’t exist,” drawing laughter from the audience. However, he expressed regret that Democrats want to usurp the term ‘progressive.’

‘You can’t use ‘liberal,’ you have to use the word ‘progressive.’ And I don’t like using it. It’s a beautiful word, ‘progressive.’ Progressive – that’s not them. They’re regressive,’ Trump insisted. Later in his wide-ranging speech, Trump said that he is pushing to get a single approval for Artificial Intelligence legislation because if it has to go through all 50 states it would become too ‘woke.’ He claimed that ’50 states is a disaster because you’ll have one woke state and you’ll have to do all woke.’ ‘We don’t have woke anymore in this country. It’s virtually illegal,’ Trump bragged. ‘But you’ll have a couple of wokesters and we don’t want to do that. We want to get the AI done.’

Trump faced backlash for his chummy meeting with MBS on Tuesday – and specifically for defending him against a line of questioning over US intelligence findings that the Crown Prince ordered the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. The president claimed the question was embarrassing. He claimed the Saudi dissident and Washington Post journalist was an ‘extremely controversial’ person, and insisted that MBS ‘knew nothing about’ his death. Khashoggi entered Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul, Turkey on October 2, 2018 to obtain marriage documents – he never left. International investigators concluded that he was strangled and dismembered with a bone saw, and that his body was removed in pieces in suitcases.

The CIA concluded in November 2018 that bin Salman ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. Trump is now disputing those findings. He dismissed the brutal murder of Khashoggi, who relocated to the US in June 2017, and said on Tuesday alongside MBS that ‘things happen.’ Also on Tuesday, Trump named Saudi Arabia a major non-NATO ally, which is a designation given by the government to countries that hold a strategic working relationship with the US. The US pledged to sell state-of-the-art F-35 fighter jets to the Saudis, which would make them the first Middle Eastern country other than Israel to obtain the warplanes.