Commerce secretary praises lack of protesters during Trump’s Saudi visit

by Brandon Carter - 05/22/17 8:51 AM ET

Wilbur Ross touts the lack of protests in Saudi Arabia during Trump's visit (maybe it's because protesters are jailed & sometimes beheaded?) pic.twitter.com/DQIENgtopz

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 22, 2017

Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross on Monday praised the lack of protests during President Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia.

“There was not a single hint of a protestor anywhere there during the whole time we were there,” Ross said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box.” “Not one guy with a bad placard.”

Host Rebcca Quick noted that the Saudi government did not allow political protests.

{mosads}“That may be not necessarily because they don’t have those feelings there, but because they control people and don’t allow them to come and express their feelings like we do here,” Quick said.

“In theory, that could be true, but boy, there was certainly no sign of it, not a single effort of any incursion,” Ross said. “The mood was a genuinely good mood.”

Saudi Arabia’s government frowns upon political protest, and Saudi people have been arrested for protesting its government. Ross was quickly criticized for his comments on Twitter:

As though this is a positive thing to highlight! No protesters because Saudi Arabia jails protesters & sometimes cuts their heads off. https://t.co/4jgbeRBiOO

— Brian Klaas (@brianklaas) May 22, 2017

Yes, the would-be protesters decided they liked their heads attached to their bodies. https://t.co/EwE7hVcE1A

— Jonathan Weisman (@jonathanweisman) May 22, 2017

I grew up in Saudi Arabia and one of my friends was executed for having one joint in his suitcase. I’m not that surprised about this, Wilbur https://t.co/f4zg7lT6i4

— John Hagner (@JHagner) May 22, 2017

Trump admin admiration for authoritarianism, installment #3535 –> https://t.co/xdtNLoC6G5

— Jesse Ferguson (@JesseFFerguson) May 22, 2017

Maybe someone should have reminded Wilbur that unlike the U.S., protesting isn’t looked favorably upon in Saudi Arabia https://t.co/N9EWQNxQaT

— Emily C. Singer (@CahnEmily) May 22, 2017