Saudi Arabia Is Planning To Impress Donald Trump With an All-Male Concert by Country Singer Toby Keith

After hearing that Donald Trump plans to dazzle the leaders of Saudi Arabia and other Muslim-majority countries with his musings on Islam during his first foreign trip as president, you may have thought to yourself, “Well, at least it can’t get any worse, right?”

Wrong. In an effort to wow Trump, The Washington Post reports (emphasis mine) that Saudi officials have:

“…arranged a dizzying schedule of events for the two days Trump will be in town — inviting figures as varied as Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, who has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Court, Bret Baier, a host on the Fox News Channel that is popular with Trump and his supporters, and American country singer Toby Keith who is to perform for a male-only crowd in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.”

Setting aside the planned hob-nob with an alleged war criminal, country singer-restaurateur Toby Keith seems like a particularly strange choice for the Saudis. This is, after all, a performer whose two most recognizable songs are:

• A jingoistic anthem released as the U.S. was sending troops into the Middle East after 9/11. (Which contains such memorable lyrics as: “Justice will be served and the battle will rage / cause we’ll put a boot in your ass / It’s the American way.”)
• A rollicking ode to getting shitfaced (“Red solo cup I fill you up / let’s have a party”)

Given Saudi Arabia’s national prohibition on alcohol and the country’s alleged links to the attacks on the World Trade Center–which Trump himself inelegantly hyped on the campaign trail–Keith’s performance should be a smash-hit.