Using Gemini 2.5 As A Persona-Based News Recommender Service: Summarize Trump's Middle East Visit

Kalev Leetaru

2 days ago

Continuing our series in persona-based news recommenders, today we'll take our end-to-end recommender service workflow and ask Gemini 2.5 Pro to analyze global media coverage as an "intelligence analyst tasked with summarizing everything that happened yesterday in President Trump's visit to the Middle East, including identifying the major stories, proposed and signed agreements, diplomatic developments and also how the world is reacting to, framing, contextualizing and portraying his trip" and provide an annotated bibliography of its findings in a concise report. Interestingly, it even picked up niche stories such as WHCA protesting the exclusion of wire reporters, along with the more major developments. While Gemini does not identify it as a discrepancy, it states that Mark Zuckerberg was part of the business delegation, which many outlets reported, while others stated he did not attend. Asking Gemini to explicitly identify discrepancies and conflicting reporting among the coverage, it identifies several interesting differences, ranging from simple framing differences to factual questions. Overall, this approach offers a powerful tool with which to sift through vast volumes of news coverage of an event to discern the major stories and trends and provide links to coverage to read more about each: a kind of deeply analytical news bibliography of complex global events.

We'll follow the same procedure for downloading the GDELT Article List (GAL) files for the given day, which include the title, URL and metadata extended description sentence (via embedded OpenGraph or Schema.org metadata) for each article and then ask Gemini for a filtering grep to limit to just coverage of Trump's trip:

I have a JSON-NL file where each row is a JSON record of a news article with just its title and URL in all the languages of the world. I want you to give me a case-insensitive grep that will return just the rows about Donald Trump's visit to the Middle East. Make it work for all major languages of the world that might be talking about it.

This yields the following grep. While admittedly a bit brittle and overly narrow, it is useable enough for a quick first glimpse of what these results might look like:

This yields 4,205 results and we convert to our title + desc + url format:

time jq -cR 'split("\n") | map(select(length > 0) | fromjson? | {url, text: (.title + ". " + .desc)})' FILTERED.JSON > 20250513-TRUMPMEVISIT.JSON

This consumes 576,000 tokens, which we combine with the following prompt:

Attached is a JSON list of news articles from around the world in various languages. Each line is an article and includes two fields: "url" that is the URL of the article and "text" which is the title and a brief description of the article. You are an intelligence analyst tasked with summarizing everything that happened yesterday in President Trump's visit to the Middle East, including identifying the major stories, proposed and signed agreements, diplomatic developments and also how the world is reacting to, framing, contextualizing and portraying his trip. For each article below, identify the ones that are relevant in any way to your job. Ignore all articles that are not relevant to your job. Output a 3-paragraph top-level summary in English that summarizes the major trends, events, stories from all of the relevant articles that summarizes everything that happened yesterday in President Trump's visit to the Middle East, including identifying the major stories, proposed and signed agreements, diplomatic developments and also how the world is reacting to, framing, contextualizing and portraying his trip. Follow that with a three-page high-level overview with additional detail and include at least one url from one of the relevant articles for each of the themes/trends/events/stories you include as a reference that best summarizes or represents that theme/trend/event/story.

This yields the following report:

Top-Level Summary

President Trump's Middle East visit on May 13, 2025, centered on Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, was heavily framed as an economic and business-driven tour, though it was punctuated by significant diplomatic developments and considerable controversy. The primary narrative revolved around securing massive investment deals for the U.S., with Saudi Arabia committing to $600 billion in U.S. investments, including a historic $142 billion defense agreement. The trip also saw the U.S. approve a $1.4 billion arms sale to the UAE and discussions around chip exports and AI partnerships with Gulf nations. Trump's visit was accompanied by a high-profile delegation of American CEOs, including Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg, underscoring the commercial focus.

Key diplomatic events included the "goodwill gesture" release of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander by Hamas, attributed to the Trump administration's efforts and potentially laying groundwork for a new Gaza ceasefire. Simultaneously, Trump announced a major policy shift by lifting U.S. sanctions on Syria, reportedly after discussions with Saudi and Turkish leaders, and scheduled a meeting with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa. The President also publicly mulled joining potential Russia-Ukraine peace talks in Turkey. These moves occurred against a backdrop of strained U.S.-Israel relations, with Israel notably excluded from Trump's itinerary amid tensions with Prime Minister Netanyahu over Gaza policies, a development widely interpreted as a significant diplomatic signal.

The visit was also mired in controversy. The most prominent issue was Trump's plan to accept a $400 million luxury Boeing 747 from Qatar as a replacement Air Force One, which drew widespread criticism regarding ethical and national security implications, though Trump defended the "gift." Further, the White House Correspondents Association protested the exclusion of wire service reporters from Air Force One. Globally, the trip was portrayed as highly transactional, with commentators highlighting potential conflicts of interest related to Trump's family businesses in the region and questioning the long-term strategic implications of his "America First" approach to diplomacy in the Middle East.

High-Level Overview

Page 1: Economic Diplomacy and Investment Focus

Core Purpose – "Deals, Deals, Deals":
The overarching theme of President Trump's Middle East tour, encompassing Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the UAE, was overwhelmingly economic. Multiple reports emphasized a strategy to "swap politics for business," with the administration aiming to secure substantial investments in the United States and foster trade partnerships. The trip was less about traditional diplomatic statecraft and more about leveraging presidential presence for commercial gain.

Reference: https://www.middleeasteye.net/live-blog/live-blog-update/ai-weapons-trumps-gulf-visit-looks-swap-politics-business

Saudi Arabia – The Trillion-Dollar Ambition & Signed Agreements:
The visit to Saudi Arabia was the centerpiece of the economic agenda. Reports indicated Trump was seeking investment commitments potentially reaching $1 trillion from the Kingdom. On May 13th, concrete agreements were announced:

$600 Billion Investment Pledge: Saudi Arabia committed to $600 billion in investments in the US across various sectors.

Reference: https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-05-13/us-says-it-secured-600-billion-in-investments-from-saudi-arabia

$142 Billion Defense Deal: A historic arms sales agreement, described by the White House as one of the largest in history, was signed with Saudi Arabia. This includes advanced military equipment and services.

Reference: https://english.aawsat.com/gulf/5142589-saudi-arabia-us-ink-largest-defense-sales-agreement-history-trump-visits-riyadh

Strategic Economic Partnership: Beyond specific figures, a broader "Strategic Economic Partnership" agreement was signed, covering energy, mining, defense, technology, and infrastructure.

Reference: https://www.arabnews.com/node/2600606/saudi-arabia

High-Profile Business Delegation:
Accompanying President Trump was a significant delegation of American business leaders and CEOs, including Elon Musk (Tesla, SpaceX, X), Mark Zuckerberg (Meta), Sam Altman (OpenAI), and leaders from Boeing, BlackRock, and Citigroup. Their presence underscored the administration's focus on attracting Gulf capital into US industries, particularly in technology, AI, and energy.

Reference: https://sabq.org/saudia/td4snxxss9 (Mentions Musk & Zuckerberg)

Reference: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/05/13/trump-arrives-in-saudi-arabia-heres-what-to-know/ (Mentions Musk, Altman, and other CEOs)

AI and Semiconductor Deals:
A significant component of the economic discussions revolved around Artificial Intelligence (AI) and semiconductor chips.

The US is considering a deal to provide UAE's G42 with hundreds of thousands of US-designed AI chips.

A deal was expected with Saudi Arabia to allow its new AI company, Humain (launched just before Trump's visit), to access tens of thousands of semiconductor chips with support from Nvidia and AMD. Nvidia announced a partnership with Humain.

Reference (Humain & Nvidia): https://english.aawsat.com/technology/5142592-saudi-arabia-partners-nvidia-spur-ai-goals-trump-visits

Reference (UAE G42 chips): https://finance.eastmoney.com/a/202505133403079478.html

UAE Arms Sale Approved:
Prior to Trump's arrival in the region, the U.S. State Department approved a $1.4 billion arms sale to the United Arab Emirates, including CH-47 Chinook helicopters and F-16 parts. This set a precedent for the defense-related deals highlighted during the tour.

Reference: https://arabic.cnn.com/middle-east/article/2025/05/13/us-announces-14-billion-weapons-sale-to-uae-ahead-of-trump-visit

Page 2: Diplomatic Maneuvers and Regional Security

Hamas Hostage Release – Edan Alexander:
A major diplomatic development was the release of Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander by Hamas after 19 months in captivity. This was widely reported as a "goodwill gesture" towards the Trump administration, potentially brokered through direct US-Hamas channels (reportedly involving pro-Trump activist Bishara Bahbah) and aimed at laying the groundwork for a new ceasefire in Gaza. Alexander reportedly declined to meet Netanyahu but spoke with Trump and was scheduled to meet him in the US.

Reference: https://www.watoday.com.au/world/middle-east/hamas-releases-american-hostage-in-goodwill-gesture-toward-trump-administration-20250513-p5lym6.html

Reference (Refusal to meet Netanyahu): https://khazanah.republika.co.id/berita/sw67x3483/usai-dibebaskan-hamas-tentara-israel-berpaspor-as-tolak-mentahmentah-bertemu-netanyahu

Syria Policy Shift – Sanctions Lifted & Meeting with Al-Sharaa:
In a significant policy pivot, President Trump announced the lifting of all U.S. sanctions against Syria, stating it was to give the country a "chance at greatness" and facilitate reconstruction. This decision reportedly followed urging from Saudi and Turkish leaders. A meeting was also scheduled between Trump and Syria's interim President, Ahmed al-Sharaa (described in some reports as a former Al-Qaeda leader), in Riyadh.

Reference (Sanctions lift): https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/408256

Reference (Meeting Al-Sharaa): https://nypost.com/2025/05/13/us-news/trump-to-meet-syrian-prez-who-formerly-led-al-qaeda-group/

Israel's Exclusion and Strained Relations with Netanyahu:
A dominant narrative was the deliberate exclusion of Israel from Trump's itinerary. This was widely interpreted as a sign of significant tension between Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, primarily over disagreements on Gaza policies and Netanyahu's handling of the conflict. Some analysts framed this as the U.S. potentially sidelining Israel in its regional diplomacy.

Reference: https://mynews4.com/news/nation-world/middle-east-expert-explains-why-israel-was-left-off-trumps-foreign-trip-itinerary-dan-raviv-politics-united-arab-emirates-saudi-arabia-qatar-gaza-hostage-release

Netanyahu's Stance: Despite the hostage release and ceasefire overtures, Netanyahu vowed Israel would continue its Gaza operations with "full force" after Trump's visit, potentially complicating any U.S.-led peace efforts.

Reference: https://www.skynewsarabia.com/middle-east/1795835-%D8%A7%D8%B3%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%85-%D8%A7%D9%94%D9%84%D9%83%D8%B3%D9%86%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A7%D9%95%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8A%D9%94%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AF%D8%AB-%D9%85%D9%88%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%B9%D9%85%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%BA%D8%B2%D8%A9

Potential Ukraine-Russia Peace Talks in Turkey:
Trump stated he was "thinking" about traveling to Turkey for possible peace talks between Ukraine and Russia, scheduled for Thursday, May 15th, in Istanbul. This generated a flurry of diplomatic calls, although the Kremlin remained silent on Putin's attendance. Later reports indicated Secretary of State Marco Rubio would attend.

Reference: http://jordantimes.com/news/world/trump-mulls-joining-ukraine-talks-turkey-kremlin-silent-putin

Iran Policy – Tough Talk and Olive Branch:
During a speech in Saudi Arabia, Trump denounced Iran as a "destructive force" but also offered an "olive branch," urging Tehran towards a "new and better path" and pushing for a new nuclear deal, while vowing Iran would not acquire nuclear weapons. This came as the U.S. imposed new Iran-related sanctions.

Reference (Speech): https://www.breakingnews.ie/world/trump-gives-saudi-speech-urging-iran-towards-a-new-and-a-better-path-1762589.html

Page 3: Controversies, Global Reaction, and Context

Qatar's "Air Force One" Gift Scandal:
The most significant controversy surrounding the trip was President Trump's plan to accept a $400 million luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the Qatari royal family, potentially for use as a new Air Force One and later personal ownership via his presidential library. This sparked widespread ethical, legal, and national security concerns, with critics citing the Foreign Emoluments Clause and questioning Qatar's motives. Trump defended the decision, stating it would be "stupid" to reject such a "gift."

Reference: https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/05/qatar-air-force-one-scandal-trumps-corruption.html

Trump's defense: https://dayton.binnews.com/content/2025-05-12-trump-says-it-would-be-stupid-to-not-accept-free-luxury-plane-from-qatar/

Media Access Restrictions Protest:
The White House Correspondents Association (WHCA) formally protested the Trump administration's decision to bar reporters from major wire services (Associated Press, Reuters, Bloomberg) from traveling aboard Air Force One to cover the Middle East trip. This was seen as a departure from standard practice and a hindrance to comprehensive press coverage.

Reference: https://www.wsls.com/business/2025/05/12/white-house-correspondents-protest-lack-of-wire-reporters-on-air-force-one/

Global Framing and Criticisms:

Transactional Diplomacy: The trip was widely framed as transactional, prioritizing immediate business deals over long-term strategic diplomacy or human rights concerns. The "deals, deals, deals" mantra was a common descriptor.

Reference: https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-gulf-states-tour-israel-benjamin-netanyahu/

Ethical Concerns & Conflicts of Interest: Beyond the Qatar jet, concerns were raised about potential conflicts of interest stemming from Trump's family business ventures in the Gulf region, with some analyses suggesting personal enrichment was a significant motivator for the trip.

Reference: https://www.wlrh.org/npr-news/2025-05-12/ethics-experts-worry-about-the-implications-of-trump-accepting-qatars-luxury-plane

Shift in U.S. Middle East Policy: Trump's direct engagement with Hamas (via envoys), the sidelining of Israel, and the Syria policy shift were seen by some commentators as signaling a potential recalibration of U.S. priorities and alliances in the Middle East.

Reference: https://www.firstpost.com/explainers/will-donald-trumps-west-asia-trip-spark-tensions-with-israels-netanyahu-govt-13887859.html

Lavish Welcome in Saudi Arabia:
President Trump received a notably lavish welcome in Saudi Arabia, with fighter jet escorts for Air Force One and a purple carpet ceremony. This contrasted with the strained relations often seen with traditional Western allies and was highlighted by many media outlets.

Reference (Fighter Escort): https://nypost.com/2025/05/13/us-news/trump-arrives-in-saudi-arabia-after-air-force-one-receives-fighter-jet-escort/

Broader Context – China Trade War Pause:
The Middle East trip occurred shortly after the U.S. and China agreed to a 90-day pause on most tariffs, a development that provided a backdrop of de-escalating trade tensions with one major global power while Trump focused on another region.

Reference: https://thehill.com/newsletters/evening-report/5296355-trump-qatar-middle-east-boeing-hhs-medicaid-sanders-kennedy-gop-salt-cap/

Given that there is conflicting reporting as to whether Zuckerberg attended, let's ask Gemini to dive further into the question of discrepancies in the coverage:

Identify any discrepancies in the coverage: are there claims made in some articles that are refuted by others? If so, provide a list and for each discrepancy, briefly summarize it and provide a URL for each argument.

This yields:

Based on the provided articles, here are some discrepancies or points where coverage offers different perspectives or evolving information:

Status and Intent of the Qatari Luxury Jet:

Discrepancy: Whether the jet is a confirmed "gift" that Trump will eventually own personally, or if it's an "offer" still under consideration, and what Qatar's official stance is.

Argument 1 (Trump's Portrayal/Speculation of Personal Ownership): Some articles highlight Trump's enthusiasm and framing of the jet as a "gift" he'd be "stupid" to turn down, with opinion pieces suggesting he might eventually own it personally.

URL: https://nypost.com/2025/05/12/opinion/no-pres-trump-qatars-palace-in-the-sky-jet-isnt-a-free-gift-and-you-shouldnt-accept-it-as-one/ (Opinion piece suggesting it's not free and he'll eventually own it)

URL: https://dayton.binnews.com/content/2025-05-12-trump-says-it-would-be-stupid-to-not-accept-free-luxury-plane-from-qatar/ (Trump says it would be 'stupid' not to accept)

Argument 2 (Qatar's Stance/Official US Position): Other articles state the Qatari government said a "final decision hadn’t been made" or that the White House referred to it as an "offer" that the administration would handle "conformably to the law."

URL: https://macaudailytimes.com.mo/trump-defends-the-prospect-of-qatar-gifting-him-a-plane-to-use-as-air-force-one.html (Qatari government said a final decision hadn’t been made)

URL: https://www.boursier.com/actualites/reuters/trump-acceptera-le-boeing-747-8-du-qatar-si-l-offre-est-conforme-a-la-loi-maison-blanche-393851.html (White House spokesperson: Trump will accept if offer conforms to law)

Edan Alexander's Meeting with President Trump:

Discrepancy: Initial reports or suggestions that the released hostage Edan Alexander would meet President Trump in Qatar during his Middle East trip versus later reports stating he declined this and would meet in the US at a later date.

Argument 1 (Potential Meeting in Qatar): Some earlier reports indicated that a meeting in Qatar was being worked on or was possible.

URL: https://247.libero.it/focus/66196319/1/israele-hamas-news-hamas-rilascia-l-ostaggio-usa-israele-ha-subito-gravi-torture/ (Mentions envoy working to bring Alexander to Trump in Qatar)

Argument 2 (Declined Qatar Visit, Meeting in US Later): Later reports clarified that Alexander declined the Qatar visit, citing medical needs, and a meeting with Trump would occur in the US.

URL: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/408264 (Edan Alexander declines Qatar visit, plans to meet Trump in US)

URL: https://www.i24news.tv/en/news/israel-at-war/artc-edan-alexander-won-t-travel-to-qatar-to-meet-trump-emir (Edan Alexander won't travel to Qatar to meet Trump)

Nature and Timing of the Syria Sanctions Announcement:

Discrepancy: The evolution of the announcement regarding the lifting of sanctions on Syria, from Trump "considering" or being "open to" it, to a more definitive announcement of intent to lift them.

Argument 1 (Considering/Open to Lifting): Initial reports suggested Trump was mulling the idea or open to it, often in the context of supporting reconstruction or after talks with other leaders.

URL: https://www.israelnationalnews.com/flashes/657297 (Trump open to lifting Syria sanctions amid reconstruction push)

URL: https://www.tayyar.org/News/Business/664847/_guid=664847 (Trump: We are studying lifting sanctions on Syria)

Argument 2 (Definitive Announcement of Lifting): Later reports, particularly after Trump's speech in Saudi Arabia, stated he would lift the sanctions or had ordered their cessation.

URL: https://globalnews.ca/news/11177710/syria-donald-trump-sanctions-al-sharaa/ (Trump to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria)

URL: https://www.dw.com/en/trump-to-remove-all-us-sanctions-against-syria/live-72524029 (Trump to remove all US sanctions against Syria)

It's important to note that some of these discrepancies reflect the evolving nature of news and policy announcements throughout a fast-moving day, rather than outright factual errors in all cases. Different sources also have different access levels and editorial viewpoints that can shape their reporting.

Now let's ask for an illustrative header image prompt to use with Gemini 2.0 Flash's image generation capability (Gemini 2.5 Pro does not support native image generation):

Give me a textual prompt that could be used to generate an image that summarizes this report to be used as the cover page image. It should be cinematic and beautiful but also convey the overall findings of the report above.

This yields:

Epic cinematic book cover art. Donald Trump stands a_central_figure, looking decisive, in a lavish, futuristic Middle Eastern hall blending traditional Arabesque design with ultra-modern architecture, suggestive of Riyadh and Doha. He is shaking hands firmly with a prominent, silhouetted Arab leader (perhaps Saudi) over a gleaming table with signed documents and a miniature oil derrick. In the background, through a vast panoramic window, a dramatic desert sunset silhouettes a modern cityscape and, subtly, a luxury Boeing 747-8 (the Qatari jet) taking off. Flags of the USA, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and UAE are subtly present. The scene is illuminated by golden hour light with dramatic shadows, conveying high-stakes deals, complex diplomacy, and significant economic power. A faint, symbolic dove (for hostage release/peace talks) is barely visible in the sky. Photorealistic, intricate detail, powerful and complex atmosphere.

Gemini 2.0 Flash Image Generation yields:

ChatGPT 4o yields: