When Trump visited UAE to launch the 'Beverly Hills of Dubai'

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When Donald Trump visited Dubai in 2014, the focus was on his partnership to build a golf course and an estate of luxury villas. Any announcement that the property tycoon was planning what was then considered an audacious bid for the White House was not on the itinerary.

The then-67 year old was best known as a flamboyant billionaire whose fame was assisted by his role as host of hit TV series The Apprentice, but he was also showing an interest in politics.

Mr Trump arrived in Dubai in May 2014, flying in with his daughter Ivanka on “Trump Force One”, his luxury Boeing 757 private jet in which the interior fittings are plated in 24-carat gold.

The billionaire had been on the verge of signing a deal in the city in 2005, but plans to build a hotel and residential complex on the Palm Jumeirah with Nakheel were dropped with the global financial crisis that began in 2008.

This time, the deal was with Damac Properties, with a collection of 100 luxury villas bearing the name Trump Estates in the Damac Hills development on the outskirts of Dubai.

The homes were described at the time as presenting “the opportunity to live the Trump lifestyle” with interiors designed by Ivanka Trump, whose face featured prominently on billboards across the city along with the tagline billing the development as “the Beverly Hills of Dubai”.

To launch the project, which featured a Trump International Golf Course, the media was summoned to the site just off the E77 motorway, where a temporary tee box had been set up.

Watched by Hussain Sajwani, founder and chairman of Damac Properties, Mr Trump struck a golf ball deep into the desert. He was so pleased with the shot that orders were given for an aide to retrieve the ball so it could be framed and hung in the new clubhouse.

He then described Dubai as "actually a solid investment now" and added that "a lot of people want to be here because of that".

"There’s so many places you could go but Dubai is a solid investment, a solid place," he told the BBC. "It’s a vibrant place and the people are vibrant and smart. I would say it's a safe haven. People love to invest in Dubai because they like Dubai."

The conversation then switched to US politics and his poor opinion of the president, Barack Obama, whose approval ratings were plummeting.

“We have a lack of leadership at the top and the president has not done a good job and a lot of people are agreeing, even his own people are agreeing that it has not worked out well for President Obama,” he said.

He then went a step further, in comments that now look remarkably prophetic given we now find ourselves in 2025 with President Trump working his way through his second term in the Oval Office.

"The good news is that we have tremendous potential and, with the right leader, the country can turn round so quickly it will be unbelievable," he added. "I think eventually we’ll get the right person. You don’t want it to go too far down but eventually we’ll get the right person and when we do it’ll all straighten out."

It now looks like the person he had in mind to "straighten out" his homeland was himself. Barely a year later, he announced his bid for the presidency at Trump Tower in New York, winning the election in November 2016.

President Trump will return to the UAE this week as a part of a diplomatic sweep through the region, with trips also to Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

He is planning to arrive in the Emirates on Thursday and Friday and is expected to present a friendly face to the region in contrast to some of the tough rhetoric directed at the EU, Ukraine and other countries.

The trip will “obviously be dollar deal-focused”, a State Department official told The National. “We have Saudi, UAE and potentially Qatar announcements as well.”