While MAGA supporters in the U.S. including Laura Loomer and Ben Shapiro continue to criticize President Donald Trump‘s proposed acceptance of a $400 million jet from the Qatari government — they characterize it unequivocally as a bribe — Fox News stars Sean Hannity and Bret Baier are offering less criticism as they follow Trump during his Middle East tour this week.
As seen below in Saudi Arabia, Baier gave a tour of Boulevard City, which he calls “a diverse entertainment hub in the heart of Riyadh.”
In his special report, Baier says, “It has basically everything, it has restaurants, cafes, it has sports experiences, go karts, snooker academy, a WWE spot, there’s a McDonald’s, there’s a Randy’s donuts, even a Shake Shack…there’s even a mini New York Times Square.”
Baier added, “Believe it or not, this massive place took 118 days to build. At its most, it had 40,000 construction workers working the same time.”
We visited a diverse entertainment hub in the heart of Riyadh and you won't believe how many days it take to build the entire thing #SpecialReport #FoxNews pic.twitter.com/oNsTyJD7ca
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) May 12, 2025
Baier’s fans in the U.S. are responding on X in awe of the speedy construction and complaints of U.S. construction, with comments including “Why can’t we build that fast here in the States? It takes years to replace a bridge to Cape Cod…” Another critic of America’s construction prowess writes: “But it takes the US 5 years to build a small scale mall.”
Baier neglects to mention that the engine of Saudi Arabia’s massive construction boom is migrant workers. There are approximately 13.4 million migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, representing 42 percent of the country’s population.
Human Rights Watch reported in December that “giga projects” in Saudi Arabia like Boulevard City “are built on widespread labor abuses.”
Others are criticizing Baier’s report for failing to mention Saudi Arabia’s practice of executing foreign nationals, which the United Nations reports is on the rise: “foreign nationals constitute 75 per cent of all executions for drug crimes in Saudi Arabia in 2024.” There were more than 300 executions in 2024.
[NOTE: “Saudi Arabia seems to have lifted a previously announced unofficial moratorium, in 2021, on the use of death penalty for drug-related offences in the country, and executions of foreign nationals appear to be increasingly taking place without prior notification to death row inmates, their families, or their legal representatives,” said observers quoted in the UN findings.]
Maxwell Black replied to Baier on X: “Did you attend any public beheadings Bret?”
And another replied: “Shocking how Republicans have become so cozy with Saudi- whose nation contributed 15 of 19 terrorists responsible for 9/11 attacks and whose leader, MBS, had an American resident and Washington Post reporter – Jamal Khashoggi – killed in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in Trump 1.0.”
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