President Trump modestly called last month's trip to Saudi Arabia a "tremendous success" and played up a massive $110B arms deal as a way to ignite economic growth in the US.

“Hundreds of billions of dollars of investments into the US and jobs, jobs, jobs,” the deal-maker-in-chief said after signing an agreement with the Saudis. "That was a tremendous day. Tremendous investments in the US.”

Bruce ReidelBruce Riedel

Make America Great Again, indeed.

Sadly, we were snookered. Bruce Riedel, Brookings Institution senior fellow and director of the think tank's Intelligence Project, wrote a report June 5 that dismisses the Saudi arms deal as bogus. Or, "fake news." Riedel's assessment means that our president who complains endlessly about being the target of fake news, is a purveyor of fake news.

Reidel, a 30-year Central Intelligence Agency veteran, wrote that his Capitol Hill and defense business contacts all said the same thing: "There is no $110B deal." It's hot air.

"Instead, there are a bunch of letters of interest or intent, but no contracts," explained Riedel. The Defense Security Cooperation Agency, arms sales wing on DOD, called the Saudi deal "intended sales." And a kicker: "None of the deals identified so far are new, all began in the Obama Administration," noted the Brookings senior fellow.

Riedel doesn't expect many of the $110B worth of weapons to be ever sold. The Saudis are strapped. Low oil prices and a costly war in Yemen have rocked the Kingdom's economy, which has launched a privatization drive to spur growth. In fact, Saudi Arabia was hard-pressed to come up with the cash to pay for the $112B weapons deal during the Obama Administration, according to Riedel.

We should take any future Middle East arms deal claim made by our boastful President with a grain of salt. Watch the Israelis. Riedel wrote that if "Israel begins to ask for a package to keep the Israeli Defense Forces' qualitative edge preserved," we''ll know an Arab arms sale is real.

The bulk of last month's arms deal isn't going to happen. Learning to sword dance was Trump's takeaway in Saudi Arabia. He did have a certain swagger.