Syrian president Ahmed al-Sharaa was just welcomed to Donald Trump’s White House. His visit represents Washington’s embrace of a sectarian government with little respect for democracy.

An invitation to visit the White House has always been the pinnacle of political whitewashing, at least from a Western perspective. In the Oval Office this Monday was Ahmed al-Sharaa, after he mutated overnight from Abu Mohammad al-Julani, the emir of al-Qaeda splinter group Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra), to Ahmed al-Sharaa, the president of the Syrian Arab Republic, shedding his khaki jihadist uniform for a Western suit and tie.

Donald Trump received him behind his desk, as if quizzing him before granting approval. Just three days prior, al-Sharaa/al-Julani’s name was removed from

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