Interview with Aaron Magid, author of “The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan” – “King Abdullah is likely more beloved in Washington than inside Jordan”
Magid, Aaron. “The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan”. Universal Publishers: Irvine and Boca Raton, 2025.
Munich, Germany (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) — Aaron Magid is a former Amman-based journalist for outlets such as Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, Al-Monitor, the Atlantic Council, and Al-Jazeera. He hosts the podcast On Jordan. He obtained a Master’s Degree in Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. We talk to him about his book “The Most American King: Abdullah of Jordan”.
–The title of your biography of Abdullah II of Jordan is “The Most American King”. Can you explain to the readers the reason behind this title?
King Abdullah II has unique ties with the US, especially for an Arab leader. He grew up attending middle school and high school in Massachusetts. He was a member of the wrestling team at Deerfield Academy and, when his father asked that he do Arabic lessons, he would hide in the closet because he wanted to fit in with his American peers. He trained with the US military in Kentucky, studied at Georgetown University, and he so much enjoyed this experience that he sent his own children to this prestigious Washington, DC, university. He was in a Star Trek episode in the 1990s and when he became king in 1999, he actually spoke English better than Arabic. In addition to Abdullah’s personal ties, he also has strong political connections. King Abdullah was the first Arab leader to meet in the White House with presidents Trump, Biden, and Obama. There are thousands of US troops in Jordan under both Democratic and Republican administrations. Jordan under King Abdullah’s rule was the first Arab country to have a Free Trade Agreement with the US and Washington provides Jordan with about $1.5 billion annually.
-In the book you explain that no polling about the popularity of the king is allowed in Jordan. Is it allowed to poll on the popularity of the US?
Yes. After the 2003 Iraq War, the US’ popularity declined, then it went up during the Obama administration but since 2023 and the Israel-Hamas War, the popularity of the US has decreased in the Hashemite kingdom.
-You explain in the book that you interviewed key personalities such as Leon Panetta, Ehud Olmert, or Tony Blair, but that you were not granted an interview with Abdullah II. What would you have asked him if you had given the chance of putting only one question?
I would have asked the king what was Saudi Arabia’s role in the 2021 Prince Hamzah affair, especially as Bassam Awadallah, who was jailed for the incident, served as an advisor to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman.
-Can you shortly explain what the Prince Hamza sedition affair is?
It was a very important incident in Jordan because the royal family is generally considered united behind King Hussein and now King Abdullah. Prior to the affair going public in April 2021, there was some criticism by Prince Hamzah, Abdullah’s half-brother, of the system, corruption in the country, although not directly of the king. Then in April 2021 Jordanian authorities accused Prince Hamza of launching a seditious attempt to take control over the country. He was very popular in Jordan because he is King Hussein’s son and he both speaks and looks similar to his father, who was beloved in Jordan. There were some people, especially among the tribes, who thought he might have been a better king. When this affair was announced, he was placed under house arrest and his social media was restricted, and until this day he remains in Jordan. We do not really know his perspective on what exactly happened because he has not had any media engagements since April 2021.
-In the book, you write, in reference to the Iraq War in 2003 and other moments across the years, that “the contrast between Abdullah embraced in Washington amid protests in Jordan has been another theme that has repeated itself throughout his reign.” Is King Abdullah far more beloved in the West than at home?
In general, he is likely more beloved in Washington than inside Jordan. I would offer the caveat that there is no quantitative proof either way because the Jordanian government prohibits polling on the king’s popularity, probably because they do not want the results to show unfavorable approval levels. There has been a series of events that have affected his popularity. One of them is the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. King Abdullah did not support the Iraq War, he thought it was a mistake, but at the same time he took a different approach from his father King Hussein, who was fervently opposed to the Gulf War and this led to US aid for Jordan decreasing in the 1990s. King Abdullah allowed US troops to be stationed in Jordan during that period and then, when the war started, he worked with the US to train Iraqi security forces. He played, from the US perspective, a productive role in that war. But many Jordanian citizens asked themselves how they could be supporting a war against another Arab country. Additionally, the gas deal with Israel nine years ago was widely unpopular in the country. Finally, we have the incidents in the past year and a half where Iran fired missiles and drones over Jordanian territory and Jordan shot them down, also allowing US troops stationed in Jordan to do the same. There are certainly considerable segments of Jordanian citizens who are saying: why are we involving ourselves in this war, why are we shooting down these Iranian missiles to save the lives of Israeli citizens? Finally, many Jordanians are frustrated with the poor economic conditions, especially as the unemployment rate is over 20 percent.
-In the book, you write: “Even as some Jordanians are frustrated by the king’s stance on democratization, many more citizens remain outraged by the kingdom’s dismal economy under his reign.” GDP per capita in Jordan has not significantly risen during the last ten years, and it is unlikely to do so soon given the downturn in tourism due to the war in Gaza. Can Jordan remain politically stable without economic growth?
A key element to understand why King Abdullah has remained in power for so long is the support he has from the Jordanian security forces. King Abdullah grew up in Jordan’s military, where he served for over 15 years, rising from a young officer to eventually leading the special forces’ unit. He has a certain amount of loyalty from the Jordanian security forces because of his service. Jordan has also learned the lesson from the 1970 civil war, when thousands of people were killed in the clash between the Hashemite kingdom and Palestinian militants. During that conflict, many members of the Jordanian army were of Palestinian descent and defected to the PLO side. Since then, and according to Wikileaks, Jordan under King Abdullah’s reign has ensured that senior members of Jordan’s security forces are of East Bank and tribal background to ensure that such an uprising won’t happen again. Moreover, unlike in neighboring Syria or Egypt, there is no part of the Hashemite kingdom that is under autonomous control by armed groups not affiliated with the regime. Also, during key moments, whether the Prince Hamza affair or the protests after the Gaza War, the security forces have stood firmly behind King Abdullah and ensured that no revolt could succeed. Furthermore, King Abdullah has used a nuanced form of dissent. Jordan is not a democracy, it is ranked as authoritarian by the Economist and there are arrests of journalists when they criticize the king, but he does not use a brutal level of violence against opposition groups like you see under Iraq’s Saddam Hussein or Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, which has reduced discontent in Jordan. Finally, the alliance with the US is also critical providing Amman with advanced weaponry and billions of dollars in aid.
-Do you think that if the Jordanian state as it is found itself in danger, the US would step militarily or provide more funds for the state to survive?
Yes, Jordan is a key ally of the US, and Washington’s most dependable Arab partner. What makes Jordan unique is its relations with both US parties over decades. Regarding how the US would respond to a crisis, I would point to how the US reacted in 2011 during the Arab Spring when there were protests in Jordan. Back then, President Obama did not intervene in such a blatant way as he did with Hosni Mubarak in Egypt and this played a role in the continuation of King Abdullah’s reign. Whenever King Abdullah has faced significant challenges, whether regional war, protests inside the country, or an inflow of refugees the US has repeatedly increased aid for Jordan.
-On Trump’s return to the White House, Jordan needs to deal with a US president that threatens to remove Palestinians from the Gaza Strip and has implemented massive cuts in US aid. Jordan cannot accept Trump’s plans for the Gaza Strip but cannot afford to antagonize him because the country is highly dependent on US aid. What are the options for Abdullah II when navigating this complicated situation?
There were widespread reports about the US cutting aid worldwide at the beginning of the year but after King Abdullah met Trump in February, Reuters reported that aid for Jordan would continue with hundreds of millions of dollars being sent to Jordan for security assistance. It shows that King Abdullah’s strong understanding of the American political dynamics and his relationship with members of Congress in both parties have ensured that US aid to Jordan has resumed even with the MAGA movement seeking to decrease aid. King Abdullah was firm about not accepting hundreds of thousands of Palestinian refugees from Gaza. But this is not unique, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia… had the same view. King Abdullah’s meeting with Trump went relatively well because afterwards Trump released a video where he told the Jordanian people how King Abdullah is one of the “true great leaders of the world” and that they are “lucky” to have him. It shows that, even though King Abdullah opposed Trump’s Gaza plan, he managed to do it diplomatically
When it comes to military aid, we have discussed how King Abdullah managed to convince Trump to keep things as they were. But what about US multilateral aid going to UN programs such as those of UNRWA or UNHCR or bilateral aid through USAID, both of them key for Jordan to be able to take care of refugees? Jordan is the second country in the world in refugees per capita.
UN assistance is important for Amman. The fact that the US has decreased its aid to these organizations has hurt Jordan, but it is a much better situation than losing all of US aid. This would have had serious long-time implications for US-Jordanian relations but also on the Hashemite’s kingdom security situation because Amman faces considerable budget woes and does not have another opportunity to raise $1.5 billion in cash annually. Some say that Jordan could go to Russia, China, and Iran but these are not real options for Jordan for such large sums of aid
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