RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — It was rather hard to parse why Hillary Clinton, the former Democratic presidential candidate, and Tucker Carlson, the contrarian right-wing commentator, had been invited to speak at a real estate conference in Saudi Arabia.

Neither had much to say about real estate. Yet, on Wednesday, they took to the stage — separately — at a hotel ballroom in Riyadh, the capital of the conservative Islamic kingdom.

Thousands of miles from home, where clashes were raging after federal agents killed two Minnesotans in the street, the two political adversaries held forth on life lessons, offered advice to the kingdom’s authoritarian leadership and found at least one patch of common ground. They are both fans of the changes taking place in Saudi Arabia, they said.

“It is exhilarating to see the development,” said Clinton, who lost the 2016 presidential election to Donald Trump.

Carlson, a television personality turned podcast host whose uncritical interview with a white nationalist last year helped deepen fractures in Trump’s coalition, mused that Saudi Arabia, a hereditary monarchy, was “kind of a weirdly free place.”

“One of the things I love so much about coming here is you go to dinner in Riyadh or other cities in the area and you run into people you know from other places,” he said. “It’s like: Yeah, of course, everyone is in Saudi.”

If that all sounds a bit unexpected, consider that the absurd has become ordinary in the new Saudi Arabia, as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman unleashes seismic social changes, even as he deepens political repression.

Ten years ago, music and gender mixing were effectively banned in public. Today, young Saudis dance at government-sanctioned raves, and women — who until 2018 were barred from driving — are increasingly living on their own, buying apartments and driving themselves to work. Critics of the changes have been imprisoned.

With government officials eager to attract tourists and investors, the conference was held a few days after Saudi Arabia further opened up its insular real estate market to foreign buyers.

“The message my country is sending out is that we want you to feel Saudi Arabia is home,” said Hala al-Tuwaijri, the head of the government-run Human Rights Commission, who spoke directly before Carlson at the event.

Big-name American celebrities might once have shunned the kingdom over its human rights record, but some now make regular appearances. Representatives for Clinton and Carlson could not be reached for comment.

Among those who have traveled to Saudi Arabia are Will Smith, Alicia Keys and Johnny Depp. Some celebrities are enthusiastic repeat visitors, while others travel in exchange for hefty compensation.

Last month, rapper Cardi B shared a series of exuberant and slightly unhinged videos about a trip to Riyadh, including one in which she declared that the people were “hip” and raved about the food, delighting many Saudis.

“Everything is brand new, honey,” she said. “They got that real money.”

Clinton’s take was somewhat more subdued. She said, nonetheless, that she had been impressed by the development that had taken place since her last visit more than a decade ago, when she was secretary of state.

“The example that the kingdom is setting for the right kind of development — ambitious, audacious, but organized, focused, bringing people, men and women together to move into the future — that is a very strong model for other parts of the world,” she said.

Clinton met with the crown prince, and with Prince Turki al-Faisal, a former Saudi ambassador to the United States whom she called a “very valued friend.”

“I can’t wait to call Bill and tell him that I got to see you,” she said of her husband.

Among the foreign investors drawn to Saudi real estate are members of the Trump family; this month, the Trump Organization announced that it would lend its brand to a new golf club and gated community in Diriyah, a sprawling state-owned development.

Last year, Carlson accused Trump of being “complicit in the act of war” by bombing Iranian nuclear sites in cooperation with Israel. But he seemed to be on the same page as the Trumps when it came to the allure of Saudi real estate, waxing lyrical about “the calm, the stability, the safety” offered by Riyadh.

After he finished speaking, Saudi fans chased after him to take selfies.

“If the Saudi market was not big, he would not be here,” said Fahad al-Shubaily, the head of an architectural design firm in Riyadh, after he managed to grab a photograph with Carlson.

It was unclear if Clinton and Carlson crossed paths. She spoke in the morning, and he in the late afternoon. But Riyadh is increasingly the type of place where peculiar moments happen, as Carlson noted.

When he visited last year, he was surprised to encounter an Orthodox Jewish businessman from the United States with whom he “had mutual friends,” he said.

“You run into all these other random people, and it’s, like, the world needs places like that,” he said.

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This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

By Vivian Nereim/Eric Lee
c. 2026 The New York Times Company