Here is the President of the United States having a grinning thumbs-up photo with a man who ordered the brutal murder of a Washington Post journalist.
A reminder via the NYT: Saudi Crown Prince Is Held Responsible for Khashoggi Killing in U.S. Report
Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia approved the assassination of the Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018, according to an intelligence report that the Biden administration released on Friday that offered the world a reminder of the brutal killing.
An elite team of operatives helped carry out the killing, the report said. The team reported directly to Prince Mohammed, who cultivated a climate of fear that made it unlikely for aides to act without his consent, according to the report. It omitted the brutal details of Mr. Khashoggi’s death, including the dismemberment of his body with a bone saw after Saudi officials lured him to their consulate in Istanbul.
But the Biden administration took no direct action against Prince Mohammed, the de facto ruler of the kingdom, instead announcing travel and financial sanctions on other Saudis involved in the killing and on members of the elite unit of the Royal Guard who protect the crown prince. The administration concluded it could not risk a full rupture of its relationship with the kingdom, relied on by the United States to help contain Iran, to counter terrorist groups and to broker peaceful relations with Israel. Cutting off Saudi Arabia could also push its leaders toward China.
To be honest, I would have preferred that the Biden administration had been more forceful in this matter, but I understand the realpolitik of it all. But I also find it stomach-churning that a US president would want to gladhand and hang out with MBS.
But this is just another example of how Trump clearly prefers the company and approval of authoritarian rulers to that of our long-standing allies. Contrast his bonhomie with MBS with the way he treated Justin Trudeau or Volodymyr Zelenskyy, to pick but two examples.
And if one wishes to defend this, whether in writing or simply within the confines of one’s own mind, pause and think about the levels of rationalization being undertaken to reach that conclusion.
At least be willing to say that, yes, it is actually a good thing to berate Zelenskyy, to insult Trudeau, and then to embrace Mohamed bin Salman. Realize what you are supporting.
This is not just a simple game of R v. D.
Seriously, we should all stop and think now and again how Trump deals with democratic allies and how he deals with autocrats. He is constantly telling on himself as to what he values. This is not just the typical fact that the US has to be nicer to authoritarians than we might like to be the case.
Again, I understand the international relations rationale to maintain certain levels of cordiality with Saudi Arabia. That does not require what we saw from this visit (or, really, the visit itself at all).
I am old enough to remember Sarah Palin asserting that Obama “pals around with terrorists” (a reference to Bill Ayers). But here we literally have the President of the United States palling around with someone who we know ordered the brutal murder of a journalist and democracy advocate who worked for one of the US’s premier newspapers.
But what are human rights when you can be treated like a king by a king-in-waiting?
