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Donald Trump’s smarmy session with the psychotic master of Saudi Arabia destroyed any sliver of dignity that had remained in his gilded Oval Office.
How low did the US president grovel? His forehead bounced off the floor a couple of times.
In return for crown prince Mohammed bin Salman’s vague promise to invest $1T in the US, Trump sputtered this nonsense: "I'm very proud of the job he's done… What he's done is incredible in terms of human rights and everything else is just amazing."
Where did the president get that information? He pulled it out of the Oval Office’s polluted air.
Since MBS' last visit to the US in 2018, Saudi authorities have presided over one of the worst periods for human rights and freedom of expression in the country’s modern history, according to a joint statement from human rights organizations.
“Saudi Arabia’s crown prince is trying to rebrand himself as a global statesman, but the reality at home is mass repression, record numbers of executions, and zero tolerance for dissent,” said Sarah Yager, Washington director at Human Rights Watch. “US officials should be pressing for change, not posing for photos.”
Dreaming of lucrative Saudi sugar plums for the Trump Organization, the president “absolved” MBS for the torture, murder and dismemberment of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. “He knew nothing about it. Things happen and and we can leave it at that,” was Trump’s trite response to ABC’s Mary Bruce.
Even MBS didn’t go that far. The murder of Khashoggi was “painful and a huge mistake, and we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
It’s unclear what he was referring to. “The change in Saudi Arabia seems to be from killing journalists behind closed doors to executing them in plain sight,” said Abdullah Alaoudh, senior director for countering authoritarianism at the Middle East Democracy Center.
Jonathan Dagher, head of the Middle East desk of Reporters Without Borders, ridiculed Trump’s “things happen” remark.
He said luring and murdering a prominent journalist inside a consulate is not a "thing" that happens, whatever Donald Trump may think.
Trump’s trivialization of Khashoggi’s assassination is yet another illustration of his relentless attacks on press freedom around the world, according to Dagher.
He said these comments embolden the hateful rhetoric of so many press freedom predators who have made journalists their preferred targets.
They are music to the ears of anti-press tyrants like MBS, who rules one of the world’s most repressive countries for journalists.
Saudi Arabia is near the bottom of RWB’s press freedom index, checking in at 162 out of 180.
The US slipped from 55 to 57 during the past year, experiencing its first significant and prolonged decline in press freedom in modern history.
Under Trump, the future of press freedom isn’t rosy. Just look how he relished belittling ABC’s Bruce for “embarrassing our guest” with her question about his role in the butchering of Khashoggi during the Oval Office photo-op.
Give me a break. One can be sure that a guy who can order the grisly murder and dismemberment of a reporter is not one who can be embarrassed.
At the very least, MBS should facilitate the transfer of Khashoggi’s remains to his family.
Release the transcript… Virginia Congressman Eugene Vindman, who served on Trump’s National Security Council during his first term, said he reviewed two problematic phone calls that the president had with foreign leaders.
They were with Ukraine president Zelensky and MBS.
“After the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, I reviewed a call between president Trump and the Saudi crown prince,” said Vindman on the House floor. “The American people and the Khashoggi family deserve to know what was said on that call. “If history is any guide, the receipts will be shocking.”
He wants Trump to release the transcript. If Trump is truthful about MBS not knowing about the Khashoggi murder, he should release the transcript. Or is he holding on to it, expecting a bigger return from his paymaster.
Foul-weather friendly… Home Depot CEO Ted Decker blamed the lack of devastating storms as the primary reason that the company missed its third-quarter expectations. Sales inched ahead 2.8 percent to $41.4B while net earnings slipped 1.3 percent to $3.6B.
Decker said though the underlying demand for the products of the biggest home improvement company remained “relatively stable,” an expected increase in demand never materialized. He fingers “consumer uncertainty” and pressures in the housing market as the culprits.
As for the rest of the year, Decker anticipates fiscal 2025 sales will be “slightly positive” compared to last year. Home Depot could use a couple of nasty storms or natural disasters to perk up its financial results.
Tough-talking Texas Governor Greg Abbott has declared the Council on American-Islamic Relations lobbying group to be a terrorist group and has vowed to sue and shut them down in the Lone Star State.
Whatever happened to free speech, Greg? Shutting down CAIR is not going to happen.
CAIR isn’t exactly a new kid in town. The nation’s No. 1 Muslim advocacy group has been around more than 30 years.
Abbott makes the outlandish claim that CAIR is funded by Hamas, and bent on imposing Islamic law, known as Shariah, on Americans. All 342M of us?
CAIR says Abbott is defaming the organization and orchestrating a smear campaign against it.
On its website, CAIR “unequivocally condemns all acts of terrorism, whether it's carried out by al-Qaeda, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any group designated by the US government."
It also notes that its operational budget is overwhelmingly funded by donations from Americans, whether they are are Muslims, Christians, Jews or another belief or way of life.
Abbott’s anti-CAIR proclamation is a publicity stunt for the Republican politico, who believes he has a shot of becoming president some day. Dream on, Greg.
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