Day 970: Leading from behind: Trump awaits Saudi overlords’ military instructions on Iran
The Donald Trump administration’s obsession with and sycophancy toward Saudi Arabia has taken a new turn.
Trump ignored the murder of Saudi national and U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi. He publicly disagreed with a CIA assessment that at Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, known by many as MBS, ordered the killing at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. Trump would later explain that the Saudis buy a lot of American-made weapons, as if that makes an assassination okay.
The Trump administration even tried to give cover to MBS by helping concoct a ridiculous cover story that later had to be walked back because it was so outlandish: that Khashoggi got in a fist fight with 15 trained Saudis.
Over two weeks after U.S.-based journalist and Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi disappeared in the Saudi Arabian consulate in Istanbul — and just two days after it was reported the Donald Trump administration and the Saudis were conspiring to make up a mutually-agreeable explanation for Khashoggi’s assassination — the absurd tall tale of what happened has finally emerged from the Saudis: it was a fist fight that caused his death.
The bootlicking by Trump toward the Saudis has taken another egregious turn over the past few days. After Saudi oil facilities were attacked, Trump indicated that Iran was likely behind the attack, but was awaiting confirmation. He then he admitted that he was waiting for instructions from the Saudis on how to proceed.
Not only is the U.S. looking to escalate a conflict over oil — seemingly for the millionth time — Trump is waiting for Saudi instruction on when and how to do so. Trump said while the U.S. wasn’t “looking to get into a new conflict, but sometimes you have to.”
Except, he doesn’t and the U.S. doesn’t. There are no treaties that say the U.S. must defend Saudi oilfields. There are no agreements that say the U.S. must answer, “how high?” to the Saudi’s demand of “jump”. There is moral responsibility that the U.S. must be a lapdog for a murderous regime.
Trump agreed with that very assessment before he took office.
Now, for reasons not entirely known, but largely suspected (read: corruption, emoluments and self-dealing), Trump is using American resources to act as the Saudis’ personal military.
970 days in, 492 to go
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