For Trump, Instinct After Florida Killings Is Simple: Protect Saudis (NYT)

[dalton99a]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/12/07/us/politics/trump-pensacola-saudi-arabia.html

For Trump, Instinct After Florida Killings Is Simple: Protect Saudis
Before issuing his own condolences, the president channeled the Saudi king’s, and avoided any discussion of the hard questions about why the U.S. is training Saudi officers.
By David E. Sanger
Dec. 7, 2019, 8:30 p.m. ET

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — When a Saudi Air Force officer opened fire on his classmates at a naval base in Pensacola, Fla., on Friday, he killed three, wounded eight and exposed anew the strange dynamic between President Trump and the Saudi leadership: The president’s first instinct was to tamp down any suggestion that the Saudi government needed to be held to account. ...

Mr. Trump was so quick and so eager to assure the Saudis that the relationship would continue before anyone knew how to categorize the shooting that it raised questions about how the administration would have responded if the suspect had been an Iranian, or an immigrant from Mexico. During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump often cited the killing of a young woman in California by an undocumented immigrant as a reason to crack down on immigration and build a wall along the southern border. ...

It was hardly the first time Mr. Trump had shown such tendencies. After the brutal killing in Istanbul of Jamal Khashoggi, the Saudi dissident and a legal American resident, Mr. Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo played down American intelligence findings that closely tied Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, to the matter. The findings suggested he had connections to the members of the hit team sent to Turkey — and almost certainly played a role in ordering them to bring Mr. Khashoggi back to the country by force.

Mr. Trump’s and Mr. Pompeo’s initial promises to follow the evidence wherever it led dissipated. Over the past year, Mr. Pompeo has expressed deep annoyance whenever the topic is raised. The United States was awaiting the results of a Saudi investigation, he often said, as if he expected that to offer a full accounting. And he told members of Congress that no matter the truth of what unfolded, the relationship between the kingdom and Washington was too important to be held hostage to one vicious, ill-thought-out act.

[JoeOtterbein]

1. K n R ! Thanks for posting!

And for the opportunity to add my fears.

[SergeStorms]

2. Didn't the Saudis bail out slug-in-law Jared?

Jared's 666 Park Ave. property was going under and I think it was rumored (perhaps more than rumored) that the Saudis bailed his scrawny little ass out. Who knows how much the Saudis have stuffed down Donnie's tighty-whities, but you can bet they've "contributed" something to the Trump cause. Donnie will run interference for disgusting dictators, and those who give him boatloads of money. Just don't expect him to display any loyalty because you were loyal to him.

[demmiblue]

3. K&R

Link to tweet

No.