Trump. The worst U.S. President in history. Photo: Gage Skidmore–Flickr.
In a scene reminiscent of his backing of Russian President Vladimir Putin at this year’s Helsinki Summit, President Donald Trump, Betrayor-in-Chief has sided with the Saudi regime in the assassination of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi. He called the murder “terrible” while still saying he “intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country.”
Trump’s only “interests” here is his own.
In the past, Trump said this of the Saudis “I get along great with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million. Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much!”
As he did in Helsinki, when he sided with President Putin, Trump ignored the assessment of America’s intelligence agencies that: Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman likely ordered Khashoggi’s execution. In fact, Trump has been running interference for the Saudis ever since Khashoggi’s murder first came to light. Now he proclaims, “we may never know all of the facts surrounding the murder.”
Does it sound like he’s interested in “the facts?” Here Trump is delivering his rendition of “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil.”
In an astounding recent statement, Trump spent more time condemning Iran, while ignoring Saudi Arabia’s barbaric backwardness. He barely mentioned the butchering of Mr. Khashoggi—who was murdered and dismembered inside the Saudi consulate in Turkey, apparently by 15 Saudis, on Oct. 20, 2018.
Trump’s statement gives lip-service to Khashoggi’s murder saying it was “terrible,” while claiming to “have taken strong action against those already known to have participated in the murder.” The “strong action” is the claim that “We have already sanctioned 17 Saudis known to have been involved in the murder of Mr. Khashoggi, and the disposal of his body.” Of course, no mention is made of who these people are—especially, in connection to the Saudi regime, or, to Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman.
Instead of condemnation against Saudi Arabia, Trump decided to use the opportunity to attack Iran—possibly as a prelude to America’s next war of aggression. He made the head-scratching, claim that Iran is “responsible for a bloody proxy war against Saudi Arabia in Yemen. The weird wording here evades the all-important question of: why Saudi Arabia is in Yemen in the first place?
Trump also said Iran was “the world’s leading sponsor of terror.” This is a curious statement to make when the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is also involved in the conversation.
According to a study done by the Combating Terrorism Center, at West Point Military Academy, Saudi Arabia “contributed the highest number of foreign fighters to al-Qaida’s fight in Iraq between August 2006 and August 2007.” The Combating Terrorism Center based these findings on the Sinjar Records which “were captured by coalition forces in October 2007 in a raid near Sinjar, along Iraq’s Syrian border.”
Does Donald Trump know about this? Also, does he know about Wahhabism, a reviled religious doctrine—that is hated by most Muslims, because of its intolerant interpretation of Islam? Does he know of its deep roots and connection to Saudi Royal Family?
Some scholars have denounced Wahhabism as a doctrine that encourages so-called “Islamic terrorism,” although this dogmatic doctrine isn’t the only factor to consider regarding terrorism. However, Saudi Arabia is clearly a country where terrorism has incubated, alongside religious zealots, who believe in murdering those viewed as apostates of the Muslim faith.
Doesn’t this help to explain why the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is so in love with beheading people? In an April article, this year, in the U.K.’s Guardian Newspaper, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reportedly had already beheaded 48 people. According to Human Rights Watch, Saudi Arabia executed some 600 people since 2014.
In a nation which uses beheadings as its regular, preferred, form of execution, should we be surprised the Saudis butchered Khashoggi’s body? Trump’s disregard for this dead journalist tells us much about his current disdain for American journalism.
Trump’s fight against American media is a lesson in his hypocrisy.
Ever since he was elected president, by the Electoral College, Trump has waged war against the so-called “liberal” media. He has continued to proclaim that the mainstream media is the “enemy of the people,” even after mail-bomber Cesar Sayoc sent several bombs to prominent Democrats—and two to CNN offices.
Recently, Trump stripped CNN’s Jim Acosta of his White House press pass, and called Acosta “a rude, terrible person.” Obviously, Trump wishes he could punish people, especially journalists who challenge him, like his benevolent friends the Saudis do. The recent reports that he wanted the Justice Department to prosecute Hillary Clinton and former FBI Director Jim Comey, for the crime of being opponents, are examples of his criminally corrupt nature.
Around the same time Trump was attacking Acosta, he was also busy disparaging three African-American female reporters: CNN’s Abby Phillip, Urban Radio Networks’ April Ryan and PBS’ Yamiche Alcindor.
When Abby Philip asked him whether he hoped flunky acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker would “reign in” Robert Mueller’s Russia probe, Trump snapped saying “What a stupid question that is… I watch you a lot. You ask a lot of stupid questions.”
April Ryan annoyed Trump when she tried to ask him about voter-suppression, which he refused to answer. During that exchange he told Ryan to “sit down.” He later called her a “loser,” who “doesn’t know what the hell she’s doing.”
And when Yamiche Alcindor asked Trump about his characterization of himself as a “nationalist” and whether this “emboldening White nationalists,” Trump played the reverse-racism card saying, “that is such a racist question.”
Importantly, earlier that day, Patrick Casey, the White nationalist leader of Identity Evropa visited Trump’s White House. Identity Evropa participated in the White supremacist march, of 2017, in Charlottesville where 32-year-old Heather Heyer was killed.
Trump probably wishes he could behead his opponents—including pesky press people who keep hounding him about his ties not only Russia, but to racists as well.
Of course, the supreme irony here is that: America’s mainstream media—more than any other single deciding factor—is the real reason Donald Trump now sits as the President of the United States, Russian meddling notwithstanding. Russia surely seems to have meddled in the 2016 Elections—but media was the determining factor in Trump’s victory.
Let’s recall the comment of recently resigned CBS CEO Leslie Moonves who said, in Feb. 2016, when the media was busy giving Trump plenty of political airtime “It may not be good for America, but it’s damn good for CBS.” In fact, Trump was not only “damn good for CBS,” but he was “damn good” for all of corporate media, which made oodles of money—while they were giving this circus clown wall-to-wall coverage. The media overexposure gave average Americans—who don’t follow politics closely—the impression that Trump was trending positively with his entrance into presidential politics.
Therefore, mainstream media legitimized Donald Trump, unwittingly, in the eyes of the American people. This surely propelled him to victory.
Moreover, didn’t media help him to construct the false narrative that he was some self-made King Midas—and not the trust-fund baby that he is? Long before Trump decided to run for president, didn’t media know this to be the case?
Why did mainstream media assist Trump in erecting this bogus biography of himself?
Truthfully, Trump should be thanking the media everyday for helping him get elected. He probably does, secretly. However, he must now denounce them for belatedly trying to unmask him as the sexist, racist rich-kid of privilege that he is.
Much of mainstream media’s Russia coverage is their way of trying to correct the damage they did in assisting Donald Trump, the village dunce, in winning the White House. Ironically, although American media helped to get Trump elected, he has signaled to despots across the world—by his tolerance of Kashoggi’s assassination—that he’s willing to barter with the lives of journalists, providing there is something in it for Trump.
