, Columnist
Trump Doesn’t Have to Carry Saudi Water
He seems to want to have it both ways on Khashoggi, but he doesn’t need to fear cracking down.
President Donald Trump and Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, in happier times.
Photographer: MANDEL NGAN/AFPThis article is for subscribers only.
For someone so famously pugilistic, President Donald Trump seems to be dodging a fight he can easily win.
The president today said Saudi Arabia’s king had strongly denied his government was involved in the disappearance of journalist Jamal Khashoggi – and then suggested “rogue killers” might be responsible for Khashoggi’s fate. This a) indicates the king knows the journalist is dead, a fact not yet in evidence; and b) is a remarkably weak display of fealty to a kingdom whose human-rights abuses have been condemned from left and right.