In public, President Trump has expressed concern over the disappearance of Washington Post writer Jamal Khashoggi, while also emphasizing that Khashoggi isn’t a U.S. citizen and the monetary importance of the U.S. arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
In private, he’s not acting much different, The Washington Post reported.
According to administration officials and advisers who spoke to the Post, Trump has been scrambling to reiterate how important U.S.-Saudi relations are in private meetings this week. He’s stressed the kingdom’s investment in the U.S. arms deal and the potential threat of Saudi cutting off its petroleum supply to the U.S. if tested. He’s concerned that retaliation against the kingdom wouldn’t have much impact because it’s “too wealthy to ever be truly isolated,” in the Post’s words.
Trump has also privately floated Khashoggi’s citizenship status, suggesting he thinks the writer’s disappearance — and alleged murder by Saudi officials — isn’t an American problem, even though the columnist wrote for the Post and is a permanent resident of Virginia.
Nationals security adviser John Bolton and senior adviser Jared Kushner’s whispers have helped shape Trump’s reaction to the incident, with Kushner privately stressing that the Saudis are a crucial part of his Middle East peace plans.
tRump only cares about what this can do to tRump. I hope that we can get a firm grip on exactly how the Saudi’s are helping out the tRump clan… It seems that he is running a bit scared here.
In private? In public too.
Aaargh there IS NO ARMS DEAL.
Der Drumpfenfuehrer is both a sociopath and a moron. Aside from the sociopath’s complete lack of morality and untethering of the US from even lip service to its ideals of more than two centuries (and both make you weep), the moron’s oft-cited “$110 billion” of Saudi arms sales is almost entirely (and possibly completely) illusory. (And it is probable that the Goniff-in-Chief’s Putin-like (and dog-like) devotion to his Saudi masters has more to do with the finances of his crime family than it does with jobs for people he could not care less about.)
I’m guessing that, like Putin, the Saudis have a firm grasp on the end of a financial thread that, if pulled, would unravel the Trump Organization house of cards. Trump couldn’t care less about an arms deal, or about the oil supply, since neither of those things would put any money in his pocket (as far as we know - then again, maybe he’s actively on the take). He cares only about what affects him personally, directly.