Kathleen McQuillan

Day after day, the president hurls his outrageous words and deeds like debris in a passing dust devil. Some of it’s just aggravating. Some disgusting. Sometimes, it inflicts a potent sting.
Other times it triggers horror. President Trump’s recent visit with Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, also known as MBS, was for me outright horrific. My stomach churned as I watched them seated in the Oval Office, replete with its gold-encrusted trappings, poised for the cameras, smiling, and shaking hands.
During Trump’s first term, an international investigation including sources from U.S. intelligence, gathered details concerning the extrajudicial killing of a Saudi journalist. Jamal Khashoggi was an outspoken critic of the crown prince who was accused of several serious human rights violations.
At the time of his murder, Khashoggi was in exile in the the U.S. writing for the Washington Post. On Oct. 2, 2018, he travelled to Istanbul to obtain divorce documents housed at the Saudi Consulate. They needed to be filed before he could marry his fiancee, Hatice Cengiz. As she waited outside in her car, he was murdered, dismembered, and disappeared out the back door. Last month, members of the press corps, hand-picked by the president for this occasion, wasted no time in firing questions at the Saudi prince about his role in this chilling attack on a fellow journalist.
Why was Khashoggi being brought up at this event seven years later? Because his story is now a part of a long-complicated relationship between the U.S. and Saudi Arabia — relations dating back to the 1920s when a geo-political marriage was consummated between two countries over oil. For a hundred years, the parties have navigated the shifting sands of post-colonial economic and political change, protecting each other’s interests to a T.
According to several sources, Saudi Arabia is situated on the second largest proven oil reserve in the world. The Saudi royal family’s wealth is estimated at well over $1.4 trillion dollars, mostly from oil sale revenue. According to Wikipedia, the personal wealth of the crown prince rests somewhere between $5 billion and $25 billion. This helps explain the fanfare surrounding his visit to American soil and President Trump’s knee-jerk defense of his “guest,” to shield him from inquisitive journalists.
Their questions stemmed from the ultimate act to silence the press, the killing of a journalist just doing his job, to find and tell the truth. Trump’s interference was an attempt to do the same — silence the press.
Freedom of the press is a core American value, a principal upon which our nation was founded. It is enshrined in the First Amendment of our Constitution. Trump repeatedly uses his power to undermine that cherished freedom, essential to a healthy democracy.
The purpose of MBS’s visit quickly became evident. He was invited to conduct some serious deal-making. Together, Trump and MBS, with their extraordinary wealth and autocratic hands on the lever, could coax each other into an extraordinary agreement.
By the end of this short visit, these two leaders had signed “A Strategic Defense Agreement” that included the sale of 300 U.S. tanks and F-35 fighter jets to “enhance regional deterrence.”
It would allow for the sharing of critical minerals and access to America’s “world-leading systems” of artificial intelligence intended to further Saudi Arabia’s “civil nuclear energy operations.” In trade, Saudi Arabia would increase its investments in the U.S. economy from $600 billion to $1 trillion to be disbursed over no specified time period.
The White House Fact Sheet, generated on Nov.18, states, “This trademark agreement will deepen the U.S.-Saudi strategic partnership,” … strengthen the U.S. “defense industrial base,” and ensure that Saudi Arabia “continues to buy American.”
Despite “The Fact Sheet,” the American people are left with many unknowns regarding the results of this expansive trade deal made by two of the richest and most powerful men in the world. By the time we learn more, it will probably be too late to address the implications of pouring such an enormous sum of Saudi money into the expansion of the U.S. military-industrial complex. Or what may happen when America has shared its advanced AI systems, or increased its strategic footprint in one of the most volatile regions of the world, not to mention one of the most costly.
According to Brown University’s Costs of War Project, the decades-long post-9/11 “wars on terror” in the Middle East and Afghanistan cost our nation $5.8 trillion in direct costs. With indirect costs factored in, like the interest on war-related debt, long-term veterans’ care, and other social and economic costs, the total becomes $8-$10 trillion and growing. This should be a red alert for this or any future deals, especially when the dealmakers sport such nefarious histories.
At this scheduled White House conference, justifiable questions from the press corps were directed at the individual most implicated in this heinous killing. Those questions were immediately diverted by President Trump with his chastising and dismissal of the reporters who’d asked them.
The crown prince amicably took control by offering his hollow explanation designed to whitewash the crime, claiming it was a mere “mistake.” This should raise a red flag, motivating not just the press to push further on their concerns but also the American public to demand that our elected representatives get answers before the deal goes through. Nations have always sought agreements that reward the parties with attractive trinkets and trade pacts, but an agreement of this magnitude warrants greater oversight.
Intimidation and suppression of free speech and the press have been features of the Trump administration and appears to be intensifying. His use of insults, name-calling, firings, prohibiting reporters’ access, canceling programming, threatening lawsuits, and withholding funds from networks, broadcasters, and publishers, have had an enormous chilling effect.
Let’s not forget that members of the press corps are front-line seekers and defenders of the truth. Becoming complacent is dangerous. For those who are driven to control the story, we should be asking to what lengths might they go to maintain control. Khashoggi’s death is an example of how far it can go. It should act as an informing event as we approach this new phase in U.S.-Saudi relations.
The formal investigation completed in 2019 revealed that several members of the 15-man team that took Khashoggi’s life were close advisors to Saudi Arabia’s de facto man in charge, their crown prince. Evidence showed that the hitmen received approval for the operation directly from him. Few were convicted. Several were pardoned. He’s the man our president shielded from any further questioning. This should raise concerns.