Donald Trump’s new shame

| 11:00 pm EDT October 17, 2018
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“President” Donald Trump compared the investigation into what happened to Jamal Khashoggi at the Turkey consulate of Saudi Arabia to what happened with Brett Kavanaugh. In statements over the last twenty-four hours, Trump said he had spoken with both Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and also with King Salman, and both denied any knowledge of what had happened to Khashoggi. Trump stated:

“I think we have to find out what happened first. Here we go again with, you know, you’re guilty until proven innocent. I don’t like that. We just went through that with Justice Kavanaugh and he was innocent all the way as far as I’m concerned.”

In other words, he is siding with the accused in the Khashoggi murder just as he does in most instances, but here he seems to be suggesting the blame is wrongly directed, that somehow there is a false equivalence between Kavanaugh and the allegations against him and what has transpired in Turkey. Trump is suggesting that there is a rush to judgment here and, well, the Saudis have denied they were involved.

Here, we have a situation where Turkey has stated that it has audio and perhaps videotape of the torture and murder of Khashoggi. Trump again suggested that there are no tapes (sound familiar with him?), stating that the United States has requested tapes from Turkey relating to Khashoggi “if it exists.” Trump is siding with Saudi Arabia because they are an important ally and customer for U.S. military exports.

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was sent over to Saudi Arabia in connection with Khashoggi’s disappearance, but reports are that Pompeo and Saudi officials did not discuss the facts of the disappearance. Pompeo stated: “I don’t want to talk about any of the facts. They didn’t want to either, in that they want to have the opportunity to complete this investigation in a thorough way.” Pompeo appears to be a high-priced message boy for Trump and he too is cautioning any rush to judgment because the Saudis have promised a thorough investigation.

We have a situation here where it appears nothing will be done by Trump against the Saudis for what appears to be an execution of a United States resident and also a member of the press. Our “allies” are learning that with this administration, nothing crosses any lines.