Yesterday, I was driving along, listening to the news headlines on the hour. The first story was that the official Saudi word on the cause of Jamal Khashoggi's death was a fight that got out of control -- and the second story was that the Saudi's had arrest 18 men who were involved. Involuntarily, I burst out laughing.
It's not often that one starts laughing at a news story about a brutal murder and dismemberment.
Seriously, that's almost like a Saturday Night Live sketch. Here's a middle-aged, overweight man who went to the Saudi embassy in Turkey to get wedding documents and we're expected to believe that he supposedly got into a fight with a team of 18 trained government interrogators that escalated to the point where it took them all just to try to subdue the ninja journalist but he was such an amazing fighter that they were unable to and in final desperation had to kill him...and then they had to dismember him and whose remnants were made to disappear.
.
And what was Trump's official response to when asked if he found the Saudi "credible"? His answer was -- "Yes, I do."
That's the kind of story a 4-year-old tells when his hands and face are covered with chocolate pudding and his parents asks what happened to the now-empty bowl of chocolate pudding, and then they ask him if he expects them to believe that. And he replies, "Yes, I do."
Then again, this is the man with the crack perception and "insight" who initially said the killers of Jamal Khashoggi might be "rogue thugs." That he now says that the Saudi explanation of an 18-against-1 fight followed by dismemberment is "credible" all fits in perfectly with his explanation of hacking the presidential election being done by a 400-pound man living in his parents' basement.
And whose initial reaction was that he didn't want to screw up business dealings with Saudi Arabia over the mere murder and dismemberment of one man. Who wasn't even an American. (Never mind that he was a U.S. permanent resident who has children who are U.S. citizens.)
Now, toss in his wide-eyed, oh-so-innocent "Who me?" denial of any personal and Trump Organization business connections with Saudi Arabia, despite a long record of business dealings with Saudi Arabia.
There are two possibilities here: either Trump is the most naive, foolishly-trusting, utterly incompetent observer of human nature of all world leaders today, and possibly in the history of mankind. Or he's a complicit pathological liar. Okay, there's a third possibility -- all the above.
How impressive that Trump has not yet named an ambassador to Saudi Arabia. What could possibly go wrong with that? Now, throw in that Jared Kushner is the America's only point man in Saudi Arabia -- and who considers Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (suspected to be the person behind this gruesome assassination) as something akin to his surfing buddy -- what could possibly go wrong with this all??
For the past six months or so I've been writing that all this isn't about Trump, it's about the Republican Party officials who enable him. Well...this is about Trump. This is all on him. How the GOP reacts is a secondary issue. I don't put it past some of them to try to give Trump cover on this, they've sunk so low into the darkness that they are unable to read the map out of hell. But for the moment, there are many who've spoken out critically about the Saudi government murdering and dismembering a journalist -- let alone one who is U.S. permanent resident with children who are U.S. citizens -- and called for sanctions and an investigation to find out all the details.
But for right now, this is about Trump.
Okay, and Saudi Arabia.
And maybe Jared Kushner.
It's not often that one starts laughing at a news story about a brutal murder and dismemberment.
Seriously, that's almost like a Saturday Night Live sketch. Here's a middle-aged, overweight man who went to the Saudi embassy in Turkey to get wedding documents and we're expected to believe that he supposedly got into a fight with a team of 18 trained government interrogators that escalated to the point where it took them all just to try to subdue the ninja journalist but he was such an amazing fighter that they were unable to and in final desperation had to kill him...and then they had to dismember him and whose remnants were made to disappear.
.
And what was Trump's official response to when asked if he found the Saudi "credible"? His answer was -- "Yes, I do."
That's the kind of story a 4-year-old tells when his hands and face are covered with chocolate pudding and his parents asks what happened to the now-empty bowl of chocolate pudding, and then they ask him if he expects them to believe that. And he replies, "Yes, I do."
Then again, this is the man with the crack perception and "insight" who initially said the killers of Jamal Khashoggi might be "rogue thugs." That he now says that the Saudi explanation of an 18-against-1 fight followed by dismemberment is "credible" all fits in perfectly with his explanation of hacking the presidential election being done by a 400-pound man living in his parents' basement.
And whose initial reaction was that he didn't want to screw up business dealings with Saudi Arabia over the mere murder and dismemberment of one man. Who wasn't even an American. (Never mind that he was a U.S. permanent resident who has children who are U.S. citizens.)
Now, toss in his wide-eyed, oh-so-innocent "Who me?" denial of any personal and Trump Organization business connections with Saudi Arabia, despite a long record of business dealings with Saudi Arabia.
There are two possibilities here: either Trump is the most naive, foolishly-trusting, utterly incompetent observer of human nature of all world leaders today, and possibly in the history of mankind. Or he's a complicit pathological liar. Okay, there's a third possibility -- all the above.
How impressive that Trump has not yet named an ambassador to Saudi Arabia. What could possibly go wrong with that? Now, throw in that Jared Kushner is the America's only point man in Saudi Arabia -- and who considers Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (suspected to be the person behind this gruesome assassination) as something akin to his surfing buddy -- what could possibly go wrong with this all??
For the past six months or so I've been writing that all this isn't about Trump, it's about the Republican Party officials who enable him. Well...this is about Trump. This is all on him. How the GOP reacts is a secondary issue. I don't put it past some of them to try to give Trump cover on this, they've sunk so low into the darkness that they are unable to read the map out of hell. But for the moment, there are many who've spoken out critically about the Saudi government murdering and dismembering a journalist -- let alone one who is U.S. permanent resident with children who are U.S. citizens -- and called for sanctions and an investigation to find out all the details.
But for right now, this is about Trump.
Okay, and Saudi Arabia.
And maybe Jared Kushner.
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