It seems tragically clear that Saudi Arabia has tortured and killed Jamal Khashoggi, Washington Post opinion columnist and editor for Saudi newspaper Al Watan. He lived in Virginia, just outside D.C.
Khashogi criticized the Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). He also criticized Donald J Trump. It looks like Mohammed bin Salman killed him. Trump doesn't want to criticize or punish Saudi Arabia. His excuse is jobs - he, the Great Negotiator, was solely and completely responsible for selling $110bn in military arms to Saudi Arabia. So, he is certainly not going to stop that magnificent business deal over such a small thing as an authoritarian regime killing a critic in the press.
Trump's war on the press has given permission to authoritarians around the world to go to war on their press as well. We already see dictators denounce critical press reports and opinions as "Fake News", just like our esteemed president. Well, in authoritarian countries other than the U.S. the war on the press sometimes means death.
Deaths of journalists have gone up around the world since Trump became president, and I think a real reason for that is that the U.S. no longer is the exemplar of moral leadership in the world - no longer is the powerful promoter of human rights and democracy - no longer is the opponent of tyranny around the world. Indeed, this president actively attacks and demeans our allies and praises and sucks up to our authoritarian enemies - Putin and MBS for example.
Trump's violent rhetorical attacks on actual news in America inspires hatred against responsible news outlets. Violence is looming. Khashoggi shows us what can happen - even here, even here, even here.
America must take a very hard line against MBS and Saudi Arabia. This must not be sanctioned with a wink and a nod toward an authoritarian leader in Saudi Arabia by a wanna be authoritarian leader in America.
