Walt Handelsman, The Advocate, October 15, 2018
It’s hard for WC to understand why anyone is surprised President Trump says he believes Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Of course he believes the Crown Prince’s denials that he ordered the murder of American journalist Jamal Khashoggi,
Think about it: this is Trump’s fantasy, acted out in real life. You don’t like a journalist? Have him murdered.
Trump is long on record that responsible, principled and independent journalism is his enemy. “Fake news,” after all, is news that is unfavorable to Donald Trump. American mainstream media – rarely the even more critical international media – is the “enemy of the people.” Reporters are “stupid” and “liars.” Reporters that confront him are attacked, either verbally or by having their press credentials arbitrarily revoked.
Trump, who has absolutely no respect for law or the Constitution, doubtless envies an autocrat who can have his enemies in the press ambushed and murdered. Trump’s attempts at autocracy are usually summarily reversed by judges. And Trump then characterizes those judges as “very bad,” or “biased,” or “stupid.” Note Trump’s criticisms are always of the judge personally, not the law or the judge’s reasoning. Trump always attacks the judge personally, indulging his penchant for ad hominem attacks rather than the more difficult business of the merits. But WC digresses.
Trump admires and envies the Crown Prince’s ability to assassinate those he dislikes, those who inconvenience him. Remember, when the news of Kashoggi’s murder first broke, Trump’s response was to criticize the clumsiness of the assassins, not the homicide itself. Much of Trump’s unseemly delight in dictators, in WC’s view, is envy of their untrammeled and arbitrary power. Trump finds himself hedged in by the Founding Fathers’ system of checks and balances written in to the Constitution. Congress failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. Trump’s edicts on immigration, press credentials, the environment and half a dozen other arbitrary exercises are struck down by the courts. Trump envies and desires the unlimited authority of tyrants.
Combine that envy with his narcissism and you get Trump’s defense of Saudi Arabia’s international terrorism.
It’s much like asking a young basketball wannabe grade school fan of Lebron James to criticize the King.
Sure, it’s wrapped in the horrible excuse of economic and trade necessity. “We need Saudi Arabia to hold oil prices down” and “Saudi Arabia is a bastion of defense against Iran.” That speaks to America’s continuing failure to learn from prior mistakes in supporting and defending tyrants. But those are all flimsy excuses. The real reason is evident: sociopathic envy.
Wickersham's Conscience 
Interesting theory … I had not of it in that context just the greed context.
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WC
Trump’s hidden finances, as well as Jared’s and his family’s real estate financing difficulties, go a long way to explaining this as well, in addition to his penchant for autocrats, as you point out. Someday the US and the world may find out what family finances in the past, or still to occur in future, are the specific explanations for this position. With Trump, there is no position of the United States, there is only what’s good for my personal interests, and if the US presidency can provide the bankroll, so be it. Kushner is complicit in this as well, as their attitudes are identical, and their objectives are to serve only their own wants, not the nation’s.
paul eaglin
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