Yes the Kashoggi murder is horrific. And Yes Trump is without any moral compass.
Yet at the same time it is quite amazing to watch Americans pontificate from their high horse.
America, the country that made Rendition famous.
America that pretended waterboarding and 'enhanced interrogation' wasn't torture.
America who operated, and operates, Black Prison sites around the world.
America, whose drones kill thousands, many innocent, in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, the Middle East and Africa.
America, who has Special Forces death squads operating in many countries, and has trained and sponsored death squads throughout Central and South America.
America who ordered seperate drone strikes on its own citizen and his son, killing them both.
So the Saudis are reprehensible murderers and Trump is totally without morals but the Americans are throwing stones from their glass houses.
28
Mitch McConnell is laughing at the reality of the criminal Donald Trump and his Republican Operatives. McConnell never makes a decision for the good of the country when he can make one to benefit himself or his party. He is indeed the most destructive force in this government. He makes Trump look like Obama.
15
I am not as bothered by the dishonesty and greed so much as the incompetence, which allows all the sordid details to be brought to us in almost life like color.
1
Uff! For once I can tell that I agree with Mr. Friedman. And totally agree with him. This disgraceful Khashoggi case would be quickly settled in any good Court of Justice. Trump is playing with words as it’s his usual way of life. Horror commands attitudes, but this implies either a good number of neurons or a minimum ethos which we can even find in animals. The latter is not the case with neither amoral Islamic jihadists nor amoral self proclaimed Christians.
13
40 kids die on a school bus with a US-built, Saudi-delivered laser-guided precision bomb. 85,000 kids starving/starved in Yemen according to today’s WaPost. Bone Saw kills Khashoggi, Bone Spurs covers-up and caves-in. But our weapons sales are booming and life is good!! As one example, Lockheed stock is up 2X over last ~4 years and CEO made >$20M last year! They apparently sleep well at night. But why don’t the rest of us?
30
Trump respects his masters - MBS, Putin, Netanyahu - and takes their orders.
Is that too difficult to understand? The man who pays the pipe calls the tune.
10
MAGA = Make Arabia Great Again
13
Mr. Friedman, here is the problem.
Despite all of Trump's blather about "America First!" POTUS could not care less about America. Trump's real mottos
are "Trump First!" and "MTR - Make Trump Richer!"
So once you see that Trump, like any good Narcissist always asks when he wakes up in the morning, "What can I do to make Trump richer and more powerful today?" it is pretty to easy to understand his actions and motivations.
Let's take your example of the U.S. Embassy move to Jerusalem.
In your mind (as a rational human being with knowledge of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict), you see the location as a point of leverage over the Israelis. A president could use the move to get concessions from the Israelis in order to move the peace process forward with the Palestinians.
Trump sees it as, "If I move the Embassy, it will make American evangelicals vote for me. That makes me more powerful. Move the Embassy."
Trump sees only what is right in front of him. He doesn't see the big picture and the complexity of it. He offers simple solutions to complex problems because the problem he is trying to solve runs wild deep in his psyche: that Trump is an incompetent loser.
No matter how hard he tries to deny it, Trump knows he is a failure and a fraud. Witness his need to compare his mansion to that of Osama Bin Laden in his attack on Admiral McRaven.
So my advice is to avoid trying to over-intellectualize Trump. He is very transparent and very sick.
22
Let me be perfectly clear. I never, ever, in a million years want to drive over a bridge, highway, use a utility, enter an airport, or any other type of infrastructure in the United States in which Mohammed Bin Salman, the murderer is making money off US citizens.
That would mean the $20 B Kushner/Trump/Ross/Schwarzman Blackstone deal that was brokered in Saudi Arabia last year with the Saudi “Private Investment Fund” aka Salman’s Private Corp., should be torn up and burned.
PS. How much did Trump make on that brokerage fee?
https://money.cnn.com/2017/05/21/news/companies/saudi-arabia-blackstone-deal/index.html
11
Another excellent column—not news about the real estate salesman (who “Fails Again”—great Goldberg column). But this causes me to recall again the July 2016 New Yorker article about Tony Schwarz, who wrote _The Art of the Deal_. (O, you thought Trump wrote it?) Schwartz mentions that a close friend of Trump sent to Trump, early in The Donald’s career, a copy of Hitler’s speeches, and that Trump kept them “by his bedside,” according to Ivana. So, the clown knows from idiotic puffery.
Yet, it’s not trivial that keeping oil prices low (the Saudi trade-off) hurts sanctioned Russia’s and sanctioned Iran’s need of easy income, which compels more of each’s funds to be devoted to domestic welfare, rather than military adventurism.
Peace in Yemen, stronger Ukraine, fewer refugees from the Middle East into Europe ain’t peanuts, if that can happen along with China resolving the trade war (and the U.K. feeling too little need anymore for Brexit that the EU keeps better collaborative leadership, going into the uncertainty of German politics and nationalist fantasies of leaving the EU).
It’s all so complicated, isn’t it.
Saudis are trying to buy American moral values, and Trump is happily selling away for the money.
We supply Saudis with weapons of war to make money. Most of the 9/11 terrorists came from Saudi. Saudis just brutally murdered a journalist based in the US. And with our weapons, Saudi's are bombing Yemen and killing kids on school buses. And the people of Yemen – babies and children, too – are starving to death. And we wonder why there's so much hatred in the world against us Americans - breeding the likes of Taliban and ISIS. We’re making the world a more dangerous place just so we can make more money from the business of war.
May be America never had any real sense of moral values. After all, we dropped two atomic bombs – the biggest genocide in history matching the Holocaust killing babies, kids, and women – and still justify to ourselves as they were "life-saving" for ending WW2. And we let many Japanese war criminals go untouched – those who perpetrated the war as well as chemical weapons experiments on living humans – in exchange for helping America kill even more people in Korean War and for the data obtained from those heinous experiments. No wonder Vietnam and Iraq ensued.
None of this can be justified.
We're selling away our moral values and lives for the money. WAKE UP MORAL AMERICA!!
5
We have always been adicted to oil but Trump's level of immorality is new.
Your conclusion lets Trump off the hook.
Moral terpitude combined with being a chump = Trumpitude.
7
Trump IS an amoral chump. Therefore, he does what he wishes because it suits him and his wallet.
Essentially, this is a lazy man who can't be bothered to make deals. He was never really good at them, despite his self-promotion. We need only look at all the bankruptcies his businesses had.
Thus, it is ridiculous to expect Trump to do anything good for the world. He is all about himself and nothing else.
8
Did Trump know in advance about (help) Khashoggi's assassination? Is Saudi investments in his businesses his 30 pieces of silver?
5
Each day the corruption grows at the same rate as the delusion of 1/3 of the American people. Alternately the press which has been the intellectual conscience of the country, the educated, intellectuals, and government employees are the enemy elite who need to be drained from the swamp. Are we becoming Cambodia? Is Trump a fascist version of Pol Pot aided by the Khmer Rouge Republican Party and soon their legions will come to re-educate us on how to bow to their alternate reality? I don't know if we are being fearful enough in the face of the confused and fearful. I am not even sure if we can survive all of this without permanent damage to the world order. Can all of this be happening from the actions of one narcissistic moron and his deranged cult? It is mind boggling as well as unbelievable what is happening to my country.
7
If the GOP had not sold out lock, stock and barrel to Trumpism the way forward would be less challenging. The great give away of principles, values and sense of governance honed over years by the GOP trashed in less than one year. Ryan left to worry over whether blessed are the poor was an attack on trickle down economics. Solution: fire the Chaplain for getting out of his lane.
I continue describing Trumpism as a weed in an otherwise suitable garden. Eradicating or jerking it up by the roots, the only road to redemption for the GOP. My great fear, much easier said than done. Mr. Friedman understands the risks, appreciates the stern challenge, and remains ready for the the struggle.
3
Trump may be an amoral chump, but WE the people are absolute impotent chumps under him. A nation of foolish, voyeuristic, people who take his nonsense day in and day out and unable to stop him.
15
When's that "infrastructure" thingy supposed to get going? And how is it going to be financed? Will the Fed be asked to use it's BitCoin leverage to pay for new airports and schools and fresh water lines? How about protecting our coastlines from red tide and algae blooms, storms, erosion, coral damage? Who will pay for that, or does it all go on our credit cards? If we are going to "boom" as an economy, we need to upgrade our assets and invest in maintenance. "Clean Energy" will get here when it gets here, let that market work. Offering incentives for R&D into renewables and sustainables is as far as the government should go, imho.
America lost its moral standing in Vietnam. I say that as an ex-Marine. Now we have lost our self respect. We’ve become a country of junkies and whiners.
13
Touch your hand on hot stove, you get burned. Give a moron the presidency, ....
12
It may interest Me Friedman and all the comment posters just how Trump-land is viewed in other parts of the world. I used to thank Americans for the vast entertainment value of their politics, but now it is no joking matter. I used to say that if Satan was running for the Republicans he would still get 45% of the vote, but now that is no longer hyperbole. It's very sad that the word America is no longer a mark of high standing in the world, but the punchline of a very tasteless joke. Hang in there America, the world will respect you again once you get rid of this clown.
12
Please help me understand: an article in the NYT the other day said that we produce more oil than Saudi Arabia and this article advocates that we get off oil by 2025. If we produce more oil than Saudi Arabia, why does it seem that everyone states that we NEED their oil?
I agree to the need to convert to non-carbon fuels, but until then, don't we have enough of our own oil rather than have to import? Of do we, and every other producing country, export our oil to get more money from the other countries????
5
Moral Standing won't pay the bills. Leave that to the Pope and the Dalai Lama.
1
Mr. Friedman , the list should have included 85,000 small children ( below 5 years of age ) who died from starvation in Yemen “ compliments “ of the Saudis with generous help of the United States of America backed by trump.
I hate being so unscrupulously ironic and sarcastic , the images of all those innocent children reduced to skin and bones with protruding abdomens and sunken eyes are and always will be an indelible and excruciating pain in my mind .
12
A day after his statement excusing the Saudi Crown Prince, Trump is trying to buy off what's left of America's morality with his latest statement praising the Saudis for ramping up oil production and [Trump's] pressuring oil prices down:
"Look what I'm doing for you [America] it's like another big tax cut!!'
I suggest writing to your U.S. State Senators: 'NO SALE!'
It is still one of the most powerful voices an American has between elections.
5
"That may be the most crass ..."
This preface is the cornerstone of Trump's entire presidency.
6
great article; for someone who wrote the Art of the Deal Trump must have forgotten what he wrote, or did someone else write it for him hmmmmmmmmmm. What a flake
3
Mr. Friedman is running on fumes. He appears to be out of gas. His proposed deal for Netanyahu is obviously pie in the sky, wishful thinking. Netanyahu would clearly say no thank you, you keep your embassy in Tel Aviv and we'll keep on with our settlements. Mr. Friedman is clearly aware that the last time the US successfully applied any real pressure on Israel regarding the settlements was at least a quarter century ago when the GHW Bush Administration achieved a temporary suspension of new settlements by withholding certain funds from Israel. Since then-nada, nichts, niente. More recently, as the Obama administration 'negotiated' a 10 year, $38 billion dollar military package with Israel we heard nothing from the administration or Mr. Friedman about any quid pro quo. I suspect that in the long run, for bitter/better or worse depending on your viewpoint, the settlements will continue and the issue will be made moot by the facts on the ground.
5
It kills me that the creator of the Art of the Deal, and Trump University, and Trump Airlines, and Trump Casino is bringing his high level transactional approach to our country's international relations where our standing used to be the highest.
5
Trump may be bad - but look at this: Senator Lindsay Graham’s Senate website. Talk about shameless sycophants - not a mention of Trump at all re Saudi Arabia, only Obama. The Republican Party is completely brain dead. They cannot even critique honestly.
“One thing I learned during the Obama years is that when you look the other way regarding problems in the Middle East, it seldom works out.
“Time and time again President Obama chose to look the other way as Iran took increasingly provocative actions. Each time it led to even worse Iranian behavior and created even larger problems for the future.
“Likewise, it is not in our national security interests to look the other way when it comes to the brutal murder of Mr. Jamal Khashoggi.
“I firmly believe there will be strong bipartisan support for serious sanctions against Saudi Arabia, including appropriate members of the royal family, for this barbaric act which defied all civilized norms. While Saudi Arabia is a strategic ally, the behavior of the Crown Prince – in multiple ways – has shown disrespect for the relationship and made him, in my view, beyond toxic.
“I fully realize we have to deal with bad actors and imperfect situations on the international stage. However, when we lose our moral voice, we lose our strongest asset.”
2
I think the price of Saudi oil is too high and the price of American arms too low.
In fact, there is no deal we can make with MBS that wouldn't cost us our respect, full faith and credit as a nation.
9
We decided to put a man on the moon... and we did. We decide to put equal money and effort into the transition from fossil fuels... we could. We could do without the 10%of our supply of oil that comes from Saudi Arabia. We could have new jobs by moving towards sustainable energy with the effort we put into winning World War II.
Meanwhile we are heading to disaster for the world as we know it. How many have read the projections of water level, drought, famine, fires, even more destructive weather? Worried about immigrants? We haven't seen anything yet. Who wants to write a letter to be opened 50 years from now,,2068? Don't ask a scientist. Some of us will be dead so why should we care? Easy answer if you're a human being who thinks at all.
5
LOL, 2025?
You think China won’t have something to replace fossil fuels before that?
This country is officially second rate, China has surpassed us, and they’re pulling away rapidly.
11
Thank you, Dr. Enlightenment. Before being exposed to your insightful analogizing, I was not aware that Muslims celebrated Christmas.
Y'all are being either disingenuous or, as I see it, not seeing the real reason Trump is this way - vicarious thrills and lightly veiled threats.
I think he would like to be able to order killings of journalists. And he is sociopathic to do it without remorse. And would really do it if thought could get away with it. Pray God he doesn't get to there, but is too darned close, as I see it.
His presidency reminds me of the underlying theme of that great old Science Fiction movie Forbidden Planet : "monsters from the id' Trump's are unleashed now that he has power and there is no soul to check that
5
Trump is running American foreign policy like a gangster- a godfather - not the president of a republic. Gangsters accept criminal behavior in return for material gain which is Trump’s method of operation, even murder, and have no qualms about using the garrote and deep sixing the body in the river or a vat of acid. Thomas Friedman explains how a president should act. Trump’s actions and words are disgraceful, to use one of his favorite words.
6
How could you possibly so naive as to believe that Trump is in interested in getting anything for anyone except himself, regardless of the cost to anyone or anything else? I’m disappointed that after having followed Trump for so long that you are still able to come to any other conclusion about Trump’s motives.
8
What american morals is he sacrificing?
The moral rejection of using torture? - the one sacrificed by Bush/Cheney for their needless war for oil and profit in the Middle East?
The abandonment of justice? The one sacrificed by Obama to keep Wall Street crooks and bank fraudsters out of jail after 2008?
The immorality of crushing the American middle class set forth primarily by Bill Clinton and his abandonment of democrat values?
The amoral focus on self, and greed above all, embraced by Reagan?
There's a lot of precedence for what Trump is doing. Not that any of that justifies Trump's sociopathic immorality.
4
We are the morally corrupt, after that, there are just varying degrees of awfulness. To fix it, we need to start looking at ourselves and all the ways we, each of us, look the other way to the cruelty and suffering our society creates. Start were you have some control and build from there. Without some warriors willing to stand up to this system and challenge the norms of this society, peacefully, and urgently, there is little hope that we will survive to even worry about writing the history how Trump supported OUR murderous drug dealer.
5
Trading the Saudi murder of 0NE Saudi for America's "moral standing" and "blood for money" seems to this reader to be much less "grotesque" than administrations of both parties, our whole defense establishment and our nation's accumulated know nothing pundits like Friedman "sale" of 3000 Saudi killed Americans on 9/11 for oil and guns. Or is it that the life of one journalist is actually worth more than the lives of ultimately 100,000's of "baskets of despicables" of us common people here in the US and the Middle East (as long as they're not Jews)? And then there's the matter of the US giving billions to Pakistan who hid Bin Laden, funds and directs and offers haven to terrorists armies that have killed thousands of American service men and 100,000's of Arabs that Friedman and the NY Times and the democrats have gone along with, have been willing to "sacrifice America's moral standing" to continue to this day.
3
Any discussion of Trump’s motivations behind his relations with Saudi Arabia is incomplete without analyzing his personal financial interests.
4
Trump is the personification of the fictional “ugly American”! The Mullahs and Ayatollahs are laughing away with this greed-obsessed caricature of a President! The world’s autocrats, oligarchs and his mostly billionaire sycophants here cannot stop gobbling up the riches they are getting from his policies of deregulation and tax cuts.
3
After Trump, everyone else comes first.
2
Nice, clear moral authority well articulated.
Oil had very little to do with this, however. There's plenty of oil in the world and Saudi no longer has the influence it once had. They are more addicted to the revenue than the rest of the world is to their grubby hands on the price.
Trump is too ignorant and crass to obtain any kind of deal, much less a good one.
2
Some modest proposals for starters...
The Saudi flag below has the Arabic inscription "There is no god but God. Muhammad is the messenger of God" and beneath it is a sword. The sword should be replaced by a bonesaw. Political cartoonists take note...
The address of the Saudi Embassy (consulates?) would become Kashoggi Ave.
A statue(s) of Kashoggi be installed next to the Embassy and consulate(s).
4
Good article. Trump has pulled the mask off. America stands for one thing and one thing only, $$$. We are about profit at all costs, profit over anything else, and anything and everything is for sale. I would cynically offer that with the holiday season approaching, we embrace what we know is true and replace the Christmas tree with a cheap plastic 6 foot tall dollar sign ($). The cheaper the better, maybe make it inflatable.
I have said it for years, make oil irrelevant and the middle east will be as well. Then we won't have to continue this awkward diplomatic ballet.
1
and yes, this behavior likely echoes his own corporate/(un?)professional behavior in real estate. Look forward to seeing the >100 page tax returns.
3
“the Kingdom agreed to spend and invest $450 billion in the United States,” said Trump."
Does anyone believe that statement or any other. The House needs to look into any such deal. More important, what has been promised to the President and his family, by way of his building hotels, golf courses, etc. for the very affluent.
As we approach Kennedy's passing on November 22, 1963, his statement made in his inauguration has been turned upside down by the current President:
Kennedy: “And so, my fellow Americans: ask not what your country can do for you—ask what you can do for your country.”
Trump: Ask not what I can do for my country--ask what my country can do for me.
3
A "Manhattan Project to et American off of oil" is a noble goal, but our leaders -- particularly the entire Republican party -- is too addicted to a different kind of drug, namely, the powerful fossil fuel industry. Just like Trump is acting to protect corporate supporters like Lockheed Martin and Halliburton with his pass to the Crown Prince, all Republicans are equally beholden to the omnipotent likes of ExxonMobil and Murray Energy. It doesn't matter that people have to die or other non-supporting industries (like wind and solar) are sacrificed so long as these supporters are treated like an addict's drug dealer.
2
I just wrote to my Republican senator asking him what the Republican senate intends to do about Trumps behavior towards Saudi Arabia. Perhaps everyone in a state with a Republican senator should email them asking the same question. Maybe if they get enough pressure from their constituents they will grow a spine and place sanctions on MBS and the Saudi government.
3
Those continuing to support Trump are the living embodiment of the term “fellow travelers.” Both Trump and his supporters are often painted as naive and ignorant. They are, but the worm has turned after the most recent elections. Let the grilling begin.
2
We have become a rudderless country with no morality, chasing every last dollar. What has become of us!
5
Does this "administration" reflect the values of the majority of the US electorate? I certainly hope not! The people of this country seem to have an idea that US is a compassionate and stable entity on the world stage. This may have been true for about a couple decades after the second WW, but its record is not one to be admired after that. I believe we come come across as belligerent oppressors and unsympathetic capitalists to many in the developing world, and for good reasons.
When US signs treaties like the Paris climate accord or is a contributor at places like the UN Human Rights Commission, it has no import because any subsequent administration can withdraw from the accords or global governing bodies.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2018/jun/22/the-us-withdrawal-from-the-unhrc-is-perfect-for-xi-jinping-and-china
Until US decides that its involvement is essential for decelerating the effect of climate change and commits to sanction trade "partners" who violate human rights with impunity, one must stop projecting the nature of the US as an upholder and promoter of truth and justice globally. This "administration" sure doesn't care about such noble and abstract concepts, we need one that does and one that values life more than trade deficit and nebulous deals involving "$450 B worth of defense equipment orders."
We can be a much better global leader. US can revert to being a force of goodness when its priorities change. Education is key.
2
Right on column. Trump has sold U.S. interests abroad for nothing and alienated our longterm allies like the EU, Canada and Japan. Dictatorships like Saudi Arabia and Russia are not allies of a democracy like ours; we need to keep our distance and isolate them with help from our allies.
I am appalled that the U.S. supports the Saudis war in Yemen that threatens over 10 million with famine. We are the breadbasket of the world and generous food aid donors; we need to oppose the Saudi genocide and lead a multinational effort to bring in food, and humanitarian assistance. We are a good people and want everyone to have food, peace and development.
2
Trump has always been about running the gov't like a business, i.e. his business. And that is exactly what he is doing. Keeping an eye on the bottom line (his, and that of his benefactors, that is.)
Trump is a product, and why should he worry about appealing to people who aren't inclined to buy the product anyway? Trump has made clear that the way to get him on board with an issue is pay to play.
I mean, just imagine if the murdered journalist had beenworking for Sheldon Adelson's newspaper. Do you doubt that Trump would be expressing outrage?
3
And it is Mr Trump's addiction to money that makes him run his Administration the way he does. Sad for his country, tragic for the Middle East.
2
The White House response to the alleged murder of Washington Post reporter, Jamal Khashoggi, calls to mind an old story. Re-told with the United States as the would-be recipient, it goes: An individual is asked to participate in an illicit relationship, for a large sum. The individual (read U. S.), replies favorably. The question is repeated for a lesser sum, just a few dollars. The reply this time is one of mild outrage, asking, “What do you take me for?” The answer (read, to the U.S.), is that that has already been established. Price is now being discussed.
This raises the uncomfortable questions of how much is a Chief of State worth, how much is a legislator worth, how much is a local newspaper editor worth, how much is a mere citizen worth? How much is a Country worth?
Our three broad guidelines for governance, the Declaration, the Constitution, the Amendments, were written, and agreed upon to make life better, mostly easier, and free from the arbitrary powers of king-ship once prevalent in the Old World.
I hope we, as a country, will not allow money, whether in oil, armaments, or real estate to make a re-write necessary.
1
"...People are dispensable and disposable in Trump’s world.” If Trump is elected President, he warned, “the millions of people who voted for him and believe that he represents their interests will learn what anyone who deals closely with him already knows....that he couldn’t care less about them.”
— Tony Schwartz, who penned "The Art of the Deal" for Trump
As is more obvious every day, it is extremely dangerous to have an intellect like Trump’s as leader. He has no integrity, true empathy, love, or shame. Everything for him is a calculation for gain or advantage.....period. Likewise, the relative silence of the GOP is tacit admission of their own power calculation and moral weakness. National power and prestige is much more than just military or economic might.
2
Trump is not a good businessman; not a good deal-maker. A source suggests that if Trump had only conservatively invested the proceeds after cashing out his inheritance from Fred, he would be actually worth much more today than he claims. If you cannot, as a real estate developer/owner/speculator, exceed conservative returns on equity, then you are not a good businessperson. If you depend on questionable sources of funding for your real estate "empire," you are not a good businessperson, no how much money you claim to have amassed.
Obviously, the rest of the world is way over Trumps tiny brain.
1
Almost all, if not all, Islamic countries, particularly Saudi & Iran, routinely kill people who they do not like. Simply being a non-believer can attract death penalty only in a Islamic country. The countries that impose death penalty to non-believers are Afghanistan, Iran, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Nigeria, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Sudan, United Arab Emirates, Yemen, and Pakistan (for blasphemy). I doubt how western media & Govts would react if the victim were not a high profile guy, but a poor Filipino or so.
Islam was & still is basically a strategy or ideology to win wars (on which establishment and spread of Islam largely depended during its initial days). It's also about establishing religious supremacy of Islam. Throwing few verses of peace from Quran would not change that. Western world with secular, liberal democracy is fine with that for long.
There are reasons why Islamic nations are so violent; why non-Muslims always are abused & almost forced to leave when any country become an Islamic country or even a Muslim majority country. Yet it's not any "ethnic cleansing" by UN or Western world. Turkey, arguably the most westernized Muslim majority liberal democracy, is a good example. Turkey had about 24% religious minorities when modern Turkey was established in 1924. Now religious minorities are less than 1%.
2
Some things never change. I am reminded of a passage in The Secret Pilgrim by John Le Carré (referring at that time to England’s relationship with the Arab world and Nasser):
“…namely, the care and cultivation of a so-called friendly Arab state. By which was meant…currying favour, suborning and flattering its princelings…, wheedling favorable concessions in order to satisfy our oil addition—and, along the way, selling enough weaponry to keep the Satanic mills of Birmingham turning day and night.”
How did that turn out for England?
Now that Trump's given dictatorial types around the world permission to do their worst, I can't wait to see who does something outrageous next? Putin will stitch the USSR bakc together with bullets, toxins and the sound wave thing they used o our embassy in Havana. Duterte will just kill everyone in the Philippines. Myanmar will heat up their genocidal practices on the Royhinga. M.B.S. will wreak further havoc on Yemen. The list goes on and on and on . . .
3
One of the most disheartening and disturbing thing about this corrupt administration is just how many politicians, billionaires and just plain folks cannot seem to bring themselves to condemn it.
Congress, which should be a leading force for the rule of law and American support for the rule of law and simple human decency has descended to his level. Mitch McConnell being the face of this amorality.
When are we going to see moral, or at least semi moral leadership from Congress...January I hope!
4
My feeling has been that President Trump is not a politician, but has always been simply a self-promoting businessman. The presidency is a short-term step to re-building (building?) his empire. If I were a foreign despot I would play on his fears and insecurities (possessed by many "successful," ruthless business people). I would promise future development contracts in exchange for the President looking the other way as I consolidated power.
What I wonder is whether President (and/or Candidate) Trump gave the nod to any of Putin or MBSs plans beforehand.
1
I think a boycott of Trump, Inc. is in order!
2
With his tax statements still undisclosed, the behavior of the President vs. Putin and the Saudis smells of money as the strings they can pull on him. Until there is proof to the contrary, there is no better explanation for his mantra "There is no collusion".
Trump’s total lack of morality and absence of any moral compass and regard for the truth is repugnant and indeed greatly harmful to American foreign interests and global security.
If the worst elements in the world know that there are no consequences for opprobrious actions and violence they will be enabled to continue with such
actions and the level of such activities will increase.
This is called appeasement and history knows what tragedies ensue by ignoring morality and decency in global affairs.
Think about the 1930s again and again!
2
You got it right, Thomas, “crass.” DJT has always thought he was the big boy, strutting the stage with Russian, and now Saudi, oligarchs. But he’s really just a crass, loudmouthed patsy for the real global players, a little guy who has never thought he’s needed to learn anything worth knowing, morals, ethics, compassion, pity, healthy relationships, humility. When he had to make excuses for not going to Arlington, he gave the classic distant dad reason, that he was making very important phone calls because his job is just too important to make time for the kids. He is sad, pathetic, and extremely dangerous.
2
We should not be surprised by Trump's response to the Khashoggi killing. Just think of the most immoral reaction possible and that's what Trump (nearly always) does.
2
When do you wake up and say “I’m going to be the friend of murderers, the truly evilest of the evil, and that’s what I’m going to endorse.”
How morally defective is trump: literally, the worst and most inhuman monsters on the world stage, guilty of murder and violence and despicable evil, are like the opiate to Trump’s inner addict.
And when did American Christians become ensnared in the gospel of violence, evil, and murder? Shocking. Truly. Shocking. I don’t think they’re Christians, honestly, if they basically wholesale promote a gospel of brutalism and violence in the name of FORCING society to conform. These our the Islamic terrorists, under the name “Jesus” and “Christian.”
4
The journalist hypocrisy about the killing of Khossoggi is mind boggling. All of a sudden the moral issues of doing business with Saudi Arabia and of life and death are important to them? Where were the journalists before the death of Khossoggi when the US was helping the Saudis slaughter Yemenis citizens during the past three years. Over 85% of people killed in this Saudi sponsored genocide have been civilians. And where was the outrage when President Obama agreed to support the Saudi slaughter of Yemen in March of 2015. And yes, Obama sold SA almost 100 billion dollars in weapons between 2010-2015. Where was the ethical media then? And where were they when the US special forces killed 35 civilians in southern Yemen in Jan 2017, nine of those killed were from one family and under the age of 12? This paper barely mentioned this massacre; only the Intercept covered it completely. Yes, the death of one man is important- but more important than the slaughter of 10s if thousands of civilians in a war zone? I think not. Journalists need to see the suffering of all innocents as important; not simply because someone made their living with a pen and pencil as they do.
2
Given a choice to stay in India , migrate to Australia,England,Canada . I chose America because it aligned with value and as a tax paying resident i understand america first , I understood America role in the world when they bomb places i.e someone has to be the bad guy . The country which saved world from Hitler , America is not perfect and never will be but i always believed america is a country everyone strive to become .
American economy is huge , we lend money by creating complex financial products do as we wish in return we police the world and that most of sane people come to accept it as its necessary evil but just to appeal to his illiterate base who can't learn new age jobs(i sympathize with them thats part of being human) bring our jobs back and want the world to operate on their terms .
“I know this came from you. And so you’re not getting a free pass. For starters, you’re going to let every one of these women driving activists that you’ve arrested out of jail; you’re going to announce an immediate, unilateral cease-fire in Yemen."
That's a nice sentiment Mr. Friedman, but we've lost all moral standing to tell even the lowest dictatorships how they should conduct themselves.
The only question remaining is can we ever regain moral authority after the criminal Trump regime is in the history books.
169
It is beyond disappointing to see someone with a NYT megaphone spouting dangerous nonsense in obesience to political correctness, i.e. assigning causation/blame for the Trump decision on Saudis to an addiction to oil.
For the good of our country and millions of third world citizens hoping for a better life, it would be nice if Friedman (and McKibben, Nye and Steyer) would stop with the monstrous lie that fossil fuels are bad, like an addiction which is the fault of a drug dealer-pusher.
Yes, we should invest heavily in alternatives and have a carbon tax to help fund the transition. Leaders should also admit we want, need and must have an inexpensive, dependable, available-on-demand source of energy and that fossil fuels will continue to be desirable, not forced on us, for another generation.
Oil is a third order issue between Trump and Saudi’s, and properly so, after Israel and Iran.
After two years of Trump Derangement Syndrome, one who considers himself an expert and intellectual and charter member of the elite Davoisie, should at last be able “to see clearly now, the rain has gone.”
15
@SonomaEastSide,
Oil might be a third order issue between Trump and Saudi Arabia, but so are Israel and Iran.
The only first order issue Trump has is what is good for him and his business. The second order issue is what is good for his friends and benefactors' interests.
As long as those two things are not impacted, Trump is fine with it. Trump prefers working with people who like him are more interested in their own self promotion/preservation than any larger goal.
I suppose we can thank the donations of Sheldon Adelson and the unvarnished support of Netanyahu for Trump's loyalty to the current Israeli gov'ts agenda.
But, everything else being the same, if the journalist in question had been a Jewish dissident, I have no doubt that Trump would be singing a different tune, no matter what the stand on Iran.
31
@SonomaEastSide Fossil fuels are bad. Trump is enabling deplorable behaviour. These are both reasonable positions supported by fact.
34
fossil fuels are bad. California is burning and Gulf coast is flooding, and the Saudis and Iranians are acting out viscously.
We have good alternative. Switch to non oil fuels as much as possible.
And we need to take proactive steps to provide for employment of a huge number of Americans as automation and AI replace jobs in a hugely disruptive way. Putting people to work on sustainable energy development and implementation would contribute to that solution.
47
Well we all know that trump doesn't play by any rules except the one's he has made up. He also doesn't play well with others in any sense of the word. His social life revolves around his so-called business deals and negotiations. This type of 'Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs' is so distorted that of course he gives away "free stuff." However could anyone stand to be next to him. Friends? He doesn't seem to have any that lasted beyond the "let's agree to disagree" phase. Only super powerful men that have been at the dictator stage for awhile seem to cower him by "being his best friend," until they get what they want. Then trump simply has to go home.
It seems as if the only thing that the donald wants more is cold hard cash. That's about all there is to the man. There is this power thing that he seems to be able to get from the lowest common denominator of frustrated people. But they should beware of the 'Wolf in Sheep's Clothing'. The rug will eventually get pulled out from under them. Whether on purpose or due to his lack of abilities. We shouldn't be surprised that "blood for guns, money, and oil" will continue until something stops him. He's gotten away, scott-free so far, except for losing the House. If only he could've prosecuted Hillary and Comey and "lock 'em up." This will rule his thoughts forever.
1
Why does Tom Friedman buy into the horsetrading model of negotiating (I give you this and you give me that)? Is it wrong to do something merely because you think it's right, rather than demanding something in return?
There may be times when horsetrading is the most effective tactic, but it shouldn't be reflexive.
I personally applaud moving the US embassy to west Jerusalem, even though Trump is the President who had the nerve to do so. It underscores Israel's legitimacy as a nation, and it doesn't foreclose legitimate Palestinian interests. I also oppose expansion of West Bank settlements. But the two don't have to be *linked* in order to eke out progress. In fact, linkage probably would forestall progress by making the parties dig in further.
I've often wondered what the Middle East looks like post-oil, when they've either pumped it all, or there's no longer any point in pumping it. Do they become like Dubai in the UAE, and modernize (in a relative sense) in an attempt to attract non-oil business and tourism, or does the whole region plunge into civil wars, political uprisings and conflicts between the various countries in the region, until a new order emerges?
In a post-oil world, US reliance on countries like Saudi Arabia would indeed decrease, but their reliance on us might only increase, and we still might have to support very distasteful and horrible things that we ultimately believe are the lesser of two evils. Perhaps this was foreshadowed in the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in Iraq--he was terrible, and did many horrible things, but he may have helped (at least this is something Saddam himself believed, according to the his CIA interrogators) maintain the balance of power within the region. In Iraq, we made a flawed assessment based on bad intelligence, a lack of understanding about the region and its history, and theories about democracy and good government that were wishful thinking at best. Assad is also terrible, but if overthrown, we cannot guarantee that his replacement won't be worse.
We should not tolerate or speak approvingly of behavior that violates our values, but we should also be realistic about our ability (or lack thereof) to understand and effect positive change within the region.
1
When I look at the history of the Middle East , 2 things stand out for me:
1. much ethnic and political unrest can be attributed to the "carving up of the Ottoman empire " at the end of the WWII...without consideration of the people living the regions...Kuwait was part of Iraq...the Kurdish region was carved up and given to multiple newly created countries.
2. while these countries were weak Britain and the U.S. treated them as their vassals in order to control their oil. When it suited western interests leaders in these countries were replaced by who was considered more pliant to western interests. The democratically elected head of Iran was replaced by the Shah...who was then toppled by the Ayatollah. The backlash has been the rise of fanatical Islamic groups.
Much of the mess in the Middle East can be attributed to western intervention
1
@Heidi
Typo error...should read : 1. much ethnic and political unrest can be attributed to the "carving up of the Ottoman empire " at the end of the WWI.
brilliantly concise and well written
2
President Trump might be the most shameful president in American history. Whether or not, President Trump's shame is America's shame, and it is deep.
As for Iran, we earned its long-term enmity in spades in the 1950s and we are still suffering the consequences of our illegal and unjustified intervention. Today, by favoring Saudi Arabia over Iran, we are betting on the wrong horse.
Apparently, we never learn.
3
Two words. Adam Schiff.
1
How many "amoral chump" decisions does Trump have to make before we can genuinely and legitimately call him an immoral traitor. Because that is what he is doing. He is selling American policy for his own personal gain. Gosh, if I were an intelligence officer, this would be my dream asset.
"Maybe he did. Maybe he didn't". Those words will go down in history as Trump's excuse for almost anything. He used a variation at his press conference with Putin: "Maybe, but he denied it." I.D.I.O.T.
1
President Trump is for sale to the highest bidder.
3
Friedman could have made a stronger case for his conclusion. Dropping oil into the conversation in the last two paragraphs felt pretty flat footed. The entire arch of the narrative concerned Trump doing things which interest himself rather than America. The natural conclusion would ask what exactly is Trump getting out of his relationship with Saudi Arabia?
I don't think concerns over global energy markets even make the short list. That's a US concern, not a Trump concern. The two issues are distinct and unrelated.
1
The Manhattan Project should be not to just wean the U.S. off oil - we seem to be producing plenty of our own now - but to wean the world off oil.
5
..., that is a stretch; POTUS 45 doesn’t have any morals to sell - ohh wait; that’s besides the point ..., everything must go!
2
I think that Mr. Friedman is really advocating the same type of mercantile relationship with the Saudis that the President is, just for different things. Implicit in both is the recognition that it will never be known with any certainty what role the Saudi Crown Prince had in Mr. Khashoggi's killing, so let's move on! The difference between what Mr. Friedman wants, contrasted with the President, is striking though. The President wants benefits to accrue for Americans in more jobs, and lower fuel prices, while Mr. Friedman wants Middle-Eastern social programs and a surrender in Yemen. Although an end to the conflict in Yemen would be nice, the Saudis are unlikely to bite on any U.S. guarantee that comes with an expiration date two years from now. What we really need in our relations with the Saudis is a balance between high-toned morality, and the commercial interests. We're clearly not going to find that in President Trump, so hopefully the next White House resident will find that elusive mix.
Give the automotive industry a few years to adjust their assembly lines and then give a $10000 tax credit on every high efficiency hybrid automobile and a $15000 credit on every pure/primarily electric. Could even combine that with a $5000 tax increase on every pure gas powered automobile to offset some of the governmental. There could be a business exemption for trucks, but they would need to be used efficiently, actually carrying sizable loads regularly.
The Middle East oil exporters and Russia would hate it, but they hopefully will be motivated to diversify their economy. A few countries like Nigeria might need some extra assistance but countries still important in oil could select to buy from those exporters who are more in line with international values. If 10 million green vehicles can be sold this way, cost about $100 billion a year but huge impact on the oil economy, a nice move against global warming, and big geo-political impact. Oh and be sure to dump Exxon stock right away.
2
Finally an American President who is HONEST about America's real motive for supplying the means for global mayhem under the phony sloganeering about promoting democracy. Trump has ripped the vale from our greedy evil soul that promotes violence around the world. All our bluster about promoting democracy is now exposed as a delusional ruse to promote our own economic progress.
Well, by putting a knife through the heart of our mythology of "how great we art" DJT has created a bit of a tear like Smedly Butler in a 1935 speech to the American Legion. He also put the lie to that myth. However, WWII gave us the cover so we could again ignore his warnings about the "war racket."
Perhaps, someday Democrats will figure out that their complicity with our own arms sellers provided the means of oppression to Central American thugs resulting in the "caravan" and dismount their high horse and demand the closure of military operations and corporate weapons makers in their own districts. Or at least admit that most are duplicative at best, unnecessary at better, or more honestly evil at its worst and that we the people are totally corrupted and desire evil over good when sacrifice of our rampant hyper consumption is threatened.
3
I wish many more people in your country had this clarity. I am so tried of American news and keep wanting to stop my subscription to New York Times but continue both because I am fascinated by the relentless drama and because I feel we, to the north of your country must stay alert to the dangers of both thought and actions flowing out from the US.
1
Upon examining Thomas Friedman's wish list from the Saudi rulers, we find the correct penalties for the responsible perpetrators aren't mentioned. Nowhere does Friedman discuss the death penalty or life in prison for King Salman, his son Mohammed or the high officials in the Saudi government.
Remarkably, I have not read any commenters here discussing the correct penalties for the brutal killing of Khashoggi or the people of Yemen. Could it be that Friedman and his readers know that the justice system typically protects the rulers from the penalties they deserve?
A few days ago, Maureen Dowd discussed how corrupt bankers and others are "Too Rich to Jail". https://www.nytimes.com/2018/11/17/opinion/sunday/trump-bankers-fraud.html
On the other side of the coin is the record of the justice system putting innocent people with lower socio-economic status in jail or on death row.
If the justice system cannot distinguish between those who deserve punishment or not, and can't put the rulers to sleep even after they brutally assassinate an innocent journalist, how can we accept it as legitimate? Once we reject the justice system's bogus claim of legitimacy, how can we accept government's bogus self-serving claim of legitimacy?
3
Saudi Arabia is a sovereign foreign country. your feelings are valid....however it is not up to America to become judge and jury to the atrocities of the leaders of other countries. That role should belong to the World Court or the United Nations.
@Heidi
Even within the view of sovereignty, Jose is correct that the justice systems protect the top officials. The American legal system did not put George W. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, etc., and other government officials on trial for their Middle East Holocaust; nor did it put Obama or the other government officials on trial for droning innocent people. Israel's legal system won't put Benjamin Netanyahu on trial for killing innocent Palestinians. This pattern isn't peculiar to any type of government, but part of its modus operandi.
1
Additionally, I would point out that Saudi oil is the linchpin of Trump's anti-Iran (and Sheldon Adelson's pro-Israel) policy. Increased Saudi oil production covers loss from closing the world market to Iranian oil production via sanctions.
1
America has lots of Trump supporters, who turned a blind eye, and voted for a flawed, sociopathic, businessman, capable of unspeakable evil.
At Thanksgiving supper, before we rush to the shopping malls on Friday, the Republican leadership, NRA, and Evangelical leaders who give thanks to Heaven for the additional money in their collection baskets, and ignore the desecration of the First Amendment, and the slaughter of school children.
3
Donald J Trump. One wonders, does the J stand for Judas? After all, the country has been sold twice, to Russia and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for the equivalent of 30 pieces of silver.
5
Tom, you have written,"Trump presents himself as a tough, savvy deal maker, and then he lets all these leaders play him for a sucker."
If you redefine "tough" as pugnacious and tantrum-prone, and "savvy" as naive, contrary and inept, then including "sucker" to the list is the logical follow-up.
As soon as our agencies declared the Saudi crown prince responsible, the "contrary" Trump took over to declare him innocent. Potato, patato. and still the Republican law makers stand beside him.
This is further proof of how important the mid-term elections were and how important our future elections will be.
2
Remember how the Republicans howled when there was a picture that made it look like President Obama was bowing to the Saudi King?
6
So our addiction to oil is what has caused Trump's treasonous behavior? Lost me there Tom. Did someone else write that? You were making so much sense until then.
@Cowboy Marine In fact, we aren't addicted to Saudi oil, but does Trump know that? In so many ways, Trump is stuck in the early seventies; he doesn't know the US is largely self sufficient and to the extent it's not, relies much more on Canadian oil.
1
Who is the master, holding the leash, and who the dog, collar round its neck, dancing on its hind legs for a treat?
1
So now the good Christian evangelicals are apparently turning a blind eye to thou shall not kill along with lying, and a complete moral breakdown of american values.
Christians or at least the Evangelicals are going into eventual extinction where they belong. When you don't stand by your christian morals and ethics you have nothing left but an empty shell religion.
6
Oh, the handwringing! The worst giveaway of morals of any president in our history? Really? The problem with Trump is that he is too in-your-face with a VERY old American policy. The coup of Diem sanctioned by Kennedy to prop up a regime that would make the Saudis look like school boys, the overthrow of Mozadegh in Iran to prop up the Shah (no saint, he), the over throw of Allende to prop up the military dictatorship of Pinochet. Going for strategic advantage at the expense of morals has been an American pastime since the beginning of the Republic. Yes, the Saudis are lying scoundrels - just the kind of people this country has ALWAYS sought to do business with.
2
sadly this is not discussed in your history books...rather the fairytale of US moral superiority and defenders of world democracy
1
November 2020 can't come soon enough.
Trump is our Mercenary leader without any visible sign of morality or principles. He runs the country the only way he knows how. Corruption, immorality, and dishonesty.
4
Mr. Friedman, I have been reading your column for years, through innumerable stories gleaned from taxi drivers. So I say this with affection: you were dead wrong about MBS. Your column should have started with that admission. Your outrage feels contrived without it.
1
So many MBAs are derided in business by competitors without degrees but calling themselves dealmakers and business-savvy. Now we have a politician who, is actually an MBA but sought to make a reputation as a 'dealmaker'. And deriding the systematic and diligent approach of diplomacy and that also diplomacy focused on forwarding American values, in foreign relations; he is forwarding a 'deal-making' approach towards America's foreign policy.
The title of the article is so apt and frightening : Trump's Black Friday Sale : Oil, Guns and Morals.
It should serve as a wake up call, if one was still needed, for the Republican Party to stop this foolish businessman from squandering a country's hard earned place in the world. A few tirades regarding a few 'difficulties' faced by America in terms of job losses, or illegal immigrants, cannot be allowed as a basis for this complete overthrow of political hierarchy and tradition of decision making. That would be almost tantamount to allowing a singular focus of 'Out with the Jews' as a basis for ceding responsible rule of law in the favour of a single politician's whims and fancies.
1
Our country exports arms and imports drugs. ???
Is anyone else afraid? If a well known journalist can walk into a consulate for paperwork needed for his weeding and get tortured and murdered in cold blood.. will any of us be safe? If they could get way with that then we are all in danger. We're all for sale. Our morals on sale for right on time for Black Friday.
2
I can’t stand that trumps “upside” of ignoring a heinous international crime is the unbooked profit from selling American weapons being used to slaughter innocent people in Yemen. It is vile.
3
For the love of god and all that is good and holy please stop blaming Trump Thomas and place the blame where it truly belongs: All these white, uneducated and brainashed Trump supporters who have no idea they are still being conned. Trump is being who he has always been. A selfish, greedy, unethical conman. A leopard cant change his spots. Until people wise up to Trumps scams we will continue to reap what Trump is sewing.
2
At some time Mr Trump will leave office - his presidency won't persist but his business will.
One thing we know for sure about Mr Trump's business is that it needs an awful lot of cash, that it sometimes has difficulties raising it, and that some of his projects are, well, on the margin.
Something else we know for sure: Saudi Arabia has a mountain of cash to spend and lend, and M.B.S. has nearly total discretion over how and where that cash goes.
A demand and a supply - are they connected?
1
Off to play golf!
Meanwhile, the men and women of our military are still waiting for their first visit from President Bone Spurs in a combat zone. Something Obama did every year he held the office.
Just imagine the outcry from Fox and their stable of Trump apologists if Obama had ignored our troops for the first two years of his administration in order to play golf at gaudy country clubs and then charged the country hundreds of thousands of dollars to do so. Money that went directly into his pocket.
Keep it up. 2018 was the beginning. 2020 the Republicans will be crushed.
4
Friedman almost gets it, but not quite. Clearly both Iran and Saudi Arabia are behaving awfully. But only when he is capable of making the leap of imagination that the United States of Trump is acting just as awfully, will we start to make some progress on the subject.
2
The Boy Blunder, Jared, is reportedly BFF with Mr. Bone Saw (MBS). Jared had a YUGE problem with financing for his 666 5th Avenue debacle, of which there has been no mention in the press for quite some time.
Why do you suppose that is?
3
He has offended in so many ways, this embarrassment of a President, so utterly out of his depth since day one, but this affair is the most offensive of all. The leader of the U.S.A. shilling for a murderous punk prince whose only accomplishment is to have been born in the right circumstances, to the ruling family in a land of oil. Trump's abysmal behavior will confirm the most critical stereotypes of America and its people -- namely, all about the money and nothing else, moral and religious claims a mere pretension, the American Dream nothing more than a tawdry sales pitch. Meanwhile, his mindlessly loyal base is enthralled by his alleged "strength" and one of the two major parties cravenly submits. Poor Mr. Khashoggi, his poor wife and family. After all the horror, now betrayed by a compromised superpower of fading glory.
1
@John Goodchild Isn't it amazing how Trump keeps topping himself? So many times we've said this outrage or that outrage "is the most offensive of all." We've lost count. The offenses just get lost in the shuffle. Exponentially more offensive than any president in history.
1
Don't you'll worry. Give it some time. This little bump in the road will smooth out. Jared and Ivanka are on the case or should I say on her phone.
Please don't use the Manhattan Project for comparison as a solution. Trump may get behind the idea and before you know it all the buildings in Manhattan will bear the Trump brand. Take that Amazon.
1
Have we learned nothing about Donald Trump? All of this discussion about foreign policy, oil, human rights reform and what is in America's best interest is wasted talk. There is only one guiding principle here: what's in it for the Trump brand? Trump is cultivating the next great source of financial fuel for his business enterprises in full view of the public. It's not about MAGA; it's about someone enriching himself and his family via the unmatched access of the Presidency. Thomas Jefferson said, "A merchant has no country," and we are now afflicted with the full meaning of that warning. It's not a barbarian at the gate; it's a con man, scam artist and serial liar driving a bulldozer.
1
Sadly he was voted into power by more or less democratic means. Until there are some major changes in your system of voting this will continue. At the moment my province of British Columbia has a referendum happening regarding changing our voting system to be more equitable.
News to Thomas Friedman: We don't need the Saudis to supply us with oil. We have plenty of oil and gas right here in the USA and via other "acceptable" trading partners.
Yes, we should wean ourselves from our reliance on fossil fuels, but we can ditch the Saudis right now if we wanted to without any effects at home.
1
15 of the 19 terrorist murderers on 9/11 were Saudis and Bush ignored that.
A journalist working for the Washington Post is brutally murdered and Trump ignores it.
Is global politics completely absolved of any morality whatsoever even when it applies to murdering 3,000 people and a rogue journalist?
It's too much for most Americans who, like me, feel powerless as the country is led down a rabbit hole by a psychotic narcissist.
2
It's not that Trump's a chump, it's that he's an easily bought shill.
1
Tom, everything in your op-ed could have applied to the last 4 American Presidents, except the crass transparency. The U.S. has always had a hypocritical-look-the-other-way relationship with Saudi Arabia. As much as I dislike Trump, I still find something appealing about how obvious his dealings are. Bush, Clinton, Reagan, Obama -- all of them made pretty speeches about morality but then buckled under because of oil. Trump's an amoral idiot, yes. But in this one instance, he actually departs from the U.S. policy of hypocrisy.
1
Trump, as always. Is being played by another despot, this time by bin Salman.
This is actually not a surprise.
Trump, after all, is the only president in the entire history of the USA who uttered these words—
“This is the wettest hurricane from the standpoint of...
(stares into nowhere for about two minutes to search for the next word that he could toss into the bowl of word salad)
...water.”
A stupid person will always get played.
Mr. Trump and Mr. Pence: As self-described conservative evangelical Christians, you should already know the precise meaning and implications of the words "Thou Shalt Not Kill." They are pretty plain to understand and straightforward, even for a dotard or a lackey.
1
I wish the USA still had moral leadership. It used to, before Bush invaded Iraq because he felt like it. It's been downhill since then.
2
Sadly ill advised American foreign intervention preceded Bush. Regan destabilized and intervened in Central America...the debacle of Vietnam etc.
I found the two mentions near the end - one of an incident in Denmark on Sept. 28 and the other of an incident in France on Oct 2 - quite interesting. NO, we heard NOTHING of those in this incredibly parochial country. All one has to do is live overseas for a few months, and one gets a completely different idea of what is actually going on in the world. Our media needs to do a much better job on this, since it completely colors everything else we hear.
3
"He sells out American values"
The crucial thing is ¿Which are the American values when it comes to foreign policy? When we ask ourself this question, avoiding today dominant tendency to automatically reject everything coming from Trump, we find that Trump's American values are not different from former presidents' ones, Republican and Democrats: all of them have staunchly supported the Saudi regime and have done everything possible to avoid the sligthly change in it. So, if all our presidents are so faithful to this policy I think that it has to involved a deeply rooted American value. Spare us from the delusions, Mr Friedman.
2
The price of a gallon of gas at the pump? $2.50.
The price of American morality, integrity and global leadership? $2.75 at the pump.
2
While I agree with Mr. Friedman that "it is our addiction to oil that leads us to think it is actually O.K. to trade a call for justice for a purchase order of arms," it is not the only reason. Our willfully blind support of Israel also plays a role. If M.B.S. and the Saudis were calling for "death to Israel" and helping to finance the pitiful military efforts of Hamas, do you honestly think Trump would be so forgiving of Khashoggi's murder? Oil and support for Israel are the two bedrock considerations that inform and guide most of our Middle East policies. To ignore this reality only perpetuates the regrettable ignorance of the American people about that part of our world.
7
Trump embodies American foreign policy for decades. When haven’t we coddled dictators, murderers and oil states? Have we forgotten Kissinger? The only difference is it has been expressed less brutally by disingenuous diplomacy.
5
There are many options. What is sad is that Trump is picking the worst one that there is...
I like the Manhattan Project idea to free us completely of the need for imported energy. I also like my idea, which you reject of not trading with anyone like China that does not support the rule of law, environment, free speech, worker safety, and the like. You do realize you are hypocritical in that right?
Do not forget another option. If one were to go to the dark side, we could just run a full Strategic Atomic Strike on every city in Arabia and Persia, kill everyone including women and children and when the fallout dies down just take the all the oil we wanted. A side benefit would be no more organized terrorists from there and others would be looking at a suicide pack if they did any terrorism.
I am not advocating the above paragraph, but it is something that a Trump like future president may one day advocate if we keep electing Trump types. Once you give up your soul for money or power anything is on the table.
36
@JD There is a famous cartoon depicting a blood-spattered warrior clutching a sword, surrounded by mutilated corpses as far as the eye can see. “We won,” he exults.
10
@JD
This is a standard 1960's and before idealization of how US power can make everyone dance to our tune. Also, like the average person before the 70's, it ignores the unfortunate realities of burning fossil fuels as though we only have a week to live.
I remember thinking similar thoughts when I was 8, too.
5
You worry about your president? I worry more about the Republican party supporting him. And I dread to think about the fact that 40% of the american voters are in essence not better by any means.
4
None of this is new.
The Saudi royals are just one distasteful gang of thugs in a long line of dictators, kings and religious fanatics which the U.S. has bound itself to over the years. Trump is not the first President to put profit over human rights and he won’t be the last.
We may have tut-tutted and imposed half-hearted sanctions on China after the Tienamen Square massacre but a few months later we were back to business as usual—the business of offshoring American jobs was more imrtant than the lives of a few protesters. Reagan may have publicly gone along with a Congressional ban on arming the murderous Contras but his administration was of course secretly working with Iran and the Medalin Cartel to arm them. Saddam Hussein was our guy before he wasn’t.
Every American President has pretty much let the Saudis do what they want from spreading Wahhabism throughout the world to murdering dissidents. Some of course are closer than others and Trump, he of the brotherhood glowing orb, may even be closer than the Bush family.
For all sorts of reasons we should go full speed ahead on weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels but let’s not pretend to a virtue which we as a nation have seldom, at least in my lifetime, lived up to.
2
It is time to move on to planning the post-Trump era. He will continue his con game for the next two years, and any attention to that game obfuscates and abets, providing fuel for the duel: the duel where people like you try to combat lying with truth, irrationality with logic, and greed with common sense and decency. It has not worked, it will not work. He cannot be stopped except by a vote in 2020. Time to move on. Much will have to be corrected: our standing in the world, a return to basic values, a movement back towards democracy, the valuing of human rights, and the reinstallation of truth and integrity at least as a sacred goal. Let's move beyond Trump, "speak not his name", marginalize him, and relegate him to the trash heap of failed leaders, but let's do it today. Let's look to Congress to wrench itself from the rusty gears of gridlock and get those gears moving again. Let's not look back, but forward. Trump is not "the way". We must do better. It should start now, today.
2
@George fair enough . . but his ouster is far from certain. he is an absolutely ruthless, immoral dog who will do anything to protect his corrupt financial empire. - it will take a MASSIVE effort to defeat him in 2020.
As usual Crickets from Republican leaders on this latest demonstration of Trump’s “Me/My Family First” foreign policy doctrine. Repub’s all over the media airwaves the past weekend decrying this Saudi atrocity and threatening sanctions, dismissing Saudi Ambassador to US, (who is MBS brother no less) etc.
But of course, once White House goes with official statement, everyone gets an early start on the turkey and stuffing!! But why would I/we expect anything different after two years of brazen amorality. Sad!!
4
Just think if Thomas Friedman was part of Trump's kitchen cabinet. And just imagine if Trump was actually willing to listen to alternate ideas. His base would love that.
So why does Trump care so much about his base anymore? He used them to get elected and he won. I doubt if he has the stamina or interest to go another four years anyway so why not just relax, stop tweeting, smile and enjoy the last two years. Oh wait - that pesky Mueller investigation. It's killing him. You can see it. And whether he succeeds in making it go away or not, it will always haunt him. So he holds rallies in front of people looking for affirmation of their own feelings in order to lift his spirits.
But it's darker than that - recent reporting on how, earlier this year, he tried to have Comey and Clinton criminally prosecuted are evidence that unfortunately, he MUST be impeached. I say unfortunately because most of us don't really want to go through such a spectacle - but he's clearly dangerous. If he actually had the power to get them prosecuted, he wouldn't succeed in getting them convicted - but it would be another weird drawn out trial accomplishing nothing but more embarrassment for the Country.
1
Forget the Enlightenment promises of peace and understanding, we are now beyond those quaint times; in the darkness to come, there will be only suffering, war and pestilence unrivaled since the dawn of Humanity. We are about to see what the Pax Americana kept at bay for the last century, and whatever comes, we will be woefully unprepared. Trump is an engine of woe.
3
This is the most succinct, accurate and deeply disturbing description of President Trump’s morals and abilities I have read. An unmitigated disaster in every regard. Pray for the US...and buckle up, it only gets worse.
1
Trump's reaction to Saudi Arabia's slaughter of a human being has zero to do with U.S. interests such as oil nor arms deals (unless he can get big campaign contributions from those entities). Saudi Arabia supports the Trump family financially, according to Don, Jr. so that is why Trump refuses to condemn Saudi Arabia. Horrible for the United States though.
1
The most direct question is: Would a man that has declared the Press an “enemy of the people” really care that much about one that criticizes his buddies?
2
So well put, Mr Friedman. The current situation is embarrassing by all standards, depressing from all angles.
So who and which is worse. Trump and his blood-for-money attitude or LBJ getting us into a no win situation in Vietnam and Bush/Cheney getting us into another no win situation in the Middle East? Presidents' seem, no matter what party affiliation, to have little or no morals and sacrifice the common good of the American people for their own gratification. Please pass the baloney and gobble, gobble, gobble to all.
2
@John Q Doe, let's be honest. LBJ continued the fomenting policies of the JFK administration, and allowed the ongoing JFK advisors to sink us into the mess we all recall.
"we should be working frantically to do the one thing that is in our whole country’s security interest, financial interest and moral interest — launch a Manhattan Project to get America off oil by 2025."
We did- then the Electoral College backed the "Flat Earth Society's" candidate and shoved us decidedly back into the 19th century.
As has been said many times since January 20,2017 "You can't fix stupid".
1
Ah, Mr. Friedman, your suggestions are all so logical, so knowledgeable, and so ethical. Wouldn't it be nice if we had someone logical, knowledgeable, and ethical to carry them out?
Now that Trump has shown what he is (and what he thinks America really is), we're just haggling over the price.
2
I think the best form of protest right now is to snap our wallets shut. Right now. Today. And keep them shut until politicians step up and act as honorable men and women rather than transactional minions to big money.
Instead, spend the holidays with family and friends, and offer kindness, love and little homemade gifts.
Give generously to those less fortunate than you with your time.
Save your money to replace your carbon dependent vehicles, heating and cooling systems and appliances.
Put your tech toys away; they are not helping.
Nothing gets the attention of government and the dark power behind our elected officials than a failing economy.
Almost nobody is happy these days. It's time to admit this truth and stand up for your children and grandchildren, and for yourselves.
Won't be pretty but hey, the light at the end of the tunnel can be reclaiming and investing in our communities and in our personal relationships. And just maybe, we can restore the sense of morality that lives within us but has been squashed by the drive to "buy more." Capitalism has become cannibalism.
Personnally, I think these would be the very best gifts we could ever give and could ever receive.
2
I agree with you about Trump. I would apply the same criticism to 25% of the US population who either voted for him, supports him, or would die for him as their commander in chief. They are the ones to blame. As Koch said, "The people have spoken … and they must be punished."
1
Trump-Pence administration is the antithesis of every American value, save none. While our Country has always had a level of friction between ideals and actions, never have we gone so far as to entirely abandon our core values and replace them with feel-good sophisms as is the consistent practice of the Trump-Pence administration.
Our Country is suffering immeasurable damage along many fronts from deepening divides and increased racism domestically, to lack of trust amongst our (former) allies abroad. Those who enable this administration are on the wrong side of history, as they will find out when their grandchildren ask them, "why did you let this happen?"
Mr. Friedman's casual observation that "one cannot absolutely prove M.B.S. ordered [the murder]" is inaccurate and pernicious, and the very sort of sloppy language that enables Mr. Trump to go on claiming that the truth is unknown and unknowable.
One really does not know what mathematical or philosophical or jurisprudential concept of absolute proof Mr. Friedman might have in mind. But it is clear that the CIA has marshalled evidence demonstrating beyond any reasonable doubt that M.B.S. ordered the murder. That is absolute proof in any sensible use of the term. Mr. Friedman should not be helping Mr. Trump elevate fake doubt to the level of national policy.
100
Friedman was talking about Trump’s cheap excuse, not what he himself believes to be true. But since we’re gonna toss adjectives like “philosophical,” about the room, let me note that the legal standard of “reasonable doubt,” has zippo to do with absolute certainty.
In fact “absolute certainty,” is darn hard to come by. Physical reality being what it is, best we get is very high probability. Which is, in fact, what certainty is.
Friedman was arguing that it’s deliberately perverse of Trump to argue that we don’t know for sure. We know for as sure as we can.
21
@Jim Robinson
Friedman makes some good points, but you're right, Jim. I noticed he did not point out the lies about the amount of the sales and the number of jobs those sales would create, Trump blew out into the world. Everyone in journalism needs to point out every inaccuracy whenever they write. It's a time to be endlessly precise.
As if allowing murders in order to make weapons that end up on the world arms market were important to this planet.
12
@Jim Robinson Methinks you misread the article.
With Trump nothing is ever for the benefit of America. "Make America Great Again" really means "Make Donald Trump Rich Again". He doesn't care about morals or values -- it's all about his future business ties and those of his equally compromised son-in-law and how much money they can make once he leaves office. He'll do anything for a political contribution from Adelson and his conservative ilk. America gets nothing and that's just fine with Trump. And it's A-OK if he's mildly inconvenienced by public and global scorn as long as his investments pay off personally. What is completely disgusting is that he is blatantly enabled by a compromised GOP Senate and a slew of House Members who are along for the ride with an eye towards financial or political advancement.
If the Republican party actually had America's interest at heart, they would do everything they could to reduce demand for oil. Oil supports most of political our enemies; Iran, Russia, Venezuela, Saudi Arabian ISIS funders. There would be the additional benefit to the environment, and the clean jobs that come with green energy. Unfortunately the Republican party, from Trump on down, sides with our enemies at the behest of their oil company contributors.
1
"Instead, Trump gave the embassy move away for free." Your view would only make sense if there was a peace process worth trying to advance. But there isn't. The peace process is not just stunned, it is not just sleeping, it is dead. If there ever was a chance at a peace process [even if in retrospect the idea seems delusional], it died when Arafat walked out on Clinton. Given that reality, there's no good reason for the U.S. President to continue to thwart the will of Congress by not moving the embassy. Even if there wasn't a Congressional act mandating the move, it would still be the right thing to do. There's no reason we should treat Israel differently than we treat other countries when it comes to where we typically locate our embassy, i.e., in the capital.
1
He is turning us into a morally corrupt nation in the eyes of the world but is apparently still pleasing his hypocritical base. His complicity in the murder is but one small part of the whole sordid scheme.
I don't believe that represents who we really are, the Congress and "we the people" need to se that this man is removed from office ASAP.
Election 2016 was good first step but he won't leave that easily. His corruption and obstruction of justice must be proven!
2
@JB - If proof is needed, wait 5 minutes and he'll comply.
His "corruption and obstruction of justice" are more regular and predictable than sunrise.
It is more about our fascination with obstreperousness and aggressiveness than addiction to oil
1
As far as his actions are concerned, nothing that Trump does shocks me anymore. Trump makes a financial windfall out of indifference to the savage murder of a journalist and presents a Tweet essentially celebrating how his own moral bankruptcy lowers the price of oil for us and the world. Once again, in his narcissistic fantasy world that has become our plague, it's about all about himself and the gifts he brings. What I suppose that I'm still surprised about is the moral bankruptcy of 40% or so of our voting population.
3
First, keep America strong and safe. Next, worry about morals.
1
Keeping the US “strong and safe” does not include sanctioning murder against journalists, which is antithetical to western democracy, a gross violation of human rights, and aiding and abetting terrorism.
Did our “strong and safe” relationship with the House of Saud stop 9-11, perpetrated almost entirely by Saudi nationals? Nope.
3
@Nreb Ok, what part of Trump's actions keep us strong and safe? None, unless we think there is some sort of god of war that is pleased by human sacrifice here or there.
"‘Saudi Arabia, I get along with all of them. They buy apartments from me. They spend $40 million, $50 million,’ Trump told a crowd at an Alabama campaign rally in 2015. ‘Am I supposed to dislike them? I like them very much.’…
"In 1991, when Trump was nearly $900 million in debt from failed casino projects, he sold his 281-foot yacht to Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal for $20 million. (The boat had been originally owned by late Saudi billionaire and arms dealer Adnan Khashoggi, a cousin of Jamal Khashoggi.)
"A few years later, the prince bought a stake in Trump’s Plaza Hotel by agreeing to pay off some of Trump’s debts on the property.”
How little did Mohammed bin Salman have to pay to buy Trump and Kushner?
We know they were bought, the question is for how little.
4
Trump is doing very well, judging by 63 million Americans who adore him and an additional .4 percent of the US would die for him as members of the armed services .2 percent of the population in the law enforcement who would blindly obey his orders. It's comforting to point the finger at Trump. The reality is, he's got 25% of the population impatiently ready and to die for him. He's not the problem. They are.
2
Yes, “Trump: "I Could Stand In the Middle Of Fifth Avenue And Shoot Somebody And I Wouldn't Lose Any Voters” ... & it’s unfortunately true.
Amorality, in time, devolves to immorality. Our president made that dark journey decades ago; now he's well underway in dragging along America.
1
Yes! Getting off oil and transitioning to green energy are the most important issues facing us, for many reasons. How about putting Americans to work manufacturing and installing solar panels and building an electric transportation infrastructure? This could end our dependence on oil from the middle east, provide jobs, make us energy independent and reduce global warming. If the arms manufacturers would switch to producing solar panels and windmills instead of weapons, they could still make money without being evil. Stop selling arms to evil regimes and leave the middle easterners to fight among themselves over the particulars of their religions. If we really want to "put America first," this is a way to do it.
1
@Carolyn This is what the Obama administration was trying to accomplish during their time in office, only to be obstructed by the Republican congress. This approach is exactly what we have needed to assuage our heavy carbon footprint, and begin the road toward good jobs producing clean energy. These factories for wind and solar power production must be built in places where folks who made their living on coal production can move into better jobs and lives.
1
Nice to know that Trump puts a dollar value on intangibles like ethics, morals and principles. At what point will he simply sell out America entirely? Or do current events mark that point now?
1
Mr. Friedman is spot on.
Saudi Arabia may enable us to provide cheap gas at the pumps, but there are hidden costs to this that when added in makes that gas price much higher.
We fight proxy wars for them. We have been aiding their war effort against women and children in Yemen. We help their military. And we give up on our values to support their rich rich lifestyles.
4
Rather than create enemies out of allies by outlawing Iranian oil, Trump wants to hurt Iran's oil revenue by another means. He is obsessed with punishing Iran and has been guaranteed huge campaign contributions by Casino Shelly for doing so. I guess the N Dakota and other shale producers are willing to pay the price. Saudi murderers get to put them out of business again.
I urge the NYT to place the pictures of the children near death in Yemen right beside Trump's picture each and every time an article about Trump boasting about his arms deal with Saudi Arabia.
The U.S. is selling weapons to the Saudis so they can more easily murder not just Washington Post reporters who live in America, but thousands and thousands of innocent people caught in their crossfire.
I also think the Times should report on how many U.S. soldiers are casualties of weapons made in the U.S. and then sold to dictatorships such as Saudi Arabia. The number may surprise your readers.
And in every single article on the subject of Trump's response to the murder of Khashoggi, quote Trump from 2015 and 2016 when he made it clear that "he likes them very much" because they buy his properties.
5
Here's the only question: how much money is Trump, Trump's family and Trump businesses getting from Saudi Arabia and its leader.
2
Trump's statement was a slap in the face to the Saudi crown prince. Trump wrote it and the price of oil dropped seven percent.
Making the statement that Friedman suggests, "You’re going to let women out of jail; announce a cease-fire in Yemen; end this blockade of Qatar, ... or Else!" would increase tension in the Middle East. Tension in the Middle East causes the price of oil to rise and shovels more money into the prince's coffers. That would have been a gift to the prince.
Christmas has not come early this year for the prince, as Friedman claims. I'll bet that the prince will not be celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ at all this year.
The funny thing is, we probably could stop buying foreign oil. But if we did, the same amount of oil we stopped buying would then be available for India, China and Europe to buy.
From a physicist's (or economist's) point of view, the amount of physical work being done in a fixed amount of time is proportional to the amount of energy supplied. Burn twice as much oil and you get double the work done and/or make twice as much product.
If burning the oil is destroying our climate, the biggest reason is because the process is so grossly inefficient. Almost all the energy contained in oil is wasted, doing no useful work. 100% of the energy used to heat your home is wasted; it all finds its way back outdoors. You may burn a few gallons of gasoline driving to work and back but at the end of the day your car is sitting in the same spot, nothing has physically changed.
In a perverse way, burning all the oil helps us by preventing other countries from getting any use from it. As a bonus, it is a constant drain on the pocketbooks of almost every US resident, generating spectacular profits and tax revenue.
At present I do not see any economic incentive for the US government, commercial, or industrial sectors to stop burning oil. It's cheap and traditional. Operating a plug-in electric vehicle costs only a small fraction of what it costs to buy gasoline for the same size car but let's face it, the average person can't be bothered to think about that.
31
@Kevin
What about the CO2 released into the atmosphere?
If you drive a Prius C to work and back, you put 20 lbs of CO2 into the atmosphere if you go 50 miles.
If you drive a Ford F-150 to the office and back, you put 60 lbs of CO2 into the atmosphere.
As far as I can tell, no additional benefit in the physics sense was derived from that extra 40 lbs of CO2.
11
@Kevin
All the oil you burn to heat your home keeps you warm, no physical work, but the oil is not wasted. The gas you burn to drive your car to work is used to take you to work, the car moves, it carries you, and just because it is in the same spot, does not mean nothing physically changed (it has) or work was not accomplished. So if you run every day to keep in shape, nothing changes because you go to bed in the same place? How much is the "small fraction" it costs to run an electric car? remember that the electricity to charge that car is produced upstream, probably at an oil or coal power plant.
5
@Kevin Please separate the physical from the economics. The efficiency to the physics person is the fraction of the energy (in BTUs, say) that you get from the combustion. Dirty engines are inefficient, regardless of what you're doing with the energy.
It's also odd to say "Burn twice as much oil and you get double the work done." No, that's a statement about the economics of the production process.
As for the line "100% of the energy used to heat your home is wasted; it all finds its way back outdoors." ... I just don't know what to say.
Maybe we can agree that dumping CO2 into the atmosphere is harmful.
7
Mr. Friedman you say, "Trump got something, but America got nothing."
Oh we got something all right. A man posing as an Americn who wants to destroy it all. An insatiably greedy, nherited/stolen wealth, morally/ethically bankrupt, socially unconscious person posing as a human being who thinks anything said about him is good. He wants to go down in HIStory by starting WW3 - the next Hitler/Atilla The Hun.
It's very difficult to be thankful right now as we watch the prosperity and safety of 99.9% of us in OUR United States of America and the world endangered beyond belief.
5
The major media in our country have handed Trump a great gift, and enormous power, by covering everything he does and says as if it were serious and meaningful. I watched some of a national network evening newscast this evening (ABC News) and there was Trump, Trump, Trump. Trump. Sound bites. Trump walking. Trump talking. Over and over, close to ten cuts of Trump in ten minutes.
In contrast, Obama was under covered. He was "no drama Obama" and he didn't send ratings or clicks soaring. His presidency took on an air of desperation to get more coverage, so when the networks and the news channels ignored him, he and Michele appeared on just about every television program that would have them trying to sell his programs. In a way, it was mildly pathetic, an American president trying to get on television any way he could (he even took a drive around the White House lawn with Jerry Seinfeld, of all people).
News coverage is not supposed to be calibrated to create a political or social effect. It is supposed to be based on sound, generally objective judgement, but America's major media have abandoned all restraint where Trump coverage is concerned. Everything he does is considered big news.
Trump's full in love supporters and his riled up critics know he is erratic, tweets in the middle of the night and has no consistent view of policy or the world aside from what makes him feel good about himself. Why do the major media play along? They do it for...money, ratings and clicks.
4
This country became immoral long before trump. It’s always been about money, god is on our currency for crying out loud. Trump just elevates our immorality to an extinction level event.
2
EXACTLY! A Manhattan Project to us off oil. THIS should have been our response 17 years ago to 9/11. Instead, with YOUR ENTHUSIASTIC SUPPORT in the pages of this paper, we invaded Iraq, the biggest and costliest geopolitical mistake since Vietnam. And from what country did most of the 9/11 hijackers come from? SAUDI ARABIA!
3
Through his greed this man is single-handedly destroying everything about this country's culture, morals, and values.
The beacon of light that has been this country is getting so dim because of him.
His ignorance might be his bliss, but it is our nightmare.
5
We don't elect a dictator every four years, we elect a president. It is time for our other elected branches to provide the checks and balances that are so sorely needed with this rogue president. The world needs it!
3
Thank you for getting to the absolute heart of the matter: our oil dependence, with its increasingly disastrous impacts on our politics, bodily health, water supply, and weather. For the common good of us all, we need to fundamentally change our relationship to oil and move on from its production and use. A very tall order, but a necessary one.
This is the best expressed piece I have read which helps articulate my feelings. Thank you for putting it into words when I could not.
2
Journalists with no technical background are always asking for a "Manhattan Project" this and a "Manhattan Project" that. The Manhattan project developed 3 bombs; it didn't change the world economy. First of all, it doesn't matter what the US does if the world doesn't do it as well, because oil is a global market. The rest of the world is only going to do it if it makes economic sense. The US is largely self-sufficient in oil, by the way, entirely so if you include Canada and Venezuela. Most Iranian and Saudi oil is heading for Asia or Europe. America can't wean itself off of oil. Only the world can, and that requires a better solution. Is it reasonable to set a rich world standard for a carbon tax, and then work to get the rest of the world to adopt it (possibly with trade measures sanctioning those who do not tax carbon)? Yes, that could work. Demanding that we abandon liquid hydrocarbon fuels for transport in 7 years? The suggestion itself demonstrates ignorance of the technology and economics involved.
The Manhattan project *did*change the economy because it fundamentally changed the relationship between the government, the scientific community and industry. The three bombs, while being the stated goal, were merely a byproduct of deep government involvement in science and industry something that had not really existed prior to the Manhattan project.
@Tom. Step one is to sell the truth that Climate Change is real and caused by mankind releaing CO2 into the atmosphere. Only until this is accepted can effective action be taken. And yet the leader of the free world claims that this is a “Chinese hoax,” and downplays science in favor of political contributions. The longer we wait to respond (and we must respond), the more expensive and disruptive the solution.
Trump cares nothing about America’s future, and only looks toward the next election. He and his GOP partners will be long remembered as our children struggle with a mankind created crisis of worldwide proportions.
1
Trump's moral compass is non-existent. Calling out the Saudi Prince would not automatically cause gas prices to rise. Trump's cowardly rejection of the CIA's analysis and support for Saudi Arabia's Murder Incorporated is cynical and shocking. I don't think most Americans want to sell our souls for the price of oil, even if that were a real factor. Trump often explains his choices with false warnings, i.e. if Democrats are elected the borders will be wide open and violence will break out everywhere. Or, if he stands up the the Killer Prince, he warns, gasoline will become unaffordable. These warnings are baloney and, other than some of Trump's most gullible supporters, most Americans know that.
5
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, Stanton’s 79th birthday is approaching and he is thanking G-d for his happy life and the opportunity to vent his spleen on everything and everybody on a daily basis in the comment spaces of the New York Times. Close by to the motto that says "All the news that's fit to print."
Blessed by wonderful parents, a good wife, good kids, Kota the Wonder Dog, two great cats who sometimes sleep on his feet, work that was challenging and interesting, moderately decent health, always enough money to get by on, all of these good things made possible by living in the greatest country the world has ever known, provided we can keep it.
Disheartened and dismayed by Trump’s many calamitous betrayals of this country, I have been on a Winston Churchill binge for months now, listening to his speeches, watching films and reading books by and about him.
Churchill understood far better than any of the political opponents of his time the greatness of his own people. That is what enabled him to rally them despite the hard times and carry them forward despite their many great losses.
I pray that all of us will be able to find ways of rallying ourselves against the further depredations that surely await us in coming months and so collectively carry the country to victory over the great misfortune that currently dismays, worries, burdens, baffles and afflicts us.
Happy Thanksgiving To All.
3
@A. Stantn
What you're overlooking is the fact that Americans aren't the British people of Churchill's time. It wasn't difficult for Churchill to appeal to the British sense of patriotism because they were facing a obvious outside threat from Fascism. The Brits had to band together for mere survival. Americans who support Trump and his Trumplican Party see the threat to their way of life due to threats from within the nation not from imagined attacks from the Dems, Liberals and, above all, the Press as "Enemies of the People". Trump has convinced his base of supporters to turn against their own fellow Americans and he, furthermore, has assured them this "Will America Great Again".
When you see two old geezers about my age wearing tee shirts that blatantly and idiotically say "We'd rather be Russians than Democrats", we're in trouble for control of the American mind.
1
We don't need the ME for oil anymore. We need the ME to continue to enforce the US dollar as the currency of the world and create demand for US weapons across the globe.
The US has three products that the world relies on USD, weapons and likes.
Mr. Friedman is much too smart to think that any action the Reality Show Con Artist takes has anything to do with US Interests.
It has everything to do with his own interests though.
Like his love affair with the man who US Intelligence thinks is the world's richest, his love for the Saudi's has little to do with any arms deal. It has to do with access to capital for him and his family and the money spent by the Saudi's at his properties.
Since he and his son in law can't get funding through legitimate sources, they need to deal with the Russians and the Saudi's as the recent New Yorker profiles have shown.
The grifter in chief only cares about "what is good for me" and not the US.
He will burn down this country to save his own skin and the Vichy GOP, the collaborators who we just gave a few more seats in the US Senate to, are handing him the matches.
And frankly, for electing such an easy to spot fraud, we deserve it.
5
And his collaborators will warm their hands at the fire, and then say “Well, it was nice while it lasted but it’s time to move on”.
3
Trump supporters love the Saudis- because Trump says so. Don’t expect Trump supporters to come to their senses—or morals.
5
"... we should be working frantically to do the one thing that is in our whole country’s security interest, financial interest and moral interest — ... to get America off oil..."
Friedman I'm surprised you failed to make another connection to your conclusion. In doing so, you submit your proposed action and conclusion as your own, which is simply not accurate.
Some of us are old enough to rember the gas lines of the early '70's, and President Carter's attempt to do just what you are now advocating in this piece. President Carter was the first U.S. President to fully understand the middle east - war - oil - religion/peace triangle and knew that it would steer international events for a long time.
But that whole effort was torpedoed by Saint Ronnie " Raygun" and his "government is the problem" mantra once the gas started flowing again and everyone got used to $2.00+ gas. Thanks, in large measure, to Lee Atwater and Karl Rove.
Indeed, execpt for the Vietnam debacle, for my entire life, U.S. foreign policy has been steered by the undercurrents of the nonsense germinating from the middle east.
And I for one, are beyond tired of it !
2
For some odd reason Friedman critiques Trump’s faux transactionalism in the Khashoggi affair, but then offers his dream wish list of quid pro quo.
Tom is critical of he gratuitous pass Trump bestows on this murderer. But Tom has long portrayed MBS as a reformer with some bad habits. So here is the hard nosed realpolitik that we should practice. “It’s a tough world out there....if you murder journalists, kidnap foreign leaders , jail and torture dissidents,, jail and shakedown fellow princelings, besiege one of our allies and conduct a war destroying millions of innocent lives....you will have to face the tough world without us.”
I have to object to the continuing characterization of Donald Trump as "amoral," with that word's connotations of moral neutrality or ambiguity.
Trump has continually proven himself to be mendacious, greedy, vain, spiteful and vicious. He may credibly be accused of having violated every one of the 10 commandments. Trump is the epitome of immorality.
2
New Yorkers are ashamed of Trump.
Mainstream Christians are ashamed of Evangelical Fundamentalists.
Walter Rauschenbusch would be seeing this as
another dark age for America.
4
Message aside, the rhetoric itself is offensive. Exclamation points, asides, word choice, slogans. Trumpspeak rules.
As this article observes, there were options and one wonders where were his advisors (Miller? Bolton? Mattis? Jarvanka?) to compose a less muddled statement.
Perhaps this will be the act that unites Republicans and Democrats to put the brakes on this runaway president by stopping arms sales to Saudi and imposing other sanctions immediately. That's why its called checks and balances. So call, write, take to the streets. Do it !
2
There is just no bottom when it comes to Trump’s atrocities against decency and democracy, just a continuing abyss like the Biblical bottomless pit in the book of Revelations.
Question: Why is no one challenging Trump whenever he spouts verbal stupidities like “maybe he did, maybe he didn’t”?
How hard would it be to utter: But the CIA just said he did it!
1
The money that MBS is spending in this country is on the PR firms, the MSM, and Cable channels. It appears that Trump is just following whatever Jared is feeding him as Jared is the one working for MBS and getting paid handsomely. It is not just Trump it is the whole cabal in the White House and US Congress. The US Congress would do the talking but when it comes to walk the walk they are nowhere to be found. As long as the Republican majority of the Senate and House (for a few months more) would not do what is constitutionally required of them to place a check on the President, nothing would change and we would continue to yell scream and shout about the degradation of our morals by the Trumpian philosophy of Money can buy everything.
Tom your paragraph re what trump should have done he could still do when he meets with MBS at G-20. One more important point you made is the fact that it is the Saudi Madrasas teaching hate filled Saudi/Wahhabi/Salafi interpretation of Islam that must be ceased as it is the reason behind the creation of Taliban, Al-Qaeda, and ISIS. At 9-11 attack on our soil there were 16 out of 19 hijackers were Saudis and none from Iran. As Israel and Iran do not get along so we blame every problem on them.
I wonder what would have trump done if this barbarism would have happened in US Embassy in Washington DC. It only didn’t happen here because Khalid bin Salman sent Khashoggi to Turkey.
4
The headline and sub-head say it all. Trump is selling out every moral value in this country. (I had a stronger description in mind but was afraid it wouldn't make it through the moderators.)
1
Frankly the CIA leak to the WashPost has a certain scent about it, a whiff of Palace reshuffle, or even coup. Of course the Sauds have been essential as the wranglers of many Black Ops in the Muslim world since before the 80s Afghanii Jihad (we might add Bosnia in the 90s, and even the little Op to cut out Muslim regions of Russia proper by igniting the Caucasus after the carve up of Yugoland succeeded). In fact Saudi involvement to coup out Assad is indicated strongly (and ISIS is nothing if not Wahabi-ism distilled to 150 proof, the spirit of the originator of the Saudi kingdom...)
But the picture of K's demise should give pause, it is a rub out wearing the fingerprints of the Mafia, when it "cooperated" in CIA actions in the WW II to 1980s era. That famiglial resemblance suggests someone over here may have greenlighted an Operation, and provided the blueprint. After all- it is a Western dodge to erase evidence, while desecration of a corpse is anathema to any good Muslim...
Something the CIA recognizes disqualifies MbS from being the Protector of the Most Holy sites henceforth, hence the move to remove him.
2
Tom. I agree with all you have to say about our venal, vile, vindictive president. However, your portrayals of how to extract concessions from the Saudis, the Israelis, the Russians all smack of Walter Mitty daydreaming his way to invincibility. It just ain’t going to happen.
At this time we all live in a venal, vile, and vindictive world. “We have met the enemy and he is us”. Self interest - individually and globally - rules the day.
1
Remember when Jimmy Carter was criticized for failing to support “our good friend the Shah of Iran” simply because the Shah was a mercilous tyrant routinely committing major human rights abuses? Trump is the flip side: he cares nothing about human rights, only about keeping his base of voters enthralled.
The US far right has wanted to attack Iran ever since the hostage crisis took down Jimmy Carter. Trump knows this, and also knows that his base thinks that human rights violations are something only liberals care about. If the folks shouting “lock her up” at rally’s don’t care, neither does Trump. The inevitable consequences will take time to appear - and Republicans can blame those on Democrats with the cynical help of right-wing news outlets.
5
One of the most thoughtful op-Ed’s I’ve ever read. I hope this article is a blue print for whoever decides to run for president next.
5
Mr Friedman, you are wrong to think this has anything to do with oil for the average American consumer. Since when did DJT ever think of us - the average Jane and Joe on the streets? He sold out our (meaning, American) values, moral and otherwise, to protect and promote his own personal interests as well as those of his family and cronies. Do not be fooled by his empty talks of jobs, arms sales and oil prices. DJT will only think of one thing: the DJT brand and empire.
6
President Trump’s callous decision to excuse the Saudi government’s execution of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi for practical reasons and apparently without the imposition of conditions represents a textbook example of why I am a progressive who advocates for a return to our American democratic principles.
The spirit of American democracy has been captured by wealthy corporate interests who have successfully imposed their will on our law-making and adjudicating apparatus in all three of our branches of government.
The search and preservation of the proverbial money tree has marginalized the demos, the common people and turned our great democracy into a plutocracy. During yesterday’s comments on the post-Khashoggi murder U.S.-Saudi relationship, President Trump emphatically reinforced our utter loss of democratic values.
America and the world desperately need a new U.S. President to be elected in 2020 who fully comprehends the significance of democracy, its applications, and consequences, both at home and abroad.
5
As usual, Tom, you have articulated the nature of Trump’s immorality. Your closing note on getting the US off oil is something I have been advocating for a long time. Five years is a bit optimistic, but a “Moon Shot” project to make us fossil fuel free in 10 years would go a long way towards saving the world from global warming. It would also take a major political lever out of the hands of the Saudis and the Iranians. Not to mention destroying the power of Big Oil. As I believe you pointed out in an earlier piece, Exxon (et al) are falsely valued because 80% of their “assets” are oil reserves that will never come out of the ground.
4
Tom Friedman has been boosting the prospects of MBZ as just the change agent and strongman that the Kingdom has needed to "modernize." He has counseled US policy makers to exercise patience with the impetuous young heir to the Saudi throne, believing that he will metamorphize into the moderate reformer of Friedman's imagination. But without external restraints, MBZ will act without restraint, secure in the knowledge that the White House has his back. Is it not clear that rogues do not make policy on the basis of enlightened interest, but only what augments their roguishness.
Creed as a moral standard was there all the time. Trump makes it more apparent.
1
This is an excellent column by Thomas Friedman. One does not have to agree with every specific point raised by Mr. Friedman in order to grasp and agree with the main premises.
1.) Donald Trump is a man of limited ability, who pretends – even to himself – that he is a great negotiator.
2.) Donald Trump is guided by no moral compass, and enriching himself and his family takes precedence over everything except silencing and punishing his critics.
3.) Donald Trump is so beholden to the fossil-fuel industry that he will dutifully obey the demands by the leaders of that industry.
4.) Donald Trump is a bundle of religious, racial and gender prejudices, and those have apparently guided him since childhood.
5.) Donald Trump will lie shamelessly and sometimes seems unable to differentiate between fiction and fact.
6.) Donald Trump sees democracy as a threat.
7
After 15 Saudis took out the World Trade Center, then President Bush walked hand in hand with Saudi King at his Texas ranch.
If the United States can give them a pass then, this current incident is literally nothing compared to that attack. We are nothing more than lowly subjects of the Saudi Crown. We have no moral standing in this relationship.
4
The fundamental problem that we face is that every time Trump mentions an issue of importance he makes clear that he possesses extreme Narcissistic Personality Disorder. To quote Wikipedia “Narcissistic personality disorder (NPD) is a personality disorder with a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, excessive need for admiration, and a lack of empathy.” NPD is a clearly defined medical entity explained in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of the American Psychiatric Association.
An ordinary citizen with NPD might be a local nuisance but a U.S. President so afflicted is a world disaster. Trump’s behavior should be explained appropriately, in psychiatric terms. Then we should listen to Friedman and other rational, informed individuals. Thank you Tom.
2
TOM FRIEDMAN'S Column is spot on. We have hard choices to make. In the mideast, in many situations, there is no good choice. BUT there can be a positive backstory. Trump is giving all these backstories the dump because it's too confusing in him due to his profound laziness and ignorance of world affairs or for anything other than Trump's self-interest. Trump-Pigula is our KKKaligula!
2
Another good article from Mr. Friedman. The only issue I would argue is that, after two years of Trump, I am not sure if there is much daylight between Trump's morals and values and those of America? I fear that Trump is speaking on the behalf of most folks in the country, with the exception of may be a small minority of the citizens. I do not see protests on the streets as we did during the Vietnam war or the civil rights movements. I do not see political protests on campuses or the status quo being challenged. I just see the masses arguing about minutia on social media or talking heads on the TV with their meandering thoughts following the shinny object of the day. Happy Thanksgiving Y'All!
4
"He sells out American values — awful enough — but then gets nothing of value in return."
America gets little in return. Trump and family get lots, in their own pockets.
Trump actually doesn't care much about what America gets out of anything. If we do get anything, by accident, he doesn't mind, but little that he does is from any real America First effort. If something happens that his base doesn't like, he'll just blame it on someone else. Otherwise, he's lining his pockets, letting his cronies line theirs, and feeding his monstrous ego.
This is my Occam's Razor view. It doesn't really matter if Trump does or does not understand the intricacies of politics, economics, law, or anything else; we know from his business failings that he doesn't understand the intricacies of business. He does what enriches him or strokes his narcissism, and anything that looks sufficiently bad is someone else's fault.
Simplest theory that fits all the facts: he's a crook.
440
Yep. The Donald is not a chum. He has no sense of decency, has no judgment, and remains terribly but blissfully ignorant about things that should keep an American president awake at night.
But he never gives up leverage to achieve objectives that he cares about, like keeping the faith with his political base and positioning his family with the right people for future years. However, all that geopolitical stuff that Tom talks about--Trump doesn't care about any of that.
26
@Barry Williams
100% correct!
Perfectly stated. Trump and his family have proved themselves to be cheats and scoundrels but with enough money to insulate themselves from any repercussions.
Trump's 5 bankruptcies and how he stiffed everyone for payment says it all. If someone sues him he keeps the process going till his opponents ( and that's how he sees anyone who goes against him ) give up or run out of money.
He's a disgusting subhuman and his family are replicas. They will all do ANYTHING to line their pockets at everyone else's expense. And yes, if someone like Americans actually benefit too, then they take all the credit as if it was planned that way.
Is it 2020 yet?
25
This isn’t about oil, or ams sales or strategic interests or anything other then the fact that the Saudis are bankrolling Trump and Kushner by funneling millions of dollars into their real estate business. That’s it. Sometimes the simplest answer is the real answer.
4
This commotion over the Khashoggi/MBS matter seems pretty much limited to the chattering class, echo-chamber folks in and around the D.C. media. Over the years, the U.S. has gotten in bed with -- and stayed in bed with -- leaders who have done worse than order a hit on a columnist. The Shah, any number of dictators in Latin America, Egypt, the Philippines -- are just a few of the ones who come to mind.
In America, we witnessed a few years ago a U.S. gunship shooting up a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Kunduz, killing dozens and wounding many more ; as a nation, we reacted with a collective shrug. Same with monthly massacres on our own shores, in schools, churches, hospitals, concerts. Does the D.C. press corps really expect a sudden upwelling of reaction over the loss of one man in Turkey? I'm not sure that's realistic.
6
@Tim C
It's not the DC press corp, it's all right thinking Americans and this story has received national attention.
Yes, America has done business with some pretty terrible leaders over the years. But they problem with Trump is that he's so incapable of nuanced thinking and action and that he's so tone deaf and unintelligent in his approach to these matters. When he very clearly sends the message that as long as you buy stuff from the US you can do whatever you want - even murder - he gives overt permission for the world's thugs to act with impunity. I don't think any previous president has ever done that.
1
Go talk to some knowledgeable people about our oil production--you are way behind the times. The Saudis tried to drive our shale oil producers out of business a few years back by opening their floodgates and plunging oil prices, but they failed. We have massive fracking ability, and it's nimble. We can crank up production or shut it off pretty flexibly and without too much economic impact. We actually surprised ourselves when the Saudis tried to mess with us--we've become pretty efficient. Who would have thought it? This isn't the seventies, Mr. Friedman.
Why do you think the Saudis are trying to set themselves up as a global financial/investment powerhouse? They know the day is coming when their one-trick-pony oil economy won't be enough.
Regardless of the robustness of our oil producing capability, yes, we should attempt a Manhattan Project to get us off oil by 2025 simply because of that pesky climate change issue--why don't you go convince Exxon Mobil? Maybe you can get Rex Tillerson involved now that he isn't actively involved in destroying America anymore.
The more logical approach is to wean us off Saudi oil as we ramp up alternative energy, but that will never happen. We don't do anything on principle. If we can save two cents a barrel using Saudi oil, that's what we're going to do.
107
@CF No, this is not the seventies and yes, the US has vast capabilities when it comes to oil production and the Saudis could never again hold the availability of oil over our head. However, oil production in the US is expensive, VERY EXPENSIVE, while it is very cheap in Saudi Arabia. There is a reason why many oil wells in the US were idled as the price of oil came down. It simply was no longer profitable to produce it. US oil companies on the other hand, were dong just fine operating in the Middle East and that is where the problem lies and why we need to get off the oil spigot. They are working overtime maintaining the status quo because it is not in their best interest that the US or the West get too heavily into alternative energy any time soon. US oil companies are spending a fortune on lobbying efforts to slow down any such efforts. They have created a web that goes around the world and their concern is not about a fracking well in Oklahoma, but rather an oil field that they are licensing in Kuwait or Saudi Arabia.
19
@CF. It won’t happen so long as our campaign financing system favors big business over the small voter. Most of us human voters see the handwriting on the planetary wall and would like our grandchildren to inherit more than a dying planet and a humanity at war or fighting the elements all the time.
24
Good article except the outdated reference to Saudi oil imports. According to US govt EIA website, Saudi imported oil is 9% of total imports, or about 1million bbl/day, while Canada is 40%. We are not nearly as dependent on Saudi, or foreign oil as we were 10 years ago largely because of the growth of fracking in oil shale. However, it still would be good for the planet to cut fossil fuel emissions.
5
It is painfully obvious, Donald Trump's response to any event is calibrated to his own familiy's personal financial interests. Russia, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines or UAE etc, there is nothing that cannot be excused or ignored while Canada, France or Germany are subject to scathing attacks for the mortal sin of not heeding his every whim. If there is any justice in the world, not only will he be exposed for the self dealing flim flam man that he is, but also his republican enablers, protectors and abettors that know full well what they are propping up at a great cost to the country.
14
By granting MBS this impunity, Trump also gave his assent to a future in which any internal critic of the Saudi regime, even one motivated by the best interests her country, must fear death at home or abroad.
Allowing violent criminals impunity tells them not only that they won't be punished for what they did in the past, it tells them that they need not fear punishment when they do it again tomorrow.
4
Canada offered a small Twitter rebuke to Saudi Arabia concerning releasing a woman activist now in KSA jail who is related to a Canadian citizen. The Saudi reaction was more than extreme.
I don't recall one of "our western allies" supporting Canada. All just hid their heads (?in shame?).
So, how can any western country be disappointed in President Trump's exoneration of MBS? There is no proof that satisfies President's Trump standard for proof (such as a video of MBS actually ordering the execution).
Innocent until proven guilty!
1
America First apparently does not include the CIA. It does not apparently American citizens with green cards who contribute more to the American economy and way of life than Donald Trump has done - or will do - his entire life.
5
“The most crass giveaway of U.S. principles by any president in American history…”
Let’s be clear about Trump.
To demand of this deranged, self-serving criminal anything approaching intellect and rectitude is, well, ludicrous.
He is, as he shows daily by his own words and actions, an intellectual and moral cipher.
He belongs to no initiative that fosters peace in this world.
He belongs in prison.
11
Such a great deal maker! something for nothing. Amoral and arrogant are not a good combination. Our only hope is the lame duck Congress drafting a sanctions bill against Saudi Arabia with teeth that passes unanimously or at least with a veto proof margin.
#Thetruthshallsetyoufree
3
Why the sudden handwringing? The US has sacrificed its moral standing for a grotesque blood-for-money-for oil transaction with violent despots for decades. Trump is just that much more gauche about it.
7
@Jake
Americans are knee jerk self righteous people. They persist in believing that the United States is 'God's Country' no matter what ill may have been performed in the name of territorial expansion or financial gain.
Proof that Donald can’t even count. One of Donald’s justifications for why we should support Saudi Arabia is that Iranian terrorists have killed many Americans. Really? More than Saudi Arabian terrorists? Donald, ask someone to count for you next time you’re at home in NYC or you go over to the Pentagon. Because Donald you can’t even count.
5
It is beyond shocking to see what this Congress, especially its “Republican leadership” and “can’t do anything wrong” Trump supporters, are willing to tolerate for protection of their privilege and the political and economic power it confers!
Civility, moral leadership and democratic values are but eye wash for those elected officials now unprepared to impeach this wreck of a man! What a sham!
4
There will never be a nadir with donald trump.
8
...........and on the domestic front? How's that Tax giveaway for the rich doing? Steroids are wearing off? Where to to turn now to MAGA.
2
If Trump is an immoral chump his Republican enablers in Congress are worse. They have witnessed his selling of the White House and they have done nothing. They have watched his violations of the emoluments clause and his disregard for conflicts of interest and they have done nothing. They privately bemoan his chaotic foreign policy, his alienation of traditional allies and his tearing up of treaties, but they do nothing. They see him cosy up to Putin, Erdogan, Duterte and other dictators, and they do nothing. And now they see him openly defend a murderous Saudi prince while blaming his victim, and what will they do? Probably nothing.
7
Our country has never had a President who admires and is BFF with the despots in the world. They are his role models. His goal in life is to be one of them. He's not smart enough to realize they are playing him and can outsmart him in a heart beat. He is a know nothing, do nothing person occupying the White House. Thankfully January is just around the corner and he is in panic mode. Dump trump.
5
The Saudis have never been our "friends", they have already attacked us on 9-11 and they continue to be actual enemies of the USA and western culture/society. We should not be engaged with them, they have nothing to offer other then a toxic antiquated commodity, their mono commodity economy and shockingly barbaric & backwards culture and the Arab oil producing nations are the 10 most polluted countries in the world....that says a lot about their standards and values. ie a lack of clean air, clean water and stable food sources....not to mention their outrageous attitudes towards all women and gay people and other religions as well. They do not deserve to do business w/ the USA or the EU....the Saudis have a long long way to go in terms of developing some kind of a humane culture.
3
Why don't we ask Trump whether he would adopt the same policy if the Saudis killed Ivanka?
2
Instead, Trump gave the embassy move away for free. Well, I shouldn’t say that. He got millions of dollars in donations for the G.O.P. from right-wing Jewish megadonor Sheldon Adelson — who lobbied for the move — and warm applause from evangelicals. So Trump got something, but America got nothing.
Trump lives for praise, but mere praise doesn't satisfy. He therefore demands false praise, and only the inherently corrupt are cynical enough to provide that. This is the reason that the only people to whom Trump remains loyal (until he doesn't) are inherently corrupt characters like, Prince MBS, Vlad Putin, and the whole rotten cast of characters for whom he's expressed admiration down to Michael Cohen and Paul Manafort.
3
I better understand why the CIA made public their findings that the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia was responsible for the murder and dismemberment of a U.S. resident and journalist. If we have ever wondered how despicably low Trump can go in trashing American values and human morals, we now know.
There is no amount of profit from arms sales remotely worth the condoning of something this inhumane and criminal. This is not who we are America.
5
Now people are expecting moral judgement from President David Dennison? Really?
3
As selfish as he is, Chump is the more accurate descriptor for the imbecile in the White House. This president will go down in history as the doofus who took Putin and MBS at their word, widened the US position in trade deals for his chumpiness, followed Flynn and Manafort and Jared blindly while pining for power and money. Does anyone out there know of a single instance where Trump wisely and actively selected a superb individual for a leadership role or made a brilliant strategic move while in office? Just one?
2
Yes, Mr. Friedman, we have been addicted to Saudi oil for decades and that is not a good thing. But, we also have a president addicted to lies and that is a horrible thing. Exacerbating this ugliness is that we also have one of our two major political parties addicted to this liar because they're afraid of him. And he knows it.
You tell me which is worse for this country.
2
Cant wait long enough to January 2019 when Democratic congress will take oath.........Donald Trump what are you going to do then?
2
“Hey, guys, get in line! Trump is giving away free stuff! Just tell him you’re fighting Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood or that you’re a friend of Sheldon Adelson’s, and you get free stuff!”
That pretty much sums up the great deal maker - a con man who got played all his life. The only thing he is good at, that he was ever good at, is self promotion.
How many of you want to profit by blood-money? How far America has fallen!
Redemption depends on vanquishing the Republican Party.
Tom Brenner's foto illustrating your Black Friday column -- Trump's "Blood-for-money transaction"-- speaks far more than written and spoken words can. Dr. Tom, now that Trump has sold America's moral values and democracy down the river, where do we stand? Christmas has come early this year -- before Thanksgiving -- to Saudi Arabia and Trumpland. How in the name of American moral values and democracy has Donald Trump given a free pass to his decades-old personal alliance with Saudi Arabia and the absolute monarch's son, Mohammed bin Salman? Whomping up the continuation of Jihad in the Middle East and the west? Blood-for-oil? How about divorcing America from fossil fuel? And has MBS forked over the $billions of simoleons for American military materiel, or is that just more trump-pumpkin pie in the sky talk? Will America withdraw its horrific addiction to oil? Today, thank to our grotesque president, collateral damage is American democracy, values and decency.
1
The slow drip drip that began with djt’s election has become a waterfall. No surprise.
2
Inside tip: Trump has no morals. None. Please stop being shocked! Shocked!
1
America has done some terrible things in its rise to being a superpower. The mass killing and removal of Indians, the enslavement of blacks, the killing and removal of Mexicans are just examples of our actions towards superpower status. Somehow we always found that God supported us and meant for us to be a superpower that stretched from coast to coast. After awhile most people forget the evil tasks and the injustices that were necessary to cement our wealth and power. People only see our wealth and power and based on it admire us and our achievements. We are the shiny city on the top of the hill. Who knows what is buried in the hill?
Trump is our Indian killer. If he was not cowardly, he would be the one to go to kill the Indians and claim their land as his. He would also recruit the labor to work the land to increase his wealth. The taxes he would be forced reluctantly to pay would increase our wealth. Trump is the ugly but true side of our nation. It will be interesting if our wealth and power increases eventually under Trump even as a chump. Trump has no boundaries that he won’t cross, so that may happen. Maybe his successor will be able to put a pretty face on things and maybe people will forget and just admire us for our wealth and power.
1
When is “Enough, Enough?” For Trump supporters, for Republican cronies in Congress, for so-called Evangelical puppets, for the “deaf, dumb and blind?” Apparently, not yet! For the rest of us, Happy Thanksgiving. We do have so much to be thankful for, like knowing the difference between Right and Wrong!
2
Every time i see another commentary from you is available i know i am about to read another intelligent -spot on -scathing commentary regarding some heinous malfeasance by our dangerous man/child -in -.chief.
And every morning i rush to open the headline news hoping serendipity has smiled upon humanity and this pestilence of trumpism has been slowed by his heart attack or cancer or stroke.
And then i realize that another page of regression has been opened with our leadership by a bible belting twisted buffooon called Mike Pence.
And his new end of days administration.
I guess we progressives knew it had to be all downhill from Palin.
The founding fathers knew the ignorant masses could never sustain a functioning democracy!
1
I have my issues with Trump - did not vote for him in my primary. But there's no denying that he's an improvement over the disastrous eight years of foreign policy failure by his predecessor. The Syrian red line; an awful Iran deal; placating the Castros and more.... these were perhaps worse than amoral. They were devoid of intelligence and filled with weakness & capitulation. They did nothing to affirm US leadership in the world - they only reinforced the stupidity of 'leading from behind'. Churchill and Eisenhower would have laughed at that.
The concept that the United States has been an exceptionally moralistic nation is fantasy. We get the kind of government we deserve. Our national symbol should be an ostrich with its head stuck in the sand.
4
Why would he say or do anything other than what he always does? No punishment ever comes his way. He is immune to world opinion and his base still loves him.
All the coverage is the same so why not cover him as little as possible? That would drive him crazy, give a lot of us who are sick of all things and words Trump a welcome rest.
Headline: DJT today lies again and makes more money for himself. Useless man does stupid thing. Again.
Next!
1
He has made America look pathetically weak. I am ashamed.
2
America once at the pinnacle of success is now teetering towards a dark corrupt abyss.
Trump & company are a horrific joke on America that’s paying big dividends to autocrats, oligarchs, the science denying Christian Zealots & to Trump Inc.
House & Senate Republican’s silence equates to acquiesce. They are all morally bankrupt & corrupt & they are spitting on the constitution & the bill of rights with their silence & failure to bring this horror show to heel.
Every single Republican that voted for Trump is complicit in the destruction of the nation.
1
Trump and his followers demand that we stand for the national anthem while they ignore the concepts behind the bill of rights, checks and balances, equality under the law, and the rule of law.
They would turn our constitution into what I suspect that they have turned the Bible into - a meaningless document used to support whatever position would increase their comfort, wealth, and power.
1
What would you have him do attack Iraq?
Trump sells out America and it’s values constantly, not just occasionally.He has been nasty to all of our great allies and subjects them to his stupid temper tantrums.These are our trading partners and have helped us fight wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.Trump chooses instead to believe serial liers like Putin, Kim and Salam and praise them.These autocrats are enemies of our country.Mr.Trump is not only a “chump” ,he is consorting with our enemies and alienating our friends.This dangerous deal with the devil must be reversed.
3
Trump is an international disgrace to all decent human beings found anywhere in this known immediate universe.
Think about that.
4
“Launch a Manhattan Project to get rid of oil” is wath I thought Obama would do on the first day of his presidency.
"He sells out American values — awful enough — but then gets nothing of value in return."
This statement certainly defines Trump. Unfortunately, it also defines his supporters. They sell all of us out by supporting a charlatan who does nothing but line his own pockets. (Trump's current approval rating hovers around 43% according to FiveThirtyEight.) That is our salient problem.
We are addicted to greed, arrogance, and stupidity. How can we launch a Manhattan Project to get us off those things?
2
What moral standing ? ! Don't you even the read the news in your own country regarding a Michigan judge's recent decision to declare the 1996 federal law banning female genital mutilation as unconstitutional ?
Only the most naive and delusional harbour ideas of America being a shining beacon of admiration for other countries to emulate. It is simply a myth to hoodwink the provincial masses in Podunk, political and ideological brainwashing. What Trump is doing today is merely business as usual.
1
@AE
And here is where I must remind you that the MAJORITY of Americans did not vote for Donald Trump precisely because MOST OF US READ!
Another thing.
I suggest you read up on the Electoral College, because that's what essentially put him in the White House.
There. You're welcome.
@N. Smith
Lest you forget, you live in one of the more civilised urban centres of the United States.
The town and country divide is just as present in France in recent days, where a mainly rural protest against fuel price hikes is summoning to the surface contempt for bourgeois bohemian cityslickers who are felt to ignore the plight of the country yeomen.
My point -- DT has got many confirmed fans who will support him regardless of his fate. His election was a resounding response to the previous administration led by -- gasp-- a sophisticated and urbane black man.
Trump could have told M.B.S.: “I know this came from you. And so you’re not getting a free pass. For starters, you’re going to let every one of these women driving activists that you’ve arrested out of jail; you’re going to announce an immediate, unilateral cease-fire in Yemen...
Really Tom? So we're demanding they change their foreign policy over the murder of a journalist that we can't prove was done by them. Really Tom? What if they say no? Then what? Go to war with one of our only allies in the Middle East? Are you listening to yourself? I know you hate Trump but come on.
“They” (the Saudis) admitted “they” committed the murder. That is not in dispute. MBS is trying to blame his underlings for making the decision. Our CIA says MBS probably ordered the assassination. It really doesn’t matter though. The guy at the top is responsible. So yes, the USA should demand serious changes in Saudi policy to improve justice and human rights in order to maintain a working relationship.
No proof? Seriously? It’s on tape.
1
@Vivien Hessel
And not only is it on tape -- but Trump refuses to listen to it.
What is even more appalling than our president being so willing to compromise the integrity of our country is that 45% of our citizens are willing to do so!!! What has happened to the Republican party, particularly our Republican politicians....I hope at these politicians' funerals, during their eulogies they are remembered for their evil deeds --ie, for taking healthcare away from the needy, for punishing and abandoning Hispanic mothers and their children, for not taking a stand against sexual abuse, for lying, for being selfish, for being utterly disgraceful. They do not deserve any praise for their lives if they contribute and encourage the evil deeds they are currently engaged in! Particularly McConnell!
4
So the president pardoned THREE turkeys.
1
trump's only god is money and he will dump ethics, morals and decency in his quest for more. Despite duping his base with 'promises made' nonsense, it is clear that his interests supersede all others. He is, in his own fond descriptor, a disgrace.
2
Trump puts out this statement supporting the Saudis. Makes comments as he boards Marine One. And then heads off to Mar-A-Lago for a prolonged Thanksgiving holiday of golf and tweeting. He fully expects that this vile murder thing will all have blown over by Monday afternoon at the latest as he will have something new for the media and 60% of America to be horrified about by then. I'll give Trump credit--he knows how to play the media cycle and this time he's using Thanksgiving to do it. It is all a game and we're playing it...
232
@Meg
Yes, this vile murder thing will all have blown over by Monday....just as the Parkland killings did.....just as the Vegas killings did......just as......you name it...it all blows over and this imitation of a president knows it will. He's not to blame...we are for letting it all blow over.
10
Trump gives away passes and freebees to the likes of MBS because he is the recipient of same from the commentators on Trump News Channel and others, many of whom are Republican lawmakers. If one believes trump is amoral, then he has a lot of amoral company from the above group of supporters. But one thing I believe: Trump may give away HIS morality when dealing with national and international matters, but he can NEVER give away the morality and goodness of the vast majority of citizens living in the United States of America!
1
The US is a net exporter of oil so we are well on our way to energy independence. Beyond that, I am confused. I have been lead to believe (by the left) that the US is not supposed to impose its moral values on foreign countries? Which is it? Empty gestures as Friedman suggests or realpolitik?
@Douglas
Opposition to the murder of political dissidents is a moral value that America is supposed to uphold. Trump's actions, or more appropriately, inactions in this matter basically say that it's okay to murder political dissidents. This is an appallingly dangerous precedent for America. It's not that hard.
1
Why have we linked ourselves so closely to the Saud family? Why is America in bed with an absolutist monarchy whose only aim is to feather the nests of a small number of family members? Does anyone remember the Shah of Iran? One of these days the Saud family will sail their mega yachts to New York harbor seeking a comfortable asylum.
2
@Charles
Which is why smart Westerners with a pinch of good sense will back the Iranian PEOPLE, not the oppressive regime. Iranian youth is biting at the bit for liberation from the mullahs, simply in love with Western pop culture, etc. In contrast, the Saudis seem to be wed to their Bedouin traditions to ever make concessions with universal values such as the rule of law or fundamental human rights, especially not for the womenfolk.....
I thought this entire pillaging of Mother Earth, a.k.a., fracking, was supposed to wean us off our dependence on Saudi Arabia? In any event, this “addiction to oil” is a cop out for Trump. His inaction against MBS and Saudi Arabia has more to do with his own addiction to his personal wealth - let’s not forget the Trump Organization has huge investments in Saudi Arabia and Saudi princes in the past have bailed out Trump from his various financial follies.
More ominously, Trump’s consistent overruling of our own intelligence agencies findings to the benefit of dictators, such as MBS, Putin and Kim Jong Un, is frighteningly unpatriotic and demoralizing. It’s more than American values and reputation that are at stake, Trump is undermining our democracy and the institutions that have made this country so great. Let’s hope a Democratic House will be able to rein in this out-of-control presidency.
2
It would be hard to sell morals if you don’t possess any. Self-professed billionaire Trump is literally quite poor in all respect that defines a decent human being.
1
It has always amused me that Republicans, who are supposedly so patriotic, support oil. It keeps America in thrall to murderous regimes. Imagine a world where America didn’t need to hold hands with oil producing countries with atrocious human rights. Where America was a leader in energy producing technologies that originated in our own country (possibly with the help of immigrants - oh my!). What effect might that have on our economy and leadership in the world? Republicans don’t seem to want America to succeed. They want international oil companies and coal magnates to succeed, not America.
1
No way Trump can mess with his biggest potential investor, the Crown Prince.
1
No matter how you dress it up,Trump is who we are,. No matter how you try and distance yourself from what he is by assuming a sanctimonious position, when America looks in the mirror, the face it sees is that of Donald Trump. Fortunately, in the midterm election, the country found half a conscience and perhaps a way to save itself but the other half, the Senate, which still enables Trumps perversions. With an Angel on one shoulder and a Devil on the other we move on into a choice between darkness or light, may our better Angles prevail.
1
Mr. Friedman, I don't know if getting off oil would save us. Wouldn't hurt to try and find out! Maybe we could have an effect on global warming without telling Trump.
The worst thing about, well, everything these days is TRUMP. He says America First, but it means nothing other than the fact that he's protecting his business interests by protecting his friend, banker, and investor. No one has committed to spending a gazillion dollars on defense. They most likely have committed to spending more money on Trump properties and Trump.
The damage being done to America by this incompetent man is incalculable.
1
I’m sorry, but is this the high ground, middle ground or middle-low ground? In terms of morals or the chump factor of this article, the path seems to stray (into something larger and more systemic).
1
The pattern is the same for domestic exchanges. Judge Kavanaugh publicly advocates for positions favorable to President Trump and Trump names him to the Supreme Court with plenty of deception. Who benefits? Donald Trump, not the American people. President Trump names an unqualified outspoken critic of his political enemies to head the Justice Department. Who benefits? Donald Trump, not the American people. I am sure that anyone reading this can name many more examples.
1
Trump, Trump Trump!!!
Trump did not sell out our morals and values, the American people made a clear statement of what our collective values are in electing him. Trump has been one of the most honest and transparent, if despicable, presidents ever elected. The American people knew exactly what he stood for, then elected him, and, would likely do so again. I don’t think he has done a single thing, including now acting as an accomplice in the Khashoggi killing, that is inconsistent with what he presented through both the Republican Primaries and the Presidential election.
The New York Times helps his efforts. Trump,Trump, Trump!!! sells newspapers and gets views. Introspection does not.
1
@Mark W.
The American people did not elect him. How many times does this have to be stated before it finally sinks in?
1
“The Saudis claim this was a rogue operation...” as suggested by Donald Trump. “US President Donald Trump has criticised Saudi Arabia's handling of the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, saying authorities staged the "worst cover-up ever".” Is Trump a chump or are all Americans who fail to see that Trump is behaving as would any dictator chumps? Is Donald Trump the lawful leader of the United States of America or is he a dictator who has no knowledge or concern for the law, who ignores advice and instruction by advisers and officials, who routinely insults the entire Judiciary and all judicial decisions made against him, and who always supports foreign dictators regardless of their expressed intent against the moral lawful order? Does Trump consider the DOJ and the DOD his personal employees?
The Saudi Monarchy is a far worse source of international terror than is Iran. Al Qaeda, ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Shabaab are Wahhabi Sunnis funded by the Monarchies in the gulf that recruit and radicalize Muslims around the world. The power of the Saudis is expressed by their success in global propaganda against Iran. The 9/11 attackers were 15 Saudis of the 19. Saudi King Salman insisted that the attacks on 9/11 were an Israeli attack. Is anyone listening or are we reliving the “Guns of August”. Trump does not care about soldiers, veterans, or efforts to prevent wars. Every American who serves in our military must recognize that they are at Trump’s mercy.
Trump has insulted both America and Saudi Arabia by making the first look like a merchant of everything and the second like it has no else suitable to rule.
1
Yes, Mr. Friedman, you are correct Sir!
Our addiction to oil, still causing many problems for us, can best be overcome with Carbon Fee And Dividend. Please write about the proposals that are on the table now. Please write about how carbon pricing in the USA would lead the global economic energy sector to a world focused on renewable energy sources. Please write about Congress’s political resistance to a revenue neutral, market based, elegant solution that simultaneously feeds money back into the hands of working families in the USA.
Write about how “political feasibility” is the MO in Congress, not what’s good for the country’s future. Write about Congress members’ calculations about how climate action as a non-partisan bridge across the divide might help or hurt their re-election prospects. Write about the power of the fossil fuel industry to force their products on our society regardless of these products impacts on our lives and safety. Please write about the tremendous, increasing hidden costs paid by US citizens, shirked and purposely avoided by the oil companies, et al.
Please Mr. Friedman. Please help us.
1
It's obvious that dictators around the world are no longer afraid of committing heinous crimes inside and outside their own borders. These dictators seem to believe they're untouchables. We cannot expect to deploy an international Eliot Ness, but c'mon Mr. President.
Don't give your allied thugs carte blanche.
81
@Pauly K
What happens when they start to commit these crimes on our soil, like the Russians did in the UK? What then??
5
Tom I’ve done my part I bought an electric car and have not bought gas in 3 years and plan to never buy it again. And use a train for most of my work commute.
Now I realise I’m in the minority going this far but it’s actually not that hard and electricity is a domestic product. Though I do think New England maybe imports some excess hydro electricity from Canada. As the price of batteries continues to fall the cars will shortly reach pairity with a gas car so hopefully more people will move to the future with me.
Trump would be the perfect foil for Adolf Hitler and the Nazis. I'd bet my last dollar on his witnessing Kristallnacht and saying that there were good people and bad people on both sides and that we'd never know whose fault it was.
There's a time to equivocate and a time not to. The murder of a journalist who was a green card holder in this country, who worked for a well known newspaper, who was lured to the Saudi embassy to be slaughtered for the pleasure of a prince in Saudi Arabia is not something to equivocate about. It's unacceptable period. If I were a journalist and an American citizen I'd wonder if Trump would support me or stand up for me if I were arrested for doing my job in a foreign country.
Trump and the GOP are dangerous for journalists and the freedom of speech. As long as we agree with them we're fine but once we challenge them, watch out. Freedom of speech for them is not freedom of speech for the rest of us. Trump can denigrate and castigate any one he wants to and the GOP supports this. Make one valid criticism of this president or the GOP and they act as if it's heresy.
We don't seem to be a democracy at this point. I don't remember our constitution supporting a theocracy or an oligarchy when it was written. Perhaps Trump and the GOP should move to Saudi Arabia or Russia where they will learn the true meaning of the tyranny they support.
4
Good column but you overlook personal financial gain for Trump & Co.
Don Jr has openly said that a huge portion of Trump Org’s purchases come from Russia. Not just what Putin might know about his taxes, simply what they’ve admitted - they make a lot of money personally from Russia.
Jared has said the same thing about Saudi Arabia and has been bailed out by the Saudi’s for 666 Fifth Ave and other real estate.
Just look at what’s been admitted and is right in front of us.
4
Guns, Germs and violation of the emoluments clause a/k/a "steel".
2
Trump is an amoral chump? Think of the people who elected him. Think of the massive organization behind Trump. You don’t think Graham and McConnell aren’t telling Trump what do? You think Matt Whitaker appeared out of thin air without Lyndsey Graham’s approval. Mitch McConnell and Lyndsey Graham could stop this in 30 seconds. But they won’t. Because they are and always have been Donald Trumps. Trump is the leader of a political party of amoral chumps. Just think about, just think about it — Trump leader of the Republican Party. That is all you need to know of the GOP.
Every time Trump opens his mouth he lies. Which means every Republican lies all the time. How do you have a court system with Republican judges whose core premise is to lie all the time. Look at Brett Kavanaugh. How do you have a governing system in which all elected Republican official take lying as their core operating principle.
Yes, Putin won. He showed the world we are not a democracy.
21
My United States cannot stand with dictators who murder dissidents and critics. There's no difference here between the behavior of Saudi Arabia and that of Putin's Russia or Kim Jong Un's North Korea.
What is outrageous is President Trump's evident sucking up to these tyrants, and his apparent desire to be an American Putin.
I hope our Congress can take action here to reassert American values, but I am not confident it will.
7
@Lee Harrison FDR played nice with Stalin and Obama with the mullahs etc. Get a clue, the world is a messy place and we do not control all the players.
Spot-on column, and comments. I will add only this - Mueller has been very quiet of late, and only a fool would conclude that's because he hasn't found anything. He's found the mother lode of corruption, and it's taking this long to get a handle on the extent of it. And, per Jane Mayer in The New Yorker, British intelligence is currently investigating accumulating evidence of an American dark money link between Brexit and the US 2016 election. This is a dangerous, global, radical right-wing threat to peace and stability. I expect Mueller will reveal his findings after the new congress is seated in January. The existential question will then become," Now what"?
20
@Michael; yes, I await Mueller’s findings with trepidation. I know I’m not alone in worrying that criminal charges against Trump, no matter how air tight or obvious, will result in outbreaks of serious violence from Trump supporters.
I suspect that part of the slow-motion aspect of the Mueller investigation is due to the challenge of creating a plan of how best to proceed, given this risk of violence and destruction.
1
Well said, even if milder than justice would hope for, as Trump has become de- facto complicit with Prince Salman's assassination of Khashoggi (by his thugs but on his orders)...by condoning this brutal murder. All to keep Trump's own interests afloat, no matter how unbecoming to these United States' moral standing. No justice, so no peace. And as long as we keep 'our' vulgar bully in-chief afoot by republican cowardice and hypocrisy, and dereliction of duty, we shall be shamed day in and day out by an ever more agressive destructor of democratic values and the rule of law. Can't we see he is unhinged, and unscrupled, and trampling on the constitution, while the G.O.P. in power chooses to look the other way? Can't we seethat Saudi Arabia is not our ally, and at least until recently an exporter of wahhabism, and the violent Islamic fanaticism picked up by ISIS?
8
Did you also know that Saudi money paid for Al Qaeda, ISIS, the bombing of USS Cole, the bombing of American embassies in Africa, the 9/11 attack on America. Now the Saudis have learnt that by as it says in the article "tacitly" support Israel and by bribing the President's family they can do whatever they like. I don't agree that America did not get anything in return for all the bad deals. America got a stain on its standing in the world. Dealing with "the devil" will hit you hard sooner or later.
5
Everyone in America should know why moving the U.S. embassy to Jerusalem got "warm applause from evangelicals". If you don't know, hold on to your hat.
Evangelicals believe that the world will come to an end someday (next week? next year?) with the return of Jesus to earth that will follow armageddon, a cataclysmic battle that the book of Revelations indicates will take place in the middle-east, specifically Israel. Therefore, they see it as their god given duty to help this to come true. They have a responsibility to bend history in that direction, so they support Israel pending the last great war on planet earth, armageddon.
I am not aware of any Biblical injunction indicating that Christians should behave in this manner, but America's evangelicals believe it to be true, nonetheless. They believe they have a duty to support Israel so Israel will be there for this final, deadly, destructive battle, after which the world can be restored as god's kingdom.
Are they cheerleading for a war of destruction like the world has never known? You judge.
There are even many devout Christians who believe it doesn't matter what humans do now, including the total destruction the living environment here on earth, because god is going to come and set everything right. Because Trump plays along with their beliefs, they love him. He does not reflect Christian values in his life, but they don't care so long as he promises to end abortion and support the coming end of the world in Israel.
7
to even think that Trump has any real idea about foreign relations, and the multi layered issues involved is pure fantasy. He only knows "Me, Me & Me"
He has shown he couldn't care less about the lives of others
5
Trump needs praise and (what he thinks is )profit to make him feel worthwhile. Sad.
3
Trump did not give MBS a free pass because of America's addition to oil. Trump did this because of his own addition to money. We need to know more about his personal finances to fully grasp the basis for his damaging foreign policy decisions.
Oh, and let's not forget his addition to power and love for the men who wield it most ruthlessly. Trump consistently shows disdain for Western European leaders while praising the likes of Putin, Kim Jong Un, and MBS. I am ashamed for my country today.
8
Thank you Thomas Friedman for injecting intelligence into a subject that baffles our President, our Secretary of State, our Republican Party.
We have crossed the Rubicon. Impeachment, now.
4
Let's agree to stop calling an oil dipped son of a "monarch" a "reformer" because he is allowing women to drive automobiles. Let us instead focus on just how backward that statement sounds in 2018. Next thing you know they'll want to vote.
3
Remember that this is an extraordinary case by Washington standards. Khashoggi wasn't a foreign journalist who mysteriously disappeared abroad somewhere. He worked for the Washington Post and his death was captured by Turkish surveillance. This combination of U.S. affiliation and detailed documentation of the crime may never occur again. And yet still the crown prince is effectively absolved by the White House. And what about those murder and cleanup teams? Is anyone asking how many other "jobs" they've been on?
5
Mr. Trump's foreign policy is obvious - trade America's eminence for personal prominence.
5
trump may not be such a chump. he may not be getting something of benefit for the country, but you can bet he is getting something of value that enhances his own personal wealth.
5
“Trump presents himself as a tough, savvy deal maker,….” And a few paragraphs later as you discuss moving our embassy, you note: “so Trump got something, but America got nothing.” It would seem you understand our con artist president. He, the narcissist is always thinking about what enriches and enhances him and his brand name. And, we, the nation and our world are losers because morality has been denied (Republicans along with Trump seem to be good at denying climate change, impact of tax change, - don’t like to discuss change!).
1
What a well written, great article. I agree with everything you said.
4
More than any high school civics class ever could Trump has shown the awesome power of the Presidency for both bad and good.
1
The U.S is a net exporter of oil. We are no longer addicted to Saudi oil so any kowtowing to the Saudis is because of the financial interests of the Trump family. Period.
wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_energy_independence
3
The U.S. has tried to be an honest broker in the Middle East since the 1970s. What do we have to show for it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nothing except the trillion of dollars we have wasted trying to solve this region's problems. Nothing except the thousands of American soldiers needlessly wounded, maimed, or killed. Nothing except the 900 billion we will spend on medical care & disability benefits for veterans who fought in the Middle East. And after all this wasted money and lives the region is as bad as it has ever been...worse. And Friedman's brilliant solution is too involve ourselves more in a region we have no business in. Am I the only one who finds this column revolting? Perhaps I shouldn't be so surprised. Least we forget Friedman was an early & enthusiastic supporter of the Iraq war. It's mind boggling how much this guy has been consistently wrong on the Middle East. Until the Khashoggi murder no one sung the praises of MBS more. During the time Friedman was lauding MBS he was doing all the things that appall him now. Arresting women driving activists, fueling the war in Yemen , buying on impulse, a $550 million yacht. Friedman tried to sell MBS as a reformer but he led a life which is the envy of ultra rich. MBS was & is a product of the same system he purports to loathe. MBS is as greedy & corrupt as they come. The time for this column was last year. Not now when MBS has been exposed for the vile and violent autocrat that he always was.
4
Right on, Tom Friedman!
I would make only one modification: Trump is not amoral, he is immoral.
1
And now the US has a BFF that we'll get to observe evolve into a Saudi version of our once best buds the murderous Shah of Iran and the genocidal Assad of Syria. This bail out has moral hazard written all over it.
1
On May 9, I submitted a comment containing the following:
"Our freedoms are in such good shape that we can afford to take
a detour into phony authoritarianism if it could achieve certain
foreign policy objectives. Trump should be a hoot to us, not scary.
As I learn from this newspaper, to Asians he's the cat's pajamas."
Now it's time to ask if Trump's phony authoritarianism is part of a
giant international fraternity stunt. It's something I can't prove,
but I suspect that Time's editors know more than they are
telling. If so, it's time for disclosure. Tomorrow wouldn't be too
soon.
He has no moral centre.
1
I really wonder what Is the price for this white washing, bleaching presidential statement?
That money is directly goes to Trump and his family not America.
If President is brutally and amorally transactional, we can ask the most merciless question, How much you get it for this statement?
We are literally scraping the bottom very hard?
A moral abyss!
1
We should all be utterly appalled that Trump is so amoral that he will sacrifice anyone or anything if he gets a benefit out of it. Yet, I am even more appalled that some 40% of America *STILL* approves of him. Just what does it take to break the spell?
5
Of course being amoral is far worse than being a chump. After all, the multiple millions of Americans who voted for Trump are, by extensions, chumps. Many are also amoral but some are simply ignoramuses, i.e. chumps. A chump is someone who gets taken advantage of mostly because they haven't taken the time to learn about the issue at hand, usually because they think they already know all the answers and are simply too lazy to inform themselves on a subject adequately. A chump, then, doesn't CARE. Surely Trump is a first-class chump. However, bad though those aspects of a person's character might be, being AMORAL is a fatal flaw. Actively knowing that one's actions are wrong, could likely result in the harming of another or that one might profit by an action notwithstanding illegal conduct being the grease that lubricates the filthy mechanisms to make it all work, well that amorality is such a fatal flaw that any other possible redeeming qualities in one's character are totally neutralized - submerged in the muck that amorality by it's very definition cultivates. Take an amoral person and put them into an office like President of the United States and, well, watch out! These last 2 years of collusion with Congress and unchecked amoral behavior have been harrowing, to say the least. Thank heaven the recent election established a strong check to this amorality, saving us from the worst aspects of unchecked amorality from Trump and his cronies.
1
It is remarkable that Trump remains undecided as to whether MbS knew of or approved the plan to murder Mr. Khashoggi and whether Putin directed Russian interference (or even if Russia actually interfered) in the 2016 election..maybe they did maybe they didn’t.
However Trump is certain that the Central Park Five raped the victim, President Obama was not born in the United States, Hillary Clinton is a felon and should be in prison, the caravan is bringing leprosy and other dreaded diseases to the U.S. border and Sheldon Adelson’s wife deserves the highest civilian honor. The list goes on.
Trump is transparent. He sees the world through the prism of self, defies reliance on the facts and is motivated by money and his narcissism. He is the epitome of a conspiracy theorist. Trump is disgraceful, untrustworthy and failure as a President.
2
Excellent piece. But can't we have another photo or image at the top other than Trump? I'd like to share to Facebook. But I've decide I'm no longer going to pollute social media with more photos of this ugly and dangerous American.
1
rarely agree with Friedman, but he is right on this one, at least the Saudi portion of the editorial.
Come on Mr. Friedman. We know the real reason Trump doesn’t care that Saudi Arabia murdered a U.S. permanent resident and journalist for the Washington Post. He has been bribed. No, not the U.S. HIM.
2
What a surprise, Trump uses the president job for his own good.
4
Trump is about money and power. No further discussion. There is nothing else...except sex. But money and power, bring easy access to sex. Stop wasting time on moral and ethical discussions. Just focus on how to get power, money and sex.
The strategy is working!
1
One man's life for cheap oil. But what about the next man?
Is this now American policy?
Sick.
1
I do not stand surprised by this. Trump has no moral compass. He is the ultimate transactional man. Buying and selling his sole guiding star. The irony is he's so bad at it. But he has accomplished one thing. As leader of the country he has turned America, in the eyes of the world, into a prostitute. One willing to do and allow anything, anything at all, so long as you pay for it. So it goes.
John~
American Net'Zen
2
@John - Oh Yes. Two things Trump knows the most about - money and prostitution. Only this time he's prostituting himself and our country. And too many of our Senators are sitting on their hands awaiting their turn.
Tom,
Mrs. Adeleson just received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Jared’s 666 Bankruptcy overhang is buttressed with Saudi and Oligarch, Bank of Cyprus helping hands. Ivanka was recently granted initial approval for 16 trademarks by China.
Your colleague, Austin Ramzy reports they include voting machines, homes for senior citizens, semiconductors along with veterinary clinics and fire extinguishers.
As the song goes...It's a friends $ family affair.
2
Once again, the interests of Israel take precedence over the interests of the U.S.
And there is no doubt that making money is the only thing that matters in our capitalist country. Putin must be thrilled to learn the U.S. overlooks all crimes committed by other countries as long as we get our money.
A grim day for my country.
4
There are two important questions to ask at this point: 1) Is Trump's urine blue; and, 2) Why isn't Congress being investigated?
1
In the best tradition of the I am shocked that gambling is going on here scene in Casablanca the left is acting shocked to discover that Saudi Arabia is a cruel dictatorship and human rights abuser. These are the same people who applauded Obama when he handed the Iranians regime 150 billion in cash in the so called nuclear deal . Yes the same Iranians who compete with the Saudis in human rights abuse but in addition , exports terrorism all over the world, and openly call for the destruction of Israel and the US which they call the great satan. This action by Obama is termed moral by the left but Trumps determination that the strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia outweighs other considerations is considered immoral. The hypocrisy of the left continues to astonish but stopped being suprising long ago
2
There is nothing that could or should be bargained for in exchange for a man’s life. It is not okay to murder, dismember and dissolve the remains of a person. There is such a thing as right and wrong. That the President of the United States doesn’t understand that is a terrible stain and embarrassment.
That you think it would be okay if he negotiated a better deal is grotesque. Shame on you.
1
It's interesting to note that in his remarks to the Press Corp before leaving to Mar a Lago (at our expense), Trump once again said that he has lost millions of dollars by being President. Of course, if he's really, really nice to the Saudis he will probably more than make up that loss in name branding a hotel in Saudi Arabia, selling the empty condos in Trump Tower to them, etc. We have a president who continually talks about money and the bottom line. By that he definitely means HIS Bottom Line, not the bottom line of the USA.
1
Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear that he is representing only his interests. We need to make clear to the world that he does not represent us. His despicable, immoral and unethical statements and behaviors do not represent American values or how America behaves with our friends or even with our enemies.
317
Trump was elected. He still has 90% approval by Republicans and millions of Americans who agree with him, no matter what he says. So, unfortunately, he does represent the morals of a sizable number of Americans.
17
@HughMacMenamin Yes, Trump was elected by the Electoral College votes of 31 states. 24 of those states have populations of less than 5 million people. Those people do not represent the United States.
32
@HughMacMenamin
A sizeable number of Republican Americans.
10
What Trump and America gets is a solid ally in the fight against Iran. Saudi also supports Israel as much as any Arab nation can. The Iran: Saudi; Shia: Sunni: Persian: Arab conflict underpins much of the conflict in the Mid East. If Iran is our "enemy, Then the enemy of our enemy, Saudi, is our friend and that relationship is more important than one mans life. At least in Trumps view. As Mr Friedman pointed out a few weeks ago is our policy dictated by interests or values. To Trump's "America First" it is clearly interests.
1
@Bob
However there still remains the question which every foreign political analyst must have asked themselves...
" Which country's behaviour in the middle east is the most destabilising in the current circumstances?"
Believe me the answer is not quite as simple as you might think.
1
@Bob
Guess again Bob.
Trump SAYS America first but what his actions say is Trump first.
If Trump benefits financially then it's a good thing. If he doesn't then it's a bad thing.
See? It's very simple if you actually see it for what it is rather than for what you wish it was.
1
@RHR
I agree Saudi is not our friend.
What else could one expect from an amoral real estate developer. All the America has stood for since our founding is up for sale or can be traded away, mostly to serve his narcissism, (or perhaps his person pocket book?) surely not for anything of worth to America or the things we have always represented to the world. What further astounds me is that Congress simply stands by and watches this dismantling of America.
5
@Robert McD
Actually Congress passed the Magnitsky Act in 2011 over the torture and killing of a Russian Citizen in Russia. It called for sanctioning the individuals in human rights crimes (that happen abroad to non-US citizens). Trump has followed this perfectly by imposing sanctions on the individuals involved. Please tell me why Trump needs to go further than Obama did over the Magnitsky incident?
1
Tom, as usual you nailed it! We'd love to hear your vision for what a "post-oil" US foreign policy might look like. Three salient points. Pompeo was the head of the CIA, and now is Sec State. If anyone would know the truth it would be him. Looks like his spine is silly putty too. Obviously, Kushner, another foriegn policy genius like his father-in-law, is similarly morally bankrupt. Who is this guy and what qualifies him to be in his position? Lastly, where does moral rectitude end and Realpolitik begin in this case? When is the enemy of our enemy our friend - no matter how reprehensible that actor is. We'd love to hear your thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving!
4
It has always seemed to me ironic that a nation founded on slavery, genocide, and vicious religeous intolerance somehow became a moral beacon in the world. Be that as it may, that moral beacon was snuffed out with our invasion of Vietnam and by our invasion of Iraq. Two countries destroyed so a few Americans could line their pockets.
So now Donald Trump sold out American moral values so the Saudis would continue to mortgage his properties. Why is that such a big deal?
We have sold out our moral values many, many, times.
8
It's all quite simple, really. It has nothing to do with jobs or anything for the country. He needs loads of capital for his real estate business when he is done with POTUS and the Saudis are the only ones in this world that can return the favor. Same for Jared.
LOL, it has always, always been Trump first!
5
You can't sell what you don't have. In this case that would be morals which Trump lacks.
2
Fred Trump taught his son Donald to be a "killer", apparently meaning someone who pitilessly fights to win at any cost; the eater rather than the eaten in a dog-eat-dog world.
Donald had no problem with the pitiless part, enjoying as he did a head start as a self-absorbed, spoiled rich boy. And he took well to the "at any cost" part, but he lacked the self-discipline to see it through in a profitable way. While boasting of deal-making skills, he displayed a habit of simply paying up for what he wanted, such as the Plaza Hotel, and watching his investment evaporate. The closest he came to being a killer was borrowing money to cover his failures and then letting the lenders down.
Now Trump is President of the United States, and he's too old to learn new tricks even if he saw the need. He still can't bring himself to attempt genuine bargaining. He’ll stand off and shoot missiles of tough talk at some adversaries, but he won’t come to grips. He simply declares victory and moves on without having gained anything.
With Saudi Arabia, Trump is following his usual pattern of weakly paying up for what he wants — paying with America’s moral standing, as you say; and timidly avoiding confrontation. Confronting the Saudi crown prince effectively would take strength, nerve, and mental mastery, in all of which categories Donald Trump is permanently bankrupt.
249
@Longestaffe
Permanently? Well I hope not because he may well have got two years to go because impeachment doesn't look an easy enough way to go for many opinion influencers and I'm betting he feels pretty sure of that.
But ... the more the NYT relies on insightful, practical columnists of the quality of Thomas Friedman, the sooner America will learn what its opinion influencing classes need to know to make your 'permanent, adjective, Longstaffe, inaccurate. And wouldn't most readers here like, in their heart of hearts, that to be the path between now and 2020?
1
@Longestaffe
Well said. How depressing. How frightening.
10
@Longestaffe I was with you until you said "too old to learn..." Unless someone has dementia, no one is too old to learn. My almost-99 year old aunt continues to keep up with the times in all the important ways and so did my father until he developed dementia in his mid-90s. Now in my 8th decade, I intend to keep learning for the remainder of my life.
Trump may choose not to learn, but that is entirely different from being "too old."
3
"That may be the most crass giveaway of U.S. principles by any president in American history"
Iran-Contra and the pointless, deadly Iraq war, both courtesy of insipid GOP presidents, are as grotesque.
Yet we keep granting power to the horror GOP party.
I think of Normandy Beach, and weep.
8
Trump's shallow knowledge base or let us say fake knowledge base reduces all complex problems---which are all the problems that enter the Oval Office---to simple money transactions. If a nation gives Trump or his family money then they are good nations---no matter what their human rights record maybe. If you don't give Trump or his family money or give it to someone else you are a bad nation. It is that simple---that in a nutshell is the core of our entire foreign policy strategy.
3
Today, we sold our souls.
5
@Sanchatt
No. Only those who voted for Trump did -- the rest of us knew better.
I am really sick and tired of the way Trump is still treated as a legitimate persona on any level. Trump belongs behind bars -- or at least sent out of his office into immediate retirement from both the international and domestic scene. I pray this outcome is underway and about to happen as soon as possible. I am equally sick of hearing about his so-called 'base" who, as far as one can see, are a minority constituency of people get their news about current affairs from Tweets and FOX (need one say any more than that).
It seems clear that Donald Trump isn't working and that others are really calling the shots all around him, which isn't necessarily the way the Presidency works best. So, there is this enormous charade going on while the entire world knows that the Trump Blimp, flown at Resistance events around the world, is more effective than the man who pretends to be the President of he United states.
It is unbelievable that Donald Trump gets coverage when, in fact, he is a complete train wreck. It is insane to have to listen to his thoughts on anything, -- or to have to suffer through his illiteracy and his total lack of critical thinking on every subject, every day. Enough. Get him off the stage!
5
America lost any superior moral standing in the World after the election of Donald Trump as President. Expecting decency from Trump is naïve. Trumpism by definition is a lack of common decency and goodness. A state of Moral and Ethical deprivation commonly seen in Organized Crime Syndicates and Brutal Dictatorships.
4
Of course he will accept blood money when it helps build his bloated self-image. When a man has no empathy and regards people as objects, why not?
He has blood on his hands already. What is more to him? It is, after all, always someone else's fault.
4
Is it America first or Trump first? How much Trump and Kushner real estate do the Saudis buy?
4
Saudi Arabia will in the future be known as Arabia bec the regime there is morally weak and corrupt. Plutocrats basically. But they have been squandering their power lately..
Earlier an acquaintance and I were having one of those exchanges that lead to nowhere. Saudi Arabia was one topic addressed among others, where I interjected with "Oil is God's Curse", having hijacked this from a short story by a journalist, turned author, Mavis Gallant, in her most farcical 'Speck's Point'.
This caused a pause, and it sounds from reading the latest news that we are in for a gasoline war, with a flash warning that The Stock Market may be in experiencing a crisis.
With no need to be a foul-weather friend and send these updates to anyone, thanking Mr. Friedman for his latest attempt to encourage his readership to face some harsh realities, where America is not buying into high moral standards.
"Trump could have told M.B.S.: “I know this came from you. And so you’re not getting a free pass. For starters, you’re going to let every one of these women driving activists that you’ve arrested out of jail; you’re going to announce an immediate, unilateral cease-fire in Yemen — let the Iranians and Houthis have it and we’ll side with you if they attack from there..."
So murder is acceptable, basically, it's the deal that counts.
2
Great. Thank you, Thomas.
NYT, could you do a story on exactly whom, in the US, is the recipient of this weapons blood money from one of the world's most repressive regimes? Names, monetary figures, locations?
3
It's more Trump's addiction to personal gain from the Art of the [BACKROOM] Deal, along with the Republican party's unwillingness to impeachment of a corrupt fraud so compromised he's practically making announcements about how compromised and corrupt he is on national television - oh, wait he actually DID make quite a few announcements about it on national television.
4
"So Trump got something, but America got nothing." Which is consistent with what someone in these pages--Bruni?--said last week: Trump's only interests are himself and money. Bingo.
2
Before we worry about a 2025 Manhattan project, let’s have a 2020 return Trump to Manhattan project.
3
Tom Friedman has nailed it.
Trump and his GOP lackeys are playing us for fools.
Our nation's HONOR is at stake, our Ideals, our Soul.
All being sold out for a promise of future military arms sale and a number of radical Federal judicial appointments.
It's beyond belief we've gotten here in a short 2 years. I am at a loss for words.....
3
It's interesting that the NYT invariably comes up with the word "amoral" in describing our president's behavior and performance.
Amoral is a nice "fence sitting" sort of word with that "A" prefix indicating a lack of morals rather than the more aggressive "I" prefix, which would indicate a state antithetical to morals.
When do we start referring to the president as immoral rather than amoral? Does he really deserves a pass for being free of morality? It seems more plausible that his thoughts and actions are, and always have been, defined by immorality.
3
Mr. Friedman's comments imply that he thinks he's got a really good bead on this situation.
And that he - knows - what happened.
Neither, are correct.
As an old ‘60s radical, I can only say, “Suspicions confirmed.” As Trump has revealed the racism and greed at home, he has also revealed the true nature of the American Empire. Take a good look at yourself, America, this is not only what you have become, it is what you have been all along. We told you so 50 years ago, but you didn’t listen. Masters of war. Cops of the world. Universal soldiers. You danced to our songs but never heard the words. But it’s alright, Ma, it’s life and life only.
1
I agree with this opinion piece in general.
But “launch a Manhattan Project to get America off oil by 2025”? I hate to say it, but get real. We won’t even have drone package delivery, space tourism, flying Ubers, actual artificial intelligence or self-driving cars by then.
Another president could have dealt with this in way that would express American values for justice and still protect our national and global interests. This man is just a cheap dime-store hood out of a noir movie, and a bad B movie at that. He’s playing his part just like all the other cheap hoods in this world, MBS, Putin, etc. All noir movies end with a reckoning. This man just gets uglier each day.
2
Trump and other rich Americans have made lots of money in Saudi Arabia. But they haven't made any money in Iran. This enrages them hence our virulent anti-Iran policies. None of the 9/11 murderers came from Iran. Or Iraq, another country where Trump and the Bushes & Cheney never made any money.
Coincidence? Yeah sure.
The Saudis are both corrupt and corrupting. We should break diplomatic relations and expel any Saudi Citizens who are not dissidents. And tell them to lay off Canada or we'll do worse. And if they try to retaliate against us we should adopt a policy of regime change, in Saudi Arabia.
Trump doesn't have a Black Friday sale he has a Black Friday grift. That grift has been a lifelong effort that allows no room for morals before money. In Trumps shallow psychotic void money makes the man and he who has the most is the best. It really is no more complicated than that. Anyone who refuses to recognize him as the best is automatically an enemy of Trump. That in turn makes them enemies of the people, enemies of the grift.
1
Grotesque seems like an inadequate adjective in this morality tale. I guess when it is looked at as Trump running his family business through the US government it makes sense, but every day I wonder can the US hit reset in 2020 and end this nightmare?
Tom,
Surely you know the ME is a very complex place. While Trump may be a major recipient of Saudi funds, it seems like there is a much larger play in the works. Iran has surrounded Israel in Lebanon in the North, Syria in the North and East, and Gaza in the West. To try and block their moves, he has enlisted Saudi Arabia for both Iranian deterrence and for a push toward Israel Palestinian peace. Trump is so greedy and short sighted, that his prior motives make his current motives seem impertinent. Of course MBS is a creepy leader. Trump seemed to say he was supporting Saudi Arabia, but not the crown prince. He is caught between a rock and hard place now, and trying to keep the delicate options in play. Time will tell.
Trump is far too one sided to get any credit for good deal making. Unless you don't mind that all deals are for him. I am not sure about the oil focus, but if Trump sees a way to make money, nothing can stop him. His eye in this situation is focused on post presidency. If he gives in to the Saudis now, he can ask for hotel deals later. Besides he is making money during his presidency but no one will stop him. It's illegal.
Tough spot for the evangelicals. They are all over protecting the rights of the unborn. Any continued support for Trump may imply an amoral lack of concern for the rights of the born.
1
Donald Trump’s M.O. not only for foreign policy but for every decision this man has made his entire life,can be summed up in three words:
Money “ Trumps” Morals
2
He’s a puppet with many puppeteers, always for sale to the lowest (amoral and financial) bidder. Nothing more, nothing less. In other words, follow the money. What is truly surprising about all of this is us, the victims of this ‘con job’ as he himself is wont to say.
Since he descended that golden escalator to kick off his campaign, we kept and keep ignoring the classical definition of insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again yet expecting a different result. First time, shame on him, umpteenth time, shame on us. We can’t stop his mendacious behavior (or that of his complicit Trump, nee Republican party) until we stop our own dysfunctional behavior.
To stop this juggernaut before he destroys our priceless democracy, we must act even bolder by demanding a legal showdown now, based on the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
What's to lose? Nothing. What's to gain? Getting back what's left of our deeply wounded country.
Sage observations from one of our top journalists. We are just beginning to see the disastrous results of having U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy outsourced to Jared Kushner.
You should know by now that there is nothing that Trump can say or do that will change anything for most republicans and his base. Their visceral dislike of the "anti-Trump" is too strong!
We see this is every aspect of what Trump says and there is never any push-back!
Buy the time there is, it will be too late.
I hope the new democratic congress can do something now.
I don't think Trump thinks about what he can do for America. His circuitous thinking always comes back to himself. He gives dictators and crown princes like MBS free passes because they are incredibly wealthy and might enrich Trump especially if he does something like hammer Iran with sanctions. That is in both Saudi Arabia's and Russia's interests. Also Israel's. We need to admit to ourselves, once and for all, that we let the proverbial fox into the henhouse. Our President is completely immoral, a liar, and a malignant narcissist. Not coming to terms with this reality is extremely dangerous for all of us. Come 2020 we need to vote him and his party out of office.
We know Donald Trump has no morals but what of the morals of those who continue to support him despite the obvious fact he has no morals?
Trump ran on the slogan he would "drain the swamp", but just how long will it take for his followers to accept that Trump and his administration is the swamp.
2
Whenever Trump blares "America First!". what he is actually saying is the following: "Trump First!"
1
Yes, it is 'blood-for-money' alright.
The disclosed money is for the United States.
Or is it?
1
Trump is a classic opportunist moving from one ‘opportunity’ to the next in order to feed himself financially and otherwise. You see, Russia can no longer launder money through Trump’s enterprises so he needs another investor. Saudi Arabia fits in very nicely for Mr. Trump.
Trump can not risk losing his investors over one murdered journalist. Who would fund his businesses at the levels the Saudi’s can, post presidency? And like a true con artist, Mr. T twists a fact to fit the narrative his supporters, he knows, want to hear. E.g. They buy stuff from us.......
In the meantime he’s no doubt selling us out and worse, sewing bad seeds in tough soil. When Mr. T is long gone, protected by the secret service and funded by the princes, we will bear the cost of his mendacity. We’re all being used.
Awful crime - the world is a dangerous place and the US often has to deal with tyrants. Khashoggi was not a US citizen and the crime did not happen on US soil. The crime is very similar to what happened to Sergei Magnitsky in Russia and punishment by sanctioning individuals involved is consistent with the Magnitsky Act what we did there. Left wants Trump to blow a hole in Saudi/US relationship and damage the world economy to help them in 2020 elections. Trump's didn't take the bait. End of story.
When the transactional mindset of the commercial classes becomes the dominant mindset of a society, everything is for sale. All relationships are transactional. “Truth” is whatever promotes one’s interests. “Virtue” is whatever separates the “winners” from the “losers”. Honor is nonexistent.
Trump most shamelessly exemplifiesthis mindset.
Sorry, your usual brilliance misses the mark. It’s simply simple. MSB has said publicly he got trump out of bankruptcy twice. And trump said publicly the millions and millions in apartment sales sold to him and his ilk.
Simply simple (tears, for democracy lost)...
When he visited Saudi Arabia he was greeted with an enormous image of himself, danced with a sword in a clumsy manner without open ridicule, touched a glowing orb and all of this was courtesy of a male dominated authoritarian host.
He became their tool forever.
1
Well said, no gripes from this corner.
Let us not forget that Bush and Cheney gave the Saudis a bigger pass when Saudi nationals boarded a plane for home after 911. Both actions are morally reprehensible.
2
So if I understand it correctly, President Trump has basically implied that if an associate/ally of his (in his mind therefore by definition of the US) commits a murder of an uppity journalist (the only kind according to Trump unless you are from Fox) he or she needs to ensure that there is a financial benefit somewhere for the US/the Trump family and you can get away with it free and clear? An interesting position for the US government to take and one where I am no longer sure the label "amoral" provides an appropriate definition.
1
After every shooting massacre in the US the authorities say "our prayers are with you. God bless America." So since we can't do anything else with your president who puts arms sales above everything the US stands for, I say, "our prayers are with you." And I mean it as there is nothing else we Europeans can do to help you.
2
trump is compromised. There can be no other rationale for what trump has done with both Putin and Saudi Arabia. Whatever they have on him must be devastating, because no normal president would ever allow them to go scot free. trump, it will all come out someday and history will not be kind to either you or your "cult".
The Manhattan Project to get America off ME oil should have started the day after 9-11!
I’ll bet Trump doesn’t know how to play chess but is a good checkers player.
@Gman
Can’t win any game without cheating or Russian help.
In my view this op-ed pretty much nails the present state of affairs concerning current American foreign policy in the Middle East. Bottom line: we need to be free from our dependence on foreign oil which, if we chose as a nation, could be achieved in ten years or less. D'Esta and I are doing our part--we shifted to solar energy and drive an all electric car that we plug in at night in our home, The sun shines bright in New Mexico. We sell electricity to others and this will increase. We now live in one of the few western states that's all blue as of the last election. If freedom from Saudi oil was our goal, we could or would put Trump in the trash bin, and bring morality into our foreign affairs policies again.
The US consumer is not addicted to Saudi oil, US multinational oil companies and the stock market are addicted to foreign oil.
American users of oil and gas get their supply domestically, Canada. Mexico and South America.
Trump has no idea what he is doing. Any words about the economy, oil, Saudi politics that comes out of his mouth, got into his brain from a source with an agenda looking for a mouthpiece.
244
@MKKW not really oil is a fungible commodity and it’s price is set by world markets not domestic. So if for some reason you took the 10 million barrels a day of Saudi oil off the world market that would have a massive impact on the price.
Now could congress pass a law that no US oil production could be exported into the world market and you set a fixed price for US domestic oil, yes you could somewhat insulate the US consumer but we still import a couple million barrels so those would be priced by the world market. So what are the chances of this happening? About zero I would say.
While there is some flexibility in the world supply it is nowhere near 10 million barrels. Mind you I’m not saying Trump is aware of any of this and I doubt he knows the current price of a barrel of oil let alone a gallon of gas. Or for that matter the production capability of the various world producers.
If you really want to insulate our country and yourself from world oil markets buy an electric car! And if you really want to go a step further you can install solar and freeze the cost of your local transportation fuel for the life of your panels. And be like me and not really care what the price of oil is except for it’s effect on the world economy.
12
@Chris Good comment, Chris. And campaign to get states attorneys general and public service commissions out of the pocket of the power company monopolies and the coal companies (as is the case in Alabama) so the installation of residential solar power is economically cost effective.
And to MKK. Also a good comment. And the source looking for a mouth piece? That would undoubtedly be the dynamic duo of Mike Pompeo and John Bolton.
8
The addiction goes much, much deeper than simply oil. We’re addicted to capitalism’s pursuit of wealth and the ignorance of democracy that allows the wealthy to control our politics and us.
23
The U.S and Saudi Oil co-dependency balances each other so it really isn't about the oil. The jobs from the Weapons deal will not reap the U.S. jobs fabricated by Donald Trump. According to the official W.H. Statement;
“This package demonstrates the United States’ commitment to our partnership with Saudi Arabia, while also expanding opportunities for American companies in the region,[ potentially ] supporting tens of thousands of new jobs in the United States.” So it really isn't about weapon sales/jobs.
The man does not comprehend (or care) that U.S. foreign policies have tangible outcomes. Trump wasn't elected (in his mind) to be the ultimate Public Servant/leader of a nation and steady hand for the rest of the world:
President of the United States of America was an acquisition for "The Trump Organization."
Every action he makes is filtered through the vision of what benefits Trump financially.
So, any expectation of moral guidance is a wasted exercise of thought.
17
Tom Friedman touches on an important point about Trump. All decisions made by Trump are best explained by looking at how he and his family benefit from the decision.
I think most of us have a hard time understanding this because, even though we think we appreciate the depravity of the Trump presidency, we simply cannot imagine that any person in that position would really make significant policy decisions solely on that basis. We cannot really conceive of an American president so utterly lacking in empathy, human decency, or respect for the values of his country.
Yet this principle explains every absurd, unprecedented, and amoral decision made by Trump, from unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy, to the deployment of troops on the Mexican border, to his seemingly inexplicable support for thugs, autocrats, and enemies.
While I do not want the Democrats to go crazy with subpoenas and impeachment proceedings because I think that would be politically unwise, a focus on self-dealing, financial gain, and conflicts of interests involving the Trump crime family would be good politics, good governance, and good theatre. Let's do it.
42
Trump has repeatedly shown he is motivated soley by self-interest. I don't believe he champions Bin Salman over American intelligence professionals or commits America to defend a torturer for a promised investment in American industry or for strategic oil considrations.
I suspect the price of having America support the torture and murder of one of its journalists is a payment or loan to the Trump/Kushner interests.
Congress is complicit in supporting Bin Salman's torture if it fails to investigate financial transactions between the Saudis and the Trump/Kushner interests.
17
Unfortunately, Trump lives in a vacuum where all he hears is Fox and his own people telling him how great he is. He goes to rally's that reward him with applause. He has scores of people helping him in the process. Much of the US is also amoral.
Further, millions of US voters are incredibly uneducated when it comes to the Middle East. The US could wean itself off oil, but there are millions who scoff at that idea because they have always used oil. Using green energy is not even outside the box anymore. It is obvious, yet we have millions of voters who won't even consider it. No wonder China is becoming the world leader.
5
@Anthony -- The US is very close to self-sufficiency in oil right now, fracking has done that. We have no need of Saudi oil ... and as you say very straightforward measures to improve the fuel economy of vehicles, spur more rapid introductions of electrics, and reduce fuel-oil use for heating can rapidly reduce American oil consumption.
"For starters, you’re going to let every one of these women driving activists that you’ve arrested out of jail; you’re going to announce an immediate, unilateral cease-fire in Yemen ..." In other words, the US will take over domestic and foreign policy of a sovereign power in exchange for not taking over their judiciary. Is this like the deal we made with Japan after WWII? We won't punish you for Pearl Harbor in exchange for letting us reshape your country. But, dear Mr. Friedman, we had defeated Japan in a war. By what authority would the US dictate to Saudi Arabia? And what if China had said to Obama after the murder of Khadaffi that our punishment would be that we had to get out of Afghanistan and all Chinese immigrants had to be made citizens? Where would China get this power to take over our national sovereignty? We know many want America to function as a world police power, but I have never heard it so blatantly stated in such a vulgar display of hegemonic arrogance. And how, may I ask, would you recommend punishing Kim-un for assassinating his brother in Malaysia or the Russians for their murders in the UK? If Trump followed your advice, we'd be in war with every nation on earth.
2
@David
I think the point the author was making is Mr Trump could have used the U.S. morals and ethics to accomplish real difference in the world.
Instead it looks like we are lead by someone who has no morals ethics and no backbone. And the world sees this.
So if addiction to oil is the key problem, please give us a sober assessment of how ´possible it is for the US to get off oil and what it would cost, who would benefit and who would not. Let this not just be another fairy tale.
1
It’s amazing that a country as strong as America can be so weak at the same time. Perhaps this is nothing but the lessons of history and the nature of man. Let’s hope a younger generation can lead this country and the world out of the utter mess we have made of it.
5
Thomas, I think you will remember the story about the nobleman and the courtesan, which ends with their statements:
Courtesan: What kind of woman do you think I am?
Nobleman: We’ve already established that. Now we’re just haggling over the price.
And so I would argue that the following quote shows you have abandoned the high ground: "Tell me that the Saudis decided to buy $450 billion worth of American university scholarships for their young people, or import $450 billion in Western education programs and technical colleges for the whole Arab world, and I might feel differently."
1
“It is our addiction to oil..........”
Oh. Is that what makes Trump supporters still love him? I have tried to figure it out. I’ve even tried to be nice to those I can’t figure out.
But this Thanksgiving I am grateful for my surgery which will prohibit me from having to be around my husband’s Republican relatives. That’s what I’m thankful for.
9
And it is our addiction to fossil fuels that is likely to bring on environmental shifts leading to massive disruptions in political and social orders around the world, perhaps in my children's lifetime.
We went to war with Saddam Hussein over WMD. Now America is a sleazy arms dealer selling WMD to a repressive regime, a regime that exported a virulent form of Islam that fueled the hijackers on 9/11.
We are witnessing the result of naked Capitalism, uninformed by ethical considerations. It excludes even a nod to America's founding principles and has the feel of a shift into autocracy, or perhaps more accurately, plutocracy. Raw wealth and raw political power are the means and the end for the President, many Republicans and a cadre of their very wealthy donors.
This "movement," it looks like Jordan Belforts all the way down.
7
Not sure why Israel should have to give something to America to have us formally recognize their capital, but I do agree that watching Trump dance around the obvious was grotesque.
Still, the only difference between Trump and his predecessors with regard to Saudi Arabia is his oafish bluntness. Past presidents would never openly admit that they might let human rights violations slide to keep arms contracts afloat and alliances in place, but they all did.
Saudi Arabia his been silencing critics for a long time, and Russia murdered hundreds of journalists while Clinton, Bush, and Obama were in office, but it garnered little attention. This story is only major news because it’s happening on Trump’s watch and it makes him look really, really bad.
We’re fortunate to live in America, where spoiled, grandstanding journalists can shout at leaders like petulant children and live to tell about it, but as horrifying as Khashoggi's murder was, if we didn’t cut ties with, or punish the Saudi government after 9/11, why would anyone expect us to do it now?
1
For Trump and the Trumpists of means, if it can be monetized, then who really cares? It's an echo of "war is good for the economy", except of course for those killed or wounded and their grieving families. In this Saudi matter, Bob Dylan's "money doesn't talk, it swears" comes across loud and clear.
2
I agree with you Thomas, but only partly. I did not know he had any morals to sell! In a sense he is basically openly voicing our own hypocracy. We demand morality from those we or more specifically, our capitalists do not depend on in some form or the other, or have no stakes in. Take China for example!
Sadly, I don't hear anyone standing up for our values and I am beginning to question if we really have any! One of the poorest countries in the world is nearing collapse, its population starving and we supply arms to the Saudis to kill their civilians!
After the last two years, I am surprised this is even considered news! Depressing does not quite describe it.
1
The answer to your concerns is clear: America may get nothing from Donnie's "deals", but he does.
What about that is so difficult to understand? It is always in all ways about him. Country? What country?
2
How many properties has Trump sold to Saudi's, Chinese and Russians? My guess is the number would be astounding. In 2001 the Saudi government bought an entire floor at Trump World Tower. Trump likes to say America first but he has shown us over and over again it is Trump first. He could care less about anyone else.
4
It is difficult to know what is the worst part about this Presidency. The worst part may well be that we are still tolerating it.
6
I find it absolutely mind boggling that so-called Christian conservatives are silent or are even defending this breaking of the 6th commandment. And for what? Money from arms sales and cheap oil. TV preachers have hollowed out all the meaning from the Bible.
2
Mr. Friedman, please stay the course and continue telling the truth. I was speaking to a friend yesterday who follows the economy closely for his job, and he predicts that the fallout of the Republican Party's association with Donald Trump will last a generation and render the party a nonentity. And this friend is a very moderate, centrist Democrat, not a radical like me.
I am also watching the economic reports, as I must do for MY job, and I predict that we are going to have a crash just in time for the 2020 elections. And I - five years from retirement - would gladly see my investments take a major hit, if it meant that we got these morally corrupt monsters out of power.
But I actually don't think Donald Trump is going to be in office for the 2020 elections - he will, I believe, have been persuaded to step down for his "health." As for Mike Pence? We could live with him as president for a while; he is both so morally and intellectually vacuous that his presidency, if it happens, will be a blip on the historical screen. Very few Americans could name the last dozen vice presidents in under three minute; most of Congress couldn't do much better. Pence is a modern-day example of selling your soul for 30 pieces of silver.
If the United States can survive two and at best four years with a mentally ill autocratic white supremacist in the Oval Office, it can survive anything, and I believe that it can. I wish my country a peaceful and reflective Thanksgiving.
4
Donald Trump spent 50 years bribing officials to get what he needed in regulations, restrictions, approvals to build what and where he wanted. He started small - local Queens, NYC, Atlantic City, then moved out across America and then the world.
Now that he has the power of the presidency, he has taken his bribery/quid pro quo method-of-operation to a level of corruption exceeding anything we've seen before which sent businessmen to jail in violation of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.
He is not thinking of arms sales or oil prices - he is lying. America's problem is that we do not know what he will get in the future in exchange for his siding with Putin, MBS, Erdogan, and so forth.
We have to wait until he leaves office to find out what the payoff for Donald is. This is not "America First" - everything he does is "Trump First."
2
Trump is not the first American leader to live the "love oil" life. We, as Americans, are living and dying for petroleum which can be replaced with better solutions if we dare. We give power to despotic countries at our own risk, even as we possess the power to reinvent our way of life through innovation. Remember 9/11 and the support received by terrorists? Remember what ensured, and the burning oil fields? The dollar stands in the way. Trump is merely honest about his own dollar obsessed amorality. Remember Cheney and petroleum companies drooling over potential profits from Iraq? Remember the Reagan gas shortages, the cuts to sensible public transportation, lax real estate laws which brought cheaper homes for a declining middle class that took hours by car, in choking highways, to get to? Remember Chris Christie, now suggested as an AG candidate, and what he did for train transport? America can do better. We can give up this obsolete oil life just as our great grandparents gave up the horse and buggy, little by little, day by day. Stop driving. Demand implementation of innovations like solar power. My goodness, we cannot even enact common sense traffic measures in NYC, even one week after a snowstorm and the worst traffic disaster in ages! We can regain our own morals, from the bottom up, at the local level. Our elected representatives must held accountable. Trump cannot give us morals, nor can McConnell, or any other immoral or amoral leader.
2
About one of your side tracks in the article, that about Saudi Arabia and Iran: The problem with the US' favouring SA, is that it has started taking sides in the Sunni - Shiite problem. At least the opening of Obama towards Iran, kind of balanced the approach. At least the way I see it is that that is a more important factor than the "who behaves worst".
1
Would Barack Obama have made a different decision? Or would he just have been more eloquent and polite? The US has no other “friends” in the Middle East other than than Israel. But I am from Canada. We account for very little. But we continue to sell arms to the Saudis. For money.
2
Did Trump really make a deal for which he got no concessions?
The Trump family seems to be doing just fine in their dealings with Saudi Arabia.
"It is our addiction to oil that forces us to look the other way at a murder most vile."
No. Not really. It is Trump's personal business interests that is making HIM look the other way; not the rest of us.
1
I feel I must make some disclosures:
I am an atheist. A scientific one - that is I see no evidence that passes muster to even suggest a god or gods exist.
As a corollary I see ample evidence that humankind is worse off relying on faith than the scientific method. And especially worse off if that faith is coupled with reverence toward authoritarianism - be it dogmatic religion/political philosophies/savior leaders.
Formally educated in Christianity through college I do consider myself a cultural liberal christian. Also I actually lived among Jews, Moslems, Buddists.
I do - albeit selectively and eclectically - appreciate the beauty and value of religion and the goodness and unselfish thoughtfulness of people it often brings out.
This is not as hard as it seems as major pieces of religious teaching often comport well with the findings of evolutionary biology and ecology. We survive best when we cooperate, give of ourselves, and recognize/respect the inter-connectivity of things.
Now here is my punchline: the god I see in religion is going to go very hard on you Trump/GOP supporters. Very hard.
This god will disdain you
for reducing "his" rich valuable philosophy down to: save fetuses at any cost, demean/stifle LGBTs, and/or ethnic/racial/religious domination/superiority politics.
for letting amorality be acceptable just to allow your narrow-band philosophies - that you presumptuously call "his" - to prevail.
for ignoring "his" plea to TRULY love one another!
The US is not actually addicted to Saudi oil. It hasn't been for quite some time.
This unconscionable action on the president's part has to do with oil, all right, but not oil in the ground. It has much more to do with the rancid snake oil that counts for blood in Trump's arteries. Even to refute his false claims about the economic importance of America's ties to Saudi Arabia gives them too much credit.
Trump gave MBS a pass not because he thinks he might be innocent but because he knows he's guilty. Trump sees Khashoggi's murder as a gangster move, and gangster power is the only kind of power Trump understands. His only regret is that he can't handle his own journalist critics is similar fashion.
2
When a person sells their values for money, they are unethical, and corrupt. It takes another event to reassess their life and get back on track. I dread to think what selling values for money, can do a nation.
Trump is just the latest of a long line of American presidents who have ignored human rights abuses of the Saudis. What makes this case different and media hyperworthy is that the victim was a U.S. resident, a journalist who wrote for an elite liberal newspaper. What would Trump have done were the victim a U.S. citizen whose grandfather immigrated from Germany, a journalist who worked for Fox News? MSB surely knew what ghastly horror is allowed in the age of Trump.
National greatness doesn’t last forever. It rises from nothing to prominence then suffers decline and eventually failure. The ancient Greeks, the creators of western civilization, warned that the all too human fatal flaws of hubris or ignorance eventually doom heroes and nations. Trump is our Oedipus Rex, our Agamemnon, our Achilles. In less than two years, Trump’s ignorance and hubris has degraded the greatness America has represented for over two centuries. His daily attacks on American morality, a free press, Justice, the Presidency, even the military come from a reckless pride in his own importance over all else. Whether it’s allowing the murder of an American resident in exchange for Saudi money or creating racist fears to win elections or attempting to jail his political opponents or slandering American journalists or military heroes, his hubris and ignorance will prove the Greeks were right.
1
@DO5 Early on in the Trump campaign (as I recall) George Will observed that not only does Trump not know but he doesn't know how to know. Well, that is not limited to just Trump but to a wide swath of our citizens - especially a certain political party. Perhaps Trump is Oedipus reincarnated to stand at he crossroad yet again, lost and confused in ignorance and hubris. Hey, maybe Oedipus marrying his mother was just a metaphor for a marriage to self.
1
Those of us on the left and center continue to think that Mr. Trump will eventually show a sense of moral outrage, or at least an adherence to the rule of law. This bow to the Saudi rulers should dispel any thought that Trump as a moral, ethical, legal bottom. He has none. He is a man without the basic human instinct to consider others. If he were puppy we would kennel him until he could control his basic needs.
Trump does not do ANYTHING unless it benefits Trump. He honestly could care less about this country. My guess is he owes the Saudi's a lot of money. I have lost ALL hope of the Republicans stopping this destruction of our Democracy.
So now Trump's endgame comes into focus as the law closes in. If he cannot overthrow our democracy and name himself president for life, he plans to flee to Riyadh to live out the rest of his days in comfort and utter disgrace.
No doubt he would say that there are sure to be very fine people on both sides.
Now we're getting it. Now it's starting to routinely occur to us as habit. Now we're getting fluent in 'Trumpism'. Trump-Won, America-Zero. In every decision Trump makes there is a transaction that first and foremost if not first and only profits the President. Literally putting money in his pocket. Any discussion on Trump's foreign or domestic policy that does not begin with the premise "How does this physically put more money in his pocket?" is woefully off base. The United States of Americas is a wholly owned subsidiary of Trump Inc.
When will enough be enough? Every day the headlines become more and more outrageous, yet the “Don” still garners a 40+ percentage approval rating. People continue to support this disaster masquerading as a human being for a variety of reasons, all of which boil down to self-serving dross.
The most relevant of the many relevant points Mr. Friedman promulgates in this OpEd, is our need for a Manhattan Project to exorcise us from our oil addiction.
The Koch’s and Trumps of the world are there to fight tooth and nail against any such movement. They would prefer to see the planet turned into a burning cinder rather than relinquish any profits.
The GOP is also complicit in that it has done a marvelous job of mudding the waters of science on this issue. It is an abomination that this country elects such horribly ignorant, and self enriching individuals to positions of power. We are paying the price and a huge minority of voters could care less. The onus is on our electorate, who seem to prefer remaining woefully ignorant of ours and the planet’s peril.
The sad reality is that America just does not have the moral standing in the world that Americans like to imagine. The decline of America as a beacon of basic Judeo-Christian moral values began with the Vietnam War and has continued unabated since then. Trump is obviously the most immoral president in American history, but he reflects the immorality of the country that elected him.
1
Mr. Friedman has hit the nail on the head. Iran and Saudi Arabia are both bad actors on the international stage and to pretend that the one is not and that the other is has become a distracting farce.
We are being asked to accept tearing up an agreement in which the other party is not in violation on the other hand while tolerating cold blooded murder by the man at the top on the other.
We will not defeat terrorism by sleeping with its adherents nor by cudgeling those with whom we have presumably made our peace.
Trump is only manifesting his true faith in that god of gods: money. Did the Bush family do anything differently on September 12, 2001, when they permitted the bin Laden clan to fly out of America? That was the only civil aviation to go forward on that unforgettable day when our skies were eerily silent except for fighter planes passing over after the heinous attack of the previous day. An attack that itself will remain shrouded in mystery and surrounded by endless controversy as to whether W43 was fully briefed about it and let it go forward anyway...amoral? Welcome to American capitalism, baby. It's all about access to cheap oil.
1
We know the Donald Trump has no morals. He’s proven that time and again. But did we know as a nation that America has none? When did we trade all our values for money. I don’t remember that in our constitution. What about “In God We Trust”? It’s on all our currency. So we are a Rogue nation now? When did we become that?
Shock and awe? No we all knew that Trump's moral compass never moved. If anything it has reached its nadir. It's been broken since he was very young. His father inculcated in him that winning at any cost it the most important goal even if it means lives are lost. Trump needs money and wants money to keep his well-oiled machine running. And Saudi Arabia like the Russian oligarchs is a cash cow for Trump. The selling of the presidency is a Trump goal. He even flaunts it. There is no doubt that he violated the emoluments clause. When push comes to shove greed and brand promotion supersede our nation's values. Trump's in it to win it, not for Republicans, not for his supporters, not for the country, but for the Trump family. Nothing he does should surprise us. The good news is we will soon witness come January the demise of Trump and his crooked administration. He's teetering on the edge of insanity. But before he goes and resigns, Trump will attempt to construct autocratic rule. He will fail.
Trump sell out for “billions” (but far less than he touts) of Saudi investment dollars that maybe, perhaps, eventually, over time will come to us. He doesn’t want China and Russia to swoop this loot away. But, paradoxically, these nations will also be big winners if we continue to sanitize this killing. By blatantly engaging in realpolitik, America abandons any pretense of being a worldwide defender of just and moral conduct. Instead we proclaim that we will tolerate grisly, even bestial murder If only we are paid enough to keep silent.
Interesting, isn’t it?
The United States (along with Britain) engineered the overthrow of Mossadegh and Iranian democracy 1953 - to ensure the flow of oil. The United States has supported the antidemocratic and brutal regime of Saudi Arabia - to ensure the flow of oil. There’s a certain anti-democratic symmetry to American actions in the Middle East and at its center is ensuring the flow of oil, apparently by whatever means necessary: force, lies, complicity…whatever.
They say that the 20th century was the American Century, marked by the greatest economic expansion in the history of the world. Sad to know it was attained through the oppression of so many. Or as the little man is so quick to say: It’s a disgrace.
I've asked my congressman to request the House leadership to open an investigation - in January - into how much money MBS/SaudiArabia secretly deposited into Trump Realty Holdings in exchange for his stamp of approval on the Kashoggi killing. Clearly neither OJ nor GOP-Senate will ever investigate. If enough people ask their congressmen to do likewise, perhaps the appropriate House committee (Justice?) will investigate.
Despite fracking, climate change is telling us most assuredly we have reached Peak Sustainable Oil. The planet cannot long tolerate the CO2 we send into the atmosphere with fossil fuels. Morality also tells us we should disavow dependence upon unstable regimes is distant lands.
Whether we pass absolute Peak Oil or limit its use on climatic or moral grounds, I am reminded of a riff on the arc of history in the Middle East by Matt Damon as Bryan Woodson in the movie Syriana:
"Twenty years ago you had the highest Gross National Product in the world, now you're tied with Albania. Your second largest export is secondhand goods, closely followed by dates which you're losing five cents a pound on... You know what the business community thinks of you? They think that a hundred years ago you were living in tents out here in the desert chopping each other's heads off and that's where you'll be in another hundred years."
Change is the only constant.
I must say the Khashoggi assassination leaves me...somewhat adrift. These sorts of things are not unusual among U.S. allies. The "disappeared" in Argentina, the Pinochet tortures and murders in Chile, the crimes in El Salvador, the thugs and murderers of Saigon...it's a long and "colorful" history. What is unusual is that this Soprano style dismemberment should be carried out in a foreign embassy. Had Khashoggi been returned to S.A. and then "disappeared" it would have been business as usual in international relations. My point being not that this is good, but *why this murder* at the forefront of international news. I can only conclude that there is a substantial feeling that MBS is incompetent and prone to idiotic adventures (Lebanese prime minister, Qatar blockade, Yemen, etc.), that he's not really capable of leading any kind of anti-Iran policy in the Arabian peninsula, and this is the event that is being used to put pressure on him and his father. But *any* Saudi regime would have been a bad choice to play point for an anti-Iranian regime.
I really also wrestle with a question: why is the leader of the lie brigade on Iraq and many issues in the Middle East, why is the columnist so famously wrong about almost anything, including the blood thirst Crown Prince of the Wahabi slaughterers, still given a voice here? He is as much a stain on these pages as Mr. Trump or Mr. Cheney or Mr. Powell are on our nation. And he still agitates against Iran, just with different words than Trump.
Thomas, you, and everyone else in the media, “fake news types” et all, need on point out that trump is only in this for himself, and his backers, not America. The darkest days in American history began on Election Day 2016 and will not end until the Trump Republicans are tossed out of ever office in the land, and the Koch brothers are brought down.
Really? Are we talking about Trump or the entire establishment?
Every single US president since FDR has "sold out American values" in return for influence over the Saudi oil industry and access to the vast economic surplus it generates for this barbaric feudal monarchy. Why now the big fuss? Did US pundits suddenly grow a conscience?
We heard few howls of outrage when President Obama (via Hillary Clinton's State Dept.) made a record-setting $115 billion sale of military hardware to the Saudis, who then turned it against the poverty-stricken Yemenis. Three years into the Saudi war on Yemen, some 50,000 civilians are dead and famine and cholera threaten many more. How are the "optics" of the Khashoggi killing more ugly than that?
I don't often agree with Thomas Friedman, but his closing comments on the US "addiction to oil" hits the mark. Junkies are notoriously promiscuous in their choice of friends.
1
And a Manhattan project for clean energy just might avert total climate disaster
Other than plutocrats, despots, bible thumpers and his devoted base, the president is rapidly running out of friends. He has alienated our allies, our intelligence agencies, the press, the military, and the majority of our fellow citizens. His days as President are numbered. He senses this, much like a cornered animal and will continue to lash out dangerously. The clock is ticking. My guess is that the Republican leaders are anxiously plotting Plan B.
As far as green energy rather than oil? You are picking winners.. That is against GOP-FOX principles.
Where is the outrage towards this so called 'allie'? 15 of the 19 bombers on 9/11 were from Saudi Arabia. Now an assassination of a journalist - not even mentioning the horrific war in Yemen. Where is the outrage? Do we as Americans have any values left? Is this the price we are willing to pay for oil? I thought Trump was going to drain the swamp. Lets start with this one.
What I keep coming back to is that the Saudi Arabia region was a nomadic feudal civilization. The US realized that they sat on the biggest oil reserves in the world. Through their investments and colonial infiltrations, they created the 'Royal Family', which is completely bogus, and has enabled this regime to rule a backward country, as long as the US had access to the oil. Am I wrong?
1
The perfect column for these times - thank you.
Make SA accountable.
Trump's pose boils down to two elements:
1. Trump has profited and is promised more payoffs from the Saudis who openly brag that they 'own' his son-in-law.
2. Trump is attempting to distract from his guilt as a party to the crime as a witness before the fact informed of MbS's intentions, who failed to act morally and legally to uphold our laws.
On top of this, Trump opened himself up to being blackmailed by Erdogan, who buttonholed him at the WWI Memorial event in Paris, and now is pressuring Trump to pressure his own DOJ to push for the extradition of Güllen - the Turkish cleric here as a political asylum resident in the Poconos. Erdogan would like to do to Güllen via show trial what MbS did to Kashoggi by fiat.
1
Trump went to California to visit the victims of the fire; he didn't even know the name of the town that burned up. But he's all over the Saudi Royal family. America first? I don't think Trump knows where America is.
574
For Trump, it is his addiction to being petted and praised, his addiction to making money (for Trump), which leads his actions. Trump is an autocrat want-to-be, who is thrilled to be accepted as part of the big man club of ostentatious rich guys who always get what they want and don't care one jot who suffers (or dies) along the way. He is a fawning, useful idiot, and the world's bad actors have his number.
21
"The word is out on the street: “Hey, guys, get in line! Trump is giving away free stuff! Just tell him you’re fighting Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood or that you’re a friend of Sheldon Adelson’s, and you get free stuff!”"
Blunt, but necessary column, Tom Friedman. Somebody has to do it--before Americans forget what normal presidential foreign policy is.
Sure, the nation isn't immune from lousy decisions and crass motivations. We can all list many such examples.
But Trump is consistent in only one thing: he always goes against the grain of what would amount to a "mixed" decision, where at least American values are upheld, and "bad allies" are punished for really bad behavior.
I hope the world doesn't forget what we used to be like, and joins those of us who simply can't tolerate much more. The abuse of domestic power and the outright destruction of America's former arsenal of soft power, career-long diplomats on board with a national diplomacy that aims high even if it occasionally slips low.
Trump starts out low, and goes lower. The man is always about money, his money, his issues, his needs.
How much money does the man need? I guess it depends on how much in hock he is to "bad allies."
33
This is what an “amoral chump” looks like!
1
A police officer on one of the early police shows, a couple decades ago, caught and arrested his perp and called him a "dirt bag".
That term can aptly be applicable to Trump and MBS, due to their response and condonation to the grisly torture, murder and disposal of Khashoggi and his body parts.
The Saudis are still desert tribesmen whose ethics, or lack thereof, still follow their ancient tribal ways.
Trump's behavior shows he has no human soul, and will trade anyone and anything in return for his personal greed for power and money.
Both Trump's and MBS' responses are nothing less than inhumane and amoral. They will reap what they sow in their end.
21
About that Manhattan Project. Good idea but not possible in 7 years. Things to consider: We will have to replace every car and truck on the roads today with electrics. We’d need a significantly revamped national electric grid and clean generating capacity (both within reach). Then there’s what to do about petrochemicals things like rubber, fertilizers and plastics that use fossil fuels as a starting point. There’s no doubt we are running out of fossil fuels and need to direct them to things like petrochemicals for which there are few options, they’re too valuable to burn. But the time frame is not workable.
3
The one point I disagree from this generally good article is that Trump does make good deals-- but they only benefit himself or family.
His hats should read MTGA-- Make Trump Great Again. That is what the 46% of Americans voted for in 2016
35
Time for 25th
17
I like the Black Friday sale analogy. Can't wait to see the store video showing 42% of Amercians (today's approval rating for the man) clamboring over each other and the rest of us to get to the deals he's offering. So, yes vilify Trump. It's fun. It's easy. And ignores the fact that 42% of us (yes, us - this is us) still support him regardless.
22
@SGoodwin One must love the notion that "us" support Trump even though he gets nothing but personal gain from his deals with foreign powers. If one were to step back and assess this point of view one could easily come to the conclusion that the writer is blinded by the cult of personality.
5
@SGoodwin First, there is nothing fun about witessening and living through what is happening to our country and the world as a result of one, Donald Trump, who now holds the most empty title on the plant. And I don't support him and neither does anyone I know, and let us not forget, 42% is still the minority. Yes, that's a big enough number to do damage, but I have to believe after the 2018 election, that number will dissovle into the swamp in 2020. Here's to the future America!
Yes we are not the neighbors we think we are.
With Trump, you have to assume he has secured a financial benefit to himself; real estate purchases from him, direct contributions or payments, etc.
34
That is, of course, the only possible answer. Follow the money. And the bagman is...
3
At very least our political leaders should be developing a vision and a plan for getting the world off oil. Easy to say, but the gnarliest energy conundrum considering the depth of oil's reach and continuing penetration into the global economy.
The big question: if oil has gotten us into such unsustainable and dangerous territory, should we not be seriously thinking about the potential environmental and ecological costs of attempting to sustain what oil has grown by substituting alternative liquid fuels (impossible)? Is a globalized world economy even feasible in the absence of oil? Do we not need to be seriously considering the potential of localization as an alternate means of living on earth?
Manhattan projects imply great central control and power. Perhaps it is well past time we consider the alternative course of great decentralization. How can we electrify the world economy without being boxed into bad choices of sustaining the crumbling (and soul crushing ugly) infrastructures and networks oil and coal have built?
Red lights are flashing signals we have reached and far surpassed the limits to growth. Yet we seem to be stuck on fulfilling the imperative for more. That there is some unwritten yet almost universally accepted obligation we need to fill even though all the signs point that doing so will only lead to ruin. The combination of faith in a world after this one and faith in growth may be doing us in.
All Trumped up on oil.
14
Tom, another astute column, we are beholden to you for you insights over the years on the Middle East. I have oft seen oil as the devil's blood and advocated for transformation of energy policy since Carter was held hostage and through 2 more useless wars. I would go a bit further in analyzing Trump's respect for another strongman's denial of guilt for heinous crime. And you're the man to do it. Did deeply into Trump and Kushner's personal stake in Saudi Arabia. During the campaign Trump once boasted how he loved the Saudi's because of how many apartments they buy from him. Why did Kushner push Trump to make his first trip as president to Saudi Arabia. Make America Great Again is but a slogan for votes. Trump's goal is always Make Trump Greater. In the coming weeks I would expect to see the press dig deep into this subject.
76
I agree, Tom. But what makes you so sure this negotiation isn’t being done behind the scenes? To publicly dress down MBS with demands of reform, etc, would probably serve the opposite effect — strengthening his political adversaries and bringing him down. To the extent he is a reformer (by Saudi standards), and his replacement might be a hardliner that does not serve Western interests, Trump is likely trying to contain the damage. Time will tell with telltale signs in Yemen, reforms in the kingdom, advancing regional peace, and countering Iran.
3
@Pragmatist in CT
Sorry, but while your hypothesis about back channel negotiations is remotely conceivable, there is not one shred of real evidence that Trump has the moral fiber to be concerned about anything but himself.
83
@Pragmatist in CT Yeah sure. And any day now Trump will reveal the location of the Big Rock Candy Mountain.
2
Getting us off oil would make oil cheaper for other countries. Getting the world off oil would end Saudi power. The world's addiction to oil is actually a measure of the power of the petroleum industry, which safeguards its markets by encouraging the sorts of social structure that encourage the use of its products.
39
Thanks for another great column.
“Send Kudos Guns and Tributes
Trump, get us out of this mess”
(With apologies to the survivors of Warren Zevon)
5
Tom,
This is your best.
"Rather than choosing between bad allies and bad enemies, we should be working frantically to do the one thing that is in our whole country’s security interest, financial interest and moral interest — launch a Manhattan Project to get America off oil by 2025."
Cheap electricity from space-based solar satellites launched by a Maglev launch system for only 1% of chemical launch costs and more than 4 times more efficient than ground- based solar. See James Powell's "Spaceship Earth".
Use the cheap power to desalinate water. develop and deploy machines to absorb and sequester carbon dioxide from Earth's common atmosphere.
Use some of the carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and hydrogen from water to make synthetic jet fuel for transcontinental air travel.
Convert most of the world's surface logistics to 300 mph, all-weather, Superconducting Maglev Transport for both freight trucks/vans and passengers at only 5 cents a passenger mile and 10 cents a ton mile. See www.magneticglide.com
Clearly, the above projects should be initiated and demonstrated and competed for investors by 2025.
67
Trump's bending to the Saudi will is reprehensible. But coddling dictators and repressive regimes is not unique to this administration.
The Obama administration supported a military coup in Honduras and now we are seeing the refugees from the violence that we sponsored arriving on our border.
The US has also had close relationships with every Middle East dictator, including Saddam Hussein, the Shah in Iran and of course Murabek, the long running dictator of Egypt. The deaths caused by theses three alone are over a million.
Closer to home we supported the generals of Brazil and Argentina and immediately recognized the Pinochet regime in Chile even while their military was systematically murdering thousands of dissidents.
In fact, real support for human rights has been the exception for American foreign policy, not the rule.
All presidents give glowing speeches about democratic values, but as they look down the corporate balance sheet and campaign contributions list, human rights takes a back seat to profit and the consequences in human lives are simply ignored.
Trump, as with all things is simply more clumsy and unsophisticated with his embrace of dictators than his predecessors. But make no mistake, he is in good company with former presidents of both parties.
The only way this will change is when average American's stand up and say "not in my name."
48
Maybe DJT will award the Medal of Freedom to MBS. The prince can join Ms. Adelson in the Medal of Freedom category titled "lots and lots of money to DJT and his family."
America, never forget that DJT has two criteria for making a decision on ANY topic: 1) how will it stroke his ego; and 2) how will it monetarily enrich him. It is never about the country, only about him.
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Oil should have been on the path to obsolescence long ago.
Morality issues or not, our great leader does not have the intellectual acuity to move us forward. New technologies have been available for quite a long time. They need the impetus to be brought to fruition, (global use). That drive must come from government.
Our cheeseburger eating gang leader is exactly the wrong person for the top slot! His fascination with other national strongmen highly suggest a weak insecure man, trying to fill a roll he was not designed for. We're on a downward spiral.
36
It is breathtaking to see a man of Thomas Friedman's prominence so completely miss the point of the American embassy move to Jerusalem.
The Middle East "peace process" is a fantasy of NY Times opinion columnists. The Arabs do not want peace because they think they can win. They think so because of the ambiguous messages they have been getting from Western politicians and pundits, for the last 50 years, at least.
By moving the American embassy to Jerusalem, for the first time in my adult life a president of the United States sent an unambiguous message to the Arabs: our patience with their intransigence has run out.
Assuming this move is not a one-off, Donald Trump (yes, that Donald Trump) will have made the first serious move towards peace in the Middle East since Anwar el-Sadat flew to Jerusalem.
7
We can't really expect Trump to care a whole lot about "America's moral standing" when he doesn't much care about his own. In any case, those who voted for Trump - and many others besides - suspect self-serving hypocrisy when other politicians talk about moral imperatives. It is true that he spends less effort on concealing his true motives than a traditional politician would, but this doesn't make him more honest or trustworthy. Many of our allies are puzzled and horrified at our daring honesty about our collective amorality.
7
It is our addiction to oil and the profits of oil that allows the U.S. to masquerade as the defender of "human rights" through wars around the world, allows the Koch brothers to own public broadcasting, allows the Russians to play the same nihilistic weapons-buildup the U.S. engages in, allows the U.S. mainstream media to ignore reporting on corporate malfeasance on its own soil and abroad (notice the mega-mergers and monopolies folks?), and allows us to believe that climate change has nothing to do with the burning of fossil fuels. Both the disparity of wealth between industrialized and non-industrialized countries--- and the overall, comparatively grotesque standard-of-living in industrialized countries are based on oil and wars (if you make ore than USD 32K/yr., you're in the top 1% globally). The vicious cycle of profit kickbacks to politicians and CEOs alike in military industrial congressional complexes around the world allows these nut-jobs to hold the rest of the world hostage in a quasi-fear of deterrence while the planet burns. Morals aren't even in these people's characters, much less their vocabularies. What's a life to them? And would you ever expect them to even try to mitigate what's seemingly already baked-into this planet? We've met the enemy Pogo, and it's US: pusher and addict.
9
Isn't it kind of silly to assume that Trump would weigh an issue on moral grounds? The man's entire life is marred with three unbroken streaks of boorishness, vulgarity, and greed - an insatiable desire for money, lots of money.
The Saudis may not purchase military supplies worth more than $10 to $20 in the coming year, but has anyone calculated the middleman's commission on that order? On military sales, the commission rate for the middleman normally varies between 10 percent to 20 percent of the transaction. Let's say the commission rate comes only to 5 percent. For a sale of 20 billion dollars that should earn the middleman a cool one billion dollars. Who do you think would facilitate the sales? Any guesses?
Here's a hint. Who or which group went around the world, after Trump's take over of the White House, to solicit money from the sovereign funds of rich countries, like Qatar? Heck, that group even went into such penny ante stuff as peddling the US green cards on the streets of Beijing and Hong Kong. They even publicly bragged about their proximity to the Trump White House.
One can bet the size and scope of large amounts of easy money has not escaped any of the bigtime shysters. With close ties of matrimony to the Trump family and recently formed bonds with the Saudi absolute ruler, the mega dealmakers of the world know the aces they hold in hand. They seem to be okay to leave the moral ground to the rest of us.
26
Yes, I, a resister, agree with everyone of your points on how dangerous Trumpism is to our foreign policy and our values. However, I doubt that your eloquence would change the minds of any MAGA fans, let us be reminded, he did win the Senate. The USA that I loved has been lost, slowly but surely, Trump and the MAGA crowd are destroying a great nation.
39
He did not gain in the Senate and may end up losing overall if a seat goes to Espy.
2
@Jean Kolodner
Buck up Jean. I keep this in mind: "Remember that all through history, there have been tyrants and murderers, and for a time, they seem invincible. But in the end, they always fall. Always.” ---Mahatma Gandhi.
It may not help us today but I keep his words in mind when things get heavy. It gives me hope.
2
@Barbara Siegman, Thank you. I needed it. Happy Thanksgiving.
And don't forget the promise the Saudi's probably made to continue buying Trump condos.
22
Trump is not amoral, he is immoral. To even suggest that he is amoral is a cop out. This man if immoral and evil. Condoning, lying about, murder is immoral. Trump knows what murder is and knows that it is wrong. Americans who support Trump are selling out their country.
220
@Ralph Thanks for holding up a stop sign to the rush of people constantly using “amoral” to mean immoral. The word “amoral” was coined to mean having nothing to do either way with matters of right and wrong. It’s a useful word we are in the process of destroying.
19
@Ralph Well said Ralph. Thank you. Words have meaning and consequences.
2
I once assigned my class the problem to work out what the true cost of Mideast oil is, figuring in
1. The cost to purchase it ($ /barrel)
2. To assure its uninterrupted transport transport
5th fleet in the Persion Gulf, Operating bases
such as Naval Support Activity Bahrain
3. Amortizing the cost of wars we fought over it
(Gulf War , Iraq) over 30 year
The estimates varied widely but the median was $ 70 per
barrel for securing the oil plus the purchase price
To every economist it is obvious that the correct policy to deal with imported oil is
1) Charge the section of the Defense budget that goes towards securing its supply at the pump
2) Return the consequent savings in the income tax financed section of defence budget to tax payer in form of an income tax cut.
Right now, this substantial part of the defence budget is buried in the federal income tax
It is a budget neutral operation that would reduce energy waste
25
@Woof You should also ask them to factor in the costs to US consumers of restricting US energy production. The 1970's 'energy crisis' had nothing to do with true oil shortages but rather everything to do with nonsensical US energy policy that restricted domestic energy E&P. Too, if really was only about securing oil, why not just take it? When we fought Desert Storm, the oil fields we invaded were ours for the taking. Middle East peace is desirable not just because of their oil.
5
No one should be surprised by this. This is the genius who thinks we can prevent forest fires if we just vacuum the forest floors.
53
True. But we could avoid many if our power and utility cables were underground, like they are in Europe. 7 out of 10 fires were sparked by toppled electric utilities.
18
Trump is fully supported by senate republicans. Your title should be "Trump's and the GOP's Black Friday Sale: Oil, Guns and Morals". Let's just be honest about this. He is not an uncommon man among republicans. He is not their brightest, but that is what makes him so loved by the base. The majority of GOP would be more sneaky about their real intentions, so in that respect he has exposed them for what they really are. The question is is it too late? Since we are owned and operated by and for corporations I suspect it is. They love Trump as much as his base does.
54
@Chris Do not be so pessimistic, as it is contagious.
Do not despair, as the majority feel as you do.
Keep up the resistance even if is it only in your own town, neighborhood, block, family or heart,
1
"Just tell him you’re fighting Iran or the Muslim Brotherhood"
But then further down, Friedman tries to tell us how bad Iran is.
News flash: American leaders have been giving away free stuff and morality too for a lot longer than Trump has been around.
They've been giving it to the same people, making the same excuses.
Then Friedman here starts repeating the excuses even after criticizing Trump for doing it.
Denmark "had to" do all that to stop an Iranian? They didn't. There was no Iranian, nothing was stopped. They were told by *guess who* that Iran was coming for them, and they believed it, but it wasn't true.
Meanwhile, *guess who* has been doing assassinations all over Europe, and in Iran too? No problem for Friedman, give them more free stuff. Iran, Muslim Brotherhood, boo, you have to give them even more.
8
@Mark Thomason: So it’s the old “everybody does it” excuse. Except for this: “Khashoggi was killed by a Saudi hit team, which then reportedly sawed apart his body and dissolved the pieces in acid.” In an embassy.
@Carson Drew -- I didn't mean that to excuse anybody. It needs fixing. It won't be fixed by making it about only the most recent bad actor. It has been going on for much too long, and Friedman is a cheerleader for it, as he was for the Iraq War.
"Salaam, Mr. President, this is your friend, MBS."
"Hey, guy, what's doing?"
"Mr.. President. I need to come clean and ease my conscience a bit. You know that business with Jamal Khashoggi?"
"Yeah, right. Heard about it."
"Well, let me tell you Mr. President, I gave the order for Khashoggi to be killed. And now I feel terrible about it, just terrible. Are you sickened beyond measure to hear this confession?"
"I guess I would be if I had heard you say it."
"Oh, you mean.....?"
(No response)
"Oh, thank you, Mr. President! Even a Muslim needs some Christian expiation every now and then!"
"Say, how would you feel if I renditioned you a guy named Jim Acosta over the next few days?"
"Who?"
"Just kidding, my friend. ( A moment of silence) Yeah... no... let's put that on hold."
"Whatever you say, my friend. Salaam for now.
"Merry Christmas."
"Huh?"
"Never mind."
15
".. launch a Manhattan Project to get America off oil by 2025."
Oil consumption per capita
Country (bbl/day per 1000 people)
United States 61.02
Germany 30.69
France 28.36
United Kingdom 25.73
Note: Germany per capita, is more industrialized than the US
NO Manhattan project needed, just tax fuel at the EU level
45
I support both, though your suggestion theoretically could be implemented overnight.
Given the Grover Norquist is our unofficial tax czar it won't happen. The Koch brothers might also demur.
13
The oil argument doesn't make sense. The Saudis need to sell it as much as we need to buy it.
3
Mr. Friedman, rest assured, American moral standing isn't in in any trouble because of anything that Donald the Magnificent did or does or will do. It has been dead and buried for quite some time now. Dubya and the neocons saw to that.
36
@Rudy Flameng Further to your point, 15 of the hijackers that flew planes into the WTC and Pentagon were Saudi citizens. Was there any outrage expressed towards KSA? Were there any sanctions levied against KSA? No, and no. No Iranians or Iraqis were involved in the worst terrorist attack against the US on 9/11. But 15 Saudis were involved, not to mention Osama Bin Laden, the Saudi that masterminded the attack.
2
@Rudy Flameng
You really feel that the Obama did nothing to re-establish the moral high ground of the USA?
Do not mistake my point, he could have done more, he could have been more forcible but to suggest that he did not try in the face of opposition for opposition sake is to be too critical and too accepting as if the current situation is no different than the past!!
brian
2
@Rudy Flameng But think about it....the leaders who try to reimpose our moral standing by demanding human rights be a major focus of foreign policy are shouted down as weak and spineless. That is one thing that disgusts me...the most moral and ethical presidents in my life (Carter and Obama) are viewed by many as terrible and actually despised by a significant percentage of Americans. The leaders they absolutely adore are the ones they would not allow to be their pastors, their kids teachers, or their bosses. How long would you leave Trump alone for with your wife or daughter in a room with no one else there? Certainly, Pence wouldn't allow that. Think about that. Pence wouldn't trust Trump with his wife. But he is all in on trusting him alone with autocrats across the globe.
3
But look what we have gotten,what we always have gotten: Temporarily lower gas prices for our SUVs so we have a few extra bucks to travel to grandma's house and buy cheap ,unneeded goods on Black Friday,and now, "Cyber Monday". Unfortunately, IQ45's amorality just reinforces the world's bad opinions of us. Justly so.
27
@Tim Lynch
You may feel that all Americans share Trumpian values. IMany of us don't spend money on Black Friday, never have. I seldom drive long distances; I can't afford it and don't want to. That said, I don't harbor guilt for living my life as best I can. I don't condone murder and wish with all my heart that our so-called President would not either. There are plenty of horrible things going on in the world. You may have my share of guilt, Tim.
1
I keep reading about the US addiction to oil. Can somebody explain to me the following?
The US started a trade war with Canada. Canada provides the US with a bit more than 40% of its total oil imports far more than any other country. The US permits the Kingdom of SA a whole slew of human rights abuses, turns a blind eye to the murder of a Washington Post journalist. All this while SA accounts for about 14% of the US's oil imports.
Can we stop with the pretence that oil is at the heart of the US's motives here? I understand that oil makes for good "fear fodder" for the public - most of whom are so strapped financially that they couldn't bare to pay a few more pennies for fuel. But perhaps we can put aside the false reasons and try to find the real ones why the US is so in bed with the kingdom.
51
@Mike Bonnell
Very simple. All Canadian oil going to the US is going to refineries on long term contracts and is exported. Pipeline operators make money refineries do etc. No Canadian oil stays in the US. Also note that he government to JD budgets is based on increast exports as the Canadian government makes a HUGH (in DT words) on this
4
It’s big guns. They buy the weapons we make.
3
@Keith
A lot of US Oil rights are also owned by foreign governments and the oil is piped to American refineries then exported.
3
Once Trumps taxes and financial empire is laid bare, the world will be a much saner and safer place.
It’s intervention time Mr. McConnell. Time for you to stop posturing for the Koch brothers and time to be an American.
21
Might as well ask Santa for world peace. Same result.
3
Tom, I may have missed one of your columns, but somewhere along the way, have you said the following? "I'm really sorry. I, too, bought MBS's phony liberalization of Saudi Arabia. That was a mistake. I've learned better now. He is really a bad individual, even by Middle Eastern standards. Well, now we know, including me." We won't hold it against you. We want politicians to admit mistakes of judgment, especially if they were honest mistakes. Journalists should admit them, too.
35
@XXX Thanks Triple, I was kinda waiting too; "reformer" indeed.
1
He never did on WMD in 2004. Why now - on a trifle?
2
Good article
I’ve been wanting an American-led Clean Energy Revolution ever since Al Gore won the popular vote.
It’s a good reminder to all that it’s not just mass extinction we risk with our fossil fuel addiction.
Beto, please run !
16
What makes all this even worse is that the US just a few weeks ago surpassed both Russia and Saudi Arabia to become the top oil producer in the world. We are getting nothing from no one with the so-called deal maker.
23
There is not one segment or corner in the lives of Americans that has not been eviscerated by the president in the last two and a half years. The only reason the majority of people who voted for him are able to escape it is because they look the other way. But two things that occurred are more intimate and pressing than many others. The first was the denigration of John McCain, the country's Vietnam hero and conscience.
I would ask all who voted for the president how they would feel if John McCain was part of their neighborhood?
The second is the withering twittering of Admiral McRaven who not only served his country for 37 years but was the Seal responsible for the removal of Osama Bin Laden from the Planet. If Admiral McRaven was your neighbor would you agree with the president's comments?
Imagine after the president finishes his time in office whether it be 2 years or 6 years more how he will cope when the only people who will listen to him are his sycophants and enablers, but it likely won't be the millions who voted for him.
10
Once in a while Friedman does come up with one. The nuclear fusion project by 2025, or equivalent, is worthy of consideration. If we weren’t customers of the oil from this garden spot of the globe, we’d be behaving much differently, toward ALL parties in the region.
2
The bottom line is the Saudi Arabians have known from the earliest days of his campaign that trump could be bribed. They bought and paid for him with white tiger robes, stays at hotels, loans, promises of loans and future sites for his hotels and resorts. Regimes like China and Saudi Arabia have been practicing diplomacy for thousands of years. They are playing with trump like a cat plays with a mouse.
74
It is beyond Trump's reach to be presidential. There are many dangers throughout the world. for us and the biggest danger is living in the White House.
The reason is easily explained. Our President is in over his head and to add fuel to the fire he has no moral compass. Combine those two factors and Trump is incapable of Judging good from evil or friend from foe.
Pray to your God for this country. We need all the help we can get.
21
I get sick when I think about the murder of Mr. Khashogi. Here was a journalist who fearlessly stood up for the freedom of the Saudi people, put his life on the line to give us the truth in that country no matter where it led. When he was murdered he was attempting to obtain documents so that he could be married
Trump's lack of action to hold this brutal monarchy accountable in this murder only tells us what Trump will do for a few pieces of eight. And the measures he may use to stifle the press in his own country. Even FOX news now holds Trump responsible for his denigration of facts Murder in Istanbul no problem and Trump's ethical vision is as empty as the Saudi Arabian desert.
12
I agree with you. I also get sick when I see the obvious trap Mr. Khashoggi did not see. Fly to Turkey to personally receive divorce papers? Must come alone? No consulate in the US?
Many people spend a lifetime trying to get over feelings of shame. Often, with the hard work of good therapy, they can reclaim their lives.
Conversely, there are people who are incapable of feeling shame, no matter their moral transgressions. These are truly scary people. The occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is one of them.
21
As are most Republicans in Congress
3
Moral standing is an aft repeated wording, but really has had no meaning in international dealings especially in the Middle East policies.
2
@AKA Unfortunately
Presidents have sacrificed America’s ‘moral standing’ (whatever that means) for decades, centuries actually. Backing the USSR in WW2 and then letting Stalin occupy Eastern Europe for 40 years. More recently, pushing to open Cuba under Obama, ignoring the horrific human rights violations there, including jailing and torturing journalists. The agreement with Iran under Obama, again ignoring horrific human rights abuses, including the jailing and murder of dissidents. And so on.
Saudi Arabia is a key US ally in a dangerous part of the world and it is important that they remain an ally. Transactional foreign policy didn’t begin with Trump and it won’t end with Trump.
4
The USSR took on 80% of Germany’s armed forces. The German Army was the best in the world. If Germany had defeated the USSR, it is unlikely that we and the Brits could have defeated Hitler, but if so, only at the cost of millions of casualties. When the war in Europe ended, the massive Red Army occupied Eastern Europe. How would you have gotten them to leave?
@JB
Stalin was a key ally in WWII. The USSR lost millions of its people fighting WWII, 600,000 died in the siege of Leningrad alone. Hitler's army got trashed in the Russian winter as Napoleon's army had long before, so Germany was badly weakened, which made it much, much easier to liberate France. There was nothing immoral about allying with the USSR against Hitler's Germany and once they got the bomb ...
Our country has been officially sold out to dark global characters - and by the man who promised an 'America first' foreign policy.
6
Instead of a boring career politician we elected a businessman, and selling weapons to Saudi Arabia is good business. Nothing else matters so long as the check doesn't bounce.
6
@JR
How many "businessmen" have a history of multiple bankruptcies? How many "businessmen" can't attain loans from legitimate lending enterprises?
How appalling and profoundly warped to dismiss the cold blooded and brutal murder of an innocent man on the pretext that the murderer is a good customer. Justice must be served.
During the 20th century America repeatedly hung its hat on alliances with the bad guys at our expense. When the people finally rebel and topple the tyrants we have often diminished our credibility and our influence.
And as Thomas Friedman points out, America can and should invest in an ambitious program of development and innovation that increase our energy independence.
5
Saudi Arabia gets approval from Trump but not the West. No more kissy face shmooshing with the A list celebs or cozying up with Bill Gates at the compound. The kind of cosmopolitan cache the Crown Prince has been craving and furiously hording from his last PR blitz to bring him respectable street cred is up in fumes. No one can pretend now that the Saudi regime is any more forward-thinking than the Spanish Inquisition or more desiring of modernization than the auto-da-fe. Anyone who supports him exposes themselves as as an a-moral grasper of the all-mighty dollar. What serves a man who has gained a Trump and lost the world?
16
Unfortunately, there always has to be a Joker in the pack.
Here's a bet. In the long line of US presidents, it will be the 45th. The others don't or won't even come close.
4
Maybe the real chumps are those who think foreign policy is Sunday School, that Christian morality is what it's all about. If the Saudi's kill their nationals in foreign countries is the most appropriate U.S. response to, in effect, try to overthrow the Saudi Royal Family, or at least try to humiliate them by showing them to be powerless U.S. puppets, (which they are not)? And what kind of strategic mess would that cause? And what would our oh-so-moral liberal commentariat then say about that--that Mr. Trump was shortsighted and impetuous and should have understood the stakes involved? (which, incidentally, he does). Is the real bottom line that the American left would like to find some way to overthrow Donald Trump?
It is our addiction to arms sales that motivates so much destructive behavior in the Middle East. Our insatiable military-industrial complex feeds off conflict; indeed it has every reason to foment war.
4
It is nice to see arguments, Tom, clarifying that we do indeed have a free press, although far from an honest one. I doubt there is anyone with credible support in the international arena who thinks issuing an ultimatum to a Saudi Arabian royal - to release female dissident drivers from jail no less - will result in some sort of awakening of egalitarian or enlightenment about the virtues of western concepts of equality. The truth can be bought for a price, but the humor, Tom, is priceless.
1
I would like to see Manhattan type projects for turning coal into liquid fuel and for trapping CO2 and toxic elements like mercury that are released when coal is burned.
1
While I agree with you that we need to rid ourselves of our addiction to oil, and that Trump's pass to M.B.S. 'may be the most crass giveaway of U.S. principles by an American president in American history", I disagree with why you think he did it. That pretend $450 billion of investment in the US is just a diversion from the real reasons. The first is that the Saudis are important for what Trump really cares about, his business and his financials. If we would ever get to see Trump's financial records, we'd probably see at least two big funding sources - Russia and Saudi Arabia. And I imagine there are some real estate deals being planned, if not already happening, involving the Saudis. The second is that the Saudis treated him like a king when he visited, stroking his fragile ego and playing to his vanity.
62
I doubt Trump is concerned about American interests or jobs for American workers. He has shown clearly that his only concern is lining his own pockets. When everything is exposed, I will not be surprised to hear that his personal and business financial interests are behind everything he has done.
44
"launch a Manhattan Project to get America off oil by 2025."
Mr. Friedman, one can agree or disagree with your learned analyses of the Middle East in general and the present situation re Saudi Arabia and Iran in particular.
But you are so locked on a particular solution that at times it is hard to take you seriously.
The US, under Trump, Clinton or anybody else, is not going to undertake such a project by 2025. By 2125 maybe.
It is fairly easy to analyze problems, in the past and present and even project problems of the future. But solutions, that is a different matter.
Oil will continue to rule in the near future. That is a fact. Now come up with a solution to your analysis that has at least some potential. None will be happier than I to see such a viable solution.
7
@Joshua Schwartz
If the security and viability of the country, indeed the world, depended on getting off of carbon, and it does, we could do this. Similar mobilizations of will and resources have occurred during wars of the past. If we could see, today, 100 years into the future, a Manhattan project would be starting now.
14
@Joshua Schwartz Wow, you got worked up over that? No one, including Mr. Friedman, thinks it's realistic to be totally off oil in 2025.
However, we are going backwards from progress by rolling back mileage regulations, etc.
Have many government projects been completed on time? Doubtful. However, we need a goal.
1
Well Mr. Friedman, you aren't looking at this from the right perspective. Trump is dealing alright. He is dealing for himself, not America. Trump has sold America down the river in order to protect Trump. Trump wants power. He wants to stay in power and he wants to fend off any threats to that power. So he makes these deals that benefit no one but him. He gets the support of the other parties and America gets nothing. Human rights get nothing. Our nation's dignity and moral standing in the world gets nothing.
And all of Trump's supporters go along with it. They are either oblivious to it or have convinced themselves that none of it matters. After all, we are experiencing the greatest economy the world has ever known! (Three percent growth is actually pretty average, but no matter).
So not only has Trump been on a rampage of destroying the truth, destroying the press, destroying the Dept. of Justice, the environment, Obamacare, the environment, he has destroyed our reputation and standing in the world so he can get the support of some really nasty people that do really nasty things.
Now I realize that the US government has participated is some terrible things in places like Iran, Vietnam, Central America. But at least when we did, we didn't brag about them like they were great accomplishments. We at least tried to act like the good guys. Trump doesn't even do that. He's proud of himself for siding with murderers.
186
@Bruce Rozenblit
You're absolutely correct about his lack of shame, but I'm ambivalent about the virtues of acting like the good guys. When we overthrew democratically elected leaders in the name of the common good, were we doing the world a service? Is trying to act like the good guys any substitute for being good guys?
And we did more than not brag about them. We engaged in secret operations, used mercenaries, proxies, camouflage, waving the flag all the while.
In many ways, his savage ignorance, combined with world class ineptitude, makes it easier to write him off to the world as an aberration, preserving at least some of our nation's dignity. Well, a little bit.
14
@Bruce Rozenblit Yep, well said. He also likes being liked, so he loves Putin and MBS saying nice things about him even though it does the country no good.
5
@Bruce Rozenblit
"After all, we are experiencing the greatest economy the world has ever known! (Three percent growth is actually pretty average, but no matter)."
Greatest is not best. Well-being is not GDP nor GDP/capita. This may not be on point in this context, Bruce, but if we do not soon recognize it, our planet will become a hell-hole.
9
It's not Trump's Black Friday, it's ours. The country hasn't veered so far from its moral center that the vast majority of us don't realize the difference between pure policy decisions and those that involve moral rights and wrongs.
13
Energy -- specifically oil -- is THE central issue in the world. The need for energy causes us to look the other way from countries that do not share our values. It causes changes to the very atmosphere we all need to survive. It causes the endless misery of endless war. Imagine if the money spent on arms and oil protection was invested in non-carbon, renewable energy production in the U.S., that really would be putting America first. It is the solution to so many problems. I could not agree more with Mr. Friedman's "Manhattan Project" idea.
50
@Anne
I’d argue that the world’s biggest problem is out-of-control population. And that is why energy has become the next most serious issue of the world.
2
After we got over the shock that Donald Trump was our president we actually hoped that he would settle into the job, experience some growth, learn a little but, and begin to act "presidential." Instead, he has just gotten worse.
So many people I know say they can't even stand to watch and/or read the news anymore, since each day it is a stream of multiple misdeeds by our president. But what do you do? We can ask the media to continue to broadcast these misdeeds--as Mr. Friedman does so well. And, we can call on our political leaders to contain him as best as they can--having a Democratic majority in congress in January will be a great help. But otherwise, I think we just try to keep our sanity and hope our country survives until January of 2021.
34
@Jerry S.
The major media in our country have handed Trump a great gift, and enormous power, by covering everything he does and says as if it were serious and meaningful. I watched some of a national network evening newscast this evening (ABC News) and there was Trump, Trump, Trump. Trump. Sound bites. Trump walking. Trump talking. Over and over, close to ten cuts of Trump in ten minutes.
In contrast, Obama was under covered. He was "no drama Obama" and he didn't send ratings or clicks soaring. His presidency took on an air of desperation to get more coverage, so when the networks and the news channels ignored him, he and Michele appeared on just about every television program that would have them trying to sell his programs. In a way, it was pathetic, an American president trying to demonstrate he was worthy of appearing on television (even a drive around the White House lawn with Jerry Seinfeld, of all people).
News coverage is not supposed to be calibrated to create a political or social effect. It is supposed to be based on sound, generally objective judgement, but turning over endless coverage to Trump, 24/7, is irresponsible and does not serve the public interest. The major media have deserted their responsibilities and the need to present a balanced view of the world. They do it for...money.
9
In Trump’s head nothing is certain
Facts lie back of a Trumpian curtain
If there’s money involved
Bad facts are dissolved
If you follow them bankrolls are hurtin’
Murders are now so commonplace
A fact Heads of State must now face
Let’s not be dramatic
But far more pragmatic
Deals with murderers let’s not erase.
29
"Iran and Saudi Arabia are both behaving awfully — just in different ways and places."....Yes. But lets compare them. First consider that Saudi Arabia is Sunni and Iran is Shia and those two branches of Islam have been fighting over Muslim preeminence for 1300 years. Now let's look at the record. 15 of the 19 terrorist in 9/11 were Saudi. Al Qaeda and ISIS are both Sunni and were sponsored with Saudi oil money. Bin Laden was Saudi. Saudi Arabia has funded radical madrasas in Pakistan and helps fund the Taliban. Every Muslim terrorist attack in Europe and the U.S. were carried out by Sunni, while Shia terrorists have not been involved in suicide bombings. Now to be sure, Iran is not warm and fuzzy and they may present a regional threat in the Middle East. But the idea that we need the Saudis as a bulwark against Iran is a bad joke. We need the Saudis because U.S. companies have oil interests in Saudi Arabia, and Kushner/Trump have doubtless received favorable financial considerations there. And folks, that is the real reason we are "allied' with Saudi Arabia.
527
Actually we should repair relations with Iran and form an alliance against Sunni Saudi Arabia and its global terrorist offshoots.
28
@W.A. Spitzer
Trump doesn’t know Sunni from Shia, Iran from Iraq, Yemen from Oman. But, his hatred for the Press and Washington Post, his love for Saudi money, money, money justify this bean-hole pronouncement.
Cheeto, it’s high time we see those tax returns.
40
@W.A. Spitzer..."Death to America". I don't know, W.A., that sounds kinda warm and fuzzy to me. Death to America, and have a Happy Thanksgiving.
1
Friedman started on a good note, but then as the piece progressed it deviated from his central point.
After all what we have known about M.B.S., there cannot be any justification in dealing with Saudi Arabia as long he's in power. I thought that for once Friedman was going to advocate for M.B.S.' ouster, but he still thinks that the U.S. can deal with him provided he loosens his grip on dissidents, gives more freedom to women, agrees to a cease fire in Yemen etc etc. This means that Friedman is advocating giving M.B.S. a pass and not holding him accountable for his role in Khashoggi's murder. Is this not sacrificing America's moral standing?
24
It is not that the American people got nothing. It is that we continue to suffer staggering losses -- in our stability, security (including political, even environmental), stature, and in our very soul.
61
The Saudis have only confirmed a contract to purchase $4 billion in arms, and haven't paid yet. Entire US arms sales worldwide average only $10 billion a year.
35
@Winston Smith
You are saying that we are going to get 450 billion in 45 years.
3
Mr. Friedman's diagnosis is too facile.
Trump's transactional approach could work, Friedman explains, if he got real deals from Saudi Arabia or Russia when he turns a blind eye to their immoral activity.
Transactionalism doesn't impress others. Bibi wouldn't have frozen settlements if Trump dangled a U.S. consulate move. If a CEO tells a union, "hey, we'll agree to 3% raise anyway, so let's just do it," the union assumes he'll give them at least 5%.
Putin and MSB don't care about U.S. condemnations. If the administration got FBI deep into the Khashoggi investigation, details for an Interpol warrant on MSB, then behind the scenes it could get Saudi royals to do something.
Negotiations succeed with small steps and clear goals. The goal isn't to end the war in Yemen. It's to depose MSB.
Small steps: a President refuses to confirm or deny what he thinks about Khashoggi. He tells Saudis clock's ticking, and they must communicate. Presents legal evidence to royals, Skype or emissaries. He tells the U.S. public he wants U.S. experts to interrogate the killers. Saudis publicly object, but MSB's many opponents don't mind. The President works with them to make it possible. In return he won't end military contracts. Demands the release of female prisoners, but concedes it if they corner MSB.
That's how you end Iran's nuclear program, and North Korea's, grinding away small steps with a clear, limited goal.
3
@Brian,
While you appear to be going against the mainstream, one of our top commentators remains silent. Hoping Mr. Luettgen is well. This is genuine on my part, and his input is missed.
3
@Miss Ley
I’ve noticed that. Maybe a well deserved Vacation, or a Consultant gig ??? And yes, he’s an apt adversary.
1
@Brian
This is a joke right?
Cynicism masquerading as wisdom?
You think Trump is capable of such subtle thinking?
You think it is advantageous to give up the clear moral high ground to involve oneself in arcane machinations and duplicity that end up being reported as fiascos in headlines around the world?
Yes, I can see it now. Give up the high ground to secure a low and vulnerable position where the Putins, MSBs, Jong Uns and Bibis tangle.
I guess if lying, cheating, bribing, murder is all you know that is naturally the safe comfortable ground to occupy.
We might not get Bibi, Putin or MSB to do what we want but time is a continuum and good works upon the good. To articulate our values has to be done if, at the least, to show the world in what direction we are heading or want to go. I think our allies would like that too. That is, if we can keep them as allies when we show ourselves to be so fickle and capricious in our nature and dealings.
Sure, moving pieces on a chessboard is fun but simply toppling another's king should not be the real goal if establishing opportunities is a promise we make to future generations. The goal is to shore up our democratic values and not sell them to the highest bidder.
1
The $450 million Saudi purchase may be fake but the $60-80 million into the Trump business is real as Trump admitted at one of his campaign rallies. And I am sure it will continue to pour in as long as he continues to sleep in the WH.
And besides Adelson, as you said, the evangelicals loves his give away so maybe they can help Trump to use the Saudi money to buy another Potter's field.
45
Of course the American people get nothing from Trump's squandering of our national reputation, international standing and values we've had for more than two centuries. But Trump voters don't care. We've seen this with every horrific act Trump has taken since November 2016, whether it be his toadying to Putin in Helsinki, or his disrespect of our longtime allies England, France and Germany. And why don't they mind? Because they won't "pay the bill" for squandering our national good name or treasure. They care absolutely nothing about Trump's pandering to the House of Saud.
Why don't they care? Because they have no problem "giving away" something they've never contributed to or believed in -- American ideals such as justice, equality for all people, human rights and dignity. They don't see these qualities as having any value at all. So they don't care that their dictator tosses them away like so much discarded kleenex.
Trump voters wanted only one thing from Trump -- to be a "president" who tells them that as whites, they're superior to the rest of us, and only their rights matter. And selling this nation out to dictators is the least of their concerns.
But they need to understand that the rest of us see them for who they really are - people who are happy to see this nation turn into an ignorant, racist backwater of a country, where only the very rich can live decent lives. Trump's voters are the ones really responsible for the destruction of our nation.
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@Noah Drummer
OMG I had this exact comment in my head earlier today and you just put it in words. They don’t care. They just don’t.
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Yes Mr. Drummer, absolutely, unequivocally, 100% Correct, Spot_On!
31
Another day in trumpistan. Trump sanctions murder of a correspondent, gives himself an A+ and pulls the troops off the border where their use as a political prop is over.
The market is dropping, the world is nervous and now we have to deal with Ivanka.
Lock them all up.
Let's be thankful for our blessings and wash the trump mob out of our hair.
152
Trump is what he is and no more. Don't expect more because it is not there. He is all tied up in his fantasies and can't escape them. Period. Sometimes he briefly looks like he sees through something, but he is usually reading from a script written by someone else. He is short on reasoning, and other higher brain functions like empathy and morality and civility. This will not change. Stop expecting more. He is in a position he never expected to get and he never should have campaigned for it, but he had such good time conning all those people and listening to the cheers. He is good at conning because he actually believes what he says for the moment and it makes him convincing. His strange makeup is totally fascinating because it is such a puzzle. But people are slowly realizing what they have in Trump. It takes a while.
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@joyce. Strangely, perhaps, I have always viewed him as a liar and conman, ever since he became well known. It took no time at all. Is there something wrong with me? Do I have paranormal skills?
2
Here's one side of the balance scale:
MBS owns a floor in Trump Tower... and lots of US Arms
Here's the other side of the scale:
All the killed Yemeni children, and the murder of Kashoggi
What have we become?
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@nfahr
What we've always been: a country that only has "interests," which always come down to monetary gain. Trump is just the first to put it out there in print.
10
@nfahr How is Yemen any different than Vietnam? We have always had this side of us.
2
It's sadly more pathetic. The Saudis were "nice" to him because they bought gaudy apartments in his money-washing condos.
Trump Country just shrugs though
111
Yes, Mr. Friedman. But why? Why is our President ignoring our own intelligence and selling out our cherished values? Because he doesn't understand them? Because he believes they are foolish? Because he has a personality disorder? Because he is a cipher and is parroting bad advice from John Bolton? Because he believes the economy will crumble if oil prices rise? Because the Saudis have told him they are the key to thwarting Iran? I suspect none of the above. There is very likely a corrupt purpose behind this, and we need to figure it out. Mr. Mueller is our best hope; or perhaps the newly elected House. Inshallah.
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@Paul H.
Excellent questions; you must be a lawyer.
One further question: T repeatedly mentions the billions in (future) Saudi arms purchases — as if he can think of nothing else — is it possible that some of that cash will flow back to T Enterprises?
31
@Paul H. May I venture a guess? Both the Saudis and the Putin crowd financed and probably continue to finance lots of the Trump "business". As they say, follow the money.
23
@Texas Trader, of course it will. Trump wouldn't pay a lick of attention to the House of Saud if there were no money for him in it.
16
The amounts of (bloodstained) Saudi money Trump cites as so large that we need to look the other way are, depending on his mood, billions or hundreds of billions.
So we must ask, what if it were only ten million? One billion?
Like the quip sometimes attributed to Churchill, now that we’ve established what he is, for despots around the world, it’s only a matter of haggling the price.
He is selling American values outright.
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@Steve
True, but not Churchill. It was a friends of his, George Bernard Shaw.
11
@Steve
IQ45 knows full well that everything can be bought and sold. Even through the thickening fog of his brain, he understands that humans desire one thing: More.
3
I still want to know where Republican Senators stand relative to these Trumpian policy moves. We know Trump lacks anything resembling a moral compass. The silence of Republicans in the Senate is every bit as telling to me. The GOP has most certainly lost its moorings. Americans should remember that silence the next time any of those individuals come up for re-election. I know I will.
340
They are in hiding. Afraid of Trump' tongue lashings. After Trump is removed it will be interesting to see how they explain their kowtowing.
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@David I think I can answer that. The Republican senators sit on them.
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@David
Don't hold your breath.
5
In the immortal words of Warren Zevon: it’s “ Lawyers, Guns and Money “. Throw in a few Bone Saws, and untraceable CASH for buying Trump Brand Properties, and you’re ( faux ) Golden. After all, who else would buy the equivalent of High Rise Trailer Homes ??? Seriously.
34
@Phyliss Dalmatian - Also from Mr. Zevon (presciently) , "How was I to know, (he) was with the Russians, too?"
"Manhattan Project" would be an excellent name, because the best approach is to open a bunch of nuclear plants.
2