The “silly season” in American electoral politics is usually identified as the spring and summer before a presidential election, which the major parties are conducting primary elections that will identify their nominees for the fall campaign. But since 2017, the US has experienced a year-round “silly season,” as inexperienced (at best) and nefarious (at worst) public officials have shredded national and international norms in their pursuit of financial gain.
There is no better example of this that the favored position granted the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia during the administration of TFG. In his recent campaign launch town hall, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie took off the gloves and attacked TFG – and his daughter and son-in-law Ivanka and Jared Kushner for the blatant corruption they engaged in while TFG was in office. By the way, you should note that Ivanka now prefers to be know as “Ivanka Kushner” rather than by her tarnished birth name. A little late, Ivanka, but good try.
Let’s review the facts:
The Saudis were the driving force behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.
Despite this TFG’s first foreign trip was to Saudi Arabia
The Saudis invested $2 billion(!) in Jared Kushner’s private equity firm 6 months after TFG’s departure from the presidency, even though JK had no experience managing a private equity firm. JK had created the firm the day after he left the White House
TFG supported MBS’s crackdown on the existing regime in 2017 and his later assumption of the role of Crown Prince.
JK had protect Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (aka MBS) from the diplomatic fallout of the 2018 murder of Saudi dissident Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul
After Khashoggi’s death, the US approved the transfer of sensitive nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia
The US alliance with the Saudis was at the heart of TFG’s Middle East policy; TFG backed its stance against Iran and encouraged its purchase of US-made weapons. The Saudis used these weapons to pursue a blockage of Qatar and a prolonged civil war in Yemen, which has spawned the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. TFG’s support for the Qatar blockade was particularly troubling, as it flew in the face of official US policy toward Qatar.
TFG has been supportive of the Saudi LIV Golf organization, which merged with (in reality, purchased) the PGA last week. In the summer of 2022, Trump hosted a LIV tournament at Bedminster and criticized PGA players who chose not to be purchased by LIV (including Tiger Woods, who reportedly turned down LIV’s 2022 offer of $800 million to join their tour.
I don’t have time to go into all of this in more detail this morning. Suffice it to say, TFG f**ked up American Foreign Policy during his short four years in office. In pursuit of his personal financial gain (barely cloaked in something called an “America First” agenda, which no one has ever been able to define), TFG upset longstanding alliances and alienated essential allies. World leaders generally despised TFG (when they weren’t laughing at him) – except for leaders like MBS, who praised him lavishly in order to achieve their own objectives. TFG always spoke admiringly about world leaders like Kim Jong Un, Xi, Orban, Balsanaro, MBS, Putin, and other autocrats while demeaning democratic leaders like Trudeau, Macron, and Merkl. Since Biden assumed office in 2021, he has made some strides in repairing these alliance relationships; but Team Crazy (which still rules the GOP, so far as I can tell) continues to try to undermine these efforts.
It's useful that things like the LIV deal emerge occasionally to remind us of how fragile democracy is. It’s not clear yet that the US will survive the four years of TFG’s one-man wrecking ball, but the evidence looks promising. If he evades prosecution and somehow is elected to another term in office, it won’t end well.
Agreed!