{"id":17347,"date":"2025-11-18T07:35:39","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T15:35:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17347"},"modified":"2025-11-19T07:45:07","modified_gmt":"2025-11-19T15:45:07","slug":"things-happen-the-washington-post","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=17347","title":{"rendered":"“\u2018Things happen\u2019”, The Washington Post"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Setting the record straight about our murdered colleague.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opinion<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorial Board<\/p>\n\n\n\n

November 18, 2025<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The United States government often advances its national interests by working with nasty people, and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is one of the nastiest<\/a>. It\u2019s one thing, however regrettable, to deal reluctantly with him. President Donald Trump\u2019s performance<\/a> at the White House Tuesday was something else entirely: weak, crass and of no strategic benefit to America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The best of The Post\u2019s opinions and commentary, in your inbox every morning<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While meeting with the Saudi leader, Trump held forth with journalists in the Oval Office, as he often does. One reporter asked about the murder of Post contributing columnist<\/a> Jamal Khashoggi in October 2018<\/a>. \u201cA lot of people didn\u2019t like that gentleman that you\u2019re talking about,\u201d the president responded. \u201cWhether you like him or didn\u2019t like him, things happen.\u201d He added that the crown prince \u201cknew nothing about it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These distortions dishonor Khashoggi\u2019s legacy, stand at odds with the facts and are beneath the office of the president.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Exiled in Virginia, Khashoggi wrote on these pages<\/a> about the Saudi regime\u2019s repressiveness at home and recklessness abroad. This got under Mohammed\u2019s skin. So, the CIA concluded in 2018, the crown prince ordered Khashoggi\u2019s assassination. He was lured into the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, where a hit team, including members of Mohammed\u2019s personal security detail, used a bone saw to dismember him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mohammed, at the White House Tuesday for the first time since 2018, acknowledged the murder but denied responsibility. \u201cWe\u2019ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s painful and it\u2019s a huge mistake. And we are doing our best that this doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d This was offensive and insufficient yet somehow better than Trump\u2019s response.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During the joint appearance, Trump called Mohammed \u201cone of the most respected people in the world\u201d and said that they talk on the phone at all hours. Trump also upbraided a reporter from ABC News for asking Mohammed about Khashoggi. He called it \u201chorrible, insubordinate and just a terrible question.\u201d He added that the network\u2019s \u201clicense should be taken away.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reality is that while Trump advocates peace through strength, he showed nothing but debility. No doubt other dictators took note. Legitimizing and defending Mohammed this way will embolden him and his ilk to mistreat not just journalists but any Americans \u2014 knowing that they\u2019ll probably face no real consequences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump has an unconventional foreign policy that can achieve unexpected results. See Gaza. But it\u2019s possible to protect U.S. interests without insulting Khashoggi\u2019s memory. It would be more effective to ensure that someone like Mohammed is held accountable, understands who the more powerful partner in the relationship is and comes back begging for forgiveness \u2013 not be greeted cost-free with an honor guard of black horses, herald trumpeters and fighter jets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The relationship with Saudi Arabia still produces some benefits, but even in a complicated world, an American president should be able to respect Khashoggi\u2019s legacy while conducting the messy business of statecraft. Forgetting Mohammed\u2019s brutality and Khashoggi\u2019s warnings is a choice, and Trump made the wrong one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

The Post\u2019s View | About the Editorial Board<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Editorials represent the views of The Post as an institution, as determined through discussion among members of the Editorial Board<\/a>, based in the Opinions section and separate from the newsroom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Setting the record straight about our murdered colleague. Opinion Editorial Board November 18, 2025 The United States government often advances its national interests by working with nasty people, and Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman is one of the nastiest. It\u2019s one thing, however regrettable, to deal reluctantly with him. President Donald Trump\u2019s performance at the White […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1001004,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17347"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1001004"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17347"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17348,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17347\/revisions\/17348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}