Run Jared, Run: “Jared went from running point on Mideast to running: with MBS an d Khashoggi murder

[Denizen]

Jared Kushner has locked Donald Trump in a box he can't escape from with his association with alleged murderer Mohammed Bin Salman. Kushner and Trump have been making excuses for the brutal murder of Jamal Khashoggi and creating the impression that Donald Trump will not hold MBS responsible for the murder.

This is a stain on the USA and Congress is likely to step in and apply the Magnitsky act.

The disgraceful conduct by Kushner and Trump will damage their standing in future elections and create a sense that they are complicit in the murder.

The trials in Saudi Arabia are a sham and the perpetrators should be extradited and tried in Turkey.

“This Was Jared’s Vision”: As Kushner’s Bet on M.B.S. Backfires, Trump Finds Himself Trapped

“JARED WENT FROM RUNNING POINT ON THE MIDEAST TO RUNNING”: WITH M.B.S. AND THE KHASHOGGI MURDER, TRUMP IS IN A TRAP KUSHNER HELPED BUILD
Insisting on thinking outside the box, Jared Kushner pushed Trump to build his Mideast strategy on M.B.S. and the Saudis. Now the West Wing is left with few good options. And some are joking that Kushner is probably going to take off soon for a well-timed vacation.
BY GABRIEL SHERMAN
OCTOBER 23, 2018 2:55 PM
Donald Trump and Jared Kushner

As a candidate, Donald Trump declared it wouldn’t be hard for the United States to deal with Middle East allies that undermined our interests: we could simply seize their oil. The rally-tested notion fit into Trump’s larger campaign theme that America was being pushed around by countries that need us far more than we need them. But Trump’s evolving, uncertain response to the brutal murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has shown little of this bravado. He’s often seemed to follow the Saudi lead, as if the U.S. needs the Saudis more than they need us. “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me.

According to five Republicans briefed on internal White House discussions, Trump is torn between his instincts to fight and punish and the advice he’s receiving from advisers to stick by Saudi Arabia’s 33-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, better known by his initials, M.B.S. “Mike Pompeo is telling him this is a decision with 10-year consequences,” one source said. The most determined backstage voice pushing to not upend the relationship is that of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has made M.B.S. a central node in his yet-to-be-seen Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. Speaking at a CNN forum yesterday, Kushner waved away a question about the shifting explanations Saudi Arabia has offered about Khashoggi’s disappearance. “I see things that are deceptive every day. I see them in the Middle East, I see them in Washington—and so, again, I think that we have our eyes wide open.” (The White House declined to comment.)

From the beginning of Trump’s presidency, Kushner insisted that out-of-the-box thinking was the way to find a path forward in the Middle East. He boasted to a prominent journalist with deep experience in the region that he didn’t need to read books about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, a person briefed on the conversation recalled. It was Kushner’s belief—one shared by his father-in-law—that the conflict between Arabs and Israelis was essentially a real-estate problem, a deal to be worked out. “This was Jared’s vision,” one former West Wing official told me. Key to this dealmaking would be the creation of a new strategic alliance between Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates to counter Iran. Kushner bet big on M.B.S., encouraging Trump to make Riyadh his first trip abroad as president (it was there that Trump was photographed touching that glowing orb). The Arab face of this effort was M.B.S., a charismatic young prince who spoke the language of Silicon Valley and women’s rights. Such was Kushner’s confidence that there was West Wing talk about a Nobel Peace Prize for Trump’s work in the region, a former White House official said.

But there were warning signs early on that M.B.S. wasn’t the enlightened reformer he positioned himself to be. About a week after meeting secretly with Kushner in late October 2017, M.B.S. launched a brutal crackdown, locking up Saudi billionaires in the Riyadh Ritz-Carlton until they signed over billions to the government. As reports of instances of torture inside the Ritz circulated in the media, Trump’s national security team became alarmed. One national security official called former secretary of state Condoleezza Rice for advice. Rice’s message was that “none of these guys are perfect” and Trump should give M.B.S. a chance. “While there were some concerns about doing business with M.B.S., we really believed he was a reformer and big change, socially, was possible,” a former official said. “The real issue is, we made a deal with the devil when we aligned with the Saudis 70 years ago. We have no other options,” another former member of Trump’s national security team recalled.

Khashoggi’s death at the hands of 15 Saudi agents, many with ties to M.B.S., is testing the cold truth at the heart of the American-Saudi partnership. While Kushner’s embrace of M.B.S. had strategic logic, it has been a source of frustration for administration officials. John Bolton’s deputy, Mira Ricardel, recently told colleagues that “Jared is out of his league,” one Republican briefed on her remarks said. (“The assertion, made from a single unnamed source, is flat wrong,” one White House official told me.) Kushner’s private WhatsApp chats with M.B.S. were a particular source of concern for Defense Secretary James Mattis, former secretary of state Rex Tillerson, and former national security adviser H.R. McMaster. “McMaster was especially unhappy Jared was involved in the Mideast. I remember McMaster yelling about the WhatsApp conversations and he kept saying, ‘What’s WhatsApp?’” a former N.S.C. official recalled. (McMaster did not respond to a request for comment.) Before Kushner sat for the CNN interview, his silence about Khashoggi’s murder had become a topic of discussion among current and former West Wing colleagues. “Jared went from running point on the Mideast to running,” a former official said. A joke in the West Wing has been that Kushner—who has a well-documented habit of departing Washington at fortuitous times—will soon be heading to Colorado for a ski vacation.

In the West Wing, there’s still a strong belief that pushing M.B.S. too far threatens the entire Middle East strategy. But the same is not true in Congress. Lindsey Graham, a reliable Trump ally in recent months, argued that the Magnitsky Act could potentially be invoked, and said he believes M.B.S. is “responsible for the killing of Mr. Khashoggi in the most brutal way.” M.B.S., the strategic linchpin, is now dangerously compromised. It’s a bind, one that threatens Trump’s thus-far-charmed relationship with the Republican Congress, and with implications for 2020. For Trump, the way forward is far from clear. “This is not going to blow over,” said one former West Wing official.

 

[tinydancer]

We have a mega problem here. It begins with a pro SA State Department. It is all the pro SA international so called think tanks that have convinced everyone that Iran is the issue in the ME and not the Saudis. Kushner is just a minor player.

Hell's bells for years the sons of bitches in SA had our governments co operating in a war against Syria for fucking what? To subjugate everyone in Syria to sharia?

There was never a civil war in Syria. It was made fucking up. All the so called rebels were Sunni fighters from over 80 countries. Thats a fucking invasion not a civil war.

 

[Correll]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

 

[OldLady]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

 

[Correll]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

What would you have him do?

 

[Denizen]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

 

[Denizen]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

What would you have him do?

An Interpol investigation would be good. But Donald Trump won't allow that because the outcome would embarrass him.

 

[Correll]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

What the fuck is wrong with you? I asked you a simple yes or no question about information YOU POSTED.


And you dodged.


DO YOU BELIEVE THE ABOVE INFORMATION? YES OR FUCKING NO?

 

[OldLady]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

What would you have him do?

I don't know. Shall we just avert our gaze and say money is more important than human rights?

That's the problem.

 

[Correll]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

What would you have him do?

An Interpol investigation would be good. But Donald Trump won't allow that because the outcome would embarrass him.

Interpol? What do you think would come of that?

 

[OldLady]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

Trump just said exactly what he said about Putin's lies--he said the Prince denied having anything to do with it.
Couldn't it have been Soros?

 

[Correll]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

What would you have him do?

I don't know. Shall we just avert our gaze and say money is more important than human rights?

That's the problem.

I don't know what to do either. And this is more than "money".


Destabilizing Saudi Arabia would fuck up the whole world. Easily a Great Depression, with poverty soaring, people dying, children being hurt, governments falling, wars, cats and dogs living together, ect.


No one is going to go down that road. So bashing Trump for not doing it, is nothing but partisan bullshit.

 

[Correll]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

Trump just said exactly what he said about Putin's lies--he said the Prince denied having anything to do with it.
Couldn't it have been Soros?

Do you believe what Denizen's link said, about Trump's leadership?

 

[mdk]

You can tell how serious the topic is by the all capital letters in the title.

 

[OldLady]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

Trump just said exactly what he said about Putin's lies--he said the Prince denied having anything to do with it.
Couldn't it have been Soros?

Do you believe what Denizen's link said, about Trump's leadership?

I'm not interested in arguing over that. Static is all it is.

I AM interested in why you think "Destabilizing Saudi Arabia would fuck up the whole world. Easily a Great Depression, with poverty soaring, people dying, children being hurt, governments falling, wars, cats and dogs living together, ect.

I'm particularly worried about dogs and cats cohabitating. Not good.

 

[Correll]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

Trump just said exactly what he said about Putin's lies--he said the Prince denied having anything to do with it.
Couldn't it have been Soros?

Do you believe what Denizen's link said, about Trump's leadership?

I'm not interested in arguing over that. Static is all it is.

I AM interested in why you think "Destabilizing Saudi Arabia would fuck up the whole world. Easily a Great Depression, with poverty soaring, people dying, children being hurt, governments falling, wars, cats and dogs living together, ect.

I'm particularly worried about dogs and cats cohabitating. Not good.

It is the major supplier of oil in the world. Screwing with that, would send oil prices soaring, with much negative impact on the rest of the global economy and reducing standard of living for billions.

 

[Denizen]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

What the fuck is wrong with you? I asked you a simple yes or no question about information YOU POSTED.


And you dodged.


DO YOU BELIEVE THE ABOVE INFORMATION? YES OR FUCKING NO?

YES

 

[Denizen]

I honestly didn't like to hear our President call SA a great ally because "jobs" and "economy." He repeated it twice because it was all he could think of to say. This is what happens when you give a clueless businessman the job of President. It sounded pathetic, even if $$$ is at the back of every leader's mind when they make decisions about alliances.

What would you have him do?

An Interpol investigation would be good. But Donald Trump won't allow that because the outcome would embarrass him.

Interpol? What do you think would come of that?

Convictions.

 

[SassyIrishLass]

You can tell how serious the topic is by the all capital letters in the title.

Too early in the morning for interwebs screaming

 

[Correll]

J.... “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me...]

Do you believe this, Denizen?

Trump is struggling because he made the wrong move at the start in defending MBS's lies.

It is a disaster and officials are pushing back strongly against Donald Trump.

What the fuck is wrong with you? I asked you a simple yes or no question about information YOU POSTED.


And you dodged.


DO YOU BELIEVE THE ABOVE INFORMATION? YES OR FUCKING NO?

YES

Thank you. I don't know why that was so hard for you. (and libs in general)


Cool. So, we are in agreement. THIS ISSUE, is a RARE example of Trump not proving "real leadership".


Which means, that normally, the vast majority of the time, he IS providing "real leadership".



So, moving on, it is obvious why. Pushing on this, would be pushing against the leader that wants to take Saudi Arabian in the right direction.


The other choices are all worse.