- Joined
- May 20, 2016
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There are no ambiguities as to how I feel about Donald Trump, but one of the admittedly many areas of optimism that I held for Trump's rise and subsequent presidency (besides curbing lobbyism, normalizing healthcare discussions, and working for American laborers-- all completely lost causes) was the possibility that he would boorishly reject the nuance of the diplomatic history between the United States and Saudi Arabia and rally support against them for reasons that are, well, completely obvious.
But that did not happen, and Trump slobbed the knob of the Saudi family like every other president has done. That is despite the fact that the US intelligence community knows for a fact that (1) Saudi Arabia is by far--and it's not close--the biggest ideological exporter of terrorism, (2) Saudi Arabia is also by far the biggest financial backer of Islamic terrorist organizations, (3) Saudi Arabia is home to the fiercest anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, despite being our ally, (4) Saudi Arabia is home to the world's strictest, most conservative, and least peaceable Islamic ideology, and (5) Saudi Arabia is the most oppressive, least democratic, and most human rights abuse-ridden country in the Middle East.
Now, last week, Trump gave a speech espousing aggression towards Iran (a much more secular, much less abusive, and far less terroristic state) on the basis of claims more much readily attributable to Saudi Arabia (anti-democracy, hostility, etc.), showing that there is still institutional and popular resentment of those qualities. Yet, the Donald has gone completely silent on the Saudi family since he got in a catty twitter spat with one of them during the GOP Primary.
We know, across Republican and Democratic voters, there is no love for Saudi Arabia and a universal preference for rejecting international ties with them, therefore showing that our relationship is distinctly at odds with democratic sentiment. So, as we inch toward military engagement with Iran, Saudi Arabia's enemy and a country much more amenable to American values, what path forward is there toward not only rejecting Saudi Arabian diplomacy, but affirmatively displacing their oppressive state?
But that did not happen, and Trump slobbed the knob of the Saudi family like every other president has done. That is despite the fact that the US intelligence community knows for a fact that (1) Saudi Arabia is by far--and it's not close--the biggest ideological exporter of terrorism, (2) Saudi Arabia is also by far the biggest financial backer of Islamic terrorist organizations, (3) Saudi Arabia is home to the fiercest anti-American sentiment in the Muslim world, despite being our ally, (4) Saudi Arabia is home to the world's strictest, most conservative, and least peaceable Islamic ideology, and (5) Saudi Arabia is the most oppressive, least democratic, and most human rights abuse-ridden country in the Middle East.
Now, last week, Trump gave a speech espousing aggression towards Iran (a much more secular, much less abusive, and far less terroristic state) on the basis of claims more much readily attributable to Saudi Arabia (anti-democracy, hostility, etc.), showing that there is still institutional and popular resentment of those qualities. Yet, the Donald has gone completely silent on the Saudi family since he got in a catty twitter spat with one of them during the GOP Primary.
We know, across Republican and Democratic voters, there is no love for Saudi Arabia and a universal preference for rejecting international ties with them, therefore showing that our relationship is distinctly at odds with democratic sentiment. So, as we inch toward military engagement with Iran, Saudi Arabia's enemy and a country much more amenable to American values, what path forward is there toward not only rejecting Saudi Arabian diplomacy, but affirmatively displacing their oppressive state?