Managing editor Michelle Pini examines recent White House events and considers whether Americans are finally waking up to the MAGA cult.
IT'S A STRANGE WORLD when a president of the United States – a self-proclaimed nation of patriots, most of them armed, who vow revenge if one of their own is harmed by a foreigner – goes out of his way to defend someone named by U.S. intelligence as having approved the killing of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
Yet in this new world, much of it ruled by a convicted felon, up is down, night is day (though black can never be white) and well, “things happen”.
MURDER AND A NEW BESTIE FOR THE POTUS
Nonetheless, yesterday, Trump gave Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia a true royal welcome to the White House and went out of his way to show bygones are bygones, as he told assembled media:
A lot of people didn't like that gentleman you're talking about [Khashoggi].
Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen, but he [Crown Prince Salman] knew nothing about it and we can leave it at that.
Interestingly, the “things” that “happened”, in this case, involved the brutal murder and dismemberment of the Washington Post reporter on October 2, 2018, inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
In 2021, the CIA concluded that the Crown Prince had approved the journalist's assassination, which the Saudi Government went to great lengths to cover up.
Unsurprisingly, this marred relations between the two countries. Until now, as, apparently, Trump no longer believes his own intelligence agencies and feels the need to defend a foreign leader’s involvement in a violent, premeditated murder.
But, well, “a lot of people didn’t like that gentleman,” so now it’s smiles all around. What’s a dead journo between friends and former enemies? After all, there’s money to be made. In this case, in the form of promised Saudi investment to the tune of $11 trillion.
Smiling all the way to the bank, it seems, given Trump’s family business interests involving the Saudis, but you know, nothing to see there!
And once the deal was done, Trump said to the Prince:
We’ve been really good friends for a long period of time. We’ve always been on the same side of every issue…
I just want to say it’s an honour to be your friend. And it’s an honour that you’re here.
THE GOLDEN BALLROOM
The chumminess and honouring didn’t stop there. There was also a black tie gala dinner to honour the Saudi Crown Prince in the evening.
No doubt $11 trillion buys a lot of ties.
It will likely also help with the completion of the planned palace-style ballroom, which Trump lamented wasn’t ready in time to host the Prince and would have been far more appropriate, since it would accommodate a lot more ties.
The planned golden ballroom is expected to cost $300 million. Never mind that, even as it approved the palatial ballroom, the Trump Administration also placed a freeze on funding for food aid, relied on by 42 million Americans.
THE CHILD PORNOGRAPHY FILES
Meanwhile, the U.S. Congress voted overwhelmingly to release the U.S. Justice Department's (unclassified) files on late sex offender – and former long-time friend of Trump – Jeffrey Epstein, which are believed to include details of Epstein's sex trafficking and child pornography activities. The Senate then also announced it would pass the Bill, even before it was officially received.
This is, of course, great news for Epstein survivors. Not that anyone is holding their breath just yet. After all, first, Trump campaigned to release the files. Then, after he was elected, he opposed their release with far greater vigour, disparaging the move as a "Democrat hoax" and labelling anyone who dared champion it as “traitors”.
Finally, with the writing clearly on the wall and Trump not wanting to be seen to lose a Congress vote, he did another complete turnaround a couple of days ago, and announced he would no longer oppose the release of the Epstein Files if the Bill was passed.
“We have nothing to hide”, said the POTUS.
But regardless of what the files might be hiding, in Trump’s White House, the weather is always unstable and the files cannot be released without Trump's signature. Basically, it ain’t over till we see 'em. And even then, hopefully, everything in them will not have already been redacted.
Nonetheless, an almost-unanimous vote (bar one) in Congress on a measure to which Trump is vehemently opposed is, well, a crack in the MAGA armour.
One former devoted cult member, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene – now branded a traitor by Trump – was flanked by Epstein's abuse victims outside the U.S. Capitol as she addressed members of the press.
Taylor Green said:
He [Trump] called me a traitor for standing with these women and refusing to take my name off the discharge petition...
Let me tell you what a traitor is.
A traitor is an American that serves foreign countries and themselves.
A patriot is an American that serves the United States of America and Americans, like the women standing behind me.
Americans are apparently likewise unimpressed with Trump's handling of the Epstein investigation.
As the golden ballroom nears, they are also unimpressed with the skyrocketing prices and weakened job market. It seems even some Republicans may be waking up, with Trump's approval rating now at its lowest since his return to power.
It may be pertinent to point out that many Australian conservatives – and not just the Far-Right nut jobs – still laud this POTUS and seek to emulate his methods here.
Follow managing editor Michelle Pini on Bluesky @michellepini.bsky.social and Independent Australia on Bluesky @independentaus.bsky.social, X/Twitter @independentaus and Facebook HERE.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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