U.S. President Donald Trump, flanked by White House senior advisor Jared Kushner, right, meets with Saudi Arabia's Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on May 20, 2017.JONATHAN ERNST/Reuters
Joe Biden didn’t need this. He was on a bit of a roll going into the high-stakes midterm elections, especially with the easing of inflation, gas prices in particular.
Then the Saudis struck. They worked a deal with Russia and OPEC Plus countries to cut oil production targets by two million barrels a day, thereby increasing petrol costs. This came after Mr. Biden had made a bid to curry favour with the Saudis via a visit to Jeddah in July where he fist-bumped Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS).
The bump, as we see now, turned into a punch. Given the higher prices of fuel, this is a boost for the Republicans and for Vladimir Putin’s war revenues. In response, Mr. Biden signalled this week that he is re-evaluating his relationship with the kingdom, meaning he’ll be taking retaliatory action.
No doubt Donald Trump and his son-in-law Jared Kushner are taking pleasure in the turn of events. Their actions in pandering to MBS during their four years in power – this, after Mr. Trump repeatedly denounced Saudi Arabia through the years as a loathsome American ally – surely secured the Saudis’ political preference.
The pandering included Mr. Trump, at the urging of Mr. Kushner, making Saudi Arabia the venue of his first foreign visit as president. Normally it’s Canada or Mexico – Saudi Arabia wouldn’t even make the D list. The favouritism also included arms sales to the Saudis despite Congress’s attempt to block them and support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen.
Most of all, it included the soft-as-silk reaction to the Saudis’ ghastly murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. It incensed much of the world. But not so much Mr. Trump and his son-in-law.
Mr. Kushner, who became the second most powerful player in the Trump White House, recently published a 500-page critically panned, but quite revealing, memoir. Wading through Breaking History in search of condemnation of the atrocity, all I found was a bit wherein MBS tells Mr. Kushner that he “was not personally involved.” We also find out, in addition to learning that he didn’t personally wield the bonesaw, that he vowed to try and make sure – also comforting to know – that it doesn’t happen again.
Going so easy on MBS, Mr. Trump would later tell journalist Bob Woodward, saved him from becoming an international pariah. The Trump team expected a big payback and did it ever come, not only on the political front, but in the pocketbook. Shortly after Mr. Kushner left the White House came the princely Saudi gift of US$2-billion to Mr. Kushner in the form of an investment of that amount in his private equity firm, Affinity Partners.
Saudi financial advisers warned against making an investment of that volume for a variety of reasons. They were overruled by MBS himself.
The eye-popping gall of it all hasn’t attracted the attention it might. Given the deluge of non-stop Trumpian controversies, the country is weighed down with outrage fatigue. But the House Oversight Committee is on it, having launched an investigation into the obvious quid pro quo questions the investment raises.
It’s extraordinary that Mr. Kushner, given appearances, would agree to accept the money. It suggests he learned something from all that time working with his father-in-law: shamelessness.
He continues to do the Saudis’ bidding. He has reportedly been trying to line up a TV contract for the Saudi-financed LIV Golf Invitational Series. The renegade golf tour, which has attracted many star players with fantastic sums of money, has rocked the golf world. To help it along, Mr. Trump is holding two of its tournaments at his golf courses.
Mr. Kushner’s book is wondrous in that it does not contain one single criticism of his father-in-law’s presidency. Mr. Trump comes off looking even better than the Saudis.
The key force in forging the Trump-Saudi alliance was Mr. Kushner. One of the Trump administration’s big accomplishments was the Middle East’s Abraham Accords. Mr. Kushner was a major player in securing them (he was pivotal also in securing the new NAFTA deal and criminal justice reform for the administration) and he received co-operation from the Saudis on the file.
He appears to have no qualms about being seen to be in the Saudis’ back pocket and it’s not only on account of them filling his. To Mr. Biden’s dismay, both the Saudis and team Trump are reaping benefits, and with another Trump White House bid potentially in the works, may yet reap more.