Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi journalist critical of Saudi Arabia’s rulers, King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman. On October 2, 2018, Khashoggi was murdered in the Saudi embassy in Turkey, a political assassination ordered by the crown prince. This happened during Donald Trump’s first term, and the CIA investigated and publicly declared that MBS had ordered Khashoggi’s assassination. None of this made MBS a pariah – he’s simply too rich and too powerful – but it changed the way Western leaders interacted with him publicly and privately. MBS and Jared Kushner formed some kind of strong alliance based on MBS giving Kushner $2 billion, and through that alliance, the Trump administration largely ignored Khashoggi’s murder.
Well, on Tuesday, Donald Trump welcomed MBS to the White House. Not just a regular old welcome either – Trump pulled out all of the stops and gave MBS the kind of lavish state-visit stagecraft usually reserved for our closest allies or heads of state. Trump and MBS even did an impromptu joint press conference in the Oval, with a press pool shouting out questions. MBS answered questions as well, and answered in English. The presser was completely and utterly bonkers, with Trump giving MBS political cover for Khashoggi’s assassination, saying “things happen,” and suggesting that beheading a journalist is a normal response to criticism. He also berated yet another female reporter for asking questions… during a press pool.
President Trump assailed an American journalist in the Oval Office on Tuesday for asking Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, about the violent death of a Washington Post columnist at the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul in 2018. U.S. intelligence has said the attack was carried out on the prince’s orders.
“You don’t have to embarrass our guest by asking a question like that,” Mr. Trump told the journalist, Mary Bruce of ABC News, later referring to her query as “a horrible, insubordinate, and just a terrible question.”
“A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about,” Mr. Trump said, referring to the murdered journalist, Jamal Khashoggi. “Whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.” The prince has denied involvement in the killing. It was the second time in a week that Mr. Trump had leveled a fierce insult at a woman who was covering him.
On Tuesday, regarding Ms. Bruce, the president referred to ABC as a “crappy company” and said that the network’s broadcasting license “should be taken away.” He said that his top broadcast regulator, Brendan Carr, whose agency grants licenses to local stations, “should look at that.”
The exchange with Ms. Bruce occurred during Prince Mohammed’s first visit to the United States since Mr. Khashoggi’s death and dismemberment by Saudi agents. His death provoked international condemnation.
Mr. Trump appeared deeply frustrated with Ms. Bruce, the chief White House correspondent at ABC News. He insulted her again after she asked another question about why Mr. Trump had not unilaterally ordered the release of files related to the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein.
“It’s not the question that I mind; it’s your attitude,” Mr. Trump told Ms. Bruce, in scolding tones. “I think you are a terrible reporter. It’s the way you ask these questions.” He added: “You’re a terrible person and a terrible reporter.”
Trump kept going and going at Mary Bruce, so much so that I was surprised he didn’t say something about how she should get the Khashoggi Special. It was a dark day for America and a dark day for journalism, although I’m not sure what the Beltway media thought would happen when they normalized Trump for the past decade. Anyway, last night, Trump hosted a pseudo-state dinner for MBS, and the guest list included: Elon Musk, Tim Cook, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gianni Infantino (head of FIFA), Michael Dell, Chuck Robbins (CEO of Cisco), David Ellison (head of Paramount), Jane Fraser (CEO of Citi) and on and on. So many titans of industry are perfectly fine with the state-sponsored beheading of journalists.
Trump suggests Khashoggi had it coming: "You're mentioning someone that was extremely controversial. A lot of people didn't like that gentleman that you're talking about. Whether you like him or didn't like him, things happen. But he knew nothing about it. You don't have to… pic.twitter.com/uhh8VjFy20
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 18, 2025
Reporter: "Your Royal Highness, U.S. intelligence concluded that you orchestrated the brutal murder of a journalist. 9/11 families are furious that you are here in the Oval Office…"
Trump: "Who are you with?"
Reporter: "I'm with ABC News."
Trump: "Fake news…As far as this… pic.twitter.com/rjsmuESgfi
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) November 18, 2025
MBS: "I feel painful about the families of 9/11, but … " pic.twitter.com/8NuugXPfyA
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 18, 2025
Photos courtesy of Cover Images.
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- United States President Donald J Trump welcomes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to the White House in Washington, on Nov. 18, 2025. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 18 Nov 2025 Credit: Anna Rose Layden/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald J Trump leads Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a tour of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on November 18, 2025. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 18 Nov 2025 Credit: Nathan Howard/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald J Trump leads Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a tour of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on November 18, 2025. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 18 Nov 2025 Credit: Nathan Howard/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald J Trump shakes hands with with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on Tuesday, November. 18, 2025. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 18 Nov 2025 Credit: Nathan Howard/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
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- United States President Donald J Trump meets with with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as they meet in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, DC, USA, on Tuesday, November. 18, 2025. Featuring: Donald J Trump, Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud Where: Washington, District of Columbia, United States When: 18 Nov 2025 Credit: Nathan Howard/POOL via CNP/INSTARimages.com
He is pure evil and nothing but money rule him. He’s a traitor this country and he has to be taken down.
yup.
I can’t say what i want to say
Things happen. Yes, they do. Yes indeedy. This is our president.
Millions of Americans, even millions of Americans who, supposedly, are not demented monsters themselves, support this and feel themselves to be well-represented. I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately.
It’s too demoralizing to contemplate. trump inviting MBS? going off on women reporters? and in front of a guy who ordered the murder & dismemberment of a reporter? I need to stay offline for a bit. 😟
Every day we wake up and something new and heinous has happened. It’s exhausting.
Just like it was during his first presidency. How in the h*ll did people forget that???!?!?!?!
Extra-judicial killings are a regular feature of this administration so birds of a feather and all that. Of course he’s fine with it.
I am interested in the list of names of who was there, we’re paying attention and history remembers.
I am also interested in this list. Right now, I feel that economic pressure, social pressure, and political pressures are what we, the people, can still use to peacefully live up to the ideals that the United States used to embody. While I can’t control what the current administration is doing with my / our tax dollars, there’s quite a bit that we can control going forward — even in the face of the rot that unfettered capitalism has woven throughout our everyday lives.
Rich people aren’t like us. With very few exceptions, people who acquire enormous wealth become increasingly amoral as their net worth increases. Of course no one in that room cared that a man was brutally murdered. Caring would impede whatever plans they have to make more money they don’t need and could never possibly spend in their lifetime.
yep, as I was reading through the list from kaiser, I was memorizing everybody for future reference. My hard-earned $$ will not be spent at any of these people’s companies.
ABC has capitulated to all of Trump’s whims only to have one of its best reporters repeatedly publicly insulted in the Oval Office. They should learn this lesson but odds are they won’t.
We know how highly he respects people who capitulate to him, also.
JFC.
I took a dive into the NYT article as to who was at the State dinner. Basically it was the tech industry, the Auto industry, the financial industry and IOW every d@mn body that has anything to do with money and power. We’re scr*wed royally!
“This never happened. It will shock you how much it never happened” – Don Draper to Peggy after she had to give up her infant. Those are the words that Trump, the crown prince and every other sociopath live by.
To every person that cried about wokeness ruining the first amendment, this is what an actual attack on our constitutional rights looks like. Inviting someone who assassinated a journalist into the White House and then threatening to pull the broadcast license of a network who asked an honest question is how we lose our freedom of speech.
And every day I hope “things happen” for the vile orange.
He is utterly depraved. It is hard to put into words how disgusted I am to see with such painful clarity how entirely corrupt our government is. This venal corruption has always been around to some degree. People like Mark Twain and Kurt Vonnegut have tried to tell us, but there has always been a veneer of just enough decency that we could justify accepting it. Trump has forced me to open my eyes and really look at the entirety of our history to see it was always there. This is America.
We are, of course, also capable of greatness, but we are so so so far from that now. I don’t know what we’ll be when Trump is finally gone for good.
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/18/us/politics/trump-saudi-dinner-guests.html?unlocked_article_code=1.2U8.aJD9.Pm09KcqC-jPs&smid=nytcore-android-share
Full list of guests.
Thanks for the gift link!
Thank you!
The CEO of Salesforce, huh? Same Salesforce who were part of Mumbles’ queen-esque speech yesterday?
Epstein said in those emails that he was the worst person he had ever met. And this was coming from EPSTEIN who was a beyond evil person – and HE was shocked at how awful Trump is.
Ugh I can’t. Omg. I can’t even address what is happening here.
So I’ll go off on a tangent and say they really need to move the Olympics and the World Cup out of the USA immediately. Thousands of Black and Brown athletes arrive to the USA with ICE and other yahoos hunting for them. What could go wrong?
Just move it already. Canada and Mexico can host all the of the World Cup. And the Olympics can go to either. The USA has descended into fascism and nothing should be held there that is a major international competition.
Well said.
Anyone else old enough to remember the boycotted Moscow Olympics of 1980?
I’ve been going back and forth about moving locations, boycotting, etc. but I think I’ve landed on the events should still happen, the athletes still compete (they will be the safest and probably have some protection due to their higher profile), but nobody else should show up. Empty stands for all the world to see.
The US is not safe for anyone.
And it really burns me that this guy is the president during our nation’s 250th birthday. Well, I guess we had a good run…… I remember how fun 1976 was with all the things going on.
100% agree. We don’t deserve to host the world with this fool in office. First ICE would be there to get their $3000 bounty as they’ve threatened for the Super Bowl. I just wish this nightmare was over.
Hey, it happens. Sometimes, you just carve up a journalist with a bonesaw on a table in a consulate, to the sound of his screams. You know Trump is wishing he could do the same in the White House.
“Things happen”: Epstein dies in custody. “Things happen” Ivana Trump falls down the stairs. “Things happen” Valentin Broeksmit is found dead.
Things Happen. Of course Trump would say that. And after his own team has just spent months freaking out when people did not sufficiently pound their chests in grief about a certain divisive and controversial right-wing public figure who recently met an early demise.
He’s a monster. As I said yesterday, he’s a river of insanity and filth.
I’d like for something to happen….
He gets away with everything! In America! My country! With no one making a peep! Will none of those cowards in the rooms stand up to him? I remember in his first term when some people in that House actually had a backbone.
Just appalling. This ‘who are you with? ’ crap. Reply ‘the American people’.
Son of a bitch. He is becoming increasingly intolerable and I can’t believe he’s only been in office 9 months. Horrible.
I’m always p*ssed off when he does this to a reporter & none of their colleagues–NONE–then go on to ask the same question or even speak up in support some way. Cowards.
I am convinced he is the Anti-Christ. Every day, I hope to read his obituary.
America TWICE electing this evil, despicable man into the White House will always stand out as one of the most disgraceful chapters in our history.
What a bunch of ghouls.
MAGA is all “remember 9/11” and they think that this is just fine.. I can’t with these people.