November 20, 2025 10:02 PM IST
First published on: Nov 19, 2025 at 07:10 PM IST
Given how often US President Donald Trump has expressed admiration for authoritarian figures, the chest-beating in sections of the US media about the VIP treatment for Mohammed bin Salman (MbS) seemed a little naive. Of course Trump was going to roll out the red carpet for the powerful crown prince of Saudi Arabia, particularly when he was dangling the prospect of a massive deal. And of course he would lavish praise on MbS, especially when the final figure settled at $1 trillion.
But even the most cynical may be excused for being taken aback by the extraordinary scene in the Oval Office on Tuesday when Mary Bruce of ABC News asked MbS about the 2018 killing of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi — US intelligence had found it was carried out at the behest of the prince. A bristling Trump upbraided the reporter for her “horrible, insubordinate” attitude; absolved MbS of any knowledge of the murder and shrugged off Khashoggi’s death with “things happen”.
Was this a new low for a President who has made ruthlessness a hallmark of his administration? As the Washington Post points out, MbS’s own response to the reporter’s question — “We’ve improved our system… it’s painful and a huge mistake” — fell far short of honesty and grace but was still somehow better than the President’s.
Trump’s refusal to couch his actions in high-minded rhetoric, however, makes it easy to forget that when it comes to callousness, he isn’t exactly setting a new record. In his moral gymnastics and insensitivity to human rights, Trump has company in past US presidents, some of whose actions have led to violence that continues to roil parts of the world. Take West Asia alone, where George W Bush unleashed his catastrophic “war on terror” and where Barack Obama normalised the use of drone strikes. Consider also Joe Biden’s miscalculated attempt to end the “forever war” in Afghanistan, which plunged the region into further chaos. Biden, who had condemned Saudi involvement in Khashoggi’s killing when he was on the campaign trail, changed tack once he was elected to office — a viral picture of his fist-bump with MbS served as the capstone to his heavily criticised 2022 trip to the kingdom.
Trump may broadcast his disdain, but many of his predecessors cloaked their actions in the language of freedom, democracy and “American leadership” — while overseeing interventions that caused immense human suffering. Their legacies are protected partly by the softening effect of nostalgia and partly by the outrageousness of Trump himself. None of them, after all, has addressed a journalist as “piggy” — as Trump recently did when asked about his reluctance to let the Epstein files be released — shared racist memes about political opponents, targeted American citizens of colour and called for jailing anyone who disagreed with them. What separates the bully abroad and the bully at home, ultimately, is just a thin veneer of statesmanship.
The writer is senior assistant editor, The Indian Express.
pooja.pillai@expressindia.com
