Sometimes a single day or single event symbolizes the spirit of an age. Think of the September 1938 meeting in Munich, when British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and other European leaders met with German Chancellor Adolf Hitler to forge an agreement allowing Germany’s annexation of the Sudetenland in exchange for Hitler’s pledge to not invade any other Northern European countries. Eleven months later, after Hitler broke his vow and invaded Poland, Europe was at war. Today, the term “Munich” still stands as a political and historical byword warning of the dangers of appeasement — of turning a blind eye to evil.
When the history of our era is written, Tuesday’s Oval Office meeting between President Donald Trump and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will join Munich in the annals of infamy. It will be remembered as a moment when an American president’s disdain for his country’s values was on full display.
Trump didn’t care that, according to a 2021 CIA assessment, the man he hosted approved the grisly assassination in 2018 of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi, who had written articles critical of Bin Salman. But it should matter to the rest of us.
The prince allegedly had the journalist killed as part of a campaign to silence or intimidate critics of the Saudi regime. As the New York Times said when the CIA assessment became public, “An elite team of operatives helped carry out the killing… The team reported directly to Prince Mohammed, who cultivated a climate of fear that made it unlikely for aides to act without his consent.”
The assassination was horrific, and yet its details are necessary to recount in the light of Trump and bin Salman’s meeting. After Khashoggi was lured to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul on Oct. 2, 2018, with the promise of obtaining documents from officials, he was killed — and his body was dismembered with a bone saw inside the consulate. When Turkish officials investigated the building two weeks later, they discovered evidence of Khashoggi’s murder.
During his Oval Office meeting with the man responsible for Khashoggi’s murder, the president crowed about the $600 billion the Saudis have promised to invest in the United States. Trump was even playful, goading his guest to increase the amount to one trillion dollars.
The money and the meeting were more important to the president than the fact that bin Salman has blood on his hands for the murder of an American citizen. When asked by ABC News’ Mary Bruce about the propriety of hosting the prince, the president blithely dismissed the concern. “Things happen,” he said.
Then, as if condoning the killing, Trump added, “A lot of people didn’t like that gentleman that you’re talking about. Whether you like him or didn’t like him… [bin Salman] knew nothing about it. And we can leave it at that.”
Even the prince appeared more compassionate about Khashoggi’s killing than the president.
Even the prince appeared more compassionate about Khashoggi’s killing than the president.
Bin Salman said it was “painful to hear” about anyone losing their life for “no real purpose.” He claimed, “We’ve done all the right steps of investigation, et cetera, in Saudi Arabia, and we’ve improved our system to be sure that nothing happened like that. And it’s painful, and it’s a huge mistake. And we are doing our best that this doesn’t happen again.”
The exchange about Khashoggi’s death served as a reminder that Trump values money more than morality. As MS Now Daily’s Hayes Brown put it, “The warm welcome Trump…[arranged] marks the conclusion of what little remained of the pariah status surrounding the crown prince… In rolling out the red carpet [for bin Salman], Trump clearly intends to get something in exchange.”
Brown pointed out that the president “appears to view the U.S.-Saudi alliance in personal terms rather than what best benefits America.” That has always been Trump’s habit. What is likely at the top of his mind? Protecting the real estate deals that the Trump Organization has in the offing with the Saudis.
But there is something else going on in Trump’s embrace of bin Salman. Put simply, the president seems to view the ability to get away with murder as a true measure of political power.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, he infamously claimed, “I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody and I wouldn’t lose voters.”
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One month later, he brought up the topic again, this time musing that his supporters are so loyal they would kill on his behalf.“ Even the really dishonest press says Trump’s people are the most incredible,” he said. “Sixty-eight percent would not leave under any circumstance. I think that means murder. I think it means anything.”
During another moment on the campaign trail, Trump toyed with the idea of executing journalists when he was asked about reports that Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered such killings in his country.
According to CNN, Trump “reassured reporters” that he would never do such a thing. “I hate some of these people, I hate ‘em,” he said. “I would never kill them. I would never do that.”
Then, as if he enjoyed the thought, he appeared to reconsider. “Uh, let’s see, uh? No, I would never do that.”
Early in his first term, when Trump was again asked whether it made sense for the United States to deal with Putin, who has made a habit of having his political rivals killed, he refused to condemn the Russian president. Instead, Trump made a shocking comparison. “There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think? Our country’s so innocent?”
In a revealing prelude to his embrace of bin Salman, Trump said he respected Putin and would prefer to “get along with him.”
Trump even spoke positively of Hitler on multiple occasions, his former chief of staff John Kelly, who served during the first Trump administration, told the New York Times in October 2024.
But Tuesday was not the first time Trump had given the Saudi prince a pass on Khashoggi’s death.
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In 2018, the president issued an extraordinary statement of support for bin Salman. “This is an unacceptable and horrible crime,” Trump said of Khashoggi’s death. “King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman vigorously deny any knowledge of the planning or execution of the murder of Mr. Khashoggi…. [I]t could very well be that the Crown Prince had knowledge of this tragic event – maybe he did and maybe he didn’t!… In any case, our relationship is with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia [and the] United States intends to remain a steadfast partner of Saudi Arabia to ensure the interests of our country, Israel and all other partners in the region.”
The subject of political assassinations emerged last year before the Supreme Court during oral arguments in Trump v. United States, which granted presidents absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for acts committed as part of their official duties. Justice Sonia Sotomayor asked Trump attorney John Sauer, “If the president decides that his rival is a corrupt person and he orders the military, or orders someone, to assassinate him — is that within his official acts for which he can get immunity?”
“It would depend on the hypothetical,” Sauer replied. “We could see that could well be an official act.”
On Tuesday, Trump granted a similar kind of immunity to bin Salman — and, implicitly, to other strongmen around the world. “Things happen” — his statement speaks volumes about this moment in American history.
But it cannot remain the final word. If the fantasy or the fact of getting away with murder is allowed to become the measure of political power in this country, it will mark the death of America’s constitutional republic.
