Trump and Traitors

There was an interesting photo of Versailles in the New York Times on Nov. 18. Oops, slip of the keyboard. I meant an interesting photo of a gilded White House dinner. Simple mistake to make. The dinner honored well known Saudi Arabian despot, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, better known to his buddies as MBS. Trump felt that it was only appropriate to invite several of his billionaires to the celebration. MBS brought his princes along. Billionaires and princes, it must have been a fine evening.

The excitement of the event was spiced by the pungent aroma of corruption. You can imagine the deals being pitched amid the jokes, laughter and the clinking of champagne glasses. Surely there was no discussion of “fees” to the princes for consultation on projects requiring approval of MBS.

A U.S. statute, the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, makes it a crime to bribe a foreign official. Although the statute is worded quite broadly, these billionaires need not fear prosecution for their transgressions. Recent enforcement guidelines issued by the DOJ make that risk exceedingly remote. (Trump pursues mortgage fraud technicalities against his political opponents.) The Princes, of course, have no concern. Corruption is an honored tradition in Saudi Arabia.

Trump will get a piece of the action. Saudi Arabia has previously played some cards with a $2 billion investment in a poorly performing fund run by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. MBS had to overrule his advisors to place that investment.

Last year the Trump Organization was paid over $21 million by its partner Dar Global. Dar Global, a development firm, is currently negotiating an investment in a project which MBS oversees. For his part, Trump has approved the sale of F35 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia, overruling national security objections from the Pentagon.

This is how low Trump has stooped. His favorite billionaires are like oligarchs. They are invited to mingle with the assembled princes of a tyrant. Obscenely rich already, they are seeking even greater wealth. That Trump will personally profit is widely understood. There is no place in this gathering for the values of democracy or the rule of law. It is the cutthroat game of who you know and how much you can pay.

The gold tinted photo above is really a photo of the sewer. A list of the invitees is at the end of the New York Times article about this sordid event. Their names will live in infamy.

But it is worse than that, much worse. MBS, after all, ordered the torture and bone-saw butchery of Jamal Khashoggi. Khashoggi was a journalist for the Washington Post and an advocate for democracy. His voice was so powerful in Saudi Arabia that he was thought to be a threat to the monarchy. Jeff Bezos, third or fourth richest man in the world and owner of the Washington Post, has been trying to cozy up to Trump but did not attend the dinner. No reason was given. (Elon Musk, the richest man was there. Larry Ellison, the second or third richest man was also there.)

It is one thing to recognize that U.S. policy needs to deal from time to time with leaders who have committed atrocities or to accept the fact that we need to have some level of a working relationship with a nation whose values are, shall we say, despicable. It is another matter altogether to conduct an official celebration in the White House itself honoring a tyrant who makes no apology for the torture and murder he ordered of a prominent U.S journalist fighting for democracy.

Trump and MBS have much in common. Neither values democracy; both love corruption.

Look at Putin and his oligarchs. Russia has to beg for investment. Look at China with its state-owned enterprises and surveillance state. There is no fair treatment there for outside investors.

Millions of brave souls have died defending a land where the rule of law protects private property and liberty, creating an investment opportunity that has led to the world’s greatest economy.

It is the U.S. economy, where bribes, corruption, deceit and the seizure of private property are illegal, that is the envy of the world. It is the U.S. economy where investment is protected by the rule of law. With greed and ego, Trump and the billionaires betray that legacy.