As the story of what happened to Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi continues to be filled in with horrifying details, Donald Trump is certain of one thing: this murder is getting way, way too much attention. And the reason it’s getting so much attention is not because a journalist was brutally sliced apart. And it’s not because the murder happened in the supposedly safe space of a diplomatic compound. And it’s not because the event was just another example of the reckless arrogance displayed by Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman since he dispatched his relatives to take power. No. Trump is convinced the Khashoggi murder is getting so much attention … because it’s embarrassing to Trump.
As CNN reports, Trump has complained about the “constant” and “negative” attention being given to the story. If people would only let this thing go! Or maybe give it some positive spin. After all, right-wing sources have already been pointing out for weeks that the Saudis kill a lot of people. So what’s one more? And besides, wasn’t bin Salman brave for standing up and finding someone—not him, but someone—to take the blame?
But what’s especially vexing to Trump is that his friend didn’t consider how this would look for him if he hacked a man to death while he was applying for a marriage certificate.
The President, who spoke Sunday with Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, is privately blaming them for making him look badly. At times he has talked about how much he has done so much for the Saudis, complaining that they put him in this position.
Why doesn’t everyone think of Trump first? Because … Trump definitely does.
Trump is concerned that with the midterm election only days away, the Khashoggi story is taking energy away from what Americans should be thinking about: racism and xenophobia. But Trump can take comfort in one thing.
White House aides have told the President that Khashoggi's death isn't an issue that resonates with their base and are confident it won't affect Republican's chances in the upcoming midterm elections.
Because the murder of a single journalist … is genuinely no big deal to Trump’s nationalist base. In fact, they probably consider it just a good start.
Trump’s attitude toward the Khashoggi murder was reflected earlier in a tweet from Marco Rubio.
Yes. A predicament. That’s two steps short of kerfuffle and not even three steps from a fuss. If the Saudis are going to commit immoral murder, surely they can find a way to do it that doesn’t make Marco Rubio momentarily pretend to care. Is that so much to ask?
On Oct. 2, Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi went to the Saudi consulate in Istanbul to get papers required before he could get married. He didn’t know that Saudi officials, acting on orders from crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, had been preparing for his visit for days. Saudi generals had scouted locations both inside and outside the city. A special operations team arrived in two planes and was waiting at the consulate when he appeared. If Turkish intelligence is current, Khashoggi was captured as soon as he stepped inside. His “questioning” began by cutting off his fingers one at a time. Within minutes after his arrival, he was dead and being sliced apart—while the Saudi consul fretted over the mess.
At some point between capture and carving, Khashoggi was also stripped naked, because part of the special operations team that came to the city included a body double who slipped on Khashoggi’s clothes and wore them around town, so that he could “be seen” after his visit to the consulate. Another member of the assassination team followed the double around the city with a bag of clothes, so that he could step into a public bathroom, swap out of Khashoggi’s duds, and set the scene of the journalist’s disappearance somewhere other than the consulate. The presence of the 50-something body double among a team that was otherwise half his age is perhaps the clearest indicator that “detaining” Khashoggi was never an option. The team came prepared to kill, and nothing else.
What happened to Khashoggi’s body remains unclear. A report on Tuesday morning from Sky TV indicated that the body had been found at the residence of the Saudi consul. But that report has not been confirmed.