I Don't See What Could Possibly Go Wrong

Five Things You Need to Read Today

1. Making America Timid Again

I think America's uncomfortable alliances with certain unsavory regimes can be excused as a necessary evil—in those cases where overthrowing or undermining the regime is unrealistic and the alternatives are probably worse. There's a case to be made that this applies to the Saudi regime, particularly under the young Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who is shaping up to be the Saudi Ataturk: a murderous strongman hiding behind some quasi-liberal rhetoric—but an opponent of radical Islam and of Iranian influence in the Middle East. He might be the best option in a difficult region.

But we can at least do it with open eyes and from a position of strength and confidence. Which is to say that we could do it in exactly the opposite of the way President Trump just justified giving the Crown Prince a pass for ordering the assassination of US green card holder Jamal Khashoggi.

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