Trump Pal Slams the West in Defense of Saudi Arabia

Tom Barrack.

You’ve probably heard the name, but in the event you have not, it’s a name I’ve mentioned before, specifically in regards to the investigation into Donald Trump’s inauguration committee.

Barrack is a friend of Trump’s and served as the chairman of the inauguration committee. His name has been brought up often, as the investigation carries out.

This particular story, however, has nothing to do with the investigation into inaugural spending – not yet.

At least, not on the surface.

Barrack, a real estate developer, like his pal, Trump, was recently in Dubai. Some of his comments of moral equivalence should set the blood of every American on fire.

Speaking on stage at the Milken Institute MENA Summit in Abu Dhabi on Tuesday, Barrack was asked by CNN’s Becky Anderson about the reputational damage to Saudi Arabia over the Jamal Khashoggi killing.

In response, he joked: “As long as you don’t make me a guest at the Ritz.”

With regards to the murder of journalist Khashoggi, Barrack said that “whatever happened in Saudi Arabia, the atrocities in America are equal, or worse …”

Did you catch that?

So let’s just do a quick recap, in order to take that statement in its full context.

Jamal Khashoggi was a Saudi Arabian dissident, as well as a writer for the Washington Post newspaper. He was an American resident, and often, his work would criticize the Saudi royal family.

On September 28, 2018 he visited the Saudi consulate in Istanbul, Turkey, in order to pick up information on his divorce from his first wife, so that he could remarry.

He was told at that time to return on October 2, 2018, which he did.

He has not been seen again.

What the world later discovered is that Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had made arrangements for 15 of his men to ambush Khashoggi as he entered the consulate.

According to Turkish officials, he was then tortured, strangled and dismembered, with his body parts being carried away.

The response of the Trump administration to this atrocity has been pitiful, as the president has said that there is a deal with Saudi Arabia that he has no intention of screwing up.

A man was ambushed, tortured, an murdered.

All this was for insults to the Saudi royal family.

These are the actions of subhuman beasts (and I’m being generous).

Now apply that to what Thomas Barrack said about the United States in Dubai:

Equal, or worse.

“So, the West is confused, it doesn’t understand the rule of law in the kingdom, it doesn’t understand what succession in the kingdom is, it doesn’t understand how there can be a dilemma with a population that has 60 per cent of people under the age of 20.”

He wasn’t done insulting the United States.

“The corrupt hand of the West has been the primary instigator in the kingdom, and in the resource curse across the region forever.”

This is where I remind everyone that the platform many of the terrorist attacks against our nation launch from has to do with the terrorists believing the United States to be an evil power.

Barrack then praised the strong leadership across the Arabian Gulf in the face of this perceived Western ineffectiveness, especially in the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

“The leadership in the UAE is brilliant,” he said, adding: “The English manipulated the region for decades.”

He further went to bat for Saudi Arabia and the current transition:

“…in a transition, bold action is required for bold places.”

Abu Dhabi, Dubai, and Riyadh represented some of the “most organised leadership regimes” in the world, he added.

That’s mighty big talk.

And I get it. He’s probably angling for a real estate deal in the area.

Then again, part of the investigation into Trump’s inauguration has to do with foreign influence buying into the fledgling presidency, by way of contributions to the inaugural fund – a move prohibited by law.

Of course, all of this, for now, is simply pulling at threads.

There are so many leads to follow, so many different investigations going, all at once.

For the time being, let’s just put a pin in this one. Barrack’s over-the-top courting of the crowd in Dubai, to the point of repeating heated, anti-West rhetoric may come in handy, should the time come that we begin uncovering information about those potential foreign investors to Trump’s inauguration committee.