“Jared went from running point on the Middle East to running”

As a candidate, Donald Trump declared it wouldn’t be hard for the United States to deal with Middle East allies that undermined our interests: we could simply seize their oil. The rally-tested notion fit into Trump’s larger campaign theme that America was being pushed around by countries that need us far more than we need them. But Trump’s evolving, uncertain response to the brutal murder of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul has shown little of this bravado. He’s often seemed to follow the Saudi lead, as if the U.S. needs the Saudis more than they need us. “This is one of the rare times I’ve seen Trump struggle. There’s no real leadership. It’s a disaster,” one former West Wing official told me.

According to five Republicans briefed on internal White House discussions, Trump is torn between his instincts to fight and punish and the advice he’s receiving from advisers to stick by Saudi Arabia’s 33-year-old crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, better known by his initials, M.B.S. “Mike Pompeo is telling him this is a decision with 10-year consequences,” one source said. The most determined backstage voice pushing to not upend the relationship is that of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, who has made M.B.S. a central node in his yet-to-be-seen Israeli-Palestinian peace plan. Speaking at a CNN forum yesterday, Kushner waved away a question about the shifting explanations Saudi Arabia has offered about Khashoggi’s disappearance. “I see things that are deceptive every day. I see them in the Middle East, I see them in Washington—and so, again, I think that we have our eyes wide open.” (The White House declined to comment.)

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/10/jared-kushner-mbs-khashoggi-murder-trump