President Donald Trump counts Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman, or MBS, among his closest foreign friends. Trump calls MBS a “good friend,” and referred to him as the “Highly Respected future King of Saudi Arabia” who is “doing tremendous things.” The Saudi Public Investment Fund financed son-in-law Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners to the tune of $2 billion.

Traditionally, American presidents make their first foreign trip to Mexico, Canada, or Europe. During his first term, Trump broke with tradition to meet MBS in Saudi Arabia. Trump outraged American and European progressives when he made Saudi Arabia his first foreign destination against the backdrop of their effort to turn the de facto Saudi leader into a pariah for his alleged role in ordering the murder of Jamal Khashoggi, a former Saudi intelligence operative-turned-Muslim Brotherhood activist and Washington Post columnist.

Realists did not care. They understood what many democracy and human rights activists did not. MBS could be a reformer, but a reformed absolute monarchy does not equal democracy. MBS........

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