President Donald Trump’s lies about our murdered columnist, Jamal Khashoggi, overshadowed the more tangible deliverables handed to Mohammed bin Salman during the Saudi crown prince’s visit this week. On balance, Mohammed gained more from the trip than the United States, though the Trump family’s businesses stand to profit handsomely from private deals with the Saudis.
“MBS,” as Mohammed is called, returns home with permission to purchase 48 advanced F-35 fighter jets that many in the Pentagon, and Israel, do not trust him to have, as well as nearly 300 Abrams tanks. Trump also conferred “major non-NATO ally” status on Saudi Arabia and agreed to provide it with “world-leading” artificial intelligence technology, which hopefully won’t wind up transferred to China.
In exchange, the Saudis committed to invest nearly $1 trillion in the U.S., up from the $600 billion they announced in May. They offered no time horizon for this far-fetched figure, which is roughly the size of their annual economic output. Analysts say it will be even more difficult to achieve given lower oil prices and the kingdom’s growing budget deficit due to wasteful spending on white elephant infrastructure projects. But Trump loves to tout big topline numbers and the Saudis, like other countries, are happy to play along.
It’s an unpleasant reality of geopolitics that the U.S. needs to deal with the Saudi royal family. The kingdom is a bulwark against Iran’s radical anti-American regime and its regional proxies. Saudi support is also crucial for plans to rebuild Gaza.
Still, during his D.C. visit, MBS continued to resist Trump’s entreaties to join other moderate Arab states in the Abraham Accords. The prince says such recognition could only come after Israel recognizes a credible pathway to a Palestinian state. The F-35 transfers would have been a great carrot to induce MBS to sign onto the accords. Alas, that’s no longer an option.
The Defense Intelligence Agency recently warned in a report that China might be able to access F-35 technology if the U.S. goes ahead with the sale because Riyadh has a security partnership with Beijing. Israeli defense leaders separately balkedthat the deal would jeopardize its air superiority in the Middle East. Trump acknowledged that, but concluded both countries deserve the “top of the line” planes. Fortunately, Trump and MBS did not reach a deal for the U.S. to share civil nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, which is awash in cheap energy, though they agreed to keep talking about it.
For Trump, the relationship is pragmatic as well as personal. The president has long admired the kingdom, traveling there during his first major foreign trips in both his first and second presidencies. His family business works extensivelywith the Saudis, including the joint development of a new luxury resort in the Maldives and several Trump-branded projects planned in the kingdom. The country’s sovereign wealth fund has contributed $2 billion to an investment fund run by Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and the Saudi-backed LIV Golf league has hosted tournaments at Trump properties.
First lady Melania Trump wore a green dress to signal support for the kingdom during a black-tie dinner in Mohammed’s honor at the White House. Donald Trump Jr., who runs the Trump family businesses alongside his brother Eric, attended. Cristiano Ronaldo, who plays for a Saudi soccer club, came as well; Trump said his youngest son, Barron, is a huge fan. Even Elon Musk returned for the first time since his blowup with Trump in June.
MBS’s image rehabilitation began under President Joe Biden, who promised to treat him as “pariah” but flew to Jeddah and gave the crown prince a notorious fist bump in 2022 in an attempt to keep oil prices low after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Trump mocked Biden’s fist bump as he greeted MBS with a warm handshake. “I don’t give a hell where that hand’s been,” the president said, an apparent reference to the CIA’s conclusion that he ordered the assassination of Khashoggi.
While cultivating an image as a modernizer — allowing women to drive, expanding entertainment venues, hosting comedy festivals and curbing the powers of the religious police — Mohammed presided over a ruthless crackdown on dissent. Saudi Arabia carried out hundreds of executions in 2025, including journalist Turki al-Jasser and political opponents. Toasting MBS at the dinner in his honor, Trump called Saudi Arabia “a modern-day miracle.”
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