Anna van Densky OPINION There is no surprise that President Donald Trump is reluctant to accuse the Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Jamal Khashoggi assassination, even if there is an overwhelming evidence delivered by CIA, for a simple reason that the President-businessman perceives as a sheer nonsense the sacrifice of such a generous client as Saudi Arabia in name of a memory of such a nuisance as a journalist.
The ‘Holy wars‘ President Trump is waging against press loyal to Democrats are notorious, however it is more than a political argument, but a profound conviction of obsolete character of the profession as such. An avid user of social media, electrifying communications with his 220W Tweets, President does not see much sense in existence of press, on contrary, he experiences it as a malicious and destructive force, intentionally deforming his ideas and policies in mass conscious. Additional scars were left after the press vehement attacks on the First Lady, and the First family.
Clearly it would be rather naive to expect the President to demonstrate solidarity with Washington Post mourning one of its columnists after all caustic the editorial has poured on the White House.
However this would be a strategic mistake to think that Khashoggi’s assassination is limited to a newspaper employee or a citizen of a country, because any journalist on planet Earth, irrespective of his political conviction is associating himself with the victim, whose gruesome torture, leading to an atrocious death profoundly shocked even used to regular murders press communities. Shooting, exploding, raping, – even for journalists, who systematically suffer loss of their colleagues, the way Jamal Khashoggi was tortured, assassinated and disposed was too much to bear.
… And the cynicism of the Crown Price, staging the handshake with the killed journalist young son, was tormenting to see…
Will President Trump favor humanism over profits? Will he defend the freedom of speech? Will he condemn the crime? Or will he return to the laws of Ancient Babylon, accepting compensation for the killings signing multi million contracts with Saudis?..
Each day postponing of the final conclusion on Khashoggi’s murderers is damaging the image of the Presidency irreversibly. With indulgence to Prince bin Salman less and less journalists respectful of Trump‘s left around, and their absence may become regrettable in the next elections. #Justice4Khashoggi
Anna Van Densky blog 