Opinion: Trump vs. the world order

The latest op-eds from around the web — and a new podcast episode — on the Khashoggi crisis. View in [Browser]( | Add nytdirect@nytimes.com to your address book. [The New York Times]( [The New York Times]( Thursday, October 18, 2018 [NYTimes.com/Opinion »]( [David Leonhardt] David Leonhardt Op-Ed Columnist The government of Saudi Arabia has murdered a prominent dissident inside one of its embassies, according to all available evidence. The government of Russia appears to have killed multiple critics, around the world, in the last couple of years. The government of China has detained the head of Interpol, the international law-enforcement agency. The brazenness of autocratic governments is on the rise. And President Trump is a big part of the reason. He winks at authoritarianism and violence, sometimes even encouraging it. He shows no sign of caring about basic democratic values, like freedom and human dignity. He has made a choice to surrender America’s moral authority. Or at least that’s my view. My colleague Ross Douthat has a somewhat different view. [On this week’s episode of “The Argument” podcast]( we hash out those differences. You’ll also hear Michelle Goldberg talk about why she never believed that Saudi Arabia’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, was a real reformer — and hear Thomas Friedman talk about why he did have high hopes and why they’re now largely dashed. The Khashoggi story isn’t going away. Here is a sampling of commentary: “This trend toward repression cannot be blamed entirely on the United States, but it cannot be entirely disconnected from the United States, either,” [Max Boot]( writes in The Washington Post. “The only thing that matters to this intensely solipsistic president is how other rulers treat him; how they treat their own people or even their neighbors is irrelevant.” So far, Trump’s reaction to the Khashoggi crisis mirrors his approach to domestic politics: it involves telling lies, writes [The New Yorker’s John Cassidy]( “Another receptive audience for Trump’s disinformation campaigns is made up of foreign despots.” Eli Lake, who has sometimes defended Trump’s foreign policy, says the larger problem for Saudi Arabia isn’t even the implausibility of its emerging story of what happened to Khashoggi. It’s the crown prince. “These are not the decisions of a steady-handed leader,” [Lake writes in Bloomberg Opinion](. If Congress wanted to punish Saudi Arabia, what are the options? Sanctions on oil, Saudi Arabia’s biggest export, are among them, says [Amy Myers Jaffe of the Council on Foreign Relations](. “The United States has shown on many occasions that it has many other values that supersede oil, including international norms of behavior, free democratic elections, and freedom of speech,” she writes. Samantha Gross of the Brookings Institution is more skeptical. “Trump can’t afford to have skyrocketing oil prices and rising gasoline prices at the pump going into the midterm elections,” she said on [yesterday’s episode of the “5 on 45” podcast](. Finally, The Washington Post published what is likely [Khashoggi’s final column]( written before his disappearance, and it reads like a warning. Crackdowns on the media in the Middle East “no longer carry the consequence of a backlash from the international community,” he wrote. “Instead, these actions may trigger condemnation quickly followed by silence.” The full Opinion report from The Times follows. The Argument [Is Trump Destroying the World Order?]( A conversation on the apparent killing of Jamal Khashoggi, featuring Tom Friedman From Our Columnists [Khashoggi’s Killing Isn’t a Blunder. It’s a Crime.]( By BRET STEPHENS A wink and a nod from Washington is the worst possible response to Riyadh’s butchery. [A President Kowtowing to a Mad Prince]( By NICHOLAS KRISTOF Trump is providing cover for Saudi barbarism. [The Horseface Chronicles]( By GAIL COLLINS Try to think of something worse than Trump’s “unexpressed thoughts.” [Hillary Clinton’s Master Class in Distraction]( Nicolas Ortega By MICHELLE COTTLE Democrats need to be focused on the midterms. Contributing Op-Ed Writer [The Democrats’ Left Turn Is Not an Illusion]( By THOMAS B. EDSALL Like many overnight sensations, it has been years in the making. ADVERTISEMENT LIKE THIS EMAIL? Forward it to your friends, and let them know they can sign up here. [I Didn’t Hate the English — Until Now]( Jack Taylor/Getty Images By MEGAN NOLAN In which an Irish woman discovers how little the people who shaped her country’s fate know or care. More in Opinion [Elizabeth Warren and the Folly of Genetic Ancestry Tests]( By ALONDRA NELSON DNA can’t tell us about identity. [Fake News Is Poisoning Brazilian Politics. WhatsApp Can Stop It.]( By CRISTINA TARDÁGUILA, FABRÍCIO BENEVENUTO AND PABLO ORTELLADO Ahead of a critical election, the messaging app has become a sea of toxic misinformation — but it’s not too late to halt the tide. [A Train Ride Back to the Old Israel]( By MATTI FRIEDMAN It takes four times as long as the new high-speed rail. I take it anyway. [A Tale of Three Presidents]( By EVA GOLINGER Nicolás Maduro and Donald Trump have an authoritarian bent, as did Hugo Chávez, but the Chávez I knew also believed in social justice, equality and fundamental freedoms. Disability [The Blind Man’s French Dog Problem]( By ADAM LINN It’s not really about the dog. Or being French. Or blind. SIGN UP FOR THE OP-DOCS NEWSLETTER Find out about new [Op-Docs]( read discussions with filmmakers and learn more about upcoming events. ADVERTISEMENT letters [Skeptical of Saudis’ Story, Unlike Trump]( Readers criticize the Trump administration’s acceptance of the Saudi regime’s denials of murdering Jamal Khashoggi and are dubious of any Saudi investigation. HOW ARE WE DOING? We’d love your feedback on this newsletter. Please email thoughts and suggestions to [leonhardt@nytimes.com](mailto:leonhardt@nytimes.com?subject=Opinion%20Today%20Newsletter%20Feedback). 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