RAND PAUL: $110B Saudi arms deal ‘a travesty.’ Well, yes. The Saudis are not our friends.
On the other hand, Trump seems to have put together an anti-Iran, anti-Russia alliance in the Middle East that has brought the Saudis together with the Israelis, Egypt, etc. That’s because the Saudis are scared — and, now that we’re the #1 oil producer, we have the whip hand in the relationship, not them. I wouldn’t be shocked to see a decline in funding for terror from the Saudis and the Gulf States as part of this deal.
Like our relationship with the Saudis going back decades, it’s still a travesty. But it may be the best travesty we can get.
Exit question: What if we’d let Saddam Hussein keep Kuwait and eventually annex Saudi Arabia? Would that have worked out better? Doubtful, but for those who want to write alt-history I’d like to see the plotlines. Contribute some in the comments if you like.