Two words stood out last week when Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman triumphantly visited Washington, where he was feted by President Donald Trump at the White House: “Things happen.” That was how Trump dismissed a question from a reporter about the crown prince’s involvement in the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi seven years ago, despite U.S. intelligence reports that MBS—as the crown prince is widely known—not only approved the assassination but dispatched the operatives who strangled and dismembered Khashoggi in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul.
Still, Trump probably hopes that the White House visit, which included a black-tie dinner with tech and business barons, is remembered instead for a number, however inflated and illusory: $1 trillion. That was how much money Trump boasted the crown prince would invest in America under his watch.
Never mind that MBS mentioned that improbable figure somewhat cagily, practically goaded by Trump. Or that it was meant to top up an already exaggerated $600 billion in Saudi investment commitments announced during Trump’s visit to Riyadh in May, which included “non-binding memoranda of understanding or previously announced and seemingly repurposed investment plans,” as Kristian Coates Ulrichsen has noted. Or that MBS didn’t specify over what time period a sum nearly equivalent to Saudi Arabia’s annual GDP would be invested.