Behind Trump defense of Saudi crown prince, a deeper US shift on human rights

Washington: When President Donald Trump defended Saudi Arabia's crown prince this week over the 2018 killing of US-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi, he did more than just stir renewed accusations from critics of an affinity toward strongmen.

Trump's remarks, which contradicted US intelligence findings, threw into stark relief just how far his administration has shifted away from the traditional US support for human rights globally.

Nearly all recent US administrations have worked with leaders with poor human rights records in order to advance US interests.

But more than any recent occupant of the White House, Trump has not only praised prominent autocratic rulers, from Saudi Arabia and Hungary to China and El Salvador, but has shown little interest in reining them in, instead taking a more transactional approach.

Just how much US human rights policy has changed under Trump was crystallised in the Oval Office on Tuesday when he denied that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman played any role in the murder of Khashoggi, a critic of the Saudi leadership, despite US intelligence assessing the opposite.

"Trump has ignored some of the most fundamental principles underpinning US relations with the world," said Brett Bruen, a former foreign policy adviser in the Obama administration and now head of the Global Situation Room consultancy. "His words and actions give a green light to strongmen to do whatever they want."

Trump has focused this week instead on helping Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler rehabilitate his global image, giving him red-carpet treatment at the White House, touting burgeoning economic and security ties with the world's biggest oil exporter, and bringing him together with top US CEOs.

That has jibed with the US administration's seeming willingness to overlook alleged human rights abuses by other Trump-friendly leaders such as Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.

At the same time, Trump has pressed questionable accusations of rights violations against governments ideologically at odds with his administration, such as Brazil and South Africa, spurring concerns that he is selectively pursuing human rights targets.

White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly pushed back against the criticism. "All of the President's foreign policy actions are conducted through the lens of the America First agenda he was elected to implement," she said in a statement. "No one cares more about human rights than President Trump."

Many other US presidents have been criticised for playing down human rights.

For example, rights advocates accused Trump's Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, of not exerting enough pressure on Israel over the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which was triggered by an Israeli assault in response to Hamas' cross-border attack in 2023.

Repurposing of human rights policy

Some analysts and former US officials say Trump, 10 months into his second term, has taken this approach to a new level.

Trump's aides, however, have denied that the rapport he has developed with fellow leaders is anything but beneficial and insist that his brand of personal diplomacy promotes US interests.

Under Trump, the human rights issue has not so much been disregarded as repurposed to fit his priorities in favor of economic dealmaking and an agenda he sees as appealing to his MAGA base.

That has included a complete overhaul of the State Department's human rights apparatus, which had long been the centerpiece of traditional US promotion of democratic values.

Under Secretary of State Marco Rubio, the department has scaled back its annual human rights report and reoriented the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor to instill a focus on "Western values."

Trump's aides have justified their shift in emphasis on human rights, including more limited attention to gender-based violence and the persecution of LGBTQ people, as a move away from interference in other country's sovereign affairs.

But the administration has weighed in publicly on European politics to denounce what it sees as suppression of right-wing leaders, including in Romania, Germany and France, and has accused European authorities of censorship.

And it has been vocal in pressuring Brazil's leftist government over the prosecution of former President Jair Bolsonaro, a right-wing Trump ally who was convicted of plotting a coup to remain in power after losing the 2022 election.

While Trump has been mostly silent on human rights under right-wing governments, including reports of torture in El Salvador's megaprison, he has been tough on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, focusing on his alleged links to drug trafficking. The Socialist leader has also been widely accused of harsh repression of the political opposition.

US Representative Brian Mast, a Florida Republican and close Trump ally, defended the administration's handling of human rights, noting that the Republican president's foreign policy had helped to end conflicts.

"I think that shows probably the greatest humanitarian results that anybody could point towards," he told Reuters.

Trump's shielding of bin Salman during the crown prince's first White House visit in more than seven years may have been the most clarifying moment yet for the president's approach.

With bin Salman sitting beside him, Trump repeatedly said it was an honor to be friends with him and said the crown prince knew nothing about the killing of Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist, by Saudi agents in the consulate in Istanbul.

He also praised bin Salman over human rights, even though the crown prince has cracked down on dissent while loosening some social codes.

"Trump is putting America on the side of the dictators and oligarchs," US Senator Bernie Sanders told Reuters.

Lavish Saudi welcome for Trump

The Saudi crown prince's visit to Washington this week follows Trump's own trip to the kingdom in May, the first foreign destination of his second term. That visit was marked by an elaborate welcome for the president.

Other leaders with troubled human rights records may take note.

Trump has made no secret of his admiration for foreign leaders with sweeping powers at home. He has extolled personal friendships with Erdogan, Orban, Russian President Vladimir Putin, with whom he has struggled to secure agreement on ending the war in Ukraine, and Chinese President Xi Jinping, despite tensions over trade and tariffs.

Some critics have accused Trump and his administration of undermining democracy at home and the US image abroad as a bastion of rule of law, with mass deportations, threats against news organisations and flouting of court decisions - which the president's aides deny. He has also ordered deadly strikes on alleged drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, which some experts say breaches international law.

"The United States government no longer has any credibility on human rights issues, at home or abroad," said John Sifton, Asia director for Human Rights Watch.