The title of the story, “Trump’s defense of Khashoggi’s Saudi murderers will stain him (and America) forever”. The story involves the killing of Jamal Khasoggi ordered by Saudi’s crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman and the decision made by President Trump regarding the case. Khasoggi was one of the most prominent writers globally and an America resident. Evidence indicated that the crown price was the mastermind of Khasoggi’s killing whereby he called, plotted and lured him back to Saudi Arabia from the U.S. Despite all the evidence implicating the crown prince as the person behind the killing, Trump refused to take action against him. Trump stated that the report provided by the CIA was “premature.
America has very close economic ties with Saudi Arabia and Trump wanted to maintain this relationship. The ethical dilemma in this story is whether Trump should punish the Saudi Crown Prince and bring justice to Khasoggi, and lose the relation or stand by Saudi and let them get away with murder, fail to provide justice to Khasoggi, but maintain the economic relations with Saudi. This is a difficult situation whereby one choice may violate the ethical principle. Here, Trump chose not to bring justice but to support Saudi, thereby transgressing the moral principle of punishing offenders. Trump stated, “United States would stand steadfastly by Saudi Arabia”. His decision negatively affected America’s moral credibility on freedom of expression and global human rights. Such a decision exposes journalists and truth seekers to the danger of being killed. Failure of Trump to take action gives the Crown prince the power to continue acting recklessly without any consequences. Critics argued that to maintain a relationship with Saudi, it should be built with the people of Saudi and institutions, which is beneficial in the long term rather than protecting one powerful individual. Therefore, Trump decisions was unethical and it undermined America’s moral credibility.
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Reference
Attaih, K. (2018, Nov 20). Trump’s defense of Khashoggi’s Saudi murderers will stain him (and America) forever. Washington Post . Retrieved from: https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/global-opinions/wp/2018/11/20/khashoggis-murder-will-stain-trump-and-america-forever/?utm_term=.aa761576ad4e
