Required reading from around the web of the best, most interesting, or most though provoking things we’ve read:
Doran and Badran: Trump Is Crude. But He’s Right About Saudi Arabia
“There’s not much Republicans and Democrats agree on nowadays, but President Trump’s expression of support for Saudi Arabia on Tuesday in the wake of the Jamal Khashoggi killing managed to unite them. Democratic and Republican leaders declared that the president’s statement was dishonest, morally blinkered and strategically obtuse. […] . . . it is vitally important to evaluate the policy on its merits more than its mode of expression. And the truth is that on the big strategic questions, Mr. Trump is cleareyed and right. […] Instead of standing with the Saudis, Mr. Trump’s critics call for, as Senator Lindsey Graham recently did, sanctions that would persuade King Salman to appoint a new crown prince. But King Salman is not the de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia; Prince Mohammed is. A policy that seeks to change the king’s mind is based on a delusion that is far more deranged than anything in Mr. Trump’s statement. […] Whatever Prince Mohammed’s faults may be, he actively supports the American regional order that the Iranians openly seek to destroy.”
Read more at the New York Times.
Salazar: Migrant caravan members may be planning ‘human stampede’ at US border: aid group
“. . . some are growing impatient, and believe their best option is to plan a mass crossing.”
Bernard Kerik: Open Letter to Senator Cotton Regarding the First Step Act
“Dear Senator Tom Cotton,I’ve recently read of your opposition to the First Step Act, the most meaningful piece of evidence-based federal criminal justice reform that our country has seen in at least a decade. It would be an understatement to say that I am disappointed. You claim . . .”