In Trump, the Gulf monarchies had hit the jackpot. The president was willing to overlook their human rights abuses in the name of economic prosperity and the hope of a UAE-Israeli peace deal that the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, could one day call his own. Kushner, officials told me, bragged about his regular correspondence with UAE crown prince Mohammed bin Zayed (known as MbZ) and MbS. (Their preferred method of communication? WhatsApp.) Having seen just how much the Gulf monarchies had gotten away with under Trump, some suspected they might try to leave their own mark on the next
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