Sons of Power – Donald Trump Jr. Mocks “No Kings” Protests and Praises Saudi Authoritarianism as Stability

In a hall of glass and gold, under chandeliers that seemed more like symbols than sources of light, Donald Trump Jr. stood on the stage of the “Future Investment Initiative” forum in Riyadh – and laughed. Not about economics, not about politics, but about people who, in his own country, take to the streets for democracy. “If my father were a king,” he said, “he probably wouldn’t have allowed those protests to happen.” The audience laughed politely. In a country where protest is a crime, it was more than a joke – it was a declaration of loyalty.

Patriotic capitalism is reshaping globalization – it places national strength and the well-being of the community on equal footing with profit. Omeed Malik and Donald Trump Jr. of 1789 Capital spoke about how purpose-driven growth can redefine the concept of prosperity.

One could politely call it “political cynicism” – or more honestly: brutal personal enrichment wrapped in patriotic rhetoric.

Trump Jr. had traveled to Saudi Arabia to speak about “growth and stability,” but the evening became a mirror of the new world order he praises: economics over freedom, authority over dissent. While the sun was setting over the desert outside, inside sat a generation of men who have learned that money can smooth out every contradiction. And Donald Trump Jr. looked perfectly at home among them. He spoke before Saudi government officials and investors, flanked by Omeed Malik, head of the fund “1789 Capital,” in which he himself invests. His father, he said, understood the Middle East better than any of his predecessors: “When my father came here, it wasn’t an apology tour. It was: How can we work together? How can we grow our economies? How do we create peace and stability?”

Eric and Donald Trump Jr. announced on July 2, 2024, that they had signed a deal to build a Trump Tower in Saudi Arabia – the same Saudi Arabia that paid Jared Kushner 2 billion dollars.

It was the old Trumpian language – a transaction disguised as vision. Peace through profit, partnership through deals. No word about Jamal Khashoggi, the Washington Post columnist who, on October 2, 2018, was murdered, dismembered, and allegedly eliminated on the orders of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul. No word about Saud al-Qahtani, the crown prince’s close adviser who coordinated the operation. No word about Salah al-Haidar or Loujain al-Hathloul, activists imprisoned and tortured for tweets and women’s rights campaigns. No word about the systematic silence that has become a state doctrine in Saudi Arabia.

Als wäre der 2. Oktober 2018 nie geschehen. Als wäre Amerika blind geblieben, obwohl der eigene Geheimdienst, die CIAAs if October 2, 2018, had never happened. As if America had remained blind, even though its own intelligence agency, the CIA, concluded in November 2018 that the crown prince had ordered the killing. Trump Jr. praised the changes he observed in the kingdom. He spoke of “modernization,” of “new dynamism,” of a Saudi Arabia “leading the world.” And as if he had forgotten which country he was standing in, he mocked the demonstrators in the United States who, with their “No Kings” signs, protest against the concentration of power in the White House. “It’s not a real movement,” he said. “It’s bought, paid for by the usual puppets and their groups.”

Then he added: “The people who are protesting – they’re the same crazy liberals from the ’60s and ’70s. Just older and fatter.” As his words echoed through the hall, the contradiction remained unspoken: a president’s son mocking democracy movements – in a country where democracy is forbidden.

The “No Kings” protests were the third major mass mobilization since Donald Trump’s return to the White House. Millions are calling for an end to emergency decrees and a government policy that increasingly bypasses parliaments. They carry signs reading “We are not subjects.” Trump Jr. smiled. For him, it was merely noise at the edge of a success story he was retelling in Riyadh. “There can be an ‘America First,’” he said, “but also a ‘Saudi First’ – and in the end, everyone benefits.”

It sounded as if he were trying to rewrite his father’s sentence. Donald Trump had already described his relationship with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during his first term as a “partnership of strength.” Now, in his second, it seems to have become an alliance of the like-minded: business friends in exchange for obedience. That his son continues this line surprises no one. While protests grow in the United States, the Trump Organization is expanding its real estate business in the Middle East. New resorts are rising in Dubai, exclusive golf courses in Doha. Flows of money that mix with family politics, power structures that no longer know any boundaries.

And where other diplomats would insist on human rights, Donald Trump Jr. talks about synergies. Where other presidential children would celebrate democracy, he mocks it. At the end of his appearance in Riyadh, the audience clapped politely. No applause out of conviction, but out of etiquette. And yet for a moment it became visible how closely power and admiration are intertwined in this new world. An American president’s son defends a kingdom that tolerates no criticism – and mocks the people in his own country who still have the courage to dissent. Perhaps that was the true meaning of his journey: to show that you no longer need to export democracy once you have already forgotten it at home.