To answer this, we have to look a little further back. Back to around 2010.

It all goes back to fracking. You see, the Kindom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) has always relied heavily on its vast petrol reserves for wealth and prosperity. And they were ruthless. OPEC. The cartel of gasoline. You can't count the number of times throughout history that OPEC used its power to crush governments, manipulate prices, control supplies, and fund activities. If there ever was a international group of bullies, OPEC was it. And at the head of this organization was the mighty KSA.

Then came the fracking boom. Suddenly, the world was no longer at the mercy of OPEC. This made them nervous. So, they did what they always do. They pumped out more petroleum, driving the price of gas to lowest in decades. What was their objective? To bankrupt these fracking businesses. KSA is rich. Very rich. They figured, we'll just drive gas prices unbelievably low and take the loss until all these fracking business startups crumble. Do you remember how cheap gas got between 2013-2016? It was ridiculous, wasn't it? But what they didn't count on was just how cheap fracking had become. So many of these business didn't go bankrupt. So they took another step. To convince the world that fracking was bad for the environment. So they lobbied and supplied funds to the Democratic party. Why? Because the leftist are usually the ones who support ANY and ALL environmental regulations. Do you remember all the legal battles that fracking had to go through? It's still illegal in most blue states. Do you now understand why the Saudis donated so much money to the Clinton campaign? She was HEAVILY favored to win and if she did, you can bet your last dollar that banning fracking would have been on the top of her list, returning us to dependence on Arab oil. But... this didn't work either. Fracking continued. And then, reality hit them hard.

You see, KSA had vastly underestimated the amount of total shale reserves in North America. They had no idea that so much of this stuff exists. They thought maybe they could ride it out if the reserves would dry up in a decade or so. But nope. We have enough shale to supply us for at least 50 years. Hmmm... big problem.

So, if you're King Salman, what do you do? Well, there's only one thing you can do. Give up the reliance on oil production and try to use existing wealth to stay wealthy. To modernize its trade to include more than just exports of oil. They would need to build an entire industrial country from scratch. To do that, he needed the help of the USA. And that's where President Trump comes in.

You see, the May 2017 meeting between Trump and King Salman (and his son Mohammad), was not just another meeting. It was a business meeting. King Salman asked Trump for help. Trump was more than willing to give it (like listing the oil companies on the NYSE) but his help would come with a price. Liberalization and the stop of illegal funding. No more contributions to American politics. No more supplying funds to terrorists or splinter groups. King Salman took the deal. All of a sudden, women were allowed to drive. ISIS was retreating. Syrian rebels suddenly ran out of ammunition. Yay. All good up to this point.

Now comes the bad

---