Bill Clinton’s former press secretary inks a lucrative PR deal with the Saudi prince he once called a ‘ruthless killer’

I’d accuse Joe Lockhart of selling his soul, but is that an attribute Democrats even have?

Yesterday, Chuck Ross at The Washington Free Beacon reported that Lockhart, Bill Clinton’s former press secretary, is growing his résumé—earlier this week, Lockhart registered as a foreign agent, one who now represents the interests of MBS Public Investment Fund. In case you were wondering, “MBS” stands for Mohammed bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, and a man that Lockhart has previously referred to as a “one of the most ruthless killers in the world.”

From the Beacon item:

Lockhart, a managing director of the public relations firm Rational 360, registered with the Department of Justice as a foreign agent of the Public Investment Fund, an $800 billion investment fund controlled by bin Salman, known as MBS. Lockhart, who touts his ability to ‘control a narrative’ on behalf of Rational 360 clients, will provide ‘public relations and communications support’ for the Public Investment Fund, and engage with Congress and the executive branch, according to his disclosure.

This is industrial scale hypocrisy, on at least three distinct levels.

First, the obvious: Lockhart apparently thinks bin Salman is downright evil, but for a high enough price, he’ll turn around and run the meanest and most tenacious public relations campaign to defend this same man’s name and reputation? Excuse me? I don’t have a strong opinion on bin Salman either way, because I don’t know enough to form one, but there are people of whom I do hold this view, and there’s not enough money in the world that would ever get me to defend their character.

Secondly, Lockhart routinely accused President Trump and those in his administration of “cashing in” on Saudi relations; again from the report:

The turn could open Lockhart up to charges of hypocrisy. A former CNN pundit and NFL spokesman, Lockhart roasted former president Donald Trump during his presidency for, among other things, his close ties to MBS and the Saudi government. He accused Trump, his daughter Ivanka Trump, and son-in-law Jared Kushner of trying to cash in on Saudi relations.

Lockhart claimed in 2020 that Kushner ‘covered up’ for MBS after the Saudi leader ordered the assassination of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. In 2019, Lockhart called MBS one of ‘the most ruthless killers in the world,’ alongside Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un, because of his role in Khashoggi’s death.

(Now I don’t trust Kushner, so for all I know the attacks may be valid, but that’s beside the point.)

And thirdly, one of the left’s most embraced philosophies is anti-capitalism, which goes hand-in-hand with anti-materialism: from “greedy corporations” to the “you’ll own nothing and be happy” slogan of the World Economic Forum, and from “nobody needs a billion dollars” to documenting their “thrift” finds with $1,200 iPhones and using social media to share, these people love to virtue-signal their ostensible depth. In reality, though, they’re shallow and hopelessly hypocritical.

And these are the people claiming the moral high ground?

Image: CC0, via Wikimedia Commons.

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