I think it’s incontrovertible that MBS, ironically, comported himself far better than Trump in the face of critical Qs from American reporters in that Oval Office presser.

How sad that was to see. Far from modelling press freedom there, Trump modelled silencing of the press.

How stomach-churning it was to see an American journalist treated worse by Trump than by Saudi’s MBS, a man who actually gave orders to murder a columnist affiliated w/ US media, right in the Oval Office.

Mary Bruce displayed calm bearing & bravery. Press freedom is essential.

The lowest moment:

ABC’s Bruce asked a second Q: why won’t Trump release the Epstein files?

“I think you’re a terrible reporter,” Trump retorted. “You ask a man who’s hughly respected [Saudi’s MBS] an insubordinate & terrible Q. You’re a terrible person & a terrible reporter… No more Qs from you.”

“Israel’s aware, and they’re gonna be very happy,” Trump claimed, about Saudi getting F-35s.

“This is really a great ally.”

Saudi, Trump said, has actually strengthened US national security by investing in the US to create jobs. “That creates a lot of power for the United States.”

Live in the Oval Office just now, Trump was extremely defensive of MBS, attempting to shield him from uncomfortable questions.

He even said this:

If Yahya Sinwar was practicing strategic, as opposed to merely expressive, terrorism, one imagines it was to achieve something rather like this:

Israel plunging into the terrorism trap & falling on the weight of its own spear in the court of US public opinion.

It’s an incredible position for both US parties to be in.

And it’s an alarming turning point for many supporters of Israel to see, as US support becomes not just hotly debated, but the sharpest wedge driving a rift amongst Democrats & MAGA alike.

This was all so avoidable.

Read more on Tunisia’s ever-worsening abuses in this month’s @hrw.org & @amnesty.org updates, which I screenshot above in this 🧵.

Thanks to their teams including @khawaja.bsky.social. And to you all for reading & sharing this.

1) www.hrw.org/news/2025/11...

2) www.amnestyusa.org/press-releas...

This is all unconscionable—& a far bleaker world than any of us who lived in Tunisia during its democratic decade (2011-21) thought possible.

My heartfelt appreciation to @listentotimesradio.bsky.social, & to all journalists, producers, editors, readers & listeners who make time for Tunisia 🇹🇳

I’ve interviewed most of Tunisia’s political prisoners, in some cases multiple times over the course of years.

I’ve heard in excruciating detail the stories of torture that older ones in Ennahda for example suffered pre-2011.

They & younger democrats are being abused yet again.

It’s also dangerous & extraordinarily brave, given that Tunisia’s paranoid dictator obsessively abuses peeps of dissent—and how deathly afraid he is of cross-ideological solidarity.

In the absence of overpoweringly huge protests, the brave souls who push back like this face continued repression.

Tunisia’s dyed-in-the-wool democrats, like Dalila Msaddek, are also showing up to protest the unjust sentencing of political prisoners like Abir Moussi.

Moussi, pictured below, supported the pre-2011 dictatorship of Ben Ali & helped make Saied’s 2021 coup possible.

Such solidarity is just & wise.

We are seeing amazing acts of solidarity between Tunisia’s pro-democracy political prisoners.

Leaders from across the ideological spectrum, like Issam Chebbi, Ridha Belhaj, Jelassi, Ghannouchi, etc. have been hunger striking in solidarity w/ Jawhar & against these insane sentences.

Jawhar’s lawyer Dalila Msaddek is being tried now by Saied’s regime for having given a *radio interview*—two years ago!—on behalf of her clients.

Saied jailed Jawhar Ben Mbarek & dozens more political leaders (the entire opposition, essentially) in 2023.

Their only crime is democracy.

The leader of a cross-ideological democracy coalition that opposes Saied’s dictatorship, Jawhar Ben Mbarek, was beaten by 5 prison guards this week.

Why?

Because he started a hunger strike on Oct. 29 after being sentenced, from jail where he’s already been for 2 yrs, to 18 more years in prison.

As we speak, political prisoners & their lawyers are being “tried” & convicted in 🇹🇳 without even stepping foot into the kangaroo courts destroying their lives.

Defendants’ lawyers are being prosecuted if they have the temerity to speak to press about their defendants’ cases.

And we discussed the “absolute joke,” as I said rather bluntly, that the African Union has been. It’s not only failed to check or even spotlight Saied’s abuses—it couldn’t even muster the courage to call his 2021 coup a coup.

Not that Western powers like the US did much better.

We also discussed the EU’s complicity in his regime’s gravest human rights abuses—those against Black migrants.

Tunisian security forces have raped & even sold Black migrants. In June 2024 Tunisia ended all paths to amnesty.

But the EU prioritises stopping migrants over all else. At any price.