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Trumps Publisher Pal Puts Saudi Propaganda Magazine in U.S. Supermarkets
The owners of the National Enquirer have a slick, ad-free magazine on U.S. newsstands praising crown prince Mohammed bin Salman—and insist they had no outside help for it.
SPENCER ACKERMAN
03.26.18 5:13 PM ET
A nearly 100-page magazine published by Donald Trump’s allies at American Media Inc. is providing a different kind of celebrity gossip than the American supermarket shopper is used to seeing. It’s selling America on a fellow Trump ally, Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
MBS, as the millennial victor of last year’s Saudi palace power struggle is known, is currently on an overseas tour to cement his legitimacy. Its current stop is the United States, where MBS met last week with Trump ahead of checking the young-king-in-waiting PR boxes of Silicon Valley and Hollywood.
Greeting MBS on newsstands is a high-quality glossy advertisement for MBS, The New Kingdom. It retails for $13.99, has no ads and its 200,000 copies can be found in venues ranging from U.S. airports to WalMart, Safeway and Kroger’s — raising questions about the magazine’s financing and its origins. The Saudis say they don’t know how it came to be. AMI, which publishes The National Enquirer, insists it had no outside editorial or financial assistance, from the Trump administration or otherwise.
The New Kingdom doesn’t feature any salacious gossip about MBS, but its coverage is just as breathless. “Our Closest Middle East Ally Destroying Terrorism,” the cover coos, sidestepping decades of Saudi Arabian financial support for terrorist groups and ideologues. It Disneyfies Saudi Arabia as “the Magic Kingdom.” It’s easily the most uncritical encomium to MBS since Thomas Friedman.
More:
https://www.thedailybeast.com/trumps-publisher-pal-puts-saudi-propaganda-magazine-in-us-supermarkets.html
2 replies
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Reading 100 pages on a Saudi prince? 
Not to mention a large number of the homes in the urban suburbs where people have the money no longer have reading lamps. Well, purchasing and actually, you know, reading the thing might strain mere party loyalty way too far, but some'll be up for a Hannity summary.
