Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MbS)
Prince Mohammmed is aggressive, arrogant, cruel, confrontational, violent and reckless. Something like this was inevitable; he was constantly testing the limits of his power. He is a tyrant working under a pretense of reform. And he does not conform to the archetype of the House of Saud. They want their Kings to be seen as Benevolent, Devout, Tribal God Fathers. Men of the Tent and the Desert like Saud, Faisal, Abdullah. Not of a French Chateaux, $500 million dollar yacht and, $450 million dollar Leonardo da Vinci portrait of Jesus. This is an affront to the Royal Family's desire for restraint, subtlety, dignity. A reckoning is brewing.
Jared Kushner
There is one name behind the Trump Administration's close alliance with MbS and his reluctance to move decisively against him. That is Jared Kushner who deems himself a 'friend' of the Prince. He has been an asymetrical force in the Whitehouse whose primary policy direction are those of economic nationalism, restoration of borders and, reining in the Global activism of the U.S.
He comes from a (rich) family of high profile NYC Zionist activists. They are very much aligned with Netanyahu's vision of a Greater Jewish Israel that encompasses East Jerusalem and the West Bank. And it is Netanyahu's faction that has deemed Iran as the greatest threat to this vision. (Sunni) Saudi Arabia and MbS are seen as the greatest counter balance to (Shia) Iran in the Islamic Middle East.
Kushner comes from these deep Zionist roots and is in temperament a Liberal Democratic Globalist. He has insinuated himself in the Nationalist, Populist, Conservative, sensibilities of Trump movement as a powerful crosswind to its natural course.
Kushner has been integral to:
The movement of the American Embassy to Jerusalem;
The nullification of the Iran Agreement to prevent its nuclearization;
The arming of the Saudis to prosecute a war with Iran aligned Yemen;
The MCA-FTA (a debacle and sellout of Canada);
The direction of Michael Flynn to meet with the Russian Ambassador to lobby for a UN Vote favourable to Israel before Trump's inauguration, which led directly to his indictment for lying to the FBI.
.. and much else..
A lot of creepy thing happen around Kushner but Trump has a blind spot of that because of his daughter Ivanka. Jared is not part of the program. He is actively working against Trump's interests and the President will have to move him out of the role as Chief Advisor on foreign affairs if he is not to see his Foreign Policy ship founder.
AND Trump has no option now but to move forcefully against the Prince.