“We are used to thinking about the U.S. as a superpower that’s able to step into problems and leverage responses favorable to its interests and its ideals pretty handily. [But in this case] we’ve so sabotaged ourselves that we’re not able to do it.”

“It can be significant for an American president to publicly criticize America’s autocratic allies and lend rhetorical support to those in the region struggling against oppression and for human rights.”