"Eschew flamebait. Don't introduce flamewar topics unless you have something genuinely new to say. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents."
Something is wrong with HN when this is the top comment on the top story. This comment should not have been posted here and should certainly not have been upvoted.
What is reprehensible here is Trump had not even gone so far as to offer a rebuke or a wrist slap here. That's unfortunate since it tells the Saudis they can continue to get away with this in the future.
Trump basically said he didn't rebuke the Saudis for it because they were negotiating a large sale of weapons. A cold blooded murder of a journalist due to what he said is completely different than shooting down an aircraft over your airspace after signaling that you'll do so and warning them to leave.