In the first half of the latest edition of The McCarthy Report (our National Review podcast), Rich and I place the murder of Jamal Khashoggi in the factual context that you must have if you want to understand it. That means, contrary to the mainstream media’s Islamo-philic commentary, Khashoggi’s Islamist background and ties to the Muslim Brotherhood are important. The point is not to rationalize Khashoggi’s killing — the murder is yet another Saudi atrocity, atop countless others.

The point is to explain why the Saudis would target Khashoggi under circumstances where that noxious regime (a) routinely persecutes Saudi nationals who criticize the regime, and (b) turned with a vengeance on its former confederate, the Muslim Brotherhood, during the so-called Arab Spring. There is, moreover, the fact that they chose to carry out the murder in Turkey — an Islamist regime the Saudis have long regarded as a rival and, in current times, despise over Erdogan’s (1) support for the Muslim Brotherhood and (2) collaboration with Iran, the Saudis’ bitter Shiite antagonists.

Rich and I also discuss this controversy in the context of intramural GOP politics: The neoconservative foreign-policy wing led by Senator Lindsey Graham, which pushes for more American involvement (even if that means canoodling with the “moderate” Muslim Brotherhood), and President Trump’s so-called principled realism, which calls for less American involvement (good) while ostensibly embracing the Saudi regime (not good).

We hope you’ll tune in . . . and, even more, that you’ll find the analysis worthwhile.