nd itself replacing the space reserved for political transparency. Trump decisively backed Mohammed bin Salman and told the world that “rogue killers” were responsible for the murder of Khashoggi despite the CIA later stating that M.B.S was wholly complicit in the most intricate details of the affair (Gall; Harris). This did not please Erdogan; in response, he released in depth descriptions of the tapes in a mounting act of pressure on the two countries. Amanda Sloat of the Brookings Institution says, “Initially, it seemed Turkey was seeking a bargain with or financial support from Saudi Arabia, but it increasingly appears that Turkey is seeking to inflict maximum damage on M.B.S.” (Gall). While this may be the case, the United States will not be turning their back on the Saudis any time soon. Saudi Arabia stands far higher than any of the other struggling OPEC members as it is the world’s largest oil producer, net exporter, and the only OPEC nation with a set plan to rebound its economy from Dutch Disease: Vision 2030. With the recent sanctions being re-imposed on Iran due to the collapse of the Iran Nuclear Deal, Donald Trump wants to maintain key Saudi financial, oil, and arms backers with respect to national interest. Let’s face it, arming Saudi Arabia in the Yemeni Civil War as well as steering clear of implementing repercussions over the death of Khashoggi, while tragic, was the price America had to pay in order to maintain the steady arms related cash flow and keep oil prices low. This graph, created on November 23rd, 2018, demonstrates how the precipitous drop in oil also has a correlation to the murder and dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate on October 2nd, 2018 (Blokland). Previously, oil was at a 2018 all-time high trading at a peak of $76 a barrel in early October. On exactly October 2nd, oil prices began to plummet, resulting in US crude oil trading at $51 a barrel. Since changes in production affect the price of oil on a medium and long term basis (as there is not enough time to get the oil into the system), what we see is trader volatility. Production changes can’t affect the price of oil that quickly, so when there are more sellers than buyers in a specific market, that stock’s price will drop, revealing that this massive selling of oil futures by energy traders is related to the perception of Middle East instability. In their 2018 break-even oil budget, Saudi Arabia has one barrel placed at $74.4 USD (Khan). Therefore, some would claim that the drop to $52.2 USD per barrel would be detriment>