Spencer Ackerman reports on the weird Saudi propaganda being sent out to grocery stores all over the country by the publishers of the The National Enquirer:

The New Kingdom doesn’t feature any salacious gossip about MBS, but its coverage is just as breathless. “Our Closest Middle East Ally Destroying Terrorism,” the cover coos, sidestepping decades of Saudi Arabian financial support for terrorist groups and ideologues. It Disneyfies Saudi Arabia as “the Magic Kingdom.” It’s easily the most uncritical encomium to MBS since Thomas Friedman.

The publisher claims that it received no outside support or direction to produce this rag, but that is laughable. No publisher is going to produce a glossy magazine extolling the virtues of Saudi despotism on its own and then release it just in time to coincide with the American tour of the heir to the throne. It must have been coordinated with lobbying organizations working on behalf of the Saudis or in concert with hawkish organizations that want a closer U.S.-Saudi relationship or some combination of the two. It is fitting that the same people that produce checkout line tabloids are putting out pro-Saudi propaganda. The contents of both are equally credible and have just as much connection to reality.