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“Stuff occurs.” A mere phrase. That’s all it took for Donald Trump to effectively dismiss what is arguably the most infamous journalist killing of the last decade – and in so doing sank to a fresh depth in his disregard toward the press, for journalism – and for the facts.

The Context

The US president’s dismissive attitude of the murder of well-known reporter Jamal Khashoggi came during a media briefing with the Saudi crown prince, MBS – a man whom the US intelligence found in a recent assessment had ordered the kidnap and killing of the journalist in that year. (Prince Mohammed has rejected accusations.)

The American spy agencies were not the sole entities to determine the murder – which occurred in the Saudi diplomatic building in Turkey and in which the late Khashoggi was drugged and dismembered – was approved at the top echelons. An investigation led by then UN special rapporteur, the UN investigator, reached comparable findings.

Global Reactions

For a brief period, nations were unified in their criticism of Saudi Arabia’s actions. The US enacted sanctions and travel restrictions in that year over the killing, although it refrained of penalizing the crown prince himself. Since then, the kingdom has been slowly rehabilitating itself – and the leader’s trip to the US capital seemed to be the ultimate sign of that redemption.

Presidential Comments

Opponents of the government had strongly criticized the visit. But what was evident at the presidential residence was more alarming than could have been imagined. Not only did the president honor the Saudi leader but he effectively rewrote the facts – and then blamed the deceased. The crown prince, Trump asserted when asked, knew nothing about the killing – in clear opposition to what his nation’s spy agencies concluded four years ago. Moreover, the president said: “Many individuals didn’t like that person that you’re talking about, whether you like him or didn’t like him, things happen.”

Established Conduct

This marks a fresh and shameful point for a president who has made little secret of his contempt for the facts – or for the media. He has smeared journalists (he called ABC news, whose reporter asked the inquiry about the journalist at the Saudi press conference “false information”), berated them in open settings (he called one a “piggy” this week for asking about his connection with the disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein), taken legal action against news outlets for large amounts of money in vexatious law suits, and called for news outlets he disapproves of to be shut down.

He has forced established media out of the official briefing group for declining to use language of his choosing, and he has gutted financial support for essential public media at home and vital independent media internationally.

Broader Implications

All of that has fostered an environment in which reporters are manifestly less safe in the United States, but one in which their victimization – and indeed murder – becomes not just unimportant (“things happen”) but acceptable (“many individuals didn’t like that person”).

It is no surprise that that year was the most lethal year on record for journalists in the more than 30 years the press freedom organization has been documenting this information: a persistent failure to hold those accountable for journalist killings has created a culture of impunity in which those who murder reporters are actually able to get away with murder and so persist in these actions.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the Middle Eastern nation, which is responsible for the deaths of over two hundred media workers in the past two years.

Societal Impact

The effect on society is deep. Targeting reporters are attacks on the truth. They are attacks on facts. They are violations of our entitlement to information and on our freedom to live freely and securely.

On Thursday, CPJ meets for its annual International Press Freedom awards. The statement there is the same as my message for Trump: such events may happen. But it is our responsibility to make sure they cease.