Behind the Bastards

Part Four: Prince Mohammed Bin Salman: The Tyrant of Saudi Arabia

Host: Brett (with guest Dave Bell) | Release Date: January 29, 2026

Episode Overview

This episode continues the deep dive into the rise, methods, and atrocities of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman (MBS). Brett and Dave discuss MBS’s brutal consolidation of power, social “reforms” paired with ruthless repression, the humanitarian catastrophe in Yemen, the crackdown on dissidents—including the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi—and the fantasy of utopian megaprojects like NEOM. The conversation sheds light on how MBS simultaneously projects himself as a reformer while ruling via fear, economic leverage, and violence.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The MBS Paradox: Energetic Reformer or Ruthless Tyrant?

• [05:43] Brett: MBS stands out in Saudi royalty for having energy, drive, and a lack of complacency.

  “Perhaps the key defining characteristic of Mohammed bin Salman that most explains his success within the closed world of the Saudi royal family is simply the fact that he's got energy and he wants to do things. I cannot overemphasize how lazy most of these guys are.”

• MBS is compared to a “nepo baby” who’s not afraid to get his hands dirty to achieve power.

2. Confronting the Religious Police: Real Reforms with Cynical Motives

• [06:59–14:00]
  • MBS strikes against the mutawa (religious police—or “fun police”) who had previously been untouchable, ending their power to harass and detain citizens.
  • The crackdown is popular, especially with Saudi youth frustrated by decades of oppression, but also serves as a method to centralize control.
  • Notable Quote [13:56], MBS (reported speech):

    “I am young. I don't want 70% of the Saudi population to waste their lives trying to get rid of this. We want to do it now.”

  • Brett frames it as a “broken clock situation”—MBS is a tyrant, but even he gets some things right.

3. Yemen: Catastrophe by Deliberate Policy

• [15:36–18:21]
  • Saudi intervention in Yemen (led by MBS) is described as a humanitarian disaster and possibly genocide.
  • Saudi government uses starvation as a weapon:
    • [16:13] Quote from Saudi diplomat (reported by Martha Mundi):

      “Once we control them, we will feed them.”

    • UN and independent groups confirm deliberate targeting of food supplies and civilian infrastructure.
  • [69:02–69:40]: Yemen war statistics:
    • 12,000+ civilians killed directly, mass starvation, cholera.
    • Over 233,000 civilian deaths.

4. Economic Crisis: The Illusion of Reform

• [18:21–24:17]
  • Oil price collapse; massive budget shortfall.
  • MBS tries austerity—cuts government salaries and subsidies drastically, triggering public outrage and eventually a “takesies backsies” reversal.
  • Memorable Analogy [23:24]:

    “If we were on a lifeboat...I'm gonna shoot you because I want all the food...then you realize there's no bullets: ‘Sorry, nevermind.’”

5. Family Purge and Game-of-Thrones Tactics

• [28:31–33:24]
  • MBS ousts rival Crown Prince Mohammed bin Nayef (“MBN”) via a palace coup: summons, isolation from guards and medication, pressured resignation.
  • Turki Al Alshik, the prince’s “hatchet man,” later runs the General Entertainment Authority and high-profile events like the Riyadh Comedy Festival.
    • [29:47]: “He’s not only in charge of entertainment...he’s been Salman’s hatchet man...He has a whole prison named after him.”
  • Comedians like Dave Chappelle and Louis CK perform at these festivals, raising questions about artists working for repressive regimes.

6. Corruption Crackdown or Power Play? Ritz Carlton Arrests

• [45:12–48:12]
  • MBS detains hundreds of royals/tycoons in the Riyadh Ritz Carlton, demanding they sign over assets in return for release—using torture, psychological abuse.
  • [48:04] Notable quote (NBC report):

    “This was a shakedown operation and a power consolidation operation... The Ritz detentions were designed to remind people going forward that their wealth and their well being would depend on the Crown Prince and not on anything else...”

7. NEOM: The 'Davos of the Desert' and Utopian Delusions

• [34:16–44:01]
  • MBS unveils NEOM—an insane $500 billion city as a giant wall, filled with robots and business-designed laws.
  • Brett & Dave lampoon the project as “dystopian cyberpunk,” likening it to failed libertarian city/big tech fantasies and Disney’s original Epcot dream before he bailed and built a theme park instead.
  • [36:20] Actual promo video described: “For too long, humanity has existed within dysfunctional and polluted cities... The Line will be home to 9 million residents...”
  • Reality: Costs spiraling, fundamentals unaddressed; project seen as doomed.

8. Jam-Packed Repression: Dissidents, Activists, and the Khashoggi Murder

• [54:03–67:53]
  • MBS continues to arrest anyone who challenges him, including progressives and those advocating for reforms he’ll later claim as his own achievements.
    • Salman Al Awda: Cleric evolving from fundamentalist to reformer, imprisoned, held solitary since 2017.
    • Women’s Rights: Dozens of activists jailed and tortured for advocating women’s right to drive—right as MBS basks in international praise for ending the driving ban.
    • Lujain al-Hathloul waterboarded, tortured; interrogators threaten sexual violence.
  • [56:00–56:21]
    • Jamal Khashoggi, influential journalist, originally backs MBS reforms until turning critical, flees Saudi for safety but is assassinated in Istanbul by a Saudi death squad.
    • Saudi agents trained in the U.S.—ties to private security contractors.
    • [67:42] Brett:

      “You don't bring a coroner along if you think you're gonna get this guy out of the building alive.”

9. Hypocrisy, U.S. Support, and the Limits of Reform

• [67:55–69:48]
  • Even in the face of Khashoggi’s murder, U.S. administrations debate whether to blame MBS, with Trump siding with the prince over his own CIA.
  • Brett and Dave highlight the global hypocrisy of media and business figures cozying up to MBS for money, ignoring atrocities.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• Brett [07:59]:

  “These are the literal fun police. Right. And the men in his father's generation and MBN's generation would not fuck with these guys.”

• Dave Bell [14:14]

  “It's a broken clock situation.”

• Saudi official (read by Brett) [16:13]:

  “Once we control them, we will feed them.”

• Brett [13:56] (on MBS’s youth-driven reforms):

  “I don't want 70% of the Saudi population to waste their lives trying to get rid of this. We want to do it now.”

• Brett [27:34] (on “Free Ecstasy Town”):

  “My first move, I'm changing the country's name...from Saudi Arabia to Free Ecstasy Town...someone will provide the ecstasy. That’s not my job.”

• Dave Bell [37:01] (after NEOM promo):

  “So I love that they're like, too long have cities not been wall-based...not been big walls.”

• Brett [61:52]

  “He would do the minimum necessary, but he would also brutally punish anyone who made the mistake of embracing change before he did.”

Major Timestamps

| Timestamp | Segment / Topic | |:--------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 05:43 | Brett on what sets MBS apart in the royal family | | 06:59 | MBS moves against the religious police, popular among youth | | 14:14 | Recognition of MBS’s reforms as a ‘broken clock’ moment | | 15:36 | Yemen war: blockade, starvation policy, deliberate bombing of farms | | 18:21–24:17 | Austerity: universal income cuts, public outrage, and political reversal | | 28:31 | MBS’s coup against Mohammed bin Nayef; palace intrigue | | 29:47 | Turki Al Alshik’s dual role: torturer and “entertainment czar” | | 34:16-44:01 | NEOM and the folly of Saudi megaprojects | | 45:12-48:12 | The great Saudi “anti-corruption” shakedown at the Ritz Carlton | | 54:03–67:53 | Repression and murder of dissidents, Khashoggi assassination, imported mercenary training | | 61:52 | On MBS’s performative minimalism and vengeful crackdown on genuine reformers | | 67:55–69:48 | U.S. complicity, international hypocrisy, Yemen death toll |

Tone & Style

• Brett and Dave keep their signature irreverent, darkly comedic style, layering heavy history and atrocity with moments of absurdist humor and pop culture asides (“Free Ecstasy Town”, cats as cops, Star Trek fantasy sequences).
• While the laughter often serves as catharsis, the episode never loses sight of MBS’s brutality, the suffering of Saudi and Yemeni people, and the hypocrisy that enables it.
• Frequent sidebar jokes about American parallels, “libertarian boat cities”, and dystopian branding highlight both the universality and peculiarity of modern tyranny.

Conclusion

The episode ends underscoring the hollowness and violence beneath MBS’s carefully crafted image as a ‘reformer’: the brutal crushing of dissent, performative progressivism, and an economy built on oil and shakedowns, not innovation. Brett and Dave close with an exhausted refusal to buy into the NEOM/Wall City hype, and a final plug for Dave’s own podcasts, all wrapped in their “broken world, gallows humor” signature.

For Listeners New to the Series

This episode is essential listening for understanding the real mechanics of authoritarian consolidation and the finely tuned PR machine that allows powerful states (and their business partners) to whitewash atrocity in real time. Brett and Dave deliver both the big picture and the unsettling details in equal measure.