Ally?

They stuck it to us with their oil embargo in 1973. They thumbed their noses at President George W. Bush in 2008 when he appealed to them to bring down prices. They brazenly pumped up oil production in 2015 to make prices fall, keep market share and undermine U.S. shale-oil development.

Our good buddy?

There is nothing to suggest that to Saudi Arabia the United States is anything more than a good international customer and useful bodyguard against aggression by its archrival, Iran.

Yes, the United States is now an oil exporter. But Saudi Arabia is still second only to Canada as a top source of petroleum products to the United States. We imported $18 billion in fuels from the kingdom last year. In all, the United States imported $18.9 billion in Saudi goods, up 11.6 percent from 2016 when President Trump was elected. To Saudi Arabia, America is the soul-stirring sound of ka-ching.