David Bell

Too much ecstasy.

By mid-2017, the king's son was in a very mixed position politically.

He'd earned accolades as a reformer for his hobbling of the religious police and his seeming support for some social liberalization.

But he was also the author of an unpopular austerity policy.

The king and his son faced increasing resistance, both from the populace and within their own family.

M.B.N., who'd made no secret of his critiques of MBS's policies, was an obvious rallying point for resistance.

And so on June 21, 2017, Mohammed bin Salman acted to take him down.

Karen House writes...

That fateful evening of June 21, 2017, Mbien was called to a palace in Mecca.

Once there, his guards were forbidden to accompany him inside.

All phones were surrendered to palace guards.

Mbien was taken to a room where Turki al-Ashiq, a contemporary and friend of MBS and now minister of the General Entertainment Authority, and others began bullying him to resign.

Denied contact with his men and the painkillers to which he was said to be addicted, he finally succumbed early the next morning after Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the governor of Mecca, urged him to obey the king.

So that's how he gets rid of his cousin, yeah.

Wow.

Sheesh.

That's abrupt.

Yeah.

Yeah, it was.

It was super abrupt.