Tamara Cofman Wittes served as deputy assistant secretary of state for Near Eastern affairs during the Obama administration, and is writing a book about America’s complicated relationship with its autocratic allies. She told me that because the Saudi monarchy has developed a close relationship with the Trump family, “they don’t think that they need to give as much weight to anything else that comes out of Washington or that comes out of the United States.”

Besides, Trump has made it clear that the United States will no longer even pretend to stand up for liberal values globally. The administration “basically tells all of these governments: ‘Don’t worry. It’s O.K. Do what you need to do,’” said Margon, of Human Rights Watch. Around the world, restraints on brutal behavior are loosening. In just the last couple of days, the head of Interpol has been detained in China, and the Bulgarian journalist Viktoria Marinova, whose television show featured investigations into powerful businessmen and politicians, was found raped and murdered.

“Those who most need the protections of international human rights law — dissidents, journalists, civil society actors — these vulnerable people are used to operating in the knowledge that big governments out there in the world care,” said Wittes. “They don’t have that now.”

On Tuesday, Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont will give a speech on what he describes as a “new authoritarian axis” developing worldwide, a phenomenon that gave rise to Trump, and that Trump accelerates. When I spoke to Sanders on Monday, he compared the possible killing of Khashoggi to Russia’s assassinations of defectors in England. “We think this would not be happening if not for the support of Trump and Kushner for the despotic government of Saudi Arabia,” Sanders said.

Earlier this year, Sanders teamed up with the arch-conservative Senator Mike Lee, Republican of Utah, to introduce a resolution ending American support for Saudi Arabia’s war in Yemen. It failed, 55-44, with most Republicans voting against it. In the wake of Khashoggi’s disappearance, Sanders plans to reintroduce it. It could pass if there’s anything left of the Republican Party that once purported to stand up for democratic values. I wouldn’t count on it.