Biden has taken a harder line on Riyadh than former president Donald Trump did. But America’s complex interests (and the world’s thirst for oil) meant his harsh campaign rhetoric was never very likely to survive. Sometimes you campaign in confrontation, only to govern in calculation.

Saudi Arabia got good news this week on at least three fronts. Two of them got wide notice:

The third development got much less attention. It happened at the White House.

That should probably deflate any lingering hopes — if any subsisted — that a reevaluation of the relationship, announced from the White House late last year, might lead to concrete changes.

Back in October, stung by a Saudi cut in oil production that risked raising gas prices close to the midterm elections, the White House announced a review of relations and Biden angrily threatened unspecified “consequences” for a decision he cast as siding with Russia. Moscow’s expanded war in Ukraine has put upward pressure on costs at the pump.

As The Daily 202 noted skeptically at the time, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said it would unfold over “weeks and months” but without a specific timetable, declined to say who was leading it, and would not describe what steps Biden was considering.

The NSC’s Kirby had denied it amounted to a “formal policy review.” 

But “the president believes that we should review the bilateral relationship with Saudi Arabia and to take a look to see if that relationship is where it needs to be and that it is serving our national security interests,” he had said.

U.S. officials point to a drop in gas prices, cooperation on the war in Yemen and getting U.S. citizens out of Sudan, Saudi aid to Ukraine, and a $37-billion deal for Boeing aircraft to argue the autumn 2022 criticism either worked or is no longer necessary.

“We will continue to advance our mutual interests and a common vision for more secure, stable, and prosperous region, interconnected with the world,” National Security Council spokesman Adam Hodge told The Daily 202.

RIP, review, if you were ever truly alive.

My colleague John Hudson is watching Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s ongoing trip to Saudi Arabia and may have more to report later today.

The much bigger deal for Saudi Arabia this week, though, was the unexpected announcement that the PGA and its Saudi-funded rival, LIV Golf, would be merging. As my colleagues Rick Maese and Matt Bonesteel noted Tuesday, this came “[a]fter months of acrimony that stretch from tee boxes to courtrooms” and ended “a bitter feud that divided the golf world and revamped the economics underpinning the sport.”

But it’s their description of the geopolitical angle that bears special notice. Sports need to be understood as profound social, political, and economic forces, not merely as a few hours of athleticism ending in a score.

The deal “establishes Saudi Arabia as a rising power across the global sports landscape. The oil-rich country and its wealth fund, reportedly worth $500 billion, have been busy investing in sports properties, signing some of the world’s biggest soccer stars, such as Cristiano Ronaldo, buying the English soccer club Newcastle United and making major investments in Formula One and women’s golf. That fund now has a coveted seat at the PGA Tour’s leadership table and becomes among the most influential stakeholders in golf.”

I mean, this lede: “What’s the going rate to turn an American executive into a boot boy for a despotic torturer such as Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman? Just how worn out are the knees of PGA Tour Commissioner Jay Monahan’s pants legs?”

Once you get past the vitriol, though, she raises some interesting points about a deal she describes as hatched in “total secrecy, inside dealing and what appears to be a rampant conflict of interest” apparently involving prospects a PGA executive stands to gain enormously from the deal.

So this could be not the beginning of the end but, perhaps, the end of the beginning.

“A divided Supreme Court on Thursday said the Alabama legislature should have created a second congressional district in which Black voters had a chance of electing a representative of their choice,” Robert Barnes reports.

“Some East Coast and Midwestern states continue to face hazardous and unhealthy air quality levels early Thursday, with residents in the Washington and Baltimore regions awakening to their worst air quality in years — noxious haze from Canada’s wildfires continuing to cross the border. President Biden ordered the deployment of all available federal firefighting assets to respond to the fires in Canada,” Niha Masih and Victoria Bisset report.

“The Rev. Pat Robertson, a Baptist preacher who attracted a worldwide following as a religious broadcaster, built a business empire from his headquarters in Virginia Beach and helped create a powerful political movement of religious conservatives as a founder of the Christian Coalition, died June 8 at his home in Virginia Beach. He was 93,” Matt Schudel reports.

“While lukewarm about the candidates, Door County residents were animated by issues closer to home — a persistent labor shortage, an affordable-housing crunch and demographic change in this community of about 30,000. Conservatives said inflation and border security have worsened under Biden, asserting that unvetted outsiders could bring drugs and violence. Liberals said the administration hasn’t done enough to create legal pathways for migrants to work in the United States, stifling opportunity and industry,” Danielle Paquette and Sabrina Rodriguez report.

“More than two years after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, the seditious conspiracy convictions of members of the far-right Proud Boys and Oath Keepers have raised new possibilities for prosecuting domestic terrorism cases. Still, the threat of political violence remains stubbornly present as the biggest cases from the Justice Department’s aggressive pursuit of rioters wind down,” Spencer S. Hsu, Hannah Allam, Tom Jackman and Rachel Weiner report.

“The New York State Legislature could by the end of this week pass groundbreaking legislation requiring child protective services agents to read people their constitutional rights, just like the police have to do,” Eli Hager reports for ProPublica.

“President Biden on Thursday unveiled several new initiatives aimed at bolstering LGBTQ+ individuals ahead of hosting what aides are billing as ‘the largest Pride celebration in White House history.’ The actions come at a time when the community’s rights are being rolled back by state legislatures and targeted by some Republican presidential candidates,” John Wagner reports.

“President Biden will welcome British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to the White House on Thursday as both leaders look to strengthen the ‘special relationship’ between their countries after a period of chaos in the British political system,” Tyler Pager and William Booth report.

“In a statement on Wednesday, the president said the resolution — which the Senate approved on a 52-46 vote Thursday under the Congressional Review Act, a week after the House passed the measure — would have kept millions of Americans from receiving ‘the essential relief they need as they recover from the economic strains associated with the COVID-19 pandemic,’” Mariana Alfaro reports.

“Tom Perez, a former secretary of labor and chair of the Democratic National Committee, will join the White House as a senior adviser and director of the Office of Intergovernmental Affairs, according to two people familiar with the move,” Tyler Pager reports.

"If there was any doubt that protecting access to abortion is fueling hopes for Democrats in Virginia’s statewide elections this year, the party’s nominating contest for a House of Delegates seat outside Charlottesville ought to make it clear," Gregory S. Schneider reports.

“In his kickoff speech, the former vice president hit Trump on several fronts, including the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol and Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss. He spoke at length on this point, advancing an argument that Trump is no longer qualified for the presidency as he explained his rationale for challenging the man he served loyally for four years,” Marianne LeVine and Ashley Parker report.

At 1:30 p.m., Biden will hold a news conference with British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in the East Room.

Biden will host a pride celebration with Betty Who at 7 p.m.

Thanks for reading. See you tomorrow.