The guy was a Muslim Brotherhood apologist, so he was a ‘player’ in that country. He knew the risks and that things may not end well for him.
What the Saudis didn’t understand was how things work with the US media. The Saudis, given how things have been going back to Jimmy Carter, figured that they would be allowed to ‘take care of business’ without it being a big deal to the Western world, since we all need(ed) their oil.
But with Trump in power, things are different, and if it achieves political points to make a big deal over a typical, run-of-the-mill, assassination, so be it...so they now have to deal with this new reality - at least until a US president is elected who has the support of the US media.
I can’t recall if there was this much media rancor when Daniel Pearl was executed for the whole world to see. Did anyone bother to complain like this for him?