Saudi Arabia is no friend to the United States

Friend? No.
A country with a lot of shared interests? Absolutely.
When we turn our back on them, they will find new allies. Their potential suitors range from our enemies to our rivals. Not good.

Marriage of Convience.

This is something that took me a long time to understand, and I've been dealing with it for YEARS.

I'm going to use a metaphor first to highlight it.

"Who does your Real Estate Agent work for?" You (the Buyer), the Seller, or themselves?

Once you understand that question, you start to get the handle on geopolitical interactions.

A real estate agent ALWAYS is working for themselves. You & the seller are involved in the transaction, but the agent doesn't work for either of you. They just want to close the deal, and they want to close the deal for as much as they can. Their relationship with both of you is a means to an end. Tracking?

Saudi Arabia, is much the same way. They work for themselves. Our relationship with them is a means to an ends. They maintain it, because it is advantageous to them. Nothing more, nothing less. We maintain ours with them for the exact same reason.

"If" either side stopped having a benefit the other needed, phone calls would stopped being answered.

We are not really friends. We're not really enemies. We're two nations who have something the other side wants, and we maintain a courteous relationship to our own benefits. That's all. We're business partners who really don't like each other, who would screw each other over in a heart beat, however we can't because we need each other next week for the next deal.

I hope that makes sense.