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I was promised a recession.

Let us savor the impending downfall of lawless scoundrels who richly deserve the trouble barreling their way.

How any woman could possibly vote for this smug smarmy piece of misogynistic crap is beyond understanding.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

Tide comes in. Tide goes out. You can’t explain that.

Days Since JD Vance Insulted Women Across America: Zero

Proof that we need a blogger ethics panel.

Optimism opens the door to great things.

Dead end MAGA boomers crying about Talyor Swift being a Dem is my kind of music. Turn it up.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

People are weird.

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When do the post office & the dmv weigh in on the wuhan virus?

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You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Comic Relief Open Thread: The NYTimes Would Like You to Know That Jared Kushner Had Nothing to Do With Anything That Might’ve Happened On January 6th

Comic Relief Open Thread: The NYTimes Would Like You to Know That Jared Kushner Had Nothing to Do With Anything That Might’ve Happened On January 6th

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The ever-readable Bess Levin, Tuesday night:

… One way the [Jan. 6] committee is apparently hoping to get viewers to tune in? By casting Princess Purses and the Boy Prince of New Jersey, AKA Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, in starring roles…

While there’s little reason to believe Ivanka or Jared would have given the committee the kind of evidence that, for example, would lead to her father going to prison, it seems notable that the couple didn’t completely stonewall the investigative body, as Trumps tend to do. Incidentally, the duo also famously had a habit, working in the administration, of literally fleeing the scene any time there was blowback over Trump doing something particularly terrible, even for him, in the patently obvious hope people would forget they had anything to do with the guy. So it doesn’t seem beyond the realm of possibility that they’d tell the committee something that might hurt Trump if it made the two of them look better…

The ever-dependable NYTimes, Wednesday morning:

Poor kid wasn’t even in the same state when the Unpleasantness happens! How can you possibly blame him when dozens of other people might’ve been immediate witnesses?

Bess Levin, Wednesday afternoon, “Jared Kushner Would Like People to Know He Totally Almost Saved the Country on January 6“:

One of the long recurring features of the Trump administration was Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s habit of literally fleeing the scene any time Donald Trump did something extra bad, in the completely conspicuous hope of convincing people they had nothing whatever to do with what had just gone down. Obviously, it never worked, but that didn‘t stop the duo, who once—and maybe still!—thought Ivanka would be the first woman president, from trying. And 17 months after departing the White House, they apparently still think they can rewrite history to—[pause for laughter]—paint themselves as heroes.

We know this thanks to a long article in The New York Times today—published just one day before the first prime-time January 6 hearing, which will no doubt make the ex-president and his allies look even worse than they already do…

Did Kushner or Ivanka ever once publicly declare that Trump had lost? Did they go on morning shows and utter the words, “Joe Biden won this election fair and square”? No, of course not. But they would now like people to believe that, from the very beginning, they knew this was the case and were not part of any effort to help Trump reverse the results. (In fact, according to a log of texts obtained by the Jan. 6 committee that were reviewed by CNN, on the same day that Kushner told Ivanka they were moving to Florida, the then first daughter texted a group of Trump advisers, in a chat that included her husband, “You are all WARRIORS of epic proportions! Keep the faith and the fight!”)

But Kushner’s story now is that he was never part of any such machinations, so what else does he have to say about that? The Times’ Peter Baker reports that, as unhinged individuals like Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell swooped in to head up Trump’s attempt to overturn the election, Kushner concluded that “the president would not listen even to family members urging him to accept the results,” and informed his father-in-law that “he would not be involved if Mr. Giuliani were in charge, according to people he confided in.” Instead, we’re told that Kushner, arguably “the most influential adviser to the president through four years,” could have tried to moderate Trump’s worst instincts, but decided to focus his efforts on “his personal project of Middle East diplomacy.”…

Anyway, the one potentially positive takeaway of this ridiculous attempt at image rehab? It’s possible that Kushner really did use his time with the January 6 committee to throw his father-in-law under the bus.

I personally wanna know why Princess Purses shoved Young Jared in front of the media, at this particular moment. Does she suspect there might be no upside to drawing attention right now? Has she decided that Kushner’s no longer an asset in her lifestyle portfolio? (I suppose it’s possible he put his narrow, well-shod foot down and declared himself the Man of the Household, but if that were true, it would just further highlight what a clueless dumbarse Young Jared has always been, frankly. )

ETA:

Reader Interactions

22Comments

  1. 1.

    piratedan

    gee whiz, when does Mr. Baker find time to write this stuff in between all that time spent fellating each faction of the GOP?

  3. 3.

    trollhattan

    Scum, the lot.

    At the scale’s other end Eva, a very, very, very Good Girl has lost her battle recovering from saving her human from a mountain lion. R.I.P. Eva.

    Eva, the dog credited for saving her owner’s life after she was attacked last month by a mountain lion in rural Northern California, died unexpectedly Wednesday morning. In a brief tearful interview by phone, Eva’s owner, Erin Wilson, said Eva, a 2½-year-old Belgian Malinois, started getting wobbly and having seizures over the weekend at their home in Trinity County.

    Wilson was told Eva needed special emergency care after rushing her to a Redding veterinarian. Wilson took her to the animal hospital at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine. There, Eva’s condition deteriorated to the point her veterinarians attempted to put her on a ventilator Wednesday morning. “She just never woke up,” Wilson told The Sacramento Bee as she started to sob. “She never woke up.”
    https://www.sacbee.com/news/local/article262300752.html#storylink=cpy

    Any dog is better than any Kushner.

  4. 4.

    bbleh

    Hey hey hey! None of that disrespect now! Two sources very close to Jared and Ivanka have been clear that there isn’t an inch of daylight between them, nor between them and the guy who technically speaking used to be president, and any speculation to the contrary by the media is nothing but an attempt to stir up controversy and put their names in the news, and they just hate that!

  5. 5.

    Another Scott

    The Insurrection is continuing to affect government business, even though too much of the MSM is trying to turn it into yet more horse-race journalism.

    E.g.

    The likely indifference & tolerance in the @NFL to Jack Del Rio's indifference to insurrection underscores the league's hypocrisy in blackballing @Kaepernick7 and also makes clear to me that we won't be seeing any more votes on stadium bills this year https://t.co/PLAw0OJvQ6

    — Senator Scott Surovell (@ssurovell) June 8, 2022

    (Context – The Washington Commanders NFL team are making noises about maybe coming to Virginia (if the state gives them enough incentives). My state senator, Surovell, is saying maybe, just maybe, some things are more important for the state government to consider right now.)

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  6. 6.

    Cameron

    More convinced than ever that I’m not going to watch any of this crap.  I’m after boffo yuks and heart-breaking drama, not puerile insect self-fellation or whatever these creatures are going to do.  Will be watching silent movies on Youtube, I think.  Unless, of course, GF invites me over to watch at her house, in which case I will promptly take a keen interest in all of the hearing’s minutiae.

  7. 7.

    Raoul Paste

    Very sorry to hear about that heroic dog.
    Jared and Ivanka would like to be accepted once more by New York high society, yet that is  unlikely.  Perhaps the nail in the coffin was in the movie Deadpool 2, where Deadpool referred to a look-alike pedophile villain as “Jared Kushner”

  8. 8.

    Enhanced Voting Techniques

    I personally wanna know why Princess Purses shoved Young Jared in front of the media, at this particular moment

    There have been stories that the even the MAGA hats are starting to turn on Trump. Maybe she wants to at be at lest respectable with that crowd at the end of the day.

  9. 9.

    James E Powell

    Jared and Ivanka I would like to be accepted once more by New York high society, yet that is unlikely.

    They ought to be forever shunned in every polite society. But never underestimate the shallow, amoral world of high society. A few strategic donations and poof! History will be rewritten and all will be forgiven.

  10. 10.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    this Peter Baker?

    Alex Thompson @AlexThomp 2h

    Biden hasn’t done an interview w/ NYT, WSJ, WaPo, Reuters, or the AP. NYT’s Peter Baker: “I can’t think of a parallel situation – it’s the 5th president I’ve covered and the first one I haven’t interviewed…They feel neither the obligation nor the opportunity.” […]

    It’s more about norms and accountability, Baker said. (thread)

  13. 13.

    phdesmond

    @NotMax:

    thank you for the link.

    here’s an absurdity:

    “Newsmax host Grant Stinchfield blasted gun control measures and went on to urge parents to buy a ballistic shield to go in their children’s backpacks.”

    Link.

  15. 15.

    Ruckus

    @James E Powell:

    I never understood that the world of high society was anything but shallow and amoral. I always understood that the appearance of propriety were the most important part of high society, which of course would also exclude the two of them.

  16. 16.

    YY_Sima Qian

    The NYT has always aligned with monied interests, “monied” being the only important quality.

  17. 17.

    Brachiator

    @Jim, Foolish Literalist: 

    Biden hasn’t done an interview w/ NYT, WSJ, WaPo, Reuters, or the AP. NYT’s Peter Baker: “I can’t think of a parallel situation – it’s the 5th president I’ve covered and the first one I haven’t interviewed…They feel neither the obligation nor the opportunity.” […]

    It’s more about norms and accountability, Baker said.

    I recently read an article which suggested that Biden wasn’t getting his message to the people because he was giving too many interviews to “old fashioned” media like the NYT, WaPo, WSJ, etc.

    Various factions can’t keep their lies straight.

    It is so strange to watch a media that spent years sucking up to Trump now whining about norms and accountability. That shit is as useless as thoughts and prayers.

  18. 18.

    oldster

    “I’m too busy working on Middle East peace right now, Marc.’”
    This is actually quite credible, now that we understand that by ” working on ME peace” he meant “whoring himself for several billion in petrodollars”.
    https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2022/05/jared-kushner-affinity-partners-saudi-arabia
    I’m sure he was working very hard indeed, given that the Saudis have given him 2 billion and rumor has it he may get another 5 billion from “the Middle East.”
    Also — pedant’s complaint — Kristol misuses that Shakespeare quote.

  19. 19.

    David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch

    Biden appeared on Jimmy Kimmel’s show Wednesday. Fox has been performing faux outrage all week, so naturally the usual suspects in the media take their cue, clutch their pearls and head to the fainting couch.

    Meanwhile the Peter Bakers of the world were fine with Dump spitting in their face and revoking the credentials of various reporters.

  20. 20.

    Jake Gibson

    Is anyone surprised that Javanka has a talent for self-preservation. People aren’t going to throw themselves under the bus.

  21. 21.

    EmbraceYourInnerCrone

    @Brachiator: I pay very little attention to traditional media anymore for that reason, I pick and choose which online media i read.  After years of Trump getting away with acting like a spoiled , narcissistic 2 year old and actively torpedoing measures by health care and medical people during a pandemic, and then fomenting an insurrection,  I can not take this press whining about Biden seriously.   Trump wanted to become dictator for life and they all ignore it. he actually referred to it if I remember correctly, he wanted Ivanka to be president after him. Trump wanted Ivanka for 2016 running mate

  22. 22.

    VOR

    @David ☘The Establishment☘ Koch: Biden has a press secretary who gives briefings at a regular, frequent pace. Trump had a press secretary who did not perform a single briefing during her entire tenure in the job.

    There is nothing in the Constitution saying the President is required to give interviews to self-important NYT writers. Especially ones who withhold information to use in their future books.

Comments are closed.