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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / Late Night Open Thread: Young Prince Jared, World’s Greatest Son-in-Law

Late Night Open Thread: Young Prince Jared, World’s Greatest Son-in-Law

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J-Kush, taking the proverbial ‘son-in-law of someone successful’ grift to a whole new level…

Or maybe he got permission from Daddy, first!

Of the very long list of things one could take issue with regarding Jared Kushner’s time in the White House—a list that includes botching the government’s COVID-19 response and doing nothing to stop his father-in-law’s plot to overturn the election—it’s probably his close personal relationship with Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman that rankles the most. That largely has to do with the fact that MBS approved the kidnapping and dismemberment of one of his critics—U.S. resident Jamal Khashoggi—and rather than have his father-in-law condemn the guy, Kushner reportedly went to bat for him with Donald Trump, which resulted in the prince literally getting away with murder…

The Wall Street Journal reports that in Breaking History: A White House Memoir, out on August 23, the former first son-in-law “provides a carefully framed defense of his relationship with Prince Mohammed. Mr. Kushner said he viewed Prince Mohammed as a historic figure who brought once-unimaginable social reforms to Saudi Arabia and steered the kingdom toward a warming relationship with Israel.” In regard to MBS being accused of facilitating Khashoggi’s grisly murder, Kushner writes: “While this situation was terrible, I couldn’t ignore the fact that the reforms that MBS was implementing were having a positive impact on millions of people in the kingdom—especially women. All of these reforms were major priorities for the United States, as they led to further progress in combating extremism and advancing economic opportunity and stability throughout the war-torn region. The kingdom was poised to build on this historic progress, and I believed it would.” In October 2018, about two weeks after Khashoggi was killed, The New York Times reported that Kushner was “urging the president to stand by the prince,” arguing that MBS could “survive the outrage just as he ha[d] weathered past criticism.” Just so it’s completely clear, the “outrage” was over a man being chopped up into pieces.

As the Journal notes, Kushner does not dispute—and his book doesn’t even mention—U.S. intelligence’s conclusion that his princely pal ordered the hit, despite the kingdom’s denials.

Oh, and about that $2 billion investment his private-equity firm received from Saudi Arabia shortly after his time in the White House was over? You know, the one that came against the advisement of the panel that performs due diligence for the Saudis, which concluded that no one in their right mind should give the former first son-in-law a dime but was overridden by the prince himself? Kushner pinkie-swears that had nothing to do with the fact that he treated MBS and company so nicely while working for the U.S. government. A congressional panel is, of course, suspicious—“The American people deserve answers as to whether a top White House official used his office for personal gain and whether the promise of a future payoff for official actions affected U.S. foreign policy under former president Trump,” Rep. Carolyn Maloney, who chairs the House Oversight Committee, said in a statement—but Kushner has given us his word!…

… Although Kushner, a first-time author, writes fawningly about the ex-president (he is still married to Ivanka, after all), he manages to find ways to remind the reader just how important he was…

When Kushner addresses the insurrectionist riot Trump incited in hopes of keeping himself (and presumably Kushner) in the White House for a second term against voters’ wishes, he writes that he was “confident” that Trump “would have prevented” the riot “from the beginning” if they’d “anticipated violence”. And the narrative continues from there. Nothing, it seems, was ever Trump’s fault. Not the riot, not the countless dead from Covid, nothing.

Kushner describes everything that happened between 2017 and 2021 as one of two things: the results of Trump’s decisiveness — and therefore the unparalleled advice he got from his son-in-law, who (in his telling) sacrificed so much to serve — or the evil machinations of slimy leakers and infighters who didn’t understand Trump’s brilliance (or his own).

In one telling passage, he describes his nemesis — ex-White House Chief of Staff John Kelly — and Trump’s first Secretary of Defense, James Mattis, as “military heroes who devoted their lives to America and served with sacrifice and distinction”. But in the very next sentence, Kushner dismisses them as having “decided that they knew better than the president of the United States”.

Nowhere does Kushner even consider the possibility that the two US Marine Corps combat veterans did know better than a draft-dodging real estate developer — or, more importantly, his son-in-law. In other words: If you’re looking for actual insight into the White House under Donald J Trump, look elsewhere. Breaking History has a lot of things, but perspective isn’t one of them.

Reader Interactions

98Comments

  2. 2.

    Dangerman

    @The Moar You Know: Book should be titled “Breaking Wind” since it will be one long, tedious throat fart. I suppose it could be a Shart as well, so piece of shit is still in play.

    I am shocked how little I care about how he and Ivanka hooked up.

    ETA: I’ll pay him $75 if he shares why he and wifey couldn’t get Security Clearances. He can keep the fucking book.

  4. 4.

    notjonathon

    That’s Chinese spy and former girlfriend of Vladimir Putin Wendi Deng who reunited Jared and Ivanka?

  7. 7.

    Amir Khalid

    Some news from Malaysia:

    Malaysian Official 1, AKA former PM Najib Abdul Razak, lost his final appeal before the Federal Court today against conviction on charges of criminal breach of trust relating to RM42 million taken from SRC International, a 1MDB company. Chief Justice Tengku Maimun Tuan Mat read out the final judgment about half an hour ago.

    Najib must now do the 12 years prison and pony up the RM210 million fine he was sentenced to at the original trial.

    .

  11. 11.

    satby

    @Amir Khalid: Glad to finally see him get some justice.

    Hope it’s an omen that we’ll get some justice and hold the crook formerly occupying the White House accountable too.

  12. 12.

    prostratedragon

    Meanwhile, for some inexplicable reason the father-in-law has released a May 10 letter from the Acting Archivist of National Archive, Debra Steidel Wall.

    Although the Presidential Records Act (PRA) generally restricts access to Presidential records in NARA’s custody for several years after the conclusion of a President’s tenure in office, the statute further provides that, “subject to any rights, defenses, or privileges which the United States or any agency or person may invoke,” such records “shall be made available . . . to an incumbent President if such records contain information that is needed for the conduct of current business of the incumbent President’s office and that is not otherwise available.” 44 U.S.C. § [My emphasis]

    Then after a review of history and precedent regarding the emphasized point,

    Because an assertion of executive privilege against the incumbent President under these circumstances would not be viable, it follows that there is no basis for the former President to make a “protective assertion of executive privilege,” which the Assistant Attorney General informs me has never been made outside the context of a congressional demand for information from the Executive Branch. Even assuming for the sake of argument that a former President may under some circumstances make such a “protective assertion of executive privilege” to preclude the Archivist from complying with a disclosure otherwise prescribed by 44 U.S.C. § 2205(2), there is no predicate for such a “protective” assertion here, where there is no realistic basis that the requested delay would result in a viable assertion of executive privilege against the incumbent President that would prevent disclosure of records for the purposes of the reviews described above. Accordingly, the only end that would be served by upholding the “protective” assertion here would be to delay those very important reviews [concerning the proper handling of the documents in question while they are not in the Archive’s custody] [Again my emphasis].

    I mean, who does that Biden think he is, President?! (Keeping in mind that in this day, carrying out conventional espionage for sale or whatever purpose probably does not require the crashing ruffles and flourishes of actually walking off with the physical papers which someone will eventually miss.)

  14. 14.

    prostratedragon

    Then if charges are brought against TFG in connection with Jan. 6, could the hoarding of the papers even after this exchange be considered evidence of seditious intent?

  16. 16.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Balconesfault: ​

    Bono having Rupert Murdoch over for lunch … isn’t that special?

    Bono and Billy Joel hanging out with Murdoch and Kushner: so much for any respect I still had for either Bono or Billy. Screw them both if neither can find better friends than that.

    ETA: I may have said this before, but every time I see a tweet from “Hemry, Local Bartender,” I get Liz Phair’s “Polyester Bride” running through my head: “I asked Henmry, my bartending friend…”  At least it’s a good song.

  18. 18.

    Tony Jay

    @Nicole:

    That was highly enjoyable. I do love a bit of ear-slapping bile of a morning.

    And he’s right. Bono really is all of those terrible things. He’s the bloated cockatrice that laid the egg of Coldplay, and for that alone he should be fed jagged shards of his stupid glasses, anally, until the sun goes nova or they stop making The Simpsons, whichever takes longer.

  19. 19.

    Tony Jay

    Bono, Billy Joel, Rupert Murdoch and Wendy Deng? Throw in Deng’s endlessly grasping conquest Tony Blair, a blue-pilled Mick Jagger and a clutch of plastic Trumps to order the coffee and you’ve got yourself a genuine cut-price Legion of Doom.

  21. 21.

    raven

    @geg6:

    AMC has handed a series order to its Bob Odenkirk-fronted adaptation of Straight Man.

    The cable network, and its sibling streamer AMC+, is set to launch the series, which is based on Richard Russo’s eponymous novel, next year.

    It comes a couple of days after the launch of the sixth and final season of Odenkirk’sBetter Call Saul and marks the actor’s third series with the network following Saul and Breaking Bad.

    Odenkirk stars as William Henry Devereaux, Jr., the unlikely chairman of the English department in a badly underfunded college in the Pennsylvania rust belt.

  22. 22.

    raven

    What a fucking joke, WSB stands for “Welcome South Brother” and their line-up is the biggest crew of assholes on air.

     

    A political analyst and commentator has been fired by a news network for referring to Donald Trump as “orange face” on air.

    Bill Crane, who has worked with ABC affiliate WSB-TV, was let go for his remarks made during the channel’s 6pm ET Action News broadcast as they did not reflect “unbiased reporting and analysis

  23. 23.

    raven

    “Labor Day is when undecided voters and nonaligned voters really start focusing on the election ahead and keeping Donald Trump and his fantasy of elections being stolen in November of 2020 in play, keeps Donald Trump and his looming orange face in front of voters at a time when they’re trying to decide how they’re going to vote,” Crane said on air.

  24. 24.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    This is being published by Murdoch who in 1983 published “The Hitler Diaries” which… shocker!…. turned out to be fake.

  25. 25.

    Amir Khalid

    @geg6:

    Alas, no. But if you ever see him yourself, please remind him how much he misses Penang laksa and char koay tiow.

  27. 27.

    geg6

    @raven:

    Never watched either of his shows.  Wait, I tried Breaking Bad once.  Hated it, so never watched the second.  But I like Russo’s works a lot, so I’ll give it a shot.  But I also see one of the Farrellys is involved and I am also not a fan of their oeuvre.  Hmmm, decisions…decisions.

  29. 29.

    Baud

    @raven:

    You know what, I’m ok with that as a principle.  Too many media personalities have brought Twitter culture into their profession.  That said, hard to see this happening to a right wing pundit.

  30. 30.

    raven

    @Baud: It’s weird, I never watch WSB but I saw that and was surprised.

    The veteran analyst subsequently released a statement on Facebook regarding the incident and apologized to those whom his comments offended.

    “I stand by the assessment and analysis, though perhaps in my verbiage I certainly could have been a bit more PC,” Crane wrote. “I would like to think part of the reason I have been able to do this for 22 years in a top 10 media market is that I call the hard balls and strikes on either side and attempt to do so with a bit of humor, sarcasm, the occasional pun, and with tongue in cheek.”

  31. 31.

    Baud

    @raven:

    Yeah, if this was one of those “shock jock” type of outlets, then that changes things.

    Don’t know.  I just feel like a lot of journalism is unprofessional these days.

  32. 32.

    Geminid

    @raven: I listen to WSB some when I visit Atlanta. The “Triple Team Traffic!” segments where three fast-talking reporters describe road conditions in the metro area is impressive. Lots of traffic in that town! But the none-drivetime programming is all conservative talk show stuff, so I usually listen to the good jazz station when I’m down there.

    WSB is a clear channel station and reaches Virginia at night, so I could listen to it’s election coverage the evening of January 5, 2021. That was pretty good. Warnock and Ossoff were still neck-and-neck with their opponents when I went to sleep, but a report that rural county Republicans were “chagrined” at low turnout made me optimistic.

    Neil Boortz’s show was syndicated nationally and I used to tune in the hour he’d have Jaime Dupree on to talk Washington politics. Dupree is the AJC’s Capitol Hill correspondent. He now has an unusual malady that has made him unable to speak, but he still writes and keeps up a very informative Twitter account.

  33. 33.

    Shalimar

    @Balconesfault: When is the last time Bono was a legitimate humanitarian?  When did he become “even the liberal Bono supports X corporation in this white-washing PR bullshit”?  The ’80s?

    Whenever I see his name, I cringe.  Something embarrassing is coming.  And that has been true for decades now.  Bono has spent more time cashing in on being an activist than he did as an activist.

  36. 36.

    MattF

    Yeah, grift is what they do. All the time. One reason why the claim of a standing order to declassify anything Trump took to the residence to work on late is so silly— since when did he actually ‘work’ on anything?

  37. 37.

    Baud

    @MattF:

    Plus, as someone pointed out the other day, he wouldn’t need to declassifiy anything to work on them while he was president.

  38. 38.

    Frankensteinbeck

    You know what’s funny?  I bet Kushner believes every word.  He’s as narcissist as Trump, just less sadistic and crass.  In his head he walked out of the White House thinking he was the genius who kept Covid from going out of control and created peace in the Middle East.

     

    @lowtechcyclist:

    Don’t trust any story from Kushner about the famous people he totally hangs out with and think he’s great, any more than you trust Trump’s stories about manly men thanking him with tears in their eyes.

  43. 43.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @raven: ​
     
    And here I thought the right was against…. [checks notes]…. cancel culture

  45. 45.

    Dangerman

    @Frankensteinbeck: That’s the vibe I got, too.

    “Yeah, I hanged out with Bono, Billy, and the Murdochs. Also, Elvis, Hendrix, and Morrison, but they swore me to secrecy.”

  47. 47.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @MattF: ​
      Right. The report that Dump personally went through 300 plus documents to determine what to give back is hard to believe. One CIA briefer said in desperation they resorted to creating children’s dioramas to explain their reports because he flatly refused to read or even to listen to oral presentations.

  48. 48.

    NorthLeft

    David Brooks was born in Toronto, but records of the day indicate he began crying immediately after birth and did not stop until he was returned to his spiritual home in NYC.

    Long story short, he’s all fucking yours, don’t try to fob this sad excuse for a human being on us.

  49. 49.

    Amir Khalid

    @Frank Wilhoit:

    The 2018 general election has had a profound liberating effect on Malaysian politics and on public institutions in general. Najib was able to suppress investigations into l’affaire 1MDB, among other things, because he was PM and every agency ultimately answered to him.

    Since he and Barisan Nasional lost that election, it’s been a different story. The Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission was finally able to get going with the 1MDB case. The police were able to raid his home and find billions in cash stashed in suitcases. Even though Barisan is back in power, it has lost its iron grip on the country and in this case the judiciary. What Dr M did to Anwar is now beyond the power of any PM.

  51. 51.

    Spanky

    @Baud: Per CNN:

    Primary season picks up again today with voters in Florida, New York and Oklahoma heading to the polls. In Florida, two Democrats are facing off in a closely-watched governor’s race primary, and the winner will have a chance to challenge Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis in November. Voters in New York will cast their votes in several Democratic races today after the state’s redistricting process pushed the congressional primaries from June to August — and left some House incumbents in vulnerable positions. Oklahoma will also hold primary runoffs today, including the GOP contest for the special Senate election to replace Sen. Jim Inhofe when he resigns in January.

  54. 54.

    Spanky

    @Spanky: Also too:

    As leaders from both parties search for clues about what lies ahead in November, the vote here on Tuesday — to replace Antonio Delgado, a Democrat who left to become lieutenant governor — has emerged as a national barometer of the political energy unleashed by the high court’s decision to end the nationwide right to abortion. It’s a test of whether Democrats, even in a politically unpredictable congressional district like New York’s 19th, can translate the anger of their base, and concerns over the implications of the ruling that cut across party lines, into a potent midterm message.

  55. 55.

    Geminid

    @Baud: The special election district is the one Anthony Delgado flipped in 2018. I think it’s in the Hudson Valley. Delgado resigned his seat to run for Lieutenant Governor.

    Politico has an article on this race and New York’s and other state’s primaries. The article said that as many as 6 New York congressional districts are in play this fall.

  57. 57.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @Baud: ​
      It’s in upstate NY. It’s rated R+3. It’s winnable, but the repubs have home field advantage.

    Or put it this way, the media wouldn’t label a D+3 race as a swing district

  62. 62.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

     has emerged as a national barometer of the political energy unleashed by the high court’s decision to end the nationwide right to abortion.

    we already had this test – Kansas

    But it doesn’t fit the media narrative.

  64. 64.

    Ken

    @prostratedragon: I wonder what TFG is trying to keep from Biden. Perhaps tapes of his conversations with foreign leaders, or as they’re generally known, “notes on a criminal fucking conspiracy”.

  67. 67.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    @NorthLeft: ​
      Exactly. There are no Applebee’s in Canada. Zilch. Now if he obsessed over Tim Horton’s or poutine then that would be different.

  68. 68.

    Geminid

    @Baud: The rematch will be on a new district map, but I have not seen how that will affect the district’s composition.

  70. 70.

    jonas

    @Shalimar: ​
      Pet Shop Boys had his number a long time ago:

    You live within the headlines, so everyone can see
    You’re supporting every new cause and meeting royalty
    You’re another major artist on a higher plane
    Do you think they’ll put you in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame?
    Tell me baby how you generate longevity
    Tell me baby how you really hate publicity
    How can you expect to be taken seriously?
    How can you expect to be taken seriously?
    Seriously

  71. 71.

    Amir Khalid

    @raven:

    In fairness, TFG is not really orange-faced. It’s the result of his thick make-up job. Sans make-up, his face looks pasty and curiously androgynous.

  72. 72.

    Soprano2

    @Ken: I think there’s something in those boxes he definitely doesn’t want the DOJ to see, but it’s also strange that he waited two weeks to file this motion for a special master. The DOJ may be done going through all the documents by the time a special master is appointed!

  76. 76.

    SFAW

    Seeing the Daily Beast’s tweet about “the ‘grifters’ ” made me think that someone should show Jared what happened to John Cusack at the end of that movie. Jared wouldn’t get it, but it might put the fear of god into him. Especially if Ivanka were to start doing some Anjelica Huston dress-up.

  77. 77.

    Ken

    @Baud: I’m guessing the scheduling isn’t working again, and we’ll get a burst of posts when one of the front pagers notices and hits the blog with a wrench*.

    * Metaphorically, but also a reference to one of my favorite jokes: A customer demands an itemized bill after the plumber fixes the problem by hitting a pipe with a wrench. The plumber sends: “Hitting pipe: $1. Knowing how and where to hit pipe: $249.”

    EDIT: There, see. Two posts out of the pipe.

  79. 79.

    jonas

    @David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch: ​
      The moron is functionally illiterate. The idea that he took highly sensitive briefing papers up to the WH residence so he could look over them in more detail is absurd. It’s got to have been pictures, diagrams, visual material related to intelligence on Iran or North Korea, or images of a secret new spy plane or something — stuff he could look at and think “cool!” And, you know, show VIPs at Mar-a-Lago. No biggie.

  82. 82.

    Ken

    @Raoul Paste: I’m assuming this is the usual right-wing publishing strategy, where some PAC is buying the book by the crateful, and will be stuffing them into the goody bags at their next convention.

  84. 84.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Ken:

    Hard to tell with a malignant narcissist in obvious cognitive decline.  The things they think are life-and-death important are often inconsequential to remotely healthy minds.  There could be proof he’s been selling nuclear specifications to the Saudis, or the problem might be he needs to be able to brag about the secrets he has access to for him to feel like he’s still president.  As you may notice, he is absolutely, desperately fixed on the idea he’s still president.  ‘45th president’, uses the presidential seal, and so on.  A narcissist can’t bear losing the biggest external validation of his life.  All moot.  His having those documents is highly illegal no matter their current status or why he has them.

  91. 91.

    Thor Heyerdahl

    @Soprano2: The books were the second choice as giveaway, since he can no longer give away TS/CI/Yankee White document information as a giveaway.

  92. 92.

    Amir Khalid

    Najib was driven today from the Palace of Justice straight to Kajang Prison to begin his sentence. He’s still being tried/facing charges on many other 1MDB-related matters. (the SRC International case was actually one of the easier ones for the prosecutors, and the 42 million involved here was a teensy fraction of what was stolen.) He may face quite a few years of commuting under Prisons Dept. escort between Kajang and the KL High Court.

  94. 94.

    Doug R

    I mean I get Billy Joel just playing the gig but Bono and Geldof have been self-righteous SOBs….turns out they’re just whores.

  96. 96.

    wenchacha

    If nobody has said it already, and even if they have, Fuck Bono. Why is he entertaining these people?

  97. 97.

    justsomeguy

    I wonder whether the Kushner solicitation specified WHO would sign the book, or does it leave the marks to think it might be signed by Trump.   Next week :  Kushners book is on or near top of the NYT best seller list.  After all, it probably only takes a few thousand of these “sales”.

  98. 98.

    moops

    Bono and Geldof care about hunger and starvation causes.  There are likely plenty of wealthy people at that junket that would spend big money on such causes.  Neither of them cares much about democracy.  Even celebrities can have ethical blind spots.

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