… And fails by every possible metric, because that’s his real skill-set:
This is the most transparent scheme ever. https://t.co/Son3lxkgl6
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec) August 13, 2020
We call this "coordination" in the business, and it's a federal crime. https://t.co/VEALNfe6CO
— Reed Galen (@reedgalen) August 13, 2020
Every so often, you get to pick the headline to go with your story. And let me tell you, it feels *great* https://t.co/jSNv6yAzfH
— Adam Weinstein (@AdamWeinstein) August 12, 2020
… “We have no knowledge of what Kanye West is doing or who is doing it for him,” the Trump campaign’s spokesman said at the time. But last weekend, indefatigable Trump cheerleader and former aide Sam Nunberg had no qualms about bragging to The Washington Post that he’d introduced Trump in 2014 to the GOP pol who got West on the ballot in Arkansas last month. To Nunberg, running West was a coup for Republicans. “Does the Biden campaign want Kanye West campaigning in Cleveland, in Cincinnati, in Milwaukee?” he asked. “I don’t think they do.”
Into this maelstrom of racial animus and nihilism strides Kushner, a bloodless man possessed of a singular genius for locating new petards with which he can hoist himself. Last Thursday, Kanye got on Colorado’s ballot; within 48 hours, he’d gotten a private audience in the state with the permanently wincing White House senior adviser, who started his political career by trying to establish backchannel Trump communications with Russia and who most recently was excoriated for completely fucking up the U.S. coronavirus response—possibly, it was reported by Vanity Fair, because he reasoned the virus “was going to be relegated to Democratic states” and Trump “could blame those governors” for the resulting mass deaths.
If one could bracket out the immediately obvious evils of manipulating a man in a mental health crisis for maximum political gain, using Kanye to halfheartedly rig an election would be the perfect Kushner tasking. He has grand ideas about his abilities, as we’ve seen. But this is probably closest to his sweet spot: chumming with celebrities and concocting the stupidest scheme imaginable to keep his extended family’s grift going just a bit longer…
What gets to me is that the point of exercises like this is that they are supposed to be secret… https://t.co/WESaNNrxHC
— Alex Hazanov (@alexhazanov) August 12, 2020
look, if you *have* any kind of connection to Kushner, it is your patriotic duty to call him up and explain that you have a way that, with just a few tens of millions spent, the Trump campaign can be competitive in Hawaii
— James Palmer (@BeijingPalmer) August 12, 2020
I’ll believe that Jared Kushner is growing into his role as a White House staffer when his friend stop trying to retract embarrassing things he says in conversations with reporters. https://t.co/btfr2WKiVL pic.twitter.com/k6DDDMoZic
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) August 13, 2020
Sure, some voters — even in swing states! — might write in Kanye West. Others will write in Ron Paul, Lydon LaRouche, or their own favorite celebrity. Doesn’t make Kushner’s attempts to ‘encourage’ his ‘friend’ any less despicable, or futile.
‘We had a general discussion, more about policy,’ Jared Kushner said, confirming that he met Kanye West recently https://t.co/qJlo8eHHov pic.twitter.com/JqeL3UHTrk
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 14, 2020
Donald Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner boasts of having a black friend. pic.twitter.com/5pBIc71gbs
— DPRK News Service (@DPRK_News) August 13, 2020
Black political reporter, for some reason, not finding this funny:
It ONLY took 3 complaints in Illinois for the State Board of Elections to review the petition by #KanyeWest to be on #POTUS ballot. They determined nearly 75% of his signatures were fraudulent. If Kanye is on your state’s ballot, contact your Board is Elections for a review! ??
— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) August 13, 2020