Using Trump's Save America list, Jared Kushner emailed Trump donors today, begging supporters to give a donation of "$75 or more" in exchange for a signed copy of his new book.
— Zachary Petrizzo (@ZTPetrizzo) August 18, 2022
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!
The “grifters,” a senior Trump adviser said, seem to be the people who “disproportionately enriched themselves during Trump’s presidency.”https://t.co/fo7YGsP9SJ
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) August 18, 2022
I mean, it's not like anyone in Trump's orbit has been given, say, $2 billion for no obvious reason. https://t.co/oO9BDUI8Hh
— Jeff Fecke (@jkfecke) August 13, 2022
He’s promised that the $2 billion investment he got from the wealth fund had nothing to do with sweeping the killing under the rug. “Jared Kushner Says He Wasn’t Willing to Turn His Back on Saudi Prince Over One Measly Murder-by-Bone Saw – Vanity Fair https://t.co/XWTr0CYBXk
— Moonlit Night (@TwistedTree22) August 14, 2022
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!…
Jake Tapper getting excited thinking about Troop Jared again https://t.co/mc9Za3BXxG pic.twitter.com/DVEw65ykQ4
— Pfizer Hellmaxxing ?? (@pleizar) August 19, 2022
Voices: I read Jared Kushner’s memoir ‘Breaking History’ and I have to admit that Trump was right https://t.co/A1ctwjwZeW
— Andrew Feinberg (@AndrewFeinberg) August 22, 2022
… 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.
One of the most cursed things I've ever read pic.twitter.com/HIawLp5BBV
— Hemry, Local Bartender (@BartenderHemry) August 18, 2022
Late Night Open Thread: Young Prince Jared, World’s Greatest Son-in-LawPost + Comments (98)