Jared kushner

The baffling oratory of Jared Kushner

The problem of resolving the tangle of conflict in the Middle East is one that has defeated generations of the world’s most experienced statesmen, and resisted the blandishments of its greatest orators. So who better now to step in than a well-groomed thirtysomething New York property developer, offering the 'deal of the century'? There were some hiccups to start with, sure. Jared Kushner launched his 'Peace to Prosperity' workshop in Bahrain with a cocktail party – alcohol not being traditionally the thing with Muslims. And it was boycotted from the off by the Palestinian Authority. Still, he had a bash.

jared kushner rhetoric

Pompeo summons up fresh Iran sanctions from the Gulf

'First, I think it’s really important to understand that the Iranians are sowing disinformation,' Mike Pompeo told reporters Sunday en route to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates  ('two great allies in the challenge that Iran presents.')'You’ll see too,' the secretary of state continued, 'that our campaign that began when President Trump took office will continue. On Monday, there’ll be a significant set of new sanctions.' Sure enough, this afternoon Trump announced intensified sanctions on Iran’s Supreme Leader.With that, the secretary was off, jetting from Joint Base Andrews to Riyadh and Abu Dhabi.

iran sanctions

The art of the bad deal

On the late afternoon of September 29, 2000 (nearly 20 years ago now), I took a cab from Jerusalem into Bethlehem to visit with an old friend and his family, the owners of a well-known Bethlehem hotel. The streets were bustling; buses filled with tourists roared up the main Jerusalem-to-Bethlehem road towards the Church of the Nativity (the reputed birthplace of Jesus), and the city’s gift shops were jammed. My plan was to stay the night, but my friend (a Palestinian Christian who’d moved to Bethlehem from Philadelphia), shook his head: ‘No room at the inn,’ he said, and smiled at his joke. ‘In fact, you won’t find a room anywhere in the city.’ I was surprised. In all of my years traveling to the West Bank, Gaza and Israel, I’d never had trouble finding a place to stay.

jared kushner time gaza

The security clearances scandal makes it hard to believe Trump is in the clear

Is someone in the Deep State finally blowing the whistle on the Trump presidency? Meet Tricia Newbold, the 18-year veteran of the White House Personnel Security Office, who is alleging that Trump’s camarilla received 25 security clearances that should never have been cleared. Blackmail, drug abuse, criminal conduct, financial peculation — you name it and Newbold says it raised nary an eyebrow among the Trump crowd. Instead, national security clearances were handed out like jellybeans to Trump acolytes, including Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump.In the case of ‘Senior White House Official No. 1’, most likely Kushner, Newbold explained to congressional investigators that concerns she highlighted were swept aside like so much useless ballast.

jared kushner security clearances

Kushner may not be Kissinger, but at least he’s not Kerry

Imagine a long list of leaders that liberal pundits love to hate. It starts with Donald Trump, followed by Vladimir Putin and a series of nationalist and populist politicians, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin (‘Bibi’) Netanyahu stuck in between Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and the Polish and Czech leaders. One of the reasons for the deep animosity towards the Israeli Likud Party chief, especially among many liberal American Jews and European lefties, has been the perceived love affair between the Donald and Bibi and the belief that if these two BFFs would only disappear from the political universe, we will finally have peace in our time in the Holy Land.

jared kushner

The pillars of Trumpworld are crumbling

Things are getting quite hairy at the White House. Apparently, senior adviser Stephen Miller reckoned that he needed to perform a cover-up before he went on national television this past Sunday. He seems to have sprayed on hair-in-a-canister to camouflage his glabrous head. Like many of the moves this administration has made, Miller’s gambit only drew more attention to what he wished to conceal. The Washington Post observed, ‘it emanated from Miller’s head like a physical manifestation of his personality — a follicle’d inferiority complex that was suddenly in charge of creating the nation’s policies.’ Since then, the White House has run into a fresh spate of bad news. Former Lt. Gen.

trumpworld

’Twas the night after Thanksgiving

’Twas the night after Thanksgiving 2028, and all the White House was dark, except for the kitchen. President Trump leant against the range, sipping from a can of Poland Spring cranberry seltzer as she watched the First Husband scraping the last of the stuffing from the cavity of the giant turkey. ‘Harder,’ she ordered. ‘Ivanka, I’m trying,’ Jared said. He was glad MBS and Kanye had already left. Thanksgiving 2028 had been just like Thanksgiving 2018, except for the moment at the table when they had been taking turns to say what they were grateful for, and Jared’s electronic ankle bracelet had gone off.

after thanksgiving

Ivanka Trump is the new Hillary Clinton

Oh how the anti-Trump media licks its lips at news that Ivanka, the precious First Daughter, may have breached federal rules by using her private email for government work. It seems a perfect rebuke to the President, who has made such a fuss about Hillary Clinton doing exactly the same thing. As endless Twitter bores pointed out last night, Trump still obsesses over Clinton’s server issues in his tweets and encourages his crowds to chant ‘Lock her up!’ What’s he going to say now? That media schadenfreude file is so huge it could overload your inbox. But the Washington Post’s latest Ivanka scoop should come as no great surprise.

ivanka

Is Nikki Haley jumping off a sinking ship?

For all the encomiums she delivered to Trump and his coterie today, Nikki Haley delivered an unexpected blow to the Trump White House by announcing her resignation. Her announcement caught Trump flatfooted, coming after the previous evening’s revelries at the White House, where he turned a ceremony for newly minted Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh into a political pep rally that is likely to further enrage his detractors and opponents. The sudden defection of one of his big stars is exactly the kind of television programming that Trump loathes, particularly on the eve of the November midterm elections, which Politico says look increasingly ominous for Republican control of the House of Representatives.

nikki haley

Is Jared Kushner’s power really waning?

It was always ridiculous that Jared Kushner, an amiable 37-year-old who had no diplomatic, political or military experience, should have had top-level ‘SCI’ security access as a senior member of the White House — just because he happened to be the President’s son-in-law. Well now, he’s been downgraded, as Politico reports. He continues to have 'secret level’ access, which is still pretty silly when you think about it. But the downgrading signals that Kushner, who just a few weeks ago was still thought to be the supreme power in the White House, is losing influence. It also suggests that General John Kelly, Trump’s chief of staff, is taking further charge of international affairs.