"As long as he is married to Ivanka, Jared Kushner will be favored by Trump"
Author of an investigation into the rise to power of the Trump and Kushner families, Andrea Bernstein reflects on the ties between the President and his son-in-law.
Investigative journalist Andrea Bernstein published in January American Oligarchs, the Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power (WW Norton & Company, untranslated), an investigative book recounting the conquest of New York real estate. by Patriarchs Trump and Kushner until the capture of the White House by their heirs Donald and Jared.
What is the nature of Jared Kushner's power?
In short, he is the most powerful person in the White House whose surname is not Trump. His responsibilities change frequently, he does not have a specific portfolio and does not head any government agency. His power stems precisely from this lack of specificity: he does not have to be accountable like a vulgar secretary of state. His office shares a partition with the Oval Office, in the heart of the West Wing. But Kushner also hangs out in the East Wing, the private wing of the White House. Kushner has access to Trump during the day as an advisor and to dinner as the father of his grandchildren. No one has such access. Family is a cardinal value, both with the Trumps and with the Kushners, which explains the longevity of Kushner in a chaotic administration where the turnover rate of senior officials is nothing short of incredible. Jared outlived three chiefs of staff, as many national security advisers, three secretaries in the Trump administration [the equivalent of defense, justice, and foreign affairs ministers, editor's note], a director of intelligence … Those who thought they could challenge him, like Steve Bannon or Generals Kelly and Mattis, never understood the unwavering bond between Trump and Kushner. We regularly read in the press anonymous officials announcing his loss of influence or his departure. But as long as he is married to Ivanka, he will be favored by Trump.
Nepotism embodied ...
There is not just that. Kushner understands the rules of House Trump better than anyone. Jared sees his lack of skills and knowledge as an asset. He sees himself as an "outsider" who disturbs those encrusted in their outdated knowledge and their habits. Seen like this, ignorance is a virtue, a value. It prevents any contradiction and disqualifies expertise. An attitude that fits Trump perfectly.
How to explain that a grandson of Holocaust survivors is the man in charge of building the wall between the United States and Mexico?
Stranded for years in refugee camps after the horrors of the Holocaust, his grandparents reached America by tampering with their papers. One might think that Jared Kushner would therefore have a certain empathy for migrants, a vision of the world, let's say more humanist. But while a few distant cousins are involved in helping the refugees, Jared's branch learned different lessons from that founding moment. Like the idea that you always have to trick the authorities, build a wall around yourself and destroy those who might be a threat. A mentality that can be found elsewhere in a whole section of Israeli society, for example. For the Kushners, like the Trumps, there are “them” and “us”, in business as well as in politics, and only family matters. And this worldview is no stranger to Trumpian xenophobia.
At the start of the term, some saw Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump, for a time close to Democrats, as potential "moderators" ...
New York's high society, united around a vague progressive neoliberal consensus, regarded the charity dinner couple as one of their own. They couldn't be "that bad". But the Kushners and Trumps' commitment to elected Democrats was purely transactional. These are fortunes based on real estate, which is to New York what oil is to Texas. Without the support of politicians - who give building permits, award contracts, relax regulations - you cannot thrive. Donations from the Kushners, like those from the Trumps, have never been ideological.
