Mr.Kushner is rightly known by the company he keeps-- in business and in politics. It is not a crime to avoid taxes, only to evade them. So far, I've only seen evidence of of avoidance.
But it borders on the morally if not legally criminal to kowtow to princes in order to sell them arms to prop up an immoral war in Yemen.
It is morally criminal to pretend to have all the answers when in fact Kushner is a political neophyte.
Still, in the long run, Kushner is small potatoes and a distraction to the real issue: his buffoon of a father-in-law.
13
I think of Jared Kushner as akin to Fredo Corleone- given positions of responsibility simply because he is a member of a powerful family. Unfortunately for the U.S. and the world Jared Kushner can do real damage.
21
I am bone tired of all the adoration and attention the Jareds and Nikkis get. The GOP has all the power and where is the grand plan? The grand vision? You can be sure if Hillary had won and we were 2 Chief Justices in, we would not be talking about Donald or Jared right now. Thank you Frank Bruni for swinging back at the vacuous thugs who would prefer you swing at Kamala Harris or Elizabeth Warren. They play victim/genius savant while goading the media to observe the left in dog fighting pens. So much power, so much winning and - we have a dismembered reporter in an embassy but let's talk about Pochahontas...
18
Frank, you posit an interesting premise about political figure.
It's only flaw is that Kushner and his family and the Trump family have proven they have no capacity for morality because they possess no sense of shame, no concern for others, nor guilt about any of their many transgressions.
Contrary to Nikki Haley's naked fawning for future political contributions in her bizarre paean to Kush and Lady MacTrump, neither have shown any ability to do the people's work.
The two are similar in the lacking a soul, as is the Dread Tyrant Trump, they just are not blowhards.
14
Kushner does need to lose the effete, sniffing pose, and retire from public life, the role of Scrooge McDuck is begging for a West End revival. I do worry about the witch's brew of genetic material in the offspring, but perhaps he and Ivanka are nurturing parents.
8
Jared and company are both just second and third generation New World Aristocrats propped up by family money. And their future depends not on their abilities but their money. When their money runs out so will their title.
19
"Fan Boy"? Jokes on you (and us) Bruni-Kushner is functioning more like the Consigliere of the Trump Family, and being sent to Riyadh to secure the payoffs and lucre, after the Boss-of-Bosses gave their client state assurances of cover for their clumsy hit on Khashoggi. Surly, you must realize by now Frank, when comparing brazenness, that the Trumps make the Corleone look like the Mickey Mouse Club.
11
STOP! STOP! STOP! We are exhausted. Are we not allowed any respite from this den of thieves and toxic vermin? November 7th can't come soon enough but then, I forgot, we'll be blasted by DJT"s "It's not my fault."
17
Like Father in Law like Son in Law.
12
The single most significant difference between MBS and Jared is this: since birth MBS has been preparing for his time on the world stage, Jared got the idea he could make money in politics around June 2015.
Jared got played by MBS just like his father-in-law.
13
The scandal isn't that Jared Kushner paid almost no income tax for years. It's that the tax laws allow him, and the super-rich like him, to do so.
On the other hand, I have to admit to saying to myself, "Hey! Wait a minute! I have a pair of (35-year-old) tassle loafers!
6
Jared Kushner doesn't have moral laryngitis. He doesn't have morals. Big difference.
26
From where Frank Bruni sit's it just shows he will never move in the same circles as JK.
Never mind it's nice to dream of better things.
Frank Bruni. Good column today; a little petty, but largely spot on. Only one suggestion: I'm certain you meant to say "epic tax avoider" rather than "epic tax evader." The former is legal while the latter is not.
3
As a Trump voter, the single most infuriating action he has taken as president was to 1: give Jared and Ivanka WH positions and 2: proceed to follow their horrendous advice.
7
Could this finally be the straw that breaks Trump’s camel’s back? Fingers crossed.
3
Just another brick in the wall. Trump & Co. has totally discredited the idea that the USA is an exceptional nation, a shining city on the hill, a beacon of morality.
All that religiosity is now rendered void.
Personally I am happy that political hypocrisy has been eliminated. All that remains is to remove "under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance and stop all swearing in ceremonies.
And one more thing. Tax ALL THE CHURCHES.
16
Mr. Kushner is not "an epic tax evader" simply because the tax law treats his sources of income very favorably. He has no obligation or reason to pay more than the law requires.
2
I beg to differ, Joel. It’s called a “loophole” because it is not supposed to be there — it was an unintended way out.
And
considering how
Many millions of everyone else’s tax dollars have been spent, and continue to be spent, on public services (including Secret Service and military, WH staff, NYPD) that ensure his and his family’s safety and security, not to mention their comfort and, say, their ability to get safe medicine (FDA) and health care (NIH) and if they chose education for their children, and the many many public services and agencies that allow his buildings to remain standing (e.g., NYFD), Yes, he SHOULD be contributing to those expenses. The fact that all he does is take and use, while providing little or no benefit to society in any way, like a parasite, and that people like you think it’s fine is exactly what is wrong in America.
And it belies any confidence in “trickle-down” economics and its false promise to “raise all boats” — super rich taking from public coffers while contributing absolutely nothing. King Kushner and his Joel’s...
21
But, didn't Nikki Haley say that Jared was some sort of underestimated "foreign relations genius???" LOL. I am fond of Andrew Sullivan's term, "the princeling" to describe Jared. Doesn't that say it all? The new normal, as per the White House, is that there are no repercussions for bad behavior, illegal behavior, and immorality. Gotta run...have to pay all my taxes and student loans.
16
I am a political conservative, but have been embarrassed by the "talent" brought in by this administration, such as Mr. Kushner. The harm they have done is multiple - both from bungled governance as well as squandering the opportunity to demonstrate how prudent, seasoned, and experienced political leaders can advance a sorely needed alternative agenda. We now have to face down the ridicule here and abroad that this new Versailles is the best we have to offer, and it most certainly is not. How many underperforming administrations of both parties must we endure.
7
At 37, Jared Kushner is a cipher, the world's oldest little boy, a manling who has been educated and promoted far beyond his limited abilities. If not for his accidental birth into wealth, Jared would be the guy delivering your pizza tonight.
By now, a person with talents commensurate with Jared's opportunities would have become a political force to be reckoned with in the White House if not the nation. But then, we all know that Jared is no Bobby Kennedy.
I recently found proof of Kusher's incompetence in one of his rare on-camera interviews. Did Jared direct his comments to the camera audience or to the interviewer the way a seasoned operative would? No, he looked at and spoke to the microphone as if it were a sock puppet. To make matters worse, he was not a forceful speaker, opting to ramble on and on instead of expressing himself concisely. Is it any wonder they keep him in the background like the hapless little waif he is?
24
Thank you, Frank, for your direct and assertive characterization of one of their “best and brightest.” Perhaps Jared will eventually be charged with tax fraud. Perhaps not. But his entitlement, self-importance, lack of skill and poor judgment contribute to nothing but his net worth. GET OUT THE VOTE!
14
Does Bruni know of a single person who has a very serious tax bill who does not employ tax lawyers and experts so that they can pay as less tax as possible. Does he think that upstanding citizens such as Michael Bloomberg or Warren Buffet fill out their own tax returns, paying whatever it seems to them they would have to pay. The idea that there are people who do not employ the services of tax experts in order to minimize their tax bill, who believe that using a tax loophole is unethical and would not go along with their lawyers recommendations is preposterous.
In addition a "tax evader" is a person who evades taxes. And what constitutes tax evasion is layed out in the law, as it is also a crime. Bruni's belief that paying taxes is not just a legal obligation, but also a social and ethical one is not shared by anyone for whom this "ethical obligation" is going to obligate them to give the government tens of millions of dollars. And this includes Bruni himself who would not pay millions more in taxes to fulfil this social obligation.
1
@Michael Stavsen
Spoken like a probable tax lawyer or other advisor looking for clients. And spoken like a sheltered rich kid who’s never even tried to imagine what it’s like to be middle or low income.
Dude, most people can’t afford such loophole finding advisors, are not rich enough to itemize or to be able to curry hundred-million dollar loans (through the help of the White House Daddy in Law) the purpose of which is to make it possible to avoid paying their fair share toward not just the public good, but even toward, say, the salaries of the military and Secret Service personnel who risk their lives 24/7 protecting the tax avoiders! Bloomberg and Buffet pay taxes and don’t seem to be engaged in business schemes specifically designed to avoid paying even a penny of taxes. They also weren’t born with a golden spoon (or shovel) as Little Jared was.
And Michael, just because one may do something does not mean one ought do it. Just because technically something happens, probably through some mistake, to be legal does not mean it is ethical to do. It once was legal to force other human being into brutal slavery, and in Saudi Arabia it appears to be legal to saw off a woman’s head because she peacefully protested the Royal oppression of her people — are you prepared to defend those “legal” practices as well? Shame on you and shame on those elitely ethics-evading would-be princes whom you support and defend.
18
There is a reason Trump never assigned ambassadors to Turkey or Saudi Arabia: they represent far too much potential as real estate investors to be left to the State Department.
And Nikki Haley left the UN , with a special acknowledgment of Kushner's "quiet genius", just in time to avoid the blowback of the Trump over-up in the Khassoggi murder.
I think the record will show that Kushner is dumb as a post , and like Trump, would have been hard pressed to find work of any kind ( other than crime) without his father pulling some strings.
24
Kushner is a pretty boy, as well as an empty suit. Fittingly, he married into the trump family another princely abode. With both the trumps and the kushner's worlds, ability have nothing to do with performing any job. Being a prince is all that is necessary.
11
Re: Nikki Haley’s recent comment on the “genius” of Jared Kushner. I recall that literally just a few days ago the NYT Editorial Board ran a glowing elegy of Ms. Haley upon her “resignation “. I suspect that the Editorial Board has some new members who are former (or current) employees of Rupert Murdoch. Or perhaps the Editorial Board is feeling pressure from conservative advertisers to the NYT. My subscription to the NYT is purely optional. No one is forcing me to subscribe. My thought is, if NYT upper management is developing the ethics of Fox News or the WSJ, I might as well save money by canceling my NYT subscription & start watching Fox News. Same thing.
6
In the battle between morals and money, money trumps every time.
5
Are we so powerless that we can not find way to remove this unqualified man.
Kushner doesn't belong in our White House. He shouldn't be allowed access to any information.
He and Mrs need to go…………………………..
15
"It is better to remain silent & be thought a fool, than to speak & remove all doubt."
too bad trump hasn't heard of this saying.
9
Oh yes, Jared the Grand Reinventor: his only successes in this department involve making sure to bring to the White House inexperience dressed up as expertise, obscurantism primped up as transparency, ignorance clothed in blather, and deep ugliness wrapped in slickness. Of course he's not really reinventing, but simply plagiarizing his father-in-law. All dolled up, is our Jared, and ready to do whatever it takes to line his silk pockets and those of the Great Pretender.
10
Kushner has learned well from his father in law. Take advantage of and use every ploy in the book to avoid paying your fair share. Life after all is all about ones bank account, decency and integrity be damned. If nothing else this cabal of billionaire grifters has shown us all exactly en how morally bankrupt the elite classes are. But then most of us already knew that, we just didn't get to see it close up before. Money does not make the man. It keeps criminals rich and out of prison.
11
Ivanka married her father. Kushner is the younger version of Trump, cut from the same cloth and just a sleazy as the rest of the Trumps. May they all be in jumpsuit orange soon and cameras rolling on their perp walks.
13
According to emerging reports, Mr. Bruni may have gotten two things out of order. He writes that Khashoggi is believed to have been "tortured, murdered and dismembered in the Saudi consulate in Istanbul." However, apparently Khashoggi was tortured, dismembered, and THEN murdered. As in, dismembered while he was still alive. Such horrific distinctions are important.
5
Jared’s financial activity should be scrutinized especially his entanglements with the Saudis. It seems like both Jared and Donald are acting in a suspicious manner to protect MBS and to gloss over the facts of the disappearance.
10
Some people, especially Republicans, think that not paying taxes is a great achievement. I think not paying taxes is unpatriotic. As a citizen of one of the great democracies in the world I am happy to pay taxes to support my country. I cringe when I see advertisements on TV where people happily announce how they were able to get out of paying their taxes.
Although I am proud to pay my taxes I absolutely resent those that don’t pay their taxes, especially the rich that benefit so disproportionately from living in this country. Remember, when your fellow countrymen don’t pay taxes, you get stuck with the bill. If everyone paid their fair share of taxes the bill would be lower for everyone and we would have good infrastructure, good education and health care for all like all other first world nations. Be proud of your country and pay your taxes and demand that everyone else does too!
14
MBS may indeed be the right horse to bet on in Saudi Arabia; who knows. My objection to Kushner's involvement there--and, frankly, everywhere in the Administration--is that he's totally without experience, whether in foreign policy, politics, governance or life. To make this person a senior advisor to an inexperienced, ignorant President was an absolutely terrible idea. Throwing him into the ring with the Palestinian and Israeli leaderships and with the Saudi ruling family, all of whom are experienced, worldly politicians, military leaders and operatives was a recipe for failure. If Kushner were actually smart, he would have declined all of these briefs, asked for just one domestic policy issue to lead on--say, the opiod problem or student debt--and focused on that issue and on learning about government at the highest level.
6
The biological science of cloning creates an identical duplicate of the original. That same science did not account for the cloning of a non-fraternal being. Cloning via social science, however, did.
3
Here's a problem.
Let us stipulate (if there is a God, I hope she's paying attention) that Mueller has the goods on Kushner and, in all likelihood, Trump.
Then, having so stipulated, we observe that Mueller is biding his time so as to avoid the reality or appearance of taking action that might affect this critical midterm election.
That, folks, is insanity.
It's like withholding the information that your daughter's prom date is a serial killer because you don't want to ruin the dance.
This is the time - NOW - for indictments of those at the top (if they are merited) and a full report, so that we Americans can cast fully informed votes in the most important election of my lifetime.
This idea of polite deference may lead to the downfall of our republic.
5
There was a report this morning that Jared refused to speak with a reporter on his plane. The Secret Service blocked the reporter’s camera and told him he was inappropriate. As expected Jared left without a word. Privilege is a curse sometimes. Poor Jared wants to be treated like a dictator instead of an advisor to the President.
8
So much space devoted in the New York Times covering the “immorality” of wealthy people who pay little if anything in taxes. For seemingly partisan reasons, the coverage is always about Republicans such as Romney and Trump, but it’s fair to say that very wealthy Democrats such as the Clintons also pay little in taxes. Why does the Times continue to lead its readers astray in making this an issue of “morality?” The issue is that we have an inequitable tax structure which has created terrible income inequality and is steadily turning our middle class, which used to have the highest standard of living in the world, into a lower class to line the pockets of the wealthy. Please, cover THAT story.
The Clintons paid $3.6 Million in taxes in 2016, an effective rate of 34%, which is higher than mine, much higher than the 0% Trump paid, and the NEGATIVE tax Kushner "paid" - he got a refund on top of paying no federal tax. This kind of whataboutism using falsehoods is the shame of our politics, and makes us a laughingstock to the world.
15
Jared's doing o k with that Russian money. The rubles have been cleaned and readied for "legitimate" use.
6
Jarad is at least smart enough to see the long game (probably pointed out to him by Daddy) of the real estate value of the Gaza Strip. Except for the annoyance of all those Palestinians, there lies the next Riviera!
And the Palestinians? Cheap labor for the resorts, a diaspora to be watched for trouble makers and certainly a minority to be dealt with creatively. Financing? How about opium - I’m sorry, OPM (other people’s money), and who would they be....?
6
This is what happens to people born and brought up in a dimension unrelated to reality.
5
I am at the opposite end of the political spectrum and abhor the current administration and Mr. Kushner's role. However, characterizing his income tax return as tax evasion is far outside your knowledge base. At worst it is completely false and wrong to characterize someone as "like father like son."
At best it is pure speculation without facts.
Have you or the tax lawyers/accountants who reviewed the return also reviewed and performed at least a cursory audit? I expect not. The IRS will do its job and find discrepancies.
Until then I think you owe your readers and Mr. Kushner a retraction or an acknowledgment that you don't have the facts or knowledge to disparage Mr. Kushner.
I worked as a tax lawyer for more than 30 years and you haven't scratched the surface of what is required to make your statement.
1
Did Nero have a son in law who passed around the tip bucket as he played, always making sure to take his cut off the top? I don't recall it being mentioned; but if he did, I'm sure the two met the same end. Of course there were a lot of innocents that went down in that fire; I always cared a lot more about them, and wondered if they'd been warned? But then, what can you do when you're watching an Emperor lose his mind and all the soldiers guarding him don't appear to care?
3
The actions of this Administration have been referred to as, new norms. Breech of protocol is a more accurate description. There was a reason for a chain of command that led to the White House. Presently it's the reverse, ignore proven information and create an alternate reality and everyone adapt to that. Protocol was violated by Kushner, Trump, Flynn, Manafort, the entire cabal before the inauguration and was allowed to become a run a way train.
A dismantled State Department created power in the inexperienced, opportunistic and arrogant hands of Kushner. Violating protocol, assuming their personal interaction and wisdom is more effective, created the international chaos this country is faced with on all continents.
It is a national disgrace and the Republicans are just as responsible for their participation in destruction of American ideals and the lack of respect and trust of our allies.
9
America is a plutocracy, is open for business and as long as the republicans continue to surrender or suspend their moral values, America will stay the most legally corrupt country on earth.
10
You have to admit though that his tactic of punishing the Palestinians until the Israelis give in is a master stroke. The kid is brilliant, huh?
1
Evil people are just evil. They have no morals. So what is all the uproar about these rich, self-centered cretins not having morals. It is expected that they not have morals. They are evil.
5
Jared Kushner is someone who really doesn't deserve an opinion piece in NYT.
6
At times Jared Kushner is a comedic punch line: "Why did the chicken cross the road? Jared Kushner!" When I look at (to quote John Oliver) "Nothing Boy", I say to myself: why does this guy exist? And, why do I have to know about his existence? This is a guy who takes stupidity to ever new depths. But it's not his stupidity that baffles me, but the fact that there are people who think this guy, a guy who never talks or writes, is smart. Seriously, have you heard him speak, I just assume his voice is that of Gilbert Gottfried's, but annoying. Jared Kushner embodies the Dunning Kruger effect, which explains everything about this administration.
9
"And therefore, not as a journalist but as an American citizen, I am sickened to watch my own president and his secretary of state partnering with Saudi officials to concoct a cover story."
The above is quoted from Tom Friedman's piece. It is one with Frank Bruni's criticism of Jared Kushner, and echoes the NYT official anti-Saudi editorial.
So much for the "separation" at the Times between the editorial dept., the op-ed page, and "hard news."
Anyway, the selective criticism of Saudi Arabia, and the apoplectic outrage, is merely another Left wing paroxysm of hypocrisy.
The real issue is Iran. The Iran which promises a nuclear bomb within a few years, on top of a ballistic missile capable of hitting Jerusalem or anywhere in Europe. The next North Korea, with an Islamic fascist twist. The Iran which currently is waging a slow-bruing war throughout the Middle East, from Lebanon to Syria to Yemen to the Persian Gulf.
This is the Iran which Obama sought to placate at the expense of the Saudis. This is the Iran to which the US paid hostage ransom. This is the Iran whose oppression of journalism and journalists is so complete as to result in mass arrest, torture, fatwas approving death, and countless "disappearances."
But you won't read about Iran's abuses in the NYT today.
Because today, the Left wishes to use Kashoggi to take down the Saudis.
When it comes to Iran, the NYT, its editorials, its columnists, and its op-ed contributors, lose their collective voice.
2
Another U.S. traitor controlled by Israel and spending U.S. tax money in support of Israel.
7
What a despicable person you are Mr Bruni. Your envy and contempt show in every word in this column. Are you telling me you don’t take advantage of any legal ways to save on your taxes? I don’t see any charges brought up, so why even mention that? What was the point of this column?
2
Jared is worthless in his role because he, like his FIL, us totally unqualified. It's not mean or hateful to point this out, along with the sleazy ways he avoids paying taxes like the rest of us. There's nothing about this administration that is not hateful, bigoted, and talentless.
8
Jared is a man of no discernsble talents except thinking he married well. He is and his family’s actions flout Jewish teachings, and his in-laws make a mockery of Christian ones. Welcome to the Donald J. Trash dynasty.
10
Wow. That’s angry.
2
There's not much good to be said about Jared Kushner. And I keep wondering why on earth he wasn't investigated for tax evasion years ago. Oh, wait! He and his mob friends are all rich. He and his mob friends make their money off the backs of the rest of us. But yet, we go on paying our taxes, working day in and day out, riding the crumbling subway system while Mr. Kushner does what appears to be absolutely nothing of value with his life. Question: when do we hit a tipping point with this? When do people say, "I'm not paying my taxes till Trump, Kushner and all those other slime balls who are living basically off welfare, pay their taxes? In China, their biggest movie star may be going to jail for tax evasion. She has been publicly shamed and shut out of future work until she pays her taxes. Somebody from the NY Attorney General's office needs to stand up and do something about this creep Kushner.
10
Prince Jared’s enthroned in the White House
But his power derives from his spouse
Since his exploits are few
At least those we can view
His behavior’s like that of a mouse
3
Why are we allowing this odious priceling to represent us in Mideast peace? Is this some kind of twilight zone joke? The media is way too soft in Kushner, because this guy gives new meaning to the word graft.
He’s cruel. He cut off aid to Palestinian refugees, including aid to Christian hospitals in Jerusalem. He didn’t express a scintilla of concern as Palestinan protestors were being slaughtered at the border while he and his bride were sipping champagne with Sheldon Adelson and Netanyahu at the shiny new embassy. Why do we give rich Israel $billions a year and then cut off Palestinian Christians and Muslims living in poverty?
I’m disgusted. And now we have this friendship with the prince/butcher of Saudi Arabia and our boy prince from Livingston NJ. He shared our security secrets with the Saudi butcher. He extorted loans from Qatar. He asked MBS for $100 for his family start up, Cadre. LOCK HIM UP.
8
Kushner is emblematic of the farcical new royal family that has been given the blessings of the have nots in aMErica. Voters so hated Hillary and "libtards" they attached themselves to a con man conspicuous consumer and the prince of privilege. Trump took advantage of heartland rage and masqueraded as a working class hero. Hopefully midnight is approaching and the masks will come off to expose the biggest of the big lies.
5
This particular swamp creature even looks damp.
3
To channel Marvin Gaye, Make me wanna holler. All us middle class chumps paying taxes so they can have their tax cuts. Make me wanna holler.
5
He could have asked his buddies in the region to take on the 'wet-work' which they are usually good at. Or maybe after Dubai and the videos and tennis rackets etc, not
1
Between the two, Ivanka has the brains.
2
@Gary Cohen that's because she has managed to slip under the legal and ethical radar....but her day will come. i'm sure of it.
6
Why should Jared not be the special one, Mr Bruni? He is touted as exceptionally talented, not your mainstream establishment sharp thinker. He is the solution and go to man of strategic thinking. What's wrong with having the best Jewish brains advising President Trump and getting both front and back doors access to regimes that are difficult - Russia, Saudi Arabia?
The Trump team is the best.
Jared Kushner is joined at the hip with two scummy MIddle Easterners: Netanyahu and MBS. THe first is the target of criminal proceedings in Israel, the other, among other things, is a cold blooded killer. HIs father in law is similarly joined with these two low lifes. Jared is silent about MBS and the calumny that occurred in The Saudi consulate in Turkey. HIs father in law, Trump, states that the Saudi king and MBS have told him that they know nothing about the murder in Turkey.
Indeed, Trump is now spinning a yarn, echoing the lie that the Saudis are now fostering, that this may have been a 'rogue' operation. Of course I expect no less of the president and his syncophants. However, I was appalled to see a photo of SecState Pompeo smiling with MBS. Cold blooded murder appalls decent people. Oh what a tangled web we weave.
3
All talk has vanished it seems of Jared's Middle East Peace Plan.
That is probably because the Saudis figured so prominently therein, i.e., part of the bulwark against Iran, hosts of an international peace conference that would exchange recognition of Israel for tracts of West Bank land to the Palestinians.
What the NYT may not be aware of is that there are scores of Jared mini-mes running amok in the foreign policy establishment. Delicate little things with no experience who have been put in positions of importance.
A NYT investigation would turn up some fascinating material.
4
What a gene pool those Trump and Kushner kids have and now they're intermingling.
5
How's solving the national opioid crisis going? Isn't
Jared in charge of that?
2
Let's not forget that Jared was supposed to heal the rift between Israel and Palestine because Benjamin Netanyahu was a guest in his parents' home when he was a kid.
2
Did Khashoggi have some dirt on a Kushner? Was Jared aware of the assassination plans? Is that why the US failed to act on intelligence? Is it why Nikki Haley quit? It is why she delivered that non sequitur parting pronouncement on a Kushner? Was her seeming praise actually a dig?
No one tells us anything.
2
Don't be so mean to poor Jared. He's the smartest one in the Trump administration.
1
boy prince jared has no moral compass and neither does his glittering wife. jared was taught to grift by his father and ivanka who is really managing to slide under the ethics radar, was taught to grift by the greatest grifter of them all. one day, maybe not today or next year or the year after, but one day...justice will be served. may it be mueller presenting the platter in the form of an indictment.
3
Its actually quite easy to understand these people. They are pure self interest and greed. Nobody else matters. Its such an ethos that it is difficult to understand even for "normal" level sociopaths and old fashioned mafia bosses. The drug dealer big-shots often have a level of Robin Hood-ism in them, like the old little Italy Don Corleones making money for excluded ethnicities and protecting their kind. These people trumps and kushners are way beyond that, they care about nobody except their own criminal selves.
1
Can't fault him for legally not paying taxes and if mideast peace plan fails at least he tried realistically. He and Ivanka are lightweights re exp but it's still early. Another 2 or 6 years will be telling
1
If it were about qualifications in the first place, neither Jared, many cabinet members, nor even Trump himself would be in their present positions. So, clearly, it isn't about that. What it is about is trust, something Trump willingly dispenses in all the wrong places for all the wrong reasons.
Trump appoints Jared and Ivanka...family, not America, first! Trump excuses the Saudis in spite of their horrific behavior...they are a family enterprise. Trump loves Kim Jong Un, who appoints his sister to a high government post...they are a family enterprise. Trump cowers at Putin...he is fabulously wealthy after a lifetime career ostensibly in public service...money talks, borscht walks.
We are watching "All in the Family" redux, except this version is not a comedy. Trump is President Archie and Jared is an obsequious, updated version of Meathead. Why the sponsors keep supporting this show is beyond me.
1
No mention of the Cyprus connection? The Bank of Cyprus, Wilbur Ross and Russian oligarchs. The same Russians who purchased trump condos that sit empty. Who have iou’s on Kushner that dangle “he’s my puppet” to toy with? In hock to the devil with a “hall pass” security clearance. TS-SCI and how loose lips pay off the notes.
It’s not treason, it’s business, trump style.
2
This is what I'd call a "Bruni Burn". Don't mince words, tell us what you really think. Best assessment on Jared ever!
6
N-__-P-O-T-I-S-M
Anybody for a vowel?
1
Jared Kushner is the key to the pro-Israeli donors - Sheldon Adelson, for one - which includes not just Jews but evangelicals - and their support and campaign financing for the re-election of Donald Trump.
Without his sole motivation of supporting Israel and Benjamin Netanyahu, Trump would lose millions of dollars in donations to his campaign. That is all you need to know to understand why Jared Kushner is in the White House.
MBS has pledged support for Israel; QED, Jared's BFF.
2
Have Jared & Ivanka gone on another “vacation” yet?
1
Jared...the Leona "Only the Little People Pay Taxes" Helmsley of the Trump Administration is less than meets the eye and marinated in privilege. Cannot wait for these folks to go back to NYC ...in pin stripes or prison stripes.
2
Jared is a perfect fit for this amoral administration. There was a time when I believed..... I guess naively that there was someone, anyone in the Republican (Senate and the House) with a small amount of ethical blood in their veins. Now I am totally convinced that there is only ruthless, conniving mifia type men that's running this country. Our only hope is to vote these people out of office.
2
Hardly exclusive to Jared - and Ivanka - moral laryngitis is pandemic among 85% of the GOP
3
AND NOT ONCE did the republicans question their existence in the white house
2
Laryngitis is manifested by hoarse speech.
Kushner has no speech, aphonia, which is a neurologic or psychiatric problem.
3
What can one say? Whilst reading the column I was at one point a bit confused. The description of daddy buying this 'n' that and tax avoidance is so like President the Donald. No wonder Ivanka fell for him! Hotel address 666?! Sounds like a Jules Feiffer title. Sadly for us however, you just can't make this stuff up.
1
Kushner could be the band leader of the “me, myself, and I” crowd, but by seniority, Trump,Sr., has that title locked down. Tack onto that a hefty dose of inherited income and you end up with a pompous, can do no wrong personality. A perfect son in law for the King of sleaze, lying, blaming, breaking the law, and philandering. Its always the other guys fault. This crowd is right out of the movie “Scent of a Woman”, “You call him a Baird man”.
1
The entire story of Donald Trump and his family is too bizarre to be true. The more we find out about each adult family member, the more this seems like a bad movie script for a comedy about nincompoops and charlatans.
Donald Trump is the nasty charlatan-in-chief, who turns out to be amazingly ignorant about many fundamental facts and who has been living a lie for years about being a self-made billionaire.
We thought that son, Eric Trump, was the court jester, but then the role seemed better for Don, Jr.
We find out, however, that the clown is son-in-law Jared Kushner, who arrived with accolades about his near-genius intellect and business acumen. He actually is nothing but a bumbler who manages to mismanage everything.
If not for the human wreckage this family leaves in their wake, it would be hilarious.
Now we have Kushner plotting and scheming with his new best friend, Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who we now realize is an axe murderer by proxy.
America, we put these characters in office. What are we going to do about it?
2
"I understand how quickly a horde of the most gullible have been trained to hate this man who has sacrificed time for the country that he could have spent adding to his considerable wealth."
1st, I don't hate the man I hate what he stands for. - a person of privilege who is the peter principle in full bloom. He is the envoy to Israel tasked to bring peace b/c he's Jewish. He's given various gov't postions of power b/c he's the son-in-law of the president not b/c he posseses any skills, intelligence, or experience that provide a modicum of confidence that he can do any of those jobs.
2nd, what sacrifices has he made on behalf of his country? Seems he has benefitted financially from his proximity to the president. The financial disaster of 666 5th Ave. was bailed out by either the UAE or the Saudis in exchange for selling out our ally Qatar. His net worth has grown since becoming a "senior advisor" to the prez. The result of that bail out may well be the basis for a U.S. resident journalist's death. A priceless amont to pay for his greed.
Finally, it appears the gullible are those who believe the likes of the Trump family have or will sacrifice a thing for this country. Their disdain for gov't service & patriotism is palpable. Their desire to destroy the very institutions they pillage for their personal gain is contemptible not laudable. I join the millions of people who can't wait for the country to be done with this horde of grifters known as the Trump family.
6
“Behind every great fortune, there is a crime.” (Balzac)
2
Just to level set, weren’t most of the 9-11 hijackers Saudi? And shouldn’t folks be reminded of that fact at this pivotal point?
8
What is terrifying about this administration is those individuals who have really worked a job do not last long; those who have never worked a job are rewarded with inside access to the President. I define working a job as someone who has spent years in an industry, demonstrated consistent performance in that industry, and is a student of that industry ---Rex Tillerson and Gary Cohen would fall into that category--but they are gone. But Kushner, Ivanka, Miller..they stay on. We are playing a dangerous game when the best and brightest have left the administration, at all levels and the resume draw is empty.
Jared may be many things he clearly enjoys - rich and getting richer on the backs of the poor, famous, powerful - but he remains a byword for nepotism, and regardless of anything else, even good intent, that makes him a joke. Come the end of Trump, I cant see anything but heightened scrutiny and ongoing outrage, and I get the sense there are illegalities in those many millions.
1
It isn’t that Jared is unsuccessful-it is that his claimed goals are just cover for cementing relations to make money. So the cover story collapses - as far as Jared goes, so what?
2
Ok, I remember that Jared accepted responsibility to bring peace to the Middle East and reorganize the US government. Wasn’t there some other little task he also agreed to handle?
Save polar bears?
Make cars fly?
Hand out pretty bootstraps, designed by Ivanka’s company and manufactured in Indonesia, to all those weak little American poor people who have not yet learned to pull themselves up by bootstraps and need some exercise to get where he (who inherited millions) is?
That’s nice.
1
People that don't pay their fair share of taxes are traitors to America.
$0 is not a fare share.
Yes, it is legal to use loopholes and strategies and lawyers to reduce your taxes, but to pay nothing at all is un-American.
A true patriot supports their country. In order to have roads, schools, a military, hospitals, police and such, tax revenue is needed and we all have the duty to contribute.
People like Kushner are mooches.
Cheapskates.
Welfare queens.
Expecting others to pay while they get a free ride.
Jared and his father-in-law Trump have no problem holding their hand out to the government, asking for tax relief and subsidies and grants for their business properties.
Yet Jared, Trump and probably the rest of the Trump family pay not one thin dime to support America.
Trump stands there, with his hand constantly out, billing the government for every item consumed or used by Secret Service at his properties. A tidy profit with every golf outing.
Vote Democratic on November 6th.
Every seat, every office.
Changing Majorities in Congress is our best course of action.
Vote.
7
New York has had real estate moguls who detested paying taxes with the late Leona Helmsley supposedly saying, "We don't pay taxes; only the little people pay taxes."
The difference between the likes of Helmsley and Trump and Jared Kushner is that she and her husband were not so deep in debt they had to rely on unsavory characters to bail them out. Also, the Helmsleys didn't rely on their parents' wealth to be successful. Harry Helmsley was a self-made billionaire.
Jared is where he is because of his father and father-in-law. To call him a genius, as Amb. Haley, recently did is cringe-worthy and an insult to the real geniuses.
1
I really have nothing against the Kushner’s. They act like most made millionaires, that they are never wrong, that they are better than most, above the law and entitled to whatever they want. What kills me is they are on the taxpayers payroll and called senior advisors. That is trump telling all of America and the world " see I am the king and can do what I want".
3
I have not read an accusation of criminal behavior in his avoiding taxes. Lots of assumptions in this column about what goes on behind the scenes and hating the rich for being rich. Jared isn’t the only one who thinks the Saudis are the key to containing many problems in the Middle East.
1
1. The perpetual smug smirk on his face says it all.
2. His 'gullibility' re MBS puts a positive spin on the killing: more likely the whole Trump crime family strongly approves of the silencing of press critic Kashoggi (but abashed only by the clumsy way it was done).
3. His non-payment of taxes is more a condemnation of the corrupt Congress' rotten tax code (the best Congress money can buy).
1
I think the criticism is too extreme. Why was Kushner's acceptance to Harvard any worse than many others like it? Kushner didn't achieve less at Harvard than many others like him? Huge tax deductions result from indebtedness from equally huge building projects the income from which benefits the government in other tax monies from corporate clients. The Saudi-Israeli de facto alliance represents a very worthwhile new constellation of forces in the Middle East, which I believe will yet benefit Arabs as well as Israelis.
A public friendship between an Orthodox Jew and a Muslim monarch is wonderfully symbolic about the dissolution of age-old hatreds. Kushner's marriage to Ivanka Trump appears to be very wholesome, a model for all Americans. An earlier anti-Kushner column of Frank Bruni, whom I otherwise admire greatly, resulted in 95% overwhelmingly negative letters. I believe Jared Kushner deserves better.
1
@Edward R. Levenson
I believe Jarad deserves better too, but it takes a while to get the Tar up to the appropriate temperature and consistency.
1
@Edward R. Levenson
No, it's not extreme. There's nothing in his resume nor his current actions are worthy of praise. Jared is incompetent. He is not qualified to operate the deep fryer at KFC.
I remain permanently astonished that such an unqualified man, an unelected man and one whose position is so obviously afforded by nepotism, is allowed to remain in a high position and afforded such power.
1
How far we have fallen as a nation to turn a blind eye not only to the blatant corruption of this administration but the empowering of inept neophytes masquerading as advisors to a floundering catastrophic administration.
If the placement of Kushner and Ivanka Trump was some feeble attempt to put a positive spin on the vulgar antics of the Oval Office it is a horrible joke destined to backfire.
Just because they are better groomed or might have better table manners don't mistake them for what they are:Parasites.
4
Long overdue. Not this editorial but the comeuppance of Prince JK who indeed lives in a gilded cage. Time to use your wings and fly south, certainly an apt metaphor for where this administration needs to head also. Not to demean the South but anywhere but D.C. Go blue wave. Bravo Bruni!
Let’s not forget that Jared is enabled not only by his father-in-law but Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan. Don’t forget Nikki Haley who called him a genius on her way out. It takes a village.
1
Like father-in-law, like son-in-law. Had Donald Trump ever accepted responsibility for anything that has gone wrong? He already said that if Republicans lose in November, it is not his fault.
1
I think one is required to depreciate business property and taxes on gains in value are deferred until the asset is sold. CPA's on here agree? So give that one a rest.
To deafen the audience when talking about achievements reak or false and to go deaf when your mistakes are mentioned sounds familiar. Like father-in-law, like son-in-law.
9
There is another take on this. In this administration, nothing is wrong unless you get caught and it seems Jared is not as accomplished as the president at not getting caught. But is that his fault? The Saudis aren't all that good at not getting caught either, apparently. It just doesn't seem fair to hold an unelected official to the same standard as the president.
2
I understand how quickly a horde of the most gullible have been trained to hate this man who has sacrificed time for the country that he could have spent adding to his considerable wealth.
This tells me that if there indeed are people determined to wreck the Constitution and our governmental structure, they'll never lack for soldiers - as long as the emotion-trained never have to figure anything out mentally.
They can wearmasks and commit violence, but when faced with conflicting results, they'll all be on their phones waiting for directions.
3
What is wrong with analyzing and so criticizing his behavior, public and private? He’s a top gov’t official, responsible for setting policy.
He’s used our weakened tax laws for his outsized benefit, which while not a crime, does betray a degree of corruption, which is sadly not uncommon. I’d say the same for liberals who have abused their privileges, and there are plenty.
38
This man took a position for work he has no qualifications for that provided opportunities to find much needed money for a very large investment that wasn't going well.
36
@L'osservatore: Yes, I may have to agree with you that he works very hard - trying to cover the hole he created in his private business with debts due soon in 2019 with promises and a wink in the eye done deals, at the nation's expenses.
21
Someone once told me that the world was run by C students. I laughed at that but not anymore.
87
This is really for all journalists, not particularly Mr Bruni, whose writing and observations are usually very good.
I propose we stop calling Mohammad bin Salman 'MBS'. That is sort of an American thing reserved for some of our most famous politicians and sports stars. This man does not deserve a hip moniker like 'MBS'. Of course his name is long and difficult to remember, but we owe our culture and our intellect more than making this person a folk hero. Sure it is a few more letters to type, but I think it is worth it to dethrone him from having a popular image.
So I am fine with bin Salmon. That is only nine letters: not so hard is it? We have had the MJQ Quartet, MJ, LBJ, FTD, TDR, but not this person please.
38
Yes yes yes. Let’s not turn him into Jared’s Middle Eastern cool wing man. Next he’ll be sporting skinny ties n encouraging his wife to mimic the bedroom modulated (phony) whispery speak of the complicit Mrs Kushner
With the exception of the First Lady Melania, few if any have shown any moral strengths within the Trump Family. The President sadly leads his family by example and it it is a sad path.
the same can be said of those that work for him in his private business and most alarmingly those he choses to run our Government.
7
@Mitchell J
Why are we "excepting Malania"?!?! She is equally as debased as the "family" she was bought into. A birther, only believes women are assaulted if they have "very hard evidence" wore a ridiculous/nasty coat on her supposed "good will" trip to the border to speak w/children her husband unnecessarily imprisoned, worked on a tourist visa, brought her parents through family reunification (called chain migration and no longer allowed by her husband) and finally has the gold plated chutzpah to say "she's the most bullied person in the world...the sooner the whole lot of them are gone, and we sanitize the People's House, the better..
1
I'll certainly give this Republican Trump administration credit for at least one thing - the depravity and criminality that's revealed on a daily basis is simply breathtaking. And what we know so far can only be the tip of the iceberg. Fasten your seat belts, folks.
60
Why would we expect Jarred to be anything but morally corrupt after all he did marry into the Trump family and has a father who spent time in the pen.
Jarred and Ivanka, Ken and Barbie, just two hollow plastic dolls playing in the White House.
42
Russia owns DJT.
Saudi Arabia owns jared.
Time to move on to voting and passing subpoena power to the Democratic Party.
2019 will mark the fall of this administration and “family”.
32
The fact that this kid, yes,KID,has any position of import in our government is just one of the many disgusting aspects of this administration; it boggles the mind that his position hasn't drawn the full constant attention of our press and congress! It is a national disgrace that someone with absolutely no experience in anything remotely related has been handed serious responsibilities that affect us all. We the people and our press are guilty of allowing this. It is bad enough that his father-in-law has gotten far too many passes for all of his deplorable omissions and actions,but this kid gets to influence weighty matters without so much as a meaningful investigation.
74
I agree with you, except Jared is 37 years old, hardly a “kid” by age in my book. He has had very limited experience in his life, besides what his wealth and dubious family connections have provided. Referring to him as a kid gives almost gives him an excuse. He is an inexperienced adult in over his head, put there by nepotism and privilege.
21
@Denise
Sometimes, kid is used as a pejorative.
@Tim Lynch
trump has ZERO experience....I don't count his being a felonious "developer" as experience....They....Are...Grifters....
We NY'ers TRIED to tell them....THIS guy makes Leona Helmsley look legit... middle America, which I'm sick to death of hearing about, DID NOT LISTEN...
I am so grateful for the comment section of the NYTs.I have felt so bereft of hope with the con don show,the gutting of the EPA regs,the moron's tweets and statements about women,the glorification of the world's worst dictators...I'm so glad to know I'm not alone.We will all vote,and get as many people as we can to the polls 11/6.We will all do what we can to stop this travesty.Thank you fellow NYT's readers!
74
Amen! I read comments for moral support every day!
2
His behavior can only make his FIL proud.
7
It all makes sense if you understand his weltanschauung or worldview . For him the end must surely justify any means .
3
He is the very epitome of Wilde's Dorian Gray. Strip away the pretty boy facade and he is corruption and evil personified.
Oh, wait - is that his father-in-law??
15
I have never felt more embarrassed...actually ashamed, that my country would allow such an empty person to be in a position of significant influence.
48
The term "moral laryngitis" implies a temporary condition, whereas Jared "Me, Pay Taxes?" Kushner has proven himself to be morally bankrupt to the extreme, if not morally and ethically soulless -- the ideal son-in-law and, at 37, "senior adviser" for the despicable Donald Trump.
Given the fact that so many erstwhile Trump insiders are now cooperating with federal prosecutors in both Manhattan and Washington, a citizen can only hope that by the time they get around to showing us their mountain of evidence against Jared, Don Jr. and the president himself, the case will be ironclad.
The Trump crime family is long overdue for some extended face time with Lady Justice. But in the end, its Russian and Saudi enablers can't say they haven't gotten their money's worth many times over. All to the detriment of America.
48
The Trump family and and administration are living testimony to why our Founding Fathers created an independent district for our nation's capitol. They did not want economic and political power concentrated in the same place which at the time was our original center of government (New York City).
4
I wonder if Jared and his father-in-law use the same accountant.
15
The Martin Shkreli of the administration, this time the American public has been grossly overcharged for his services.
26
@Awake
Excellent! Thank you. You are awake.
amazing, political people not taking credit for their mistakes
example
did you ever see Mr. Obama take credit for a mistake?
How about Mr. Bush?
Mr. Clinton?
Frank, this is not unusual, why are you surprised? Or, are you?
2
I know this is an op-ed piece, but this is so sad. Frank Bruni is picking on someone through innuendo and character assassination. I have no idea if Jared is gifted and brilliant or not, but that's not the point- this column sounds like someone with personal animus towards its subject. It comes across as very petty.
It would be one thing if there was some sort of proof to some of these claims, but quoting Vanity Fair headlines isn't all that.
And that purchase on Fifth Avenue was terrible, but he's doing quite well in downtown Brooklyn. It probably evens out. But again, that's besides the point.
3
Really Jose?
Where are you living, the things stated in the op-ed can be easily verified......the way trump and his don-in-law has evaded paying taxes, if the poor or let me say the average citizen dare do anything close to that ,the way Uncle Sam would come after them and make their lives a living hell. but you have trump and his cabal getting away with cheating.
Lock him up - his mommy - his daddy - his father-in-law - lock them all up. The only sad part is that they would be living rent free at public expense.
34
You expect morality from a New York landlord? C'mon, Frank, get serious.
16
He's just a spoiled child trying to play an adult.
31
To anyone who thinks it is OK provided it is legal, you need to take some courses on ethics.
Only by calling out the inequality of our tax system, and publicly shaming those freeloaders who reap the most benefits from what is a collective economic effort, while contributing the least, both in tax dollars and real productive output, can we hope to right the wrong that is our tax code.
The richest nation in the world has the worst outcomes amongst the worlds advanced economies in any number of essential measures of success: we have the worst medical care by all measures from infant mortality to longevity to consumer satisfaction; we have the greatest income disparity between the rich and poor; we have the highest levels of child poverty; and so on. Furthermore we are not investing in education, vital infrastructure, and renewable energy development at anywhere near the levels that we should. And the Trumps, the Kushners, and any number of privileged Democrats I am sure, are not doing their part.
America does not have a spending problem, we have a revenue problem.
53
Kushner will be just fine. An entity without a larynx cannot suffer from laryngitis just as a person, like Kushner, without a moral compass or a sense of ethics is unlikely to get bothered by apparently small matters such as supporting dictators or constructing false paper losses in order to evade taxes. We should not forget that he is part of the Trump family. Cheating is in their DNA and anybody allowed to enter the circle of trust must probably exhibit the same trait.
38
Most likely he is the go to person for payoffs. Very possible.
7
Jared Kushner is not alone in his financial theft. Where is the FBI? Where is the Justice Department? Why is it that men like him never are arrested, charged, prosecuted? Oh, that's right - only the little people pay taxes.
Meanwhile, the Justice Department cuts deals with corporate chieftains who are caught cheating on taxes, polluting our lands and water, crashing our financial system, and robbing our workers of their pay. Largest theft in the country is wage theft.
Not only that, but only 100 companies are responsible for the most egregious damage from climate change. But where's our big bad federal government? I guess laws are only for the little people. Where's FDR and Eleanor Roosevelt when you need them?
37
This little dweeb is the apex of the Trump machine. He learned from the best and hopefully will go down with Trump as well.
43
Laryngitis?
Bruni is clearly no physician.
More like moral brain death.
12
A Real estate mogul using lies, hate, and spite.
Accidentally gets elected then steals everything in sight.
His son in law who's in real estate too,
also works at the white house with so much to do.
No need for credentials, experience, or tact.
He'll solve the Mideast crisis and in a few nights be back.
He'll meet many princes in the kingdom you'll see, especially that kind one they call M.S.B.
With the president's daughter, we both have so much grace. No one will notice our blank stare into space.
But all your moments are coming, all your taxes are do.
Our country needs saving, from this clown car and you.
27
Jared Kushner is a nobody who has turned into a somebody by marrying into somebody vile's family. And we're paying for his richly pampered ride.
29
You forgot to mention Nikki Haley saying Jared is an unsung genius and nobody knows how wonderful, valuable and great he is.
R-I-G-H-T. So now we have a very stable genius and an unsung genius. In their own minds, maybe.
46
I am a teacher who pays income tax, and I am proud to support public schools, the military, the National Park Service, the USDA and more. If Jared hasn't paid federal income taxes, I'll bet his father-in-law hasn't either. That's why we haven't seen them ... YET. Let's hope the Democrats sweep the House and Senate in November. It is way past time to shed light on this slimy bunch. VOTE!
65
The only blessing I see in the current Trump administration is to highlight how corrupt we are as a nation and how desperate some are to ensure the white patriarchy maintains their stranglehold on this nation.
23
Jared Kushner is just the hood ornament on this ancient shined up, but rusted throughout, Edsel of a family. Ask your parents.
17
What we now have in the White House is the worst combination of arrogance and stupidity . And it makes perfect sense that 35% of the country who are also without much of an education , stands and applauds our idiot in chief and his cohort of miserable morons ,whose arrogance has become suffocating to the rest of the American people .
History has shown us that the combination of arrogance and ignorance in leaders of the past has never amounted to anything positive. We should not expect anything else with who we have now in charge in America .
40
He's a lightweight in the ring with heavyweights. He looks punch drunk. His father-in-law, AKA the Prevaricator-in-Chief, thinks he's a golden boy 'cause he shimmies (out of rhythm, of course) to the jingle of lucre tumbling from his birthright. Pay taxes: 'forget about it...', as the fictional Tony Soprano would say. One can only wish this filthy melodrama was just the thing of HBO...
9
Goes to show how smart Gov. Haley is that she thinks he's a genius!
26
Mr. Trump could have gained a lot of credibility, good will and support if he had filled his cabinet with truly qualified and experienced people, rather than Fox hacks and large donors. Sadly, he also surrounded himself with advisors and staff who are clearly not serving the American people well. Loyalty to Trump has trumped loyalty to the people of this country.
16
All true, but unfortunately it won't matter as long as the king of Corruption and Incompetence, Trump, remains in the White House. Eventually, however, they'll send the whole country into economic ruin with their cronyism, nepotism, and general stupidity. Only then, and when it's too late, will the screw-ups truly be recognized.
19
Trump gave Kushner these assignment for a simple reason. Kushner is smart and he’s family. Trump does not trust anyone who is knowledgeable about anything important if he does not feel that he can control them. When it comes to things about which he knows little and has to choose between advisors, he becomes wary with anyone he thinks knows more than does he. He instinctively mistrusts them. But he trusts Kushner which he values more than any strangers’ expertise. So Kushner takes the jobs given and does what he thinks will do. The blind leading the blind.
10
Just another entitled spoiled brat.
20
Once more i need to run to the bathroom to deal with the damage and incompetence of the Trump clan. Sadly, sadly, so many Americans support this clan. How sick is that???!
21
Sadly, people who work in real estate get tax breaks the average citizen never dreams of. You would think that the government, which is employed by the people, would end these unfair advantages, but the well-to-do and the rich take care of each other. The rest of us struggle.
I don't know whether term limits would help; they just might get greedier. In the final accounting, IMO, I do believe Democrats do somewhat better alleviating the struggles of the people, but for some reason, many don't agree.
My personal belief is that Citizens United was a faulty decision. It has encouraged those with money to take advantage, and it has allowed many politicians to accept corruption as a way of life. It also allows the very rich to actually embrace political corruption.
Only voters can stop this trend by refusing to reelect corrupt politicians.
VOTE!!!
23
You might note that Democrats wrote the laws in New York for the advantage of real estate developers. Ho hum
3
Kvetching about Kushner (whether justified or not) is not productive. Our choices in 2016 were Mrs. Clinton (tired, rehashed, stood for nothing) and Mr. Trump (blowhard who stood for nothing except Trump). A really bad candidate got beat by a much worse candidate. And, the country is headed is headed down the sanitary facility. Lose, lose. And the columnist and his newspaper didn't help matters.
The question is: What do we do now?
6
Making a lot of money has nothing to do with innate intelligence or morality. The rich would like you to believe that it's about hard work and innovation, but it's mostly inheritance connections and outright theft.
44
This is what the best accountants that money will buy does for the country....the middle class, hard working stiff does the best they can to save after paying taxes and the Jareds get to keep almost all, for really doing nothing but exploiting tax loopholes...no surprise that over 4000 cuts in the IRS workforce are part of the 2019 budget.
15
Shouldn't he be called by the Foreign Relations Committee to reveal what he has agreed to or discussed with the Kingdom? How is it he can conduct meetings without State Dept. and/or others who actually know something being included? Doesn't there need to be some accountability for a special advisor to the president, even under this sad but true administration?
19
Why do we need an opinion of the obvious? Are we now so divided that we need a translation of the smarm and conceit that rides Mr. Kushner’s face like a mask?
11
So we all know Jared doesn’t pay taxes. The question I have is where is the single democratic politician demanding that our tax laws be changed so that everyone has to pay their fair share? No where, that’s where.
12
Second generation Kakistocrat - Imagine.....
4
Crown Prince Jared.....enough said.
4
There must be something about the kind of people that go into NYC real estate. Kushner fils and Trump are the same kind of person. Such over-weaning arrogance is common to both and the effects of that trait blended with total amorality is stunning. In the past, when bad stuff has slid down the walls of the White House, the Kushners take a skiing vacation or otherwise absent themselves. They are mute/absent now so I assume some nice trip to the Canadian Rockies or Provence is being enjoyed away from the limelight.
Both of the Kushner's and Trump need to be flushed out of the body politic NOW. Let us not forget, it was reported shortly after the inauguration that there was a discussion between the perfect, trendy Kushners about which of them should run for president after daddy's stint and they agreed that golden girl Ivanka would carry the torch. No one named Trump should ever be allowed to run for anything--ever. No dynastic reign!
15
Another by-product of placing people with absolutely no moral compass, and whose life's modus operandi is to stuff money in their pockets however they can, into positions of power and influence. They execute national policy transactionally on nothing but gut and a handshake...
...and autocrats and sociopaths with sufficient funds to draw upon, are more than happy to oblige...
5
I am so sick of this family and their ineptitude!
17
I am so sick of this family and their corruption.
This is why there is a political class. Not everybody can do it. Unless you know the playbook as well as all the players, all the fields, and all the rules, you lose. Of course the Kushners are counting on the short memories of Americans before Ivanka takes her shot at the White House. For someone who wants to be the first woman president after the passing of her father President, she's off to a bad start.
3
Secret genius and stable genius
5
Kushner has allied himself with murderers, human rights abusers, in addition to the Saudi Prince.
His policies has filled mass graves, and his own pockets. His actions make his father look like a saint.
11
Jared will do Bibi Netenyahu's bidding and have American troops on the ground in Iran by 2019. The only thing is Jared will contribute no taxes to pay for it and his and Ivanka's children will never serve in such a war. Why is the media not reporting this side of the story?
11
As Lord Acton was wont to say, absolute power corrupts absolutely. Just one more of the countless reasons to drain their swamp & vote as if your life depends on it.
Because it does.
9
As I read the latest follies, foibles and just plain stupidity oozing from the Trump side show this piece concerning Prince Jared is not surprising. I have always believed the prince was nothing but a mantle piece that would always praise Trump or convince him to do something stupid such as paying homage to the orb displayed by his new best friends in Saudi Arabia.
You do need to give Kushner some credit-he keeps the comedians supplied with plenty of material as does his deranged daddy in law.
8
Pl get ready for more banana republic ! Ivanka and Jared are being groomed to continue the great dynasty of Trump.
God ,pl help us all.
6
Just look at the photo of Jared in this story. What a smug, arrogant mug. He doesn't know the meaning of hard work or earning anything through the sweat of his own brow. He has been indulged his whole life. He's a snot-nosed punk. But folks, let me tell you how I really feel....:)
8
Perhaps we could chime in along the lines of his dear father-in-law and call Jared "Horseface".
6
Too often the wealthy and privileged circumvent laws that apply to everyone else. Perhaps it’s time for Mr. Kushner to learn about consequences. Lock him up.
8
We all knew there were Trump sycophants. We couldn’t possibly have expected there was such thing as a Jared sycophant.
1
Jared Kushner is an opportunist who is almost as greedy and avaricious as his father in law. Mr. Kushner is heavily invested in Israel which has declared Iran and its proxies Hezbollah & Hamas their primary enemy. Trump's top donor, Sheldon Aldelson, has given the GOP over $100 million dollars to support pro-Israel policies. After Jared Kushner joined the Trump White House & made the Middle East, Saudi Arabia & Israel the centerpiece of the Trump administration, Israeli banks negotiated over $400 million dollars in loans to Kushner Companies from Jewish billionaires like Raz Steinmetz, Menora Mivtachim, and the Israeli Bank Hapoalim. Last April, Kushner partnered with Raz Steinmetz in purchasing $190 million apartment buildings in NYC. Kushner received much of the $50 million down payments required for these acquisitions from Beny Steinmetz who is currently under investigation for bribery and money laundering in the USA, Israel, Switzerland and Guinea. This is why Jared Kushner was in such a rush to cozy up to one of the most repressive regimes in the world, Saudi Arabia. Kushner has shown he doesn't care much about his own tenants in articles exposing his extreme tactics for evicting existing tenants & jacking up rents on his buildings. Surely he could care less if a pesky journalist is brutally murdered by Saudi Arabia as long as they continue to back Israel and ignore the plight of the oppressed Palestinians living under apartheid conditions in the West Bank.
14
Millionaires and billionaires like Kushner and Trump want 21 billion dollars to build a wall along the border, but they don't want to contribute any money themselves. The rich who don't pay taxes sure want a lot of government expenditures.
25
It's already over. Trump has declared that MBS assured him he had nothing to do with Khashoggi's horrible gruesome murder, and Trump has 110 billion reasons that he prefers to believe MBS despite at least 4 of the ID'd killers are closely associated with MBS. 110 Billion reasons. $110 Billion in arms sales.
Republicans in the Senate are decrying this, but wait: Soon all of them will do what they always do, which is cave in and VEHEMENTLY defend Trump's assertion.
Watch. We've seen this reality show before. Trump has just given Iran a weapon to use against the Saudis. I'll bet MBS and King Salman are laughing at how they pulled another one over our simpleton President and his enthralled Sec State.
$110 billion is less than 1/tenth the debt he's created with his tax cut, yet he's made it SO important he's selling out our National Security for an arms sale.
12
No way to talk about a future Presidential candidate Frank. His chances are as good as Trump's.
3
I feel sorry for both Jared and Ivanka. It's not easy for children raised by criminals to break the cycle.
11
@HL
They're not trying.
5
Not that great of a silver platter, he had to visit his own father in a federal prison (for fraud and blackmailing family members).
Now he has to grovel to the needs of an even more vindictive father-in-law.
It looks like karma has been getting its due for some time in Jared's case. We'll wait to see if the IRS gets some, too.
4
Please stop using "MBS". Initials are for the revered, people of quality and standing, such as TR or FDR or JFK. For this guy, stick to his name, no elevation: Prince Muhamed bin Salman.
9
We know that compromising stuff is getting close to him whenever he is quiet. The media should chase his link to a bad situation whenever he becomes quiet. Corrupt to the core. Will get caught some day.
7
Love the comments here that criticize Bruni. Where are you living, people? He is one of the "lefty Democrats" who are trying to tear us down. Cheez!
Kushner always looks arrogant in his photos (a projection, I know). Maybe he thinks he is doing a good job with the other bajillionaires who have no clue. With DJT as his father-in-law and his father as role models, would he know anything except arrogance and self-righteousness?
If you are paid approximately the same amount per hour as what it takes to purchase a large box of Cheerios, are you "equal" to Mr. K? If the interest you earn on investments brings in more in an hour than many people earn in a lifetime, how could you understand the people who wash your clothes or scrub your toilets? Are they your "equals?" I bet Kushner (and Trump) would say an absolute NO.
Kushner would probably say morality is whatever you can get away with. Many people have no clue as to what morality is in daily life. "Karen from Los Angeles" nailed it in her comment ...but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God...” Do any of these men, in church or in synagogue, follow that admonition?
The seven deadly sins: envy, gluttony, greed, lust, pride, sloth, and wrath. Trump owns them all. Should also include LYING. His son-in-law is cut from the same cloth. Makes me cringe.
14
Laryngitis? Maybe the columnist over-estimates Mr. Kushner's communicative intent.
5
You neglect to mention that Mr. Kushner (BEFORE his security clearance was um, cleared) signed out the highest number of top secret documents of anyone in the new administration. And if you are watching the timelines, shortly after gaining access, he met with MBS where they talked all night. And Lo! shortly after that, MBS had all those relatives of his locked up in an hotel. Hmmmmmmmmmm
12
No surprise Jared has done so poorly, he lacks any experience and has no idea what he doing. The picture topping the article explains why Jared gets away with being incompetent. He has that matinee idol earnest look, almost Kennedy-esque. The antithesis of our current President.
5
Why in the world is the totally unqualified Jared Kushner a senior adviser to the President?
12
what this guy will do after 2 or 6 years when 45th is no more at helm? Because Donald Trump cannot be like Putin. We have 22nd Amendment,
2
I'm so sorry but anyone associated with this administration or Trump in general must have a screw loose.
10
Hilarious, Bruni! This is one of the funniest digs against the Trumpet and his pathetic family.
Makes ya wonder how they cope behind closed doors: "Ivanka, bring me a stiff drink. I got ripped by the fake media again. Who do these imbeciles think they are? And they think the insults will make us run away! Poor people have no clue how we keep our chins up in the face of put-downs.....It's the wealth that keeps us smiling, isn't it, Ivanka? Nobody can touch us or rattles our cages. We're better than all the rest of the peons............" Thus spake Jared-rooster......
6
I cannot remember a more inscrutable person at the near helm of our government in my lifetime, and I am past middle aged. While this column tries to give us a glimmer, it does nothing to help us understand the man and his motivation aside from the same of old saw that it's all about money. That's probably not the whole story. So many of the pieces are missing that I have to wonder how terrified should we be of this man?
7
Jared Kushner is just another insubstantial elite who believes that wealth, even inherited wealth, equals accomplishment. It seems likely that this is the same error that befalls the Saudi prince. This defect inevitably breeds arrogance, incompetence, and larceny (as we have already seen). However, such men, completely lacking in character, are mere vapors; gone with the next shifting political breeze. The real danger is the frightening truth that the Republican Party is very close to winning the political war.
Democrats like to win on the big stage and on big social issues. Yet the war for America's soul will be won in the battles fought in state legislatures, county councils, sheriff departments, and election commissioner races. Here the Republicans gain power via voter suppression and nonsensical redistricting efforts. We won the popular vote - a Pyhrric victory offering no advantages or power. Republicans lose the popular vote, but own all three branches of government. These "conservative" leaders fervently work to give aid, assistance and succor to their allies and the Kushner's of the world. We see at every level Republican lawmakers shielding their wealthy patrons from taxes, gutting consumer protection laws, and limiting legal liability when they and their companies do harm. This corrupted Republican party, now has a singular goal - to paraphrase Lincoln, "so that the government of the rich, by the rich, and for the rich, shall not perish from the earth." VOTE
11
For the Trumpiminions and their followers, it is completely fine to pay as little taxes as you can, since the tax laws that you've paid to have made makes it all "legal." You're being "smart," as some of their trolls who are on this comment thread are pointing out. But we have to keep the illegal aliens out, because they're illegal, you know; but what we, what we're doing is completely and entirely aboveboard and legal and, ergo, "pure." We have the"law" on our side. And the lawmakers in our pockets. So there!
11
A kakistocracy: a system of government which is run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens.
See Trump, Kushner, Bannon, Sessions, Huckabee, McConnell, Jim Jordan, Pence, and oh so many others.
12
Frank according to a very famous former US attorney, not paying your taxes is different from not owing any taxes. While they both require you to lawyer up, one is a criminal and the other is a genius.
3
When will we EVER be rid of the Trump crime family?
18
He couldn't have made it out of Ohio State with a B average, and there he is, with his daddy's money, his dad's Harvard diploma, and his wife dad's power, ruining our country, an opportunistic parasite.
31
"Jared Kushner hasn’t been much of a blessing to America." Has anyone in the trump administration? They are all like gargoyles from Dante's Inferno.
15
The handsome Jared and the beautiful Ivanka, are just Bonny and Clyde brought to the 21st century with a shady inheritance. Instead of a bunch of small time robberies and one murder at a time they get much bigger hauls in bail outs by the Russians of lousy tax sheltered real estate deals so that they can extract cash from all of us and collaborate with Trump senior in sentencing our grandchildren to early deaths by climate change all in one go.
22
If a journalist is tortured, killed, and dismembered in an embassy where all those present remain silent about it, did it make a sound? And in the end, if the planner and perpetrators of such a heinous, cowardly act are never held to account, does that horror make a difference?
8
The only real cliche needed is a familiar one: a fish rots from the head down. Need we say more?
10
The tax issue will be resolved in 2018, if the 666 transaction closes. A 99 year lease should be deemed a sale. The gain(and there will be a gain due to years of depreciation) and the forgiveness of debt(if any) should produce a massive tax liability.
6
As a Jew who has watched the allegedly orthodox Kushner violate moral code after moral code and work for Trump's inhuman policies, I can only conclude that Jared's "devout" pose is a fraud.
And that may be the greatest shame of all.
40
When grifters are in power one must expect them to do what comes naturally , fill their pockets . Trump and family have clearly demonstrated that .
All the flags and claims of patriotism will not wash off the stench they spread .
November can not come fast enough so we can start cleaning up and bring back some dignity to our nation .
11
America has always been this place. The only difference now is we’re beginning to admit it. Let me know when we’re ready to apologize for it...wait...this is America...sorry for even suggesting that would/could ever possibly happen.
6
He belongs in prison like his father. A silver spooned loser like his father in law who has no business being involved in foreign affairs. He got into law school because of his father.
14
Cult-of-personalities were around before the Egyptians built the pyramids. I am sure a few of those pyramids were built by personality cults for the price of 10 pyramids each.
2
Trump picked him specially for this trait to be his son in-law. Remember the 2016 debate with Hillary when she said Trump does not pay his fair share of taxes and his replied was “because I’m smart”. When will his supporters realized that they, the “common people”, are supporting someone that does not derserve it? The GOP is now working in reducing social security, which they claim is an “entitlement”, since when is it an entilement when it is taxed out of you pay check every time?
13
Frank, you are right to an extent. However, you, like too many others, don’t give Javanka their due. You lay too much on naïveté and stupidity, the latter of which is there in spades. What you don’t mention is the word, “evil,” which applies to them both. They are each the spawn of totally evil, immoral, hateful fathers (don’t know about their mothers) from whom they have inherited their own evil, narcissistic, sadistic personalities. They are nothing more than grifters ripping the rest of us off big time. Don’t give them any breaks. They don’t deserve any - both of them. They both should be doing time.
29
I see absolutely no reason why Jared should have a WH job, given his lack of experience in almost everything. Then again, there are not many in the WH who seem to be able to see the consequences of anything they do. If politics is a chess game, focused action six moves ahead, these guys are playing Hungry Hungry Hippos.
But to be fair, at this point he is a tax avoider not a tax evader. The first may be morally hollow, but legal. The second is a prosecutable allegation.
I think we need to be clear in our condemnation. Kushner seems to be morally useless, but not yet indictable.
5
@ Matt: And what about Kushner paying ZERO federal tax is fair share?????!!!!!
excellent. he stealthily hides his genius, as sycophant / schemer n. haley's inane platitude toward jk attests. don't imagine he's more entitled than his horatio algier like dad in law, but, close. we're an unfunny joke on the world's stage with the trump gang in the oval office.
4
You don't really have to convince most people that Trump and his clan are immoral, inept, avaricious pigs.
You do, however, have to convince 40% of voting Americans that these are undesirable characteristics in leaders and policymakers.
21
“He takes credit for everything, except his own screw-ups.”
Oh... Just like his father-in-law! And that’s no coincidence, either.
4
You say that Jared Kushner "takes credit for everything, except his own screw-ups." That's what makes him truly a Trump!
17
Just like you and the NYT. Never admit the stupidity of your screwups.
1
It might seem nit-picky but it troubles me to see professional journalists, in print or broadcast, use vulgarities like "screw-up," after all, it's an obvious euphemism and is quite crass. Surely the profession has colorful and non-smutty words to use.
Although, if I wanted to see such language in the Times, it would certainly fit with Kushner.
3
Should we call him a "horse-faced" "dog"? Is that more to your liking?
4
A disgusting excuse for a human being, much like his father-in-law, Mr. Trump.
16
How's that Middle East peace plan going, Boy Wonder?
16
Having lived under the thumb of these scoundrels going on two years, it seems that each hour of each day we discover that things are even worse than we could imagine. By “we” I’m referring to those of us exempt from being called his “base”.
And yet, recent polling strongly suggests that the man in the Oval is doing just a fine job by between 4 or 5 out of 10 Americans.
So...almost half of us like what he’s doing.
Who are we? What have we become? Have we always been this way? Forget Kushner. Forget Trump. Think of those 40 to 50% of us who believe things are okay and may want 8 years of this.
19
Jared Kushner the grandson of a holocaust survivor cozies up to the Saudi Prince who appears to continue the long established pattern of medieval barbarism and is in all likelihood a virulent anti semite to boot and fancies himself the mediator of Mid East peace. Beyond tragedy or farce; maybe we can settle on pure nausea.
20
Kushner is small potatoes on the list of estate titans in NYC. And with no background in foreign policy, diplomacy, or public service, Kushner and his wife have been handed the keys to America. Kushner and Ivanka Trump are elitists, a man and woman who firmly believe they are deserving of the roles they have been handed by dint of being among the elite few. But they should take nothing for granted. They are Jews. The Antisemitism of his father-in-law's base is simmering but not currently on boil because they love Trump for his overt racism and sexism. It is doubtful that Trump will ever be a President who values inclusiveness but if he were to do so his base would turn on him and every Jew around him. The Chancellorsville mob of anti-Semites are still out there, still love Trump because he did not call them out, but will turn on him in a NY minute if he doesn't feed his monsters. So, as Kushner plays big boy with an extremist religious nationalist country on behalf of investors and Israel, we will have to wait until this swamp of a family is gone to see how Kushner Co. fared in the real estate business in Saudi Arabia and elsewhere.
4
He represents the same garbage that his father in-law represents. Small time Mafia.
18
An interrogation went awry and Khashoggi died as part of overreach by an eager unskilled security service guy. Tell me how you kill someone or cause their death accidentally during a conversation. Or, the depth of stupidity required of the overzealous security fellow for disobeying orders MBS in causing the death.
More to point he has been dead for two weeks and this is the best they can do? And to the fine point of finding the truth where is the body? Did they chill him a tub of cold water then drop a hair dyer on medium high in the tub? Does he have all is fingernails? Any other signs of torture? Accidental is not beating him to death or a gunshot wound to the head. A good pathologist and fair examination might provide the answers with or without an autopsy.
1
The orthodox son-in-law had nothing to say about the nazis in Charlottesvillle, VA. Very odd.
46
@David
And, he traveled to Saudi’s Arabia on Shabbat. If the “official” business was not to save a life, then no Self-professed Orthodox Jew would do so
What would you expect from the welfare crown princeling?
9
The tax-dodging son of a convicted criminal who pretends he is a prince, marries the Dauphine of Queens, and becomes instant "besties" with a murderous dictator--this is the trash that now passes for an American foreign policymaker? At what point will America's selfish idiot class draw a red line in the moral abyss that is their political viewpoint?
9
Will people stop referring to Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner as ‘prince’ and ‘princess’ and other royal titles? They’re real estate grifters made wealthy because of their criminal parents. They are poseurs and in no way, through blood, privilege or birth, royal. They mostly resemble 3rd World autocrats stealing everything in sight while pretending to be respectable and they are most likely criminals themselves, BOTH of them. They are also clueless neophytes in their roles as ‘senior advisors’, a position and title which is laughable for them, given their absolute lack of experience and knowledge in government. The only ‘thrones’ they should get are the toilets in their prison cells. So let’s stop the hyperbole about their privileged but very questionable status.
1
Unlike Banksy, the trumps and Kuschners are grafilthy tax dodging artists that punk’d America with their fake wealth making skills to get elected with the help of their Russian patrons and as winners they get to shred our Constitution.
7
Lots of the RnF don't pay taxes, that is the system put in place by those very same people. Jared is just a chip off the old "my daddy's rich, so I can do to or be anything to all of you.
2
Watching Bill Maher where Amorosa was the guest.
When asked she said Jared does not even know how stupid he is when he opens his mouth. When asked about certain issues he looks at you with a look as if what are you talking about ?
.
10
We would expect more than a hatchet job article from the NY Times. This article is more than “opinion,” it’s a rant with no content. This should be a Facebook post, and not a Times piece.
Jared Kushner is a sleazy bum & a slumlord who's never had a real job, who's had everything handed to him on a platter.
Jared Kushner has no qualifications to work in the White House except the only one that matters these days: slavish loyalty to madman Donald Trump.
Hopefully he's going to wind up in an orange jumpsuit.
12
Jared Kushner: Liar, tax cheat, clown and Donnie’s fair-haired little deal maker. Butter wouldn’t melt in this bottom feeders mouth. I’ll wager dear sweet Ivanka tells this little worm what to wear everyday. Such is life in Trump world.
9
Ken and Barbie doll # 4 are in this up to their neck. The silver spoon they were born with which comes to a lot of rich white untouchable people like the Trumps is going to melt and melt and melt.... hopefully all the way down to jail. They are complicit with this administration horrible policies, they are part of a corrupt government, they don't pay taxes and they may be complicit in murder. What a surprise! Go Dems, Persist, Resist and VOTE THEM OUT!!!
15
Jared is more trump than don jr, Eric and Ivanka combined. No wonder trump has him do his dirty work for him.
4
Can’t wait to see him and the rest of them in hand-cuffs.
6
Jared’s grandma Rae must have turned in her courageous Nazi-fighting grave when her son buddies up with Hitler-aficionado, German-heritage Trump (remember that DJT’s first and long-time wife, Ivana, wrote that Trump kept a book of Hitler’s collected speeches on his bedside table; Trump never successfully sued her for defamation in that regard, so it’s almost surely true).
And let’s not forget that the man Jared supports also in recent months said publicly that he would have preferred to have Tom Brady as his son in law, rather than Jared Kushner.
I had hoped Jared was there, with Ivanka, as a way to keep Trump from going absolutely and actually ballistic. Now I’m not only doubting that, but lost all respect for Jared when found out he hasn’t paid a penny of his great wealth to provide for the common good, including paying the salaries of the brave military and Secret Service who protect his and his family’s life and limb and wealth every minute of every hour of every day.
Jared’s Bubbie Rae must be shouting “Shanda” (shame!) from Heaven....
19
Once again (for the millionth time) we see that Ivanka married her father in this guy.
5
Mr. Bruni, I think you're a brilliant columnist. You have a great command of the English language. And I really enjoy reading all of your carefully crafted thoughts. But please ,do any of us believe that Donald Trump really wanted to be the President of the United States? The answer is no. It's always been about enhancing his brand and making him and his family wealthy. I truly believe when we finally see Trumps tax returns we will realize what we've known all along is that he Trump is cash poor. Why do you think you think he refuses to give $1 million to Elizabeth Warren's charity. Jared is just along for the ride. He's just another dumb stooge who bought into daddy n law's con job.
4
Jared reports to Crime Boss Donald Trump. He was made for the job.
6
His appointment as a special advisor, or something to that effect, and his omnipotent grandiose scheme to broker a peace agreement in the Middle East suggested his complete ignorance and obvious hubris. Laughable that he casts his lot with MBS, a very wealthy, devious thug who only wants young Jared around as a conduit to POTUS. And does he still have a security clearance, if so for what reason? And at the sake of being hopelessly naïve or ill-informed what on earth has he done in his special advisor capacity? Seems to me he's nothing more than a younger version of Trump, maybe a bit brighter and every bit as dishonest, sinister and morally compromised.
4
Great article! On the foreign policy part, Jared fits the narrative of Israel first, US second. Iran is the common target in this equation, and yes so is the petrodollar and personal greed.
3
Let me see. They have a phrase in England, that comes to mind, for those people who think they are better than the rest but really are not. Oh yes, now I remember: "a toffee-nosed twit."
5
"He’s the embodiment of the Trump administration’s ethos that you’re entitled to take a whack at something by dint of affluence and arrogance, not because of any manifest expertise."
- You hit the nail square on the head with that one, Mr. Bruni. The thing is, it's misleading to look at Kushner and Trump. Look rather to the 60+million Americans who believe that the right to vote trumps the responsibility for having voted for a bad administration. Why should Trump or Kushner be held to a higher standard than the 60+ millions who put them in the White House? They are the ones to watch. Trump and Kushner are smoke and mirrors. Those 60-odd million are the reality. It's adolescent to jump up and down and say it's unfair to have idiots running the country. The more adult stance might be to get the dummies who think that voting, no matter for whom, is right, just because it's power. Trump and the One-percent would love to get things done without popular interference. And they are. And maybe they're right, after all, what demographic put them in charge of the executive branch of government?
2
Jared 'was on the phone with the kingdom so often that it frightened some American security experts. America’s spies, meanwhile, caught wind of communiqués between foreign officials talking about how easily manipulated Jared might be.'
I'll go a step further. Last April there was reporting by the Daily Mail in the UK* that MBS was bragging Jared gave him CIA intelligence about other Saudis saying, 'here are your enemies' days before the MBS corruption crackdown that led to torture, death, and the 'recovery' of $100 billion from businessmen and family members in the kingdom. Kushner's lawyer denied the story, presumably based on Jared's word but who knows.
Actually, the American people deserve to know if Jared shared sensitive intelligence with MBS. And more relevant to the apparent Khashoggi murder, was Khashoggi's name made known to MBS as a personal enemy. If so, Jared may be complicit in the murder of this WaPo journalist and permanent US resident.
Kushner culpability is pure conjecture at this point, but if true it is extremely serious and should disqualify him from further meddling in Middle East affairs. That's for real grownups, an operative in short supply in the Trump administration.
* https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5575395/Saudi-crown-prince-brag...
4
So, I'm just a country bumpkin, but how is it that real estate values go up every year but they depreciate on the books?
4
Depreciation (wearing out of the building) automatically goes on the books every year. Appreciation in market value (mostly the land) is only booked when the property is sold.
Tax laws are written to encourage investment.
Like Father-in-law, Like Son-in-law....
2
How can he and the wife even be in government? Say what!
3
Hmm. Truly a member of the Trump clan in spirit and meaning, not just marriage.
What has Trump ever done by his own efforts that ever turned out to be successful. Almost all his successes came from the dedication and heavy lifting of others - as Trump has no mind for complexity, and has the attention span of a gnat.
When he took profits and ran, failed to pay contractors and ran, took his partners’ money and ran, he saw it all as a “Win” since he made money. All the failures and bankruptcies were blamed on everyone else.
Kushner has learned his lessons well. Privileged, Arrogant, Clueless, Incompetent - But entirely blameless!
Name ONE THING Kushner has done successfully since Trump put him in charge of lots of important government functions!
Utterly pathetic. Feckless. What an obscenity!
3
It's hard to find any substance in all the name-calling. But if the Saudi's switch tactics and start calling out U.S. imperialism, start supporting Palestinian statehood while criticizing Netanyahu, and start accusing Trump of being an Islmaphobic racist, the left would quickly switch sides as well.
Ivanka and Jared are slum lord and lady. Why is anyone surprised by any of this?
4
From commentor Didier (below):
"He is just another fake pearl on his father-in-law's long string of lies that are cast daily before the swine that feed at their trough of division and inequity."
Wow, well said!
11
Jared Kushner is the perfect clone of Chauncy Gardner, the vapid, clueless politician played hilariously by Peter Sellers in the classic film "Being There". Gardner,like Kushner, seldom speaks and his silence is mistaken for wisdom. Kushner's lack of experience and intellectual gravitas is the perfect human metaphor for the ignorance and incompetence of the Trump administration.His embrace of the Machiavellian MBS underscores his complete ineptitude.
5
Plus, I'm sure he waxes his eyebrows.
6
Kushner is a real asset to the people of the United States.
Outgoing UN Ambassador Nimrata "Nikki" Haley waxes eloquently about how pivotal Mr. Kushner has been to her activities there. While doctrinnaire progressives and propagandists insist everyone connected to this American
President must be destroyed NOW! this is one of Frank's truly goofiest crusades.
Check those meds?
1
The true prince of darkness.
6
Excuse me Frank! But did you take any LEGAL tax deductions on your income tax forms these past years? Do you plan to take any in the future?? As far as I know Kushner did NOTHING ILLEGAL. All he did was take advantage of all legal deductions Congress and the IRS, in their infallible wisdom, saw fit to put on the books! I plan on taking all LEGAL deductions available to me. Do you reading this?
And, by the way Kushner is also paying his “fair share. One’s “fair share” of taxes is EXACTLY the amount required by law. No more! No less. Another tired biased term!
Perhaps our anger should be directed to Congress. They are the culprits here if you (we) think the tax laws are not right.
Bruni’s commentary, and similar ones, drive more people to the Republican side than the Democratic side because first, the piece is so slanted and falsely implies illegality ( its so obvious.) And second, there are A Lot of Democrats and Independents who take plenty of tax deductions and don’t feel like they did anything illegal.
I suggest the Times stop what is becoming obvious out and out bias. It’s having an opposite effect!
3
Ivanka's theme song?
I wanna guy
Just wanna guy
Who acts like dear old Dad.
5
This well laid out piece just shows how far we have fallen in just two short years. Can you imagine the outcry from republicans if Obama had a relative on the state payroll.
Especially one as disgusting as the Kushner's.
3
Few days ago the NYT wrote about Jarred not paying taxes. The NYT chose not to write about Congress passing laws allowing investors to use 1031 or for IRS regulations enforcing the use of depreciation which applies to thousands of Real Estate investors. The NYT chose to single out an individual who follows the IRS laws of the country. It points to bias and subjective reporting and it is the reason for the Times to lose its position as a credible newspaper. Very upsetting since I always trusted the NYT but no longer do.
2
Best part about this is watching Trumpists kiss the feet of born-rich boys who cheat on their taxes and wouldn’t touch them with an eleven-foot pole, then yawp at Obama because he’s condescending and Hillary because she’s a crook.
3
The in-law apple falls right under the tree. Walk the line between tax avoidance and tax evasion and never admit to any wrongdoing. And if you had to bet, where would you put your money: that Trump will put his and Jared's personal interests with Saudis above our nation's interests vis-a-vis Saudi Arabia or do the right thing by calling for a thorough investigation into the murder? The question is rhetorical.
1
You would think that the 320 million and upwards of American people could do much better for themselves than put their fate in people like these. Let's hope that November starts to show that they can!
13
As most of us who live far from the gilt and wealth of the Trumps can attest, their supporters, regardless of inheritance, educational attainment, or social position, ate equally oblivious to and disdainful of the very idea that they might be to blame for their flaws and mistakes. From the upper- middle class country club set that pays its employees wages that only teenagers should receive to the blue collared set that will always place blame on the first real or imaginary non-white person it can bring to mind, Trump supporters never accept blame, never admit errors, never observe the immorality of their leader, and never remember what their old belief system was before being told by their idol what their new belief system is.
Jared is just a symptom of the rampant immaturity of our country. Here's hoping we'll toss a few more adults into the room very soon.
4
Why is anything about Kushner's selfish behavior surprising? His father was a model of selfishness. He married into the Trump family that has taken selfishness to a level approaching the mythological King Midas. His wife (aptly described by Sam Bee) and he are soul-mates in this respect. In every way, shape and form these two families are modern Czars. Hopefully, our country will not go the way of Czarist Russia when this regime is turned out or better yet, imprisoned.
3
But the Trumps were supposed to make the poor rich. That's why they were elected, right? Unbeknownst to Trump voters, voting for Donald meant the entire family got a posh job at the White House as well.
5
Mr. Bruni, you forget to mention how many times the boy wonder had to submit revised applications for his security clearance. Like other early members of the administration, he had serious memory lapses when it came to foreign contacts, especially with Russians.
19
Kushner operates at the will of the president. Any assessment of his achievements or lack thereof must be applied to where his orders come from: the administration.
3
As Thucydides so aptly said "The strong (rich) do as they will, the weak (poor) do as they must." Forever and ever, amen.
1
Hard to say what’s more egregious: Jared Kushner as the beneficiary of all the nice Air Force One rides, security and nepotistic position paid for by the largesse of the federal tax paying American people, or the tax laws that allow for him to get away with paying next to nothing said taxes.
14
The dark side of American capitalism. I think IRS owes the American citizens and tax payers an explanation about its criteria to audit the multimillionaires.
6
It's called Entitled Rich Boy syndrome. Nothing about him screams smart, without his family's money and team of lawyers he would be at best mediocre in the workplace; one of those mid level managers that no one likes. Of course, he fits in perfectly with his in-laws, it's part of their DNA to avoid accountability.
Ivanka married her dad, albeit better looking and less offensive but otherwise, identical hubris. One big unhappy family, united front for cameras only, scrambling for relevance in the background.
5
Any tool will do. No morals required. Religious claims as a cover for absence of actual virtue. Unbarred sleaze in hiring minions. It's the Trump brand. Jared the Never Ready. Can't be gone fast enough.
3
Jared Kushner may have laryngitis, but he has no morals. Therefore, it is impossible for him to have "moral laryngitis".
4
This "Tom Riddle" is no different than his father-in-law. It's all about the money.
3
Is it even possible to use (trump/kushner) and moral in the same sentence?
3
Can anyone explain on which ground he was given back his security clearance.
What is going on in this country!!!
6
OUCH! Well aimed, well timed!
2
Who besides Beelzebub buys a building with an address of “666”?
Not exactly inviting to most investors or tenants (how many NYC hotels have a 13th floor ? Not many )
Even an amateur would know that as a condition of purchase you get some kind of deal to get the number changed.
Lightweight.
8
Being a patriotic American means more than wearing a flag pin. Sometimes it means joining the military and fighting for your country. Sometimes it means paying your fair share of taxes to support our country. I gather Jared has no inclination to do either.
6
I guess I reject the premise. Kushner and his ilk, well represented in this administration, have only 1 priority - their own self interest. To pretend otherwise, or be surprised by their actions is to ignore the ample evidence now before most of the country. They don't care about the country, they care only for themselves.
5
This OP-ed perfectly captures Jared and the person archetype that Jared embodies. They are the type of people that, if the playing field were suddenly made equal, would never rise to the level that their birthrights have afforded them. And so he has something to prove and he'll try to prove it, even at the expense of all the rest of us. Heads he wins, tails we lose.
11
There’s an inverse relationship between massively overpaying for real estate like and the amount you pay in taxes. In the case of 666 Fifth Avenue, I’d rather buy lower and pay higher taxes. So maybe Jared can’t eat his $1.8 billion cake and have it too.
2
Entrusting foreign diplomacy to someone who is nothing more than a boy Friday in an Armani suit is dangerous. You can almost hear the Saudis laughing. What exactly are his qualifications to do anything for the U.S. government? Someone give him a few board games, a manual on foreign policy or a hardback copy of "The Art of the Deal."
15
Taxation (for we the little people) without representation.
Folks, it's Halloween season. Those pitchforks, torches & broomsticks aren't just seasonal decor. It's really scary out there. We out number them. And, only have ourselves to blame if this isn't over soon!
20
Everyone criticizes the country's First Son-in-law Let me just give him some advice!
Don't go for dinner withe Crown Prince, anywhere in the Kingdom or any of their consulates in other countries.
6
Jarrad reminds me of Senator Susan Collins. They both position themselves as people who are going to do something extraordinary and when their moment comes for doing something good - they both do nothing except for shallow recommendations. I guess their path is safe and keeps them out of bad headlines.
38
If you want to stop this, be sure to vote for a Democrat in November.
42
Like father-in-law like son-in-law.
16
The takeaway from this is just how total and successful the rich have taken over the GOP that they can get tax law written such that only us little people have to actually pay taxes. You need to remember that when you go vote next month.
43
Jared's loan on the 666 5th Ave. building was due in the months after the election, he became friends with MBS, and all of a sudden debt gone!
He is resorting to Trump tactics to solve financial problems. Now he is MBS's puppet.
When Jared finally ends up in prison, I hope his father returns the favor and visits him.
36
MBS and MBK are both legends in their own mnds.
5
This is a young man whose father went to prison for trying to set his brother in law up with a prostitute to frame him. Should it surprise us that he has no morality? Just because he doesn't look like a murderer doesn't mean he wouldn't be complicit should one, or thousands, be carried out. If you think this family is only cartoon-greedy, think again.
710
paula, I don't know much about Kushner, but you sure come to a lot of conclusions from one single fact.
@paula
Ted Bundy as the somewhat more disturbed version of Mr. Kushner and Mr. Trump. Sick.
@paula
I don't approve of the interfamily Kushner feuds, nor do I like what is happening to his brother, and some other relatives But, they aren't greedy as you think, and making generalized statements about the family, who give massive amounts of charity which you either don't know of or pretend doesn't happen, is stinky.
This op-ed is definitely spiteful, as the NYT really has it in for not just Jared. I highly doubt Jared is unaware of his diplomatic mistakes. You expect him to confess in a paid, front page ad?
How many mistakes have reasoned advisors to various presidents made? You can argue about particular lack of judgment in specific cases, but he never said he knows it all. Only the President says that.
Wow.
Another hit piece. Be careful though, calling someone a Tax evader borders on libel. He might be a tax avoid-er but that won't gin up the Democrat's base as much for the mid terms.
The NY Time's publishes his private tax information, likely illegally obtained, convicts him of tax evasion and it's not even Wednesday.
Can't wait to see what more yellow journalism awaits us for the rest of the week.
This was a petty and embarrassing article
3
Among the other idiocies, Frank Bruni precisely called Kushner a “tax evader,” which he emphatically is.
4
Mr. Bruni, you seem to be assuming that he has enough of a conscience to wince.
9
Please forgive my fawning, Mr. Bruni, but your columns are a big part of why I continue my subscription. Great article! Again!
23
So Bruni, stick a microphone in his face and ask him questions .
You can bad mouth this clown all you want , however, you Mr. Bruni and the media appear to be protecting him.
Two years in and not one interview how is that possible , Is the guy a munt?
4
Real estate is usually a good investment, unless you pay too much!
The Kushner family owes $1.2B plus the new $385M loan for a total of $1.5B on a 1M SF Manhattan Office building which is around $1,500 average investment cost per square foot.
How much should the annual rent be to make the mortgage payments, plus the operating and maintenance costs?
This is about ten times the office rental rates and purchase price of downtown office space in other major (top ten) cities.
How can overpaying to purchase that property by that much not create a large negative cash flow?
The Kushner family must not be very intelligent real estate investors!
8
@Gerald To paraphrase an old joke - how do you get a million dollars? Give the Kushner family $2 million to buy Real Estate.
2
The largest error the GOP and their minions make is the belief that the rest of the world hold the same values they and their followers keep--and will listen to whatever they have to say in complete agreement. With the general lack of knowledge about foreign cultures and the nuances that accompany such, huge mistakes will likely be made. Kushner is certainly not an exception.
The Trump administration will continue to blunder its way through world affairs. At this point, favorable serendipity is the only hope to prevent world economic damage. And the US is not even close to being prepared for the next recession.
7
The surprising thing is that despite the rank inexperience of the foreign policy team, they seem to be doing as much or as little as prior administrations. I'm turned off by everything Trump, and certainly this nepotism is only one of many standouts. But really, Hillary Clinton's health care plan, Robert Kennedy as attorney general, as well as long time unqualified personal friends of other presidents. It all stinks. Its just that Trump's vulgarity and crudeness and lies weigh heavily on all around him. Let's pray: no wars yet!
3
Like Father-in-law ... like son-in-law. Both were born with a silver shovels in their mouths from their parents successful businesses. Both ruthlessly cheat on paying their fair share of taxes, as that might somehow unfairly infringe on their perceived status and priviledge. And neither has the understanding of history, experience or intelligence to handle or resolve the complex foreign relationships currently facing the US.
9
Just to be sure Frank, you are saying that the House of Saud planned to kill and did kill & dismember a political opponent?
How can you be sure? Yes, video shows him entering the embassy in Turkey, but did he really leave as hamburger meat.
That is like saying Trump could walk into 5th Avenue in New York and shoot dead a reporter he didn't like (and there are most likely many) and get away with it. Stop! That couldn't possibly happen.
Of course MBS ordered the hit knowing full well that even if it turned out to be a sloppy hit, he was going to get away with it. And of course, our president was going to help trim the leaves so that this wasn't going to turn into a "big deal".
That is what our democracy has turned into.
In the immortal words of Forrest Gump, "Jared is as Jared does".
Frankly Frank, I can't wait until Trump and his kin are banished from our house, the White House. No doubt they will repaid handsomely for their loyalties to the House of Saud.
5
I will give Jared credit for one thing, unless I'm in error, at least he doesn't find sport in killing exotic game animals like his brother-in-law. At least there is that redeeming quality about the guy.
6
@Marge Keller
No. He and his family just scam and cheat their rent-stabilized tenants by forcing them to live in unhealthy and unsanitary conditions.
There's nothing redeeming about that.
6
Jared, at 37 years old, is just the kind of people hard working people hate. Not because he is rich. But because he gained his wealth with a fraction of the effort and brains other people put in and use simply because he started out rich and entitled and believes himself to be special because he was handed all.
What really really gets me is Republicans, working class Republicans even, like to call out liberal elites when in fact it is the uncaring monied elites like Jared and Ivanka that are cleaning them out. I guarantee you if one of the Trump rally goers were to show up at Jared's offices security would be sure to show them where they belong.
31
Kushner is an incompetent man, chosen by an incompetent man. His father in law heaped jobs on him which he can't perform. He has a much larger portfolio than any other person in his position would have. Whatever the issue, Trump said Jared would do it. Like all the "best" people that Trump appointed and fired, he should send this one packing too. There is a big problem, just as Ivanka said her job is first daughter, Jared's is first son in law. While there are laws against nepotism, made when Kennedy was in the White House, this president thinks, like Nixon, he is above the law. His party shows no inclination to prove him wrong. Jared's job is to pretend to be competent, lick the boots of his father in law, and all will be well. I hope this election changes that.
22
The bumbling Trump clan has failed miserably on the world stage. And now Saudi Arabia has been caught red-handed doing what they've been doing for decades. All presidents have known about Saudi duplicity, but Jared - probably because his father-in-law places so much importance on personal relationships without the added benefit of knowledge - really got in over his head with Saudi Arabia. Note that Pompeo was rushed off to Riyadh this week. Not that he has a clue. The Saudi's have Trump right where they want him. They will use his tactics against him, just as Putin has, and Trump, being the complicit fool he is, will probably side with the Saudi version of the Khashoggi disappearance. America has lost the moral high ground. Next we lose everything else.
22
Painfully true. Yet these people live on and with power. Too sad.
4
If I had that much wealth as Jared does, heck, I'd be doing all kinds of things to try to save our planet from corporate polluters, despotic governments, and overall injustice. As it is, I didn't have a penny to my name growing up, yet hard work and perseverance turned me into a lawyer in the U.S., and I served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and advocated on behalf of indigent families in Detroit, MI. Really, what has Jared ever done with his life and money, except to pose and primp? This first family behavior and conduct seems antithetical to American values that I had learned and was taught as a child. Why are so many middle class Americans interested in supporting these wealthy selfish posers? What an anomalous presidency and strange first family. Hope this is first and last of these types of uninformed people leading America and the world.
37
@Koolaid Well said!
2
This one's easy: Jared is trying to be Donald Trump, but he lack's the charisma and media savvy. Jared is just as delusional, ruthless and risk-taking, he just doesn't have that special something that allows Donald to get away with being a rank incompetent.
3
He has at least kept Uncle Sam at bay. As The Times’s Jesse Drucker and Emily Flitter reported last weekend, he “appears to have paid almost no federal taxes” for years while quintupling his net worth over the past decade to almost $324 million.
It followed the tax laws of the United States, created by the Senate. So what did he do wrong there? Nothing. What has the tax laws do to the country? Created most our problems in the first place.
I owned rentals in the US in the past and I paid no taxes. Zero, Zilch, nada. Read the tax code. It is all there is black and white.
Let's discuss "while quintupling his net worth over the past decade to almost $324 million." Where is your story about Senators who make $180,000 year, like Ted Cruz, who has increase his net worth from low six figures to over $5 million within just one term in office?
If your going to pick on the pretty boys, don't forget to pick on the real guilty boys.
10
@Gazbo Fernandez
You seem to be quite comfortable with the twisted version of the Tea Party creed — outsized representation without taxation.
Why should people who pay no tax — Kushner, Trump (through fraud) et al — get to allocate the money of those who do?
4
Who rescued 666 and what were they given for the life line?
8
Jared Kushner is the son Donald Trump never had. The egos, the scandals, the tax manipulators are eloquently paralleled about Trump and his son-law in this piece. The only power I have is to shake my head at the disgusting display of greed and arrogant use of position. A journalist has been murdered and with it a thousand voices silenced. A blatant cover up is being orchestrated with every step announced along the way. Our president is waiting for the story they want us to hear, so he can convey it with impunity. Kushner and Trump are playing in an Olympic Stadium and they are not qualifiers. Neither man can broker peace in the middle east. No Man Can. No shame, no humility, no class is expressed with every photo-op the two men selfie. This is reality not reality TV. Atonement requires a conscience and these two men are void of any personal conviction. Executive privilege trumps the truth and silences the democratic process. Where do we go from here?
This piece is an accurate assessment of the current situation we are witnessing.
7
The lack of self-awareness that Jared and Ivanka exhibited upon following daddy to Washington should have been cause enough for embarrassment, but then how do you become embarrassed if you have no self-awareness? Someone with self-awareness would have turned those “jobs” down, knowing they weren’t qualified for them. Initially, I believe they accompanied him to protect him from himself, but when it became clear that that was an impossible task, they upped the hubris and decided that they were qualified for anything due to the very fact of their excellent breeding and upper crustyness. I still don’t think they get it, and certainly Ivanka may have ambitions of a possible run for president herself. Because, you know, daddy and all.
4
Clearly Ivanka loves her father and admires him and his leadership skills.She has the best of all worlds. Her husband is a mini Trump without the public vulgarity and bluster. What could be better?
2
Frank Bruni, you and Roger Cohen provide us with a moral compass. I can read you from here in Canada, or in India, where I come from and where I saw Mahatma Gandhi shortly before his assassination and sang praises of God with a gathering of over 100,000 people. I hold Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr as moral compasses too.
But where has America descended to? I look at Trump's rallies and wince. I look at his followers and wonder which Satanic wilderness they are lost in. I look at Trump's family and wonder if it is really an American "dream" come true.
The Trump family is the 'Plunderers' in the true sense of the word. The Saudis under Prince Salman are merely royal 'butchers'. Together, they make a great team.
14
A family contagion.
5
It’s almost always Trump who clams credit on Jared’s behalf – you rarely hear anything directly FROM Jared about anything.
I was tentative about Trump’s reliance since early in the campaign on what then was a 34-year-old Jared Kushner, as well as on an even younger Ivanka. Statesmanship, JFK, Bill Clinton and Obama notwithstanding, is a racket best practiced by those who have seen and lived enough to have become TRULY evil (Dr. Evil’s version – “eeee-vil”). Besides, I wasn’t greatly impressed by JFK, Clinton or Obama.
But Frank’s pillory of Kushner isn’t going to score a lot of points in advance of the midterms, which clearly is his intent. It’s not Kushner’s fault that at 37 he’s still unaccountably pretty much a fetus, despite intense exposure to true fossils such as Kelly, Mattis and Tillerson. Besides, everyone already knew who Jared was – and he’s not Trump. People, who watch the news, know this – Trump’s an inch or so shorter than Jared.
The reason Trump is in bed with Saudi Arabia, and probably is legitimately angry at this latest murderous nonsense because of how it rumples the bedclothes, is because if you want to be a player in the Middle East to protect legitimate U.S. interests there, you need to pick a Muslim anchor. It doesn’t much matter which – they’re all tribal, very superior, arrogant as hell and pretty awful. We picked the Saudis a long time ago, and we’re stickin’ with our story.
But don’t bury leads by excessively sniping at Jared Kushner.
1
@Richard Luettgen -- "fools go where angels fear to tread."
Sending Kushner to the middle east was a baby fool sent by daddy fool.
4
@Lee Harrison
Kushner's initial portfolio was to put a stop to the pussyfooting with Palestinians, which hadn't gotten anyone anywhere for decades. That was a pretty simple charter and probably well within his talents. And it's bearing fruit, slowly. The West is ticked off at Israel in its predictable, Kumbaya way, but the Arabs are being boxed-in effectively to force them to dicker and make a creditable effort at fixing their internal divisions.
Sending Kushner to Saudi Arabia may not have been the smartest thing to do. I suspect that he's a very good linear processor but isn't within galaxies as talented as Trump at seeing angles. But in order to truly function in that cesspool of conflicted interests, whoever is advising Saudi Arabia needs to be Machiavellian indeed -- and that's not Kushner. He'll give them linear probabilities when they need breakthrough insight, and a mind that can integrate numerous potential and complex implications.
Tom Friedman closed his Wednesday column by advising Trump to finally detail a U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia. I agree, and that individual needs to be the best Machiavellian we have. You don't send a kid to negotiate the cost of a Persian Rug --- with Saudis OR the Persians.
I found it telling that, in Jared's financial disclosure forms for his government position, he listed somewhere around 280 positions he holds in the various partnerships and corporations owned by his family. That number illustrates a key problem with corporate America, that people of influence fill their resumes with multiple positions where they cannot possibly take an active role. I suspect that it was this background that gave Jared the temerity to assume so many roles in our government, the fruits of which seem to be taking a long time to grow.
3
Well if I could just another word or two. Everything Mr Kushner did is legal. With clever lawyers and accountants wealthy people can get away with just about anything in re taxes. Is it RIGHT? No, after everyone else must pay taxes who can't afford to hire lawyers and accountants.
2
Jared Kushner’s avoidance of taxes may technically have been legal according to US (and NYS?) law, but NOT according to HaLecha — Jewish law. How about a bit of t’shuvah, Jared? Remember, when making necessary atonement, G-d forgives sins against G-d, but in order to receive forgiveness for wrong-doing toward other human beings, you must first seek and receive their forgiveness before HaShem (G-d) will even countenance your request during your vidiu. And moving the US embassy to Jerusalem won’t help you balance out the bad you’ve done by benefitting from taxes paid by those much poorer than yourself while you contribute zilch.
2
I detest what has befallen us as much as anybody BUT since when is it a shanda to only pay income taxes required by the laws on the books? Of course these laws were enacted by legislative agents placed in their positions by the wealthiest among us but that's AmeriKKKa. What you gonna do?!
131
@Weblands - the easiest and most usual way to make money is to get as close as possible to breaking the law without actually doing so, or simply avoiding prosecution. That the President and his relatives/advisors have frequently done so isn't exactly a character testimonial.
@Weblands If JK and the donald are so proud of following tax laws, why won't they release their taxes so we can all see how what smart, law-abiding people they are?
@Weblands "What you gonna do?!" Elect someone else, maybe?
1
Frank, you're being much too nice to Jared Kushner. He doesn't deserve it.
11
Regardless of how privileged he is, he's here because of Trump and took a whack at something. Who knows the scope of his naivety.
1
How is it this criminal grifter has any kind of security clearance? When does this moron traitor go to prison?
14
Jared's moral failings shone after his father-in-law's comments post-Charottesville.
Jared's grandmother Rae was a true hero with a moral compass. She, along with others, escaped from her Polish ghetto, digging an underground escape route. Then joined a partisan group in the forest to evade the Nazis who had already killed some members fo her family.
Jared's silence was deafening and, yes, deplorable. Hey, maybe it's hard to stand up to your father-in-law, but there comes a time when you just gotta do what's right.
He didn't.
22
He is, it's been apparent for two years, a pusillanimous and smarmy little man.
Indeed, he is a true "shanda for the goyim"!
10
Kushner is the poster boy for what happens when an elected official (in this case Trump) surrounds himself with people he "trusts" instead of people who are qualified for their positions, and whose only goals are to enrich themselves at any cost.
The end of this nightmare can't come soon enough for me.
5
Kushner's biggest mistake - besides dismantling his moral compass in persuit of money - is thinking that his father-in-law's supporters like him. He doesn't realize the depth of anti-semitism of the white supremacists that support Trump or he is so stupid that he thinks he's an exception. Covfefe.
21
@L D
Nor does he realize that trumps bigotry extends to Jews
Jared, history is waiting for you.
6
More disgusting bias shown by the Liberal NY Times. Just shameful
My goodness, how you Trumpers make me laugh. Talk about bias, have you tuned into FOX lately?
8
@Thomas Lashby - No one is forcing you to read it.
5
@Thomas Lashby
You do realize this is an opinion column?
5
It’s why we need a progressive estate tax. It makes people like Jared start from the same place as everyone else. Sorta. Neither Trump nor Kushner would be involved in government if they actually had to work for a living.
4
Mr. Bruni, Jared is just like his father-in-law, Donald Trump, in taking credit for everything except his own screw-ups.
6
The man's job is so secretive even he doesn't know what he's doing. But the President lavishes him with praise and Ambassador Haley acknowledges him as an unrecognized genius. Perhaps even more so he is an unrecognizable genius. His accomplishments are equally unrecognized and unrecognizable. And while he may be the world's worst real estate investor, he sure knows how to save on taxes. The man is emblematic of the Trump administration - short on talent, long on corruption, and devoted to greedy self advancement without recognizable contributions to the well-being of the United States. And because his father-in-law could shoot someone on Fifth Avenue without concern of losing any support from his slavish base, we have six more years of these screw ups and screw offs to look forward to.
6
Trump has been crushing on young guys like bin Salman and Kushner for a very long time. All they have to do is respond to him a little tiny bit and he's putty in their hands, just as he responds to Putin. He's the dowdy chump in this picture.
4
Come on you guys and gals give Jared a break. Remember your mother's advise, "If you can't say something nice about somebody, don't say anything at all." Okay, something nice...give me a moment............................................................................
Ah hah, He has had to sit in confined spaces and listen to The Donald's rambling blather without spontaneously exploding on an untold number of occasions.
That's it for me. Your turn.
4
The biggest srew-up is the giveaway of Jerusalem (at least on paper) to Israel. His alliance with Netanyahu based on mutual Zionist ideology is at the core of this.
The quid pro quo with Saudi was that if they threw the Palestinians under the bus, the US would given them unfettered hegemony over the ME, And continue to bash Iran on unfounded allegations.
Essentially, Kuchner is the AIPAC swamp monster who is has co-opted American power and influence on Israel's behalf.
The swamp is in the White House and they have the nincompoop wrapped around their fingers
8
Just based on the subtitle: Like father and father-in-law, like son and son-in-law.
Wonder if he’s like that in his marriage as well. And pity the parents of his children’s classmates.
5
Nailed it! This is nepotism, arrogance, entitlement, etc., on steroids. It's infuriating and disgusting.
The egotisical hubris of Kushner to think his experience as a pampered rich kid and prince of a real estate kingdom would somehow set him up to succeed in international diplomacy of the highest order is stuff of psychological case study.
This is ALL part of the Trump package. It's what the base is unconditionally supporting everyday.
There is a way to get rid of the likes of Kushner, Ivanka, and the rest. VOTE!
15
And yet he grows richer by the day, and certainly there will be no change to the way he pays no taxes. (And there will be no change to the tax laws, except to allow even more deductions by millionaires, while Trumps remain in power.) He can't be impeached because he was never elected. He frankly doesn't care what you think, so long as the money keeps rolling in. Being a multi-millionaire means never having to say you're sorry. Nice try Frank but no banana.
5
I’ve never been clear why Mr. Kushner has ANY role in determining foreign policy for the United States.
- He has zero qualifications for doing so.
- He quite clearly doesn’t have the interests of the country at heart. To him, it’s a trough in which to feed. If he cared at all, he would have been willing to pay taxes.
He cares about money and Israel, probably in that order.
12
Come on, Frank. Nikki Haley couldn't comprehend Mr. Kushner's genius, and you think that you've got him figured out? Just give him some time. He's working on initiatives that you can't possibly fathom, like maybe settling the conflicts in Kashmir and the Falklands. Wait, was Haley being sarcastic?
10
Ah Frank, thank you immensely for this schadenfreude moment!
6
Jared makes me physically ill, and that's no small feat given my background.
Whatever the antonym of confidence is, Jared inspires that.
8
Karma will be paying him a visit real soon...the question is which one of his numerous crimes and criminal activities will be exposed...resulting in an indictment, conviction and incarceration.
14
I don't know much about Kushner, but the accusation that he evaded taxes is misleading at best and a lie at worst. Kushner has not been accused of a single illegality in his tax filings (at least to this point). To say that he is evading taxes is like accusing Bruni of evading taxed because he deducted his state taxes on his federal filing. As long as it is legal, you are rather dumb not to reduce your tax exposure.
77
@Robert -- you are absolutely correct. Kushner is a highly visible proof of the very real need to correct the inequities of the tax code. I strongly suspect that, when Trump's tax returns are made public (real soon now, I'm sure...) they will show exactly the same loopholes (pushed as deeply into the gray edge of legality as they can be) as Jared's. Like son-in-law, like father. But, as you point out, they are doing what is apparently "not illegal". What a strong recommendation that is! The fix is to make the tax code more fair, with far less loopholes and far less coddling favoritism towards the very wealthy. Because those same very wealthy fund the politicians that encumber the tax code with all these loopholes, trying to curry favor and 'campaign donations', it seems that the most likely way to get the tax code freed of loopholes is going to be a wholesale replacement of the Congress, and tax paying citizen's oversight with pitchforks at the ready.
5
@Robert
You're obviously wealthy enough to take deductions. Most American are not. Many more households fell into the "not worth it bucket" when Republicans doubled the standard deduction. You're speaking for a class of people already in the top quartile now.
I would say taking loans to buy properties in order to avoid federal taxes while sitting on a multi-million dollar inheritance is rather offense to the people who are debating whether or not to deduct their retirement contributions. Wouldn't you?
6
@Robert Lots of things are legal, but that doesn't make them right, Robert.
Most working Americans pay taxes on their earnings. Kushner doesn't pay a thin dime. Wonder how those particular real estate exemptions happened to be saved after the last "tax reform"? It wasn't by accident.
The man is a world-class crook, and you're writing in to defend him.
8
I can't remember all his portfolios, but Middle East peace was one of them, which he effectively killed by persuading Trump to move our embassy to Jerusalem. Jareed did get MBS to blockade Qatar, thus threatening our most vital naval base in the Gulf region, all because the Qataris refused to refinance his underwater Manhattan property at 666. Like Trump, he has cheated the U.S. Treasury out of millions in taxes, but what else is new. And he has convinced our U.N. ambassador of his "hidden genius," thus raising serious doubts about her own mental capacities.
26
Never seen a politician own up to errors. The infallibility principle. And one of the many reasons politicians are deservedly reviled.
4
Born on third base, thinking he hit a triple. Picked off admiring his visage on the jumbotron.
11
The Sadim Touch
It’s obvious that Jared is an arrogant, entitled know-nothing, but it’s important to understand why and how that happened. He learned all of the wrong lessons — starting with his father’s $2m check to Harvard. Similar to Trump, he starts with the premise that people are only motivated by money and power as he is. While Kissinger saw violence and death as an unfortunate side effect, Kushner and Trump fetishize it. They start with a premise of raw power that is divorced from consequence.
And yet. Who are the Saudis going to blame when the country goes south under its infighting? Who are the Iranians going to blame? Who are the Kurds going to blame for abandoning them? Who is Turkey going to blame? You can’t solve the Middle East by putting all your chips on one nasty prince and expect there not to be repercussions. Then we are going to get sucked back into another war and cycle of death because Jared is a simple minded fool.
4
Jared Kushner knows by now that when speaks in public, he looks and sounds like a little boy.
10
Jarvanka is the classic Trump hollow man. No substance, just an imagined persona and a pile of Daddy's money.
15
I give that marriage about six months post-Trump administration. Who are the Kushners in exile from the glitterati?
5
Trump, Jared and his family and his cohorts can be far more easily described in one word. . .
Parasites.
33
What is utterly inconceivable is the utter shamelessness of the Trump clan.
No scandal, big or small, brings a hint of contrition or apology. Taxes? Only fools pay them. Self-dealing? Bring it on. Profit by selling out America? Shame on you for pointing it out.
Trump and his intimate associates are thoroughly irredeemable. America will be lucky just to survive the calamities this administration will wreak on us. It cannot be over too quickly.
28
Read last year's headlines on these people and ask yourself if missing a year of them would have changed anything. I'm so very tired of them.
But one thing we can really use as a society is clobbering some of the myths we have about money.
Do you have to be smart to have lots of money? Obviously not.
Are you punished for having money but no soul, or conscience? Obviously not.
And what will it buy you? Respect, love, an intelligent looking face? Obviously not.
America has always been a nation which adores wealth, but we're rich in so many other ways as well. The Trumps really shine a bright light on putting money first, and that's a lesson we need. Thank you, idiots!
8
Kushner like Trump has no experience in leadership of any kind, no worthwhile education about history, international relations, nor military studies that qualify as relevant knowledge, nor experience in government nor in diplomacy nor in administration nor military strategy. His business experience shows no real skills that would help him succeed in that field without already millions to support himself.
His even accepting this role reveals a vain person who is a stranger to himself. Giving him this job shows how little Trump knows, too.
9
Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound...not. But so apropos of the Trump administration in general. If you really want to be depressed, take a look at the line of succession to the presidency.
2
The cliche among Trump minions is that Jared Kushner is very smart. No, a smart man, after the election of his father-in-law, Trump, would have headed in the opposite direction of the White House and sought a life in obscurity.
11
I suspect he's been heavily influenced by living in Trump's world but I have to wonder why he doesn't take charge of his own destiny ... I can't imagine he doesn't see what's coming down the pike or what Trump is like when he gets in trouble.
3
Jared pays lip service to the practices of modern Orthodox Judaism but not, in my opinion, to the spirit, which is the heart of Judaism. He skirts the law, be it evading income taxes using the loopholes available to the ultra wealthy, avoiding State Department channels to do “personal diplomacy” in Saudi Arabia, or being called out in court as a slum landlord who preys on the poor people who rent apartments in his buildings. Where is his moral life as a Jew? He is not a shining example of the tenets of Judaism, among which is tikkun olam, the commitment to do good to others and work to make the world a better place.
15
Obviously he was trained in arrogance by his father in law. Perhaps the only subject the teacher has any expertise in!
5
Of course he is special - everything in his life tells him he is special. From his admission to Harvard, to his inheritance, to his ability to dodge taxes, from his marriage into the Trump family -it screams I AM SPECIAL!!! When you are special, you don't make mistakes. You can do it all, You know it all. And his most relevant role model is his father-in-law. A match made in heaven, so to speak.
632
@dairyfarmersdaughter Doesn't he remind you of Kavanaugh? It's a sign that says, "I got everything the easy way." Working hard in law school when you have a silver spoon is quite a different experience from most people.
@dairyfarmersdaughter
So they run off together, it's a match made in heaven
She is a painter and he is a turpentine seller
Just the kind of love to make a lonely man
And lonely woman better
Francis Dunnery
@dairyfarmersdaughter
And he's so much prittier than his father in law...
These are the people we will be hunting when the you know what hits the fan.
2
Well Frank, if you think Jared is an amoral dumb bunny, what about Little Donnie?
Trump was an idiot to bring his children into his administration, and they were fools to come. They can be indicted.
It's been obvious to everybody that Mueller was prosecuting Manafort directly (rather than referring the case to a federal district prosecutor, as he did with the Cohen case) in order to "flip" him and have his testimony.
Mueller must have had at least reasonably evidence that Manafort could testify to something important enough to justify the work by Mueller's people to take him to trial.
Who was above Manafort? Little Donnie, Jared, and Trump.
Pick one, pick more than one if you like, but somebody will go down.
5
Obviously, His genius is so well hidden that it requires a Microscope. Yeah, that’s it.
SAD.
10
Jared is about as deep as his dimple.
4
Jared is part of a Orthodox Jewish family who do not seem to have much of a moral compass, but the media seems to overlook this, mainly because they put religion on some kind of pedestal. Jared is just an entitled guy, born with a silver spoon in his mouth, who thinks he is better and cleverer that us mortals. He is just another grifter (con artist) who would be a nobody but for his inheritance - just like his father-in-law.
11
He's a twit, plain and simple. He must love Trump who shares his great love of money, give us money, give us more money, keep on giving us money until it hurts - YOU!
You being Uncle Sam and all their creditors. Why aren't they in jail is it because of what the NYT and WAPO both report from those at the IRS and within law enforcement, that white collar crimes isn't even under investigation any more unless we ask nicely??
I read the IRS is understaffed and being kept that way so criminals and thieves can roam the land with billions of dollars stuffed into their pockets not going back into the economy.
Kushner and Trump think we are all losers because they are the ones with the big bucks and the power. They will be saying this even while they get fitted, along with Jr., for orange jumpsuits.
2
Brutal. And, likely, dead on.
4
Jared Kushner is a disgrace to this country and that he is involved in policy and decision making that impacts all of us is shameful. He is a complete fraud who is only interested in self-aggrandizing and making even more money. The rest of us are paying taxes while he gets away with not paying a cent. He and Ivanka have no right to be in the White House. They are both corruption personified. When you think of all the intelligent, thoughtful people in this country ready to serve our country and we end up with those two. Makes me sick to my stomach each and every day.
9
Jared thinks that if he can enlist Saudi Arabia in going after Iran, then they won't turn on Israel.
But, Jared, the Saudis draw the black goo of extinct beasts from the earth, so it can be burned and the fumes of extinction blot out the sun, perpetuating the next round of mass extinction.
The Star of David is a sun. The sun provides us with ubiquitous, free energy.
We are literally in a clash between darkness and light. Jared forgets that he's supposed to be on the side of light.
He's a fool, tethered to his wife's greed and dupicity. He's selling out the world with his whispers to his father in law.
When contemplating Trump's downfall, look at who will really benefit. Melania must Anna NIcole Smith this to a profitable end. Ivanka will finally neutralize her abuser. Eric, if he can keep a low profile, will inherit a fortune and Donald Junior will finally get revenge for the humiliation and pain their family has suffered at the hands of their imbecilitc father.
Liberals, don't take the bait. Please. Godspeed Mr. Mueller.
3
Mr. Bruni, who is dishonest here?
This quote from the aforementioned article states "Nothing in the documents suggests Mr. Kushner or his company broke the law. "
Therefore, for you to insinuate anything of this nature is purely dishonest. If the law is wrong, work to change it.
Let's just check, do you take the mortgage interest deduction on your taxes, assuming you own your home? If you do, you are the same as what you accuse Mr. Kushner of being.
Maybe you should reconsider and return to the restaurant column.
Like father, like son. Sheesh. The trump family inherits Immorality. It's hard-coded in their DNA.
5
Like father-in-law, like son-in-law! Period. Full stop
3
Jared Kushner is the most useless person on the planet.
8
Exactly what The New York Times and the rest of the Socialist news media have done for decades.
Doesn't Bruni have anything more newsworthy and relevant to report (reporting actually being a misnomer - more like regurgitating the Democrat Party daily news sheet faxed to
almost all the news and tv media) ?
Guess not!!
You thought maybe that Trump's young son-in-law was supposed to be a person of substance ? His slumlord press clippings must have earned some respect from daddy-in-law shyster Trump. We do not know if he can speak off the cuff in complete sentences since he never speaks. But not to worry. He is carrying on the family tradition of not paying federal income taxes. Perhaps their Washington, D.C. West Wing performances are giving us a preview of their next west wing engagement--the tax wing at Club Fed in Allenwood, Pa.
5
Back in the Sixties there was a popular phrase that seems fitting for the Kushners and the Trumps, along with all of their other cohorts of today..."Eat the Rich" ...Enough said.
2
Give him enough rope and guess the outcome, with this clown prince it’s not if, only when.
3
Who said Arabs and Jews can't get along..???
5
We all know it, we've all seen it, but these PNAS verify it:
http://www.pnas.org/content/109/11/4086.full
1
Like father, like son-in-law. Just another criminal con man. It amazes me that Trump supporters are okay with this behavior from the Trump crime family.
7
Kushner like Trump has no experience in leadership of any kind, no worthwhile education about history, international relations, nor military studies that qualify as relevant knowledge, nor experience in government nor in diplomacy nor in administration nor military strategy. His business experience shows no real skills that would help him succeed in that field without already millions to support himself.
His even accepting this role reveals a vain person who is a stranger to himself.
3
Jared Kushner, the consummate con! He makes his father-in-law very proud. For a guy who did not even get security clearance to the White House, he now struts around with gay abandon to hobnob with the rich and powerful. He nonchalantly makes personal deals to enrich himself with the likes of MBS, his friend. You give him credit when you say he winces at the mention of Kashoggi's brutal death. I doubt that. In fact, he must laugh and be advising MBS how to spin this atrocity in a tangled web. In a normal world, this guy should be behind bars like his father. But this is Trump world where cons reign supreme.
3
From the moment of roles and portfolio announcements about Jared and Ivanka I have assumed that both were vapid creatures, more likely filled with helium than flesh and blood.
That anyone, anywhere, believed they held the solutions--or even original ideas--concerning problems and issues put before them came as a shock.
Perhaps one tragedy of their positionSigh is simply that they are filling spaces that could well be occupied by thirty-somethings who are actually knowledgeable about issues and policies.
But wait...in this White House, that gives us Steve Miller...nevermind...Argh.
4
Jared & Ivanka are as Orthodox as a ham kugel. It's not just for "Christians" any more.
3
Thank you for this column...right on.
5
A family of grifters, surrounded by felons, and installed by demagogues. Have we had enough yet?
8
Jared Kushner is one of the greatest examples of marrying right we have seen recently. What he has done on his own to merit such a high position in the White House or any position in our government? That he is the most qualified individual in our country to take charge of the Middle East peace process? Mr. Kushner is nothing more than another sycophant in the Trump administration out for himself, the type of individual the President gushes over. Most individuals in Mr. Kushner's position would go out of their way to show that the opportunities given them will not be squandered. But when you have your way greased for you and your father in law is a naive fool, you can get away with anything. Absolutely disgusting.
2
Jared’s genius is so well hidden none of us can find it.
6
Jared is busy trying to resuscitate MBS's image after the recent murder in the embassy. MBS assumed that the US media will give him a carte blanche for being close to Jared and his designs for Palestinian destruction, whereas MBS is busy destroying Yemen. Anyway the end for Middle East will come one way or the other, all these princes are part of the grand design.
1
This is very shallow and inappropriate but I also think he has puny eyebrows.
4
Bruni, you dismiss Kushner's plan as nothing more than self-aggrandizing, without even seeing it. He's way overdue in showing his plan, but I can't dismiss it without knowing what it is. The fact that you don't seem to see that argues that your dismissal is motivated by other, possibly emotional, factors. That would be consistent with the tone of the rest of this hatchet piece.
To use another cliche, making fun of Jared is as easy as shooting fish in a barrel.
3
Just like his father-in-law.
2
Wow!; if Trump 'inherited' his racism from his father, Jared did acquire his corrupted ways from his own father. So, while playing to their gullible public, they remain the hypocrites we knew about for a while, the 'takers' from this capitalistic system where, if you are up there with the 'rich and powerful', you can get away with 'murder'. These United States owns two different 'justices', one for the privileged and entitled, that cheat on the rest by not paying taxes, and the real one for the rest of us. Unfair? You bet! Now, what are we going to do about it?
3
@manfred marcus
Nothing will change for the better until the tax laws are changed and that won’t happen until there isn’t a government made up of the wealthy and powerful who want to stay, or become, more wealthy and powerful. Soo, no change wil ever happen. If you make minimum wage, you still get taxes taken out, but you can’t afford to invest in property to avoid paying taxes; you can hardly afford to rent decent property in which to live. And, the wealthy and powerful make sure the poor that want to help vote them out of office are excised from the voting roles.
2
The Saudi crown prince MBS used to brag that he had kushner in his pocket.
It is always and only about money .
858
@Inter nos ... Its always and (mostly) money.
You need to leave room for Jared Grifter's other shortcomings and kleptocracies.
1
@Inter nos
with this "family", anyway...for the rest of us, it's about empathy and climate change...
1
The overconfidence and arrogance is simple to explain. It's a relatively common affliction of children of the wealthy. When your path to success has been greased, and I mean greased, ones head tends to grow that you did it all on your own, hence the arrogance. Confidence is generally only shaken when one suffers the consequences of bad choices, bingo the overconfidence.
Perhaps Jared et al are disciples of Leona Helmsley? Remember her infamous "We don't pay taxes. The little people pay taxes."
6
The word ‘moral’ used in conjunction with anyone closely related to Trump is jarring and discordant, even when combined with ‘laryngitis.’ But that said, it’s still a brilliant metaphor.
5
Kushner rode in the wave of contempt for expertise that began with the Tea Party and the crash in 2007. Turns out global politics is hard because its complicated, not because everyone else in history has done it wrong and you, with no experience or particular expertise will somehow make it look easy.
3
He has no foreign relations experience. He was not an especially good student. He did not study foreign relations. He was given his job because he is the son-in-law of Trump's favorite child. There is no difficulty in figuring that he should not have this type of influential job. Please step down Jared.
5
I believe all citizens of any nation have a responsibility to pay taxes to make our communities a better place to live. Abdicating this responsibility is deplorable but Americans thought it was smart that a rich man like Trump didn’t pay taxes. Sad.
4
Mr. Bruni you don't seem to understand. The one country that has come to the defense of the Saudi's lethal regime is the State of Israel. In Israel Jared is golden. They credit his father and law and him for humiliating the Palestinians and hope for more. As long as this makes the Israeli Right happy who cares about competence, taxes and the condoning of murder?
4
While I shouldn’t be surprised anymore, the fact that this entire family, and by extension the administration, has absolutely no moral compass, is astounding.
3
Did Jared and Ivanka ever say or imply that they would be "the better angels" or the conscience of the Administration? I have only heard or read progressives say this sort of thing. Of course the two turned out to be nothing of the sort. I have never heard Jared speak and wonder if he really sounds like Mickey Mouse a la the Jimmy Fallon impersonation. Maybe that's why he doesn't speak in public. LOL
1
Jared Kushner is to America what a diagnosis of stage 5 pancreatic cancer is to the human body. It is incurable and lethal.
5
Ah how I remember the vitriol which emanated from Republicans when a vote for Bill Clinton promised you a twofer which included wife Hillary, a woman who actually had impressive experience in policy and public service.
Not so much these days where a vote for con man Trump gets you more of the same, minus the experience or brains or humanity.
5
Ah yes, representation without taxation. Hard working people should be appalled at the tax laws that allow this.
6
This op-ed makes me sad. Even if totally true, it is kind of mean-spirited and spiteful.
70
@Joshua Green You just can't handle truth. A well-written piece. It is His father -in -law and his extended family who are mean and spiteful.
6
@Joshua Green Especially if true, Kushner should be called out. The stakes are too high.
2
@Joshua Green
Why? The arrogant Jared accepted jobs he totally botched.
If we were simply discussing Kushner handling of his own private tax-enhanced property, you might have a point.
But President Spanky put him in charge of government areas that are way beyond his expertise, and Kushner — thinking like pop-in-law that he is a stable genius — naively accepted the challenge.
If Kushner is affected by mild criticism, he has no place in the administration. Or do you think he is as delicate as his corrupt father-in-law?
7
Are we getting anywhere near the end of Dump On Jared Week, at the New York Times? Can't wait to see who next week's victim will be. It feels like olden times only now with a print version of stocks in the public square.
This twerp has bought up a lot of property in my neighborhood,and I fear that he will continue to do harm to citizens on a local scale, even after being booted out of Washington. Keep after those tax records,and rid us of this little pestilence.
31
Kushner is one of the worst scourges to live in America since the revolutionary days. He is second only in despicable to his father-in-law. The two if them, both thieves, swindlers, liars, cheats and tax evaders, belong not to the world of decent and civilized men but to a sub-class somewhere on the orders of reptiles. Neither has done a day of real "work" in their rotten lives.
I would like nothing better than the chance to wipe the smug look off this snake.
37
@pjswfla
Dude,
What do you have against reptiles?
2
@rgarcia
Actually, nothing., It was insulting for me to make that comparison to reptiles or for that matter to any other life form. Kushnerr and Trump are despicable and evil creatures of a totally different kind, never before seen on earth and hopefully never again to be seen once they are gone.
Mr. Bruni, it seems that the cliché to the effect that those who can do, while those who can't criticize continues to be applicable to you.
What has Jared done? Could it be nothing? Maybe because he can’t?
4
@James - If you meant that as an insult it fell flat. I doubt Bruni or anyone else here wants to be a lying, conniving little con artist.
3
Jared has learned much from the master moral manipulator—his father-in-law.
7
Kushner probably knows the lesson of being God. If you get credit for everything good, and no blame for anything bad, you get a terrific reputation.
If, on the other hand (like the Devil, for example), you get blamed for everything bad and no credit for anything good, you'll have a terrible reputation.
1
Ah, Frank! In a perfect world in which the IRS could make Jared pay his dues, we could relabel his relationship with his Saudi buddy, "The Prince and the Pauper."
10
You mean that teachers pay more taxes than multi-millionaire Jared Kushner? Teachers pay more? Firefighters pay more? Police officers pay more? Shipbuilders and ironworkers pay more? Government employees and state employees pay more than Mr. Kushner? My retirement taxes are more than Jared Kushner?
Just rubbing in the facts...while he bathes in the facts...silently.
30
Trust me on this: nurses pay MUCH more taxes than Jared Kushner.
2
@NYCSandi
Of course you do! We all do. Sorry to have left you out!!!
A few months ago MSB was here in LA and went to a party with that include big honchos from the boardrooms to the boards (and screens). On her NPR podcast, the great Kim Masters of The Hollywood Reporter pointed out the hypocisy of most of them meeting with such a morally questionable despot. (Guess despot is kind of redundant!)
4
I, like the majority of Americans, live an honest life and pay taxes and give to charity and do my level best to make ends meet. Jared Kushner is not like most Americans. He is nothing but a con man who keeps getting richer and pays no taxes and is in a position of great power and influence. It's reprehensible beyond description.
30
Don't blame infantile Jared for his flaws, he can not help it and he made bed despite of it - amazing. But, I am wondering what the voters would have said if Mr. Bush had "employed" his brothers, sister, Jeb's son who is running for one thing or another here in Texas to get his feet wet. Would these Americans have protested, the ones that adore the present president?
5
When Trump came into office, I - and others - were hoping Jared would be the rogue admin with some influence over his unhinged father-in-law. Instead, we get fabrications of rogue killers with bone saws at the Saudi Embassy.
5
@Bun Mam - Why on earth would you think such a thing? Kushner has been a lying twerp for all of his miserable life.
1
No wonder the president and his son-in-law get along so well.
Both of them take credit for everything, except their own screw-ups.
10
Governance by nepotism is never successful. And foreign policy should never be carried out by arrogant, ignorant, trust-fund babies. Especially those who dodge their fiscal responsibilities while the majority of the American people struggle just to stay afloat. Further, who can say what else these two sinister princelings have forged together? I suspect Kushner is deeply in hock to foreign nationals. Like father, like son in law.
Let's never, ever do this again.
47
With Trump son-in-law, Jared Kushner, you have the catastrophic political equation where:
Nepotism + Naivete = National Nastiness
You have a totally inexperienced young man encouraging another totally inexperienced young man that journalists are "the enemy of the people" and should be silenced. And voila, Jamal Khashoggi, an internationally prominent Arab journalist and Saudi expatriate now working for that notorious "fake news" paper The Washington Post as a U.S. resident with a green card, is brazenly liquidated encouraged by the belief that it will quickly be swept under a Turkish carpet. Of course, the Turks are not that naive and have both audio- and video-tape evidence of the gruesome murder. And, Jared's father-in-law is once again trying to coverup for him as he did with Don Jr. in the Trump tower meeting. As with the Air Force One story, it's not working. So now everyone is asking why the U.S. intelligence agencies who knew that the Saudis were trying to "detain" Mr. Khashoggi did not alert him as their "duty to warn" policy requires. It's all-too-familiar with the whole Russia collusion-conspiracy investigation to make one wonder about "all the president's boys" and his willingness to coverup for their "moral laryngitis."
9
Apples. Trees. Not far from.
It is fall, and we face the winter of our discontent
And Aspen calls the kushners.
10
Donald Trump: A self-inflated, ethically dubious, second-generation, tax-dodging slumlord/failed real estate investor in extreme need of foreign credit, currently occupying an office in the West Wing of the White House for which he is completely unqualified.
Jared Kushner: A self-inflated, ethically dubious, second-generation, tax-dodging slumlord/failed real estate investor in extreme need of foreign credit, currently occupying an office in the West Wing of the White House for which he is completely unqualified.
Ivanka married her father. Freud would be having a field day. American people with brains... not so much.
88
Hey! Income tax evasion landed Al Capone in jail. Oh wait! This is the president's son-in-law. So he fleeces America and now, as the President's anointed in-law, he is making a mess of everything on the world stage that he's touched. Two years can't pass soon enough. I just hope enough Trump voters wise up and see what his happening -- with clear vision.
14
@GMT
Please put Kushner in an orange jumpsuit and in a shared cell with that other nasty piece of work, Shkreli.
3
"He’s Midas minus the touch and the humility."
Top notch quote....
10
"Moral laryngitis" does not begin to sum up Jared Kushner's incompetence and crookedness. Like the Trump family, the Kushners seem to engage in a host of shady practices, and seem to believe that laws, rules, basic decency are for others, not for them.
27
I recall, right after the election, Jared was touted as the supposed wunderkind in charge of the campaign's digital strategy. Yet nary a mention of his involvement with Cambridge Analytica was made once the truth about them was revealed. Hmmm.
26
Forgot who said but it was right on. "Only the little people pay taxes".
8
@LBL -- "the queen of mean" Leona Helmsley.
2
I hope Mueller indicts Jared, Junior, Stone, Wikileaks, Cambridge Analytica, and another dozen Russians on the day after the elections. He knows that Trump will try to interfere with him; he will be prepared for any election eventuality.
6
Of all of the people that have been put in a position to fail in this administration - and the list is long - Jared Kushner tops the list.
It is possible that Donald Trump had a fleeting moment of self awareness during the transition when reluctantly hired a few smart, capable, people for key national security and defense posts. A legendary egomaniac, yes, but my sense is that he knows he is lazy, deep down, and uninformed about the world beyond sleazy real estate deals and divisive showmanship.
But placing his son-in-law over them, with the most bizarre portfolio of responsibilities proves his own desperate inability to trust; and proves that Trump is incapable of managing even a medium-sized group of people, let alone the world's most important government.
11
A quibble, but so far from what I read he's a tax-avoider. He's made aggregious use of the tax code and it's the code that needs real reform. I'd reserve "evasion" which is illegal, for B.L.O.T.U.S.
5
Any actor preparing for the part of a truly stereotypical weasel would do well to study Jared Kushner -- everything about him, especially his body language, screams "Hold onto your wallet."
Alas, even Kevin Spacey (perhaps I should say the late Kevin Spacey, since he seems to be missing, too) could learn a thing or two from Jared Kushner about how to telegraph "Don't trust me father than you can throw me."
8
October 16, 2018
Make it three princes in the era of Trump rule and its Arabia royalty. So forget transparent discourse and for common politics seeking truth other than the one percent geniuses.
1
If Trump (and his family) has been voted to be president of the United States of America does this mean that more than half of all Americans are and have the same moral values than him?
5
Recall that we had a voter turnout of only 54.7% in 2016 for votes for president of which Trump won 46%. Note that voter turnout can seem different depending on whether you look at all votes cast (59.2%) or just those for president (54.7%). That means he won only 25.16% of voters in the country. So there's at least some optimism that only about 1/4 the country might actually agree with him and his family.
5
@JustJeff
So, get out and vote these bums out of office. Any Democrat who doesn’t vote is complicit in continuing this travesty of a government. The college students in Waller County Texas, finally, after decades of trying, got the right to vote. The Native Americans in North Dakota have been denied the right to vote but are scrambling as best they can to overcome this blatant misuse of power by the ND GOP. So anyone who is a Democrat, or who wants to vote Democrat, and has no blatant roadblocks to their voting, has absolutely NO excuse to not vote this year (or any year, for that matter). Plus, this goes for all the women and men and students who have campaigned and marched to show their anger at the behavior of this administration and Congress, please realize that marching and yelling isn’t nearly as powerful and effective as to VOTE the GOP out of offices.
Sadly I believe Jared Kushner is someone who enthusiastically jumped feet first into the deep end of the political pool without bothering to first learn to swim. That he is over his head and out of his depth becomes more evident with each embarrassing scandal and plot twist in the Russia-Saudi Arabia-Trump team debacle. Kushner and his father-in-law are acting in the best interests of their financial bottom lines, not in the best interests of our country. Is that treason?
1261
@Monta1052 YES it is.
2
@Monta1052
No it is not treason, but neither should be in the roles that they both fell into. The USA now has pure sleaze and pure white-collar criminality at the top of the political heap.
@Monta1052: Well, you know the old saw: the more ignorant a person is, the more ignorant s/he is of just how ignorant s/he is.
1
"Moral Laryngitis". Best description ever, well done. I hope you don't mind if I use this one, Mr Bruni, as in:
Sometimes the moral laryngitis is deafening.
10
In the ProPublica article about Jared's admission to Harvard, his high school counselor bemoaned the fact that many other students who deserved to get there on the merits were denied, while he essentially "bought" his way in. How many hardworking, well-deserving students get denied each year to our top schools because some wealthy parents decide to buy a seat for their kids who probably don't even want to be there? And to think, these parents are usually the first ones to rant and rave against affirmative action and complain that students from underserved communities (which include working class white families) are "stealing" spots from their kids. I hope when this whole Trump episode is over that we take a long hard look at why we lionize the rich in our society. Money does not equal intelligence or competence.
34
@Jason R. - or speech, but it does tend to amplify what you say if you are stupid rich - more people will assume you know things they do not. Like Trump, who knows more about NATO and how it works than any 4 star general, according to himself.
2
My concern is that when Trump whines about the billions in arm sales that could be lost, he is actually externalizing fears of losing Saudi dollars coming into his and Jared’s business schemes. The corruption of Trump Inc. is profound.
84
Gee, what a surprise. After almost two years of lamenting the 21st Century AmeriKan Romanovs, we've done nothing but let them escape. We've been played, for the Ringmaster wants our eyes and rage anywhere but the family, while it shreds the heart of the Constitution and whatever meaning it had left. And we're fools if we're buying into the fact that the family charades around the world are within the confines of the law.
All the jaw-grinding-vein-popping spewage posting in op ed forums will change NOTHING. Yes, vote. But when that anticipated wave turns out to be a ripple, we'll be left with decisions that won't wait until the next election cycle. Civic duty in the form of simply voting worked when both parties still had shared boundaries. That's no longer the case, and after the meltdown of the last 40 years, it's WAAAY past time to start imagining the unimaginable---what we all know needs to happen.
7
How can a man who
professes to be devout
reconcile his choices
with his religious beliefs?
How does he feel when
he reads the prayers
about righteous acts, justice
and morality? On Yom Kippur
does he achnowledge his frailty
as a human being? Perhaps
religion is more about structure
than morality, about stories
that we tell ourselves.
As an aspiration,
consider the words of
Micah 6:8, “...what doth the
Lord require of thee, but to do
justly, and to love mercy, and to walk
humbly with thy God...”
632
@Karen
With all due respect, Karen, forget about Micah and look to the US Constitution, the part about giving aid and comfort to our enemies.
2
@Karen
R.I.N.O: Religious In Name Only.
1
@Karen I'm sure such an important and impactful man takes out a full page ad in the Times during the Days of Awe to ask forgiveness of all of us for his sins against us.
He and MSB are two peas in a pod and that's the primary reason they get along so well. Spoiled and entitled, they've been lauded by their families their entire lives but no-one else as neither has ever accomplished anything at all other than accepting what is given.
That wouldn't be so bad if it was just two corrupt businessmen. But now there will be consequences world-wide for their behavior and actions.
And that's something neither has ever encountered and are as unprepared for as they are everything else. Response? Hide behind their families yet again.
These two represent the hope of the middle east? For whom?
5
Let’s be honest here, the Trump tribe is bad, but they have not started a war on a lie, sanctioned torture, or crashed the world economy, at least not yet. But, they have only been in power, not even two years, let’s give them time. Of course, they have set some ground rules to other nations on just what will be tolerated. The world is beginning to see the fruits of their moral failings. Putin, poisoning U.K. citizens on English soil, and now a prominent journalist being brazenly murdered in a Saudi embassy. This really hurts Trump because he can’t start a shooting war with Iran to get re-elected if he has to be nice to them.
5
“I could have had Tom Brady as a son-in-law, instead I got...Jared.”
It is incorrect to say that Kushner is a tax evader. As the Times’s carefully written story noted last week, he used depreciation to lower and even eliminate his income tax obligations for a number of years. The story pointed out that this is perfectly legal, though we may not like it. In contrast, tax evasion is a felony.
4
Why aren't Jared and Ivanka shunned from every restaurant and social gathering in New York City? It confounds me why our neighbors are gracious to those who have so little disregard for this country.
25
You said it all in this article. 666 5th ave, the shining one and the undermining of the system he says he represents. Sounds like a book I have been reading. What we may want to watch for is the cure for this aliment.
6
Thank you, Mr. Bruni!
10
In that Trump, the president, seems to see himself inflated as supreme monarch, it makes sense that he needs a crown prince, which is how Kushner strikes me to be acting as ... in an transparent, attempted way, anyway. And with M.B.S. as his Saudi role model and age-related, adopted "cousin", it only gets worse to write home about. It would dreadful for anyone to understand all of this as an American success story, especially because of the moral deficiency of it ... not to mention the absence of "arete" - honor. What's really amazing for genuine chutzpah is the unrelenting allegiance this crowd of Trump has from those calling themselves "Christian," hijacking the term "evangelical" to imply their principled mission of spreading the good news. Likewise, when it comes to realizing Kushner's way into Harvard, one has to wonder about Harvard and what's going on with it. To be "the land of the free and the home of the brave," it is well past time to reconsider the narrative we want for ourselves to live by. And in that regard, this frank Frank Bruni commentary hopefully will help.
10
Jared is the perfect prince of this Imperial Presidency. His only qualification is familial, his demeanor is aloof and his accomplishments are irrelevant.
Prince Jared is a poster child of sycophancy, disdain of the little people, greed, ineptitude and parochialism. His moral compass mirrors the King's - transactions trump values. The latest spat with the Saudis exemplifies all of the above. He is Mr. Adelson's instrument in the Trump Court and peace in the middle east is a smoke screen.
32
Frank that was a well deserved trashing....now take a deep breath, November is coming
13
Kudos to all members of the Trump Cult for being consistent in their hypocrisy, greed, self-absorption, crassness and corruption.
31
If the Saudi dictator ordered the murder of Jamaql Khashoggi, it's because he knew that he could get away with it, given that the so-called president of the United States has all but lain down on the floor for dictators around the world.
37
Vain but ignorant. He like all children want to live significant lives to feel important. Like all children he cannot perceive most of the specifics in life that determine outcomes because he does not know about them. That about which anyone is ignorant is imperceptible to them. Kushner has no idea about what he is doing. But as throughout his life, he will not be held responsible, nor will Trump, but all of us will be.
9
Want another cliche’.How about ,”Fool me once, shame on me, fool me twice, shame on you”! First Kushner was touted as the person to bring peace to the Middle East - a worthy goal.His plan was to move the capital of Israel to Jerusalem.That sabotaged the peace talks. All of his endeavors have been to enrich Kushner and foil American foreign policy.Shame on him- he has now befriended a Saudi prince who has no tolerance for dissent and imprisons his relatives to teach them a lesson and then arranged to have a journalist from the Washington Post silenced.He is a moral midget.
26
@Janet Michael -- Jared never had any intention of making peace talks work. Hardline jews in both Israel and the US have no interest in a peace settlement at all -- the status quo is what they want.
Moving the embassy to Jerusalem is a payoff to those hardliners, plain and simple.
8
Galeazzo Ciano(Mussolini son in law--reincarnate)
6
I recall reading that Jared has actually traveled on his own to Saudi Arabia to continue his confab with the Crown Prince. Did this happen before Kushner even had a security clearance?
There needs to be more reporting to expose just how close those two shameless princelings have become.
The Trump amateur hour is a total disgrace, and dangerous. Jamal Khasoggi paid with his life for their careless naivete.
1078
@CA Reader: Last I read, back in the first year of the Trump administration, was that Kushner had been denied secret and top-secret security clearances. Nonetheless, he has his daddy-in-law's ear on foreign policy issues.
3
@CA Reader Why do you assume there's anything nefarious going on between MBS and Jared? They're just hanging out and playing video games together.
1
@CA Reader yes stop following the Tweeter and follow what's going on behind the scenes....
the media is crazy lost.
And yet his patron will be re-elected and continue to assault and pillage the nation and the world, and he will assist. Nothing will change. Hand wringing and appeals to logic will not move the needle amongst the gerrymandered electorate. When the economy crashes, probably as soon as the bill comes due for this deficit multiplying tax law, these same people will blame whomsoever is the new president. The majority of Americans simply don’t care and a solid plurality of Americans vote as much to spite their neighbor as to help themselves. Is it any wonder Jared is where he is, or that his patron can do no wrong in the eyes of that plurality?
531
@Ralph--No! Trump will NOT be re-elected.
14
@Ralph
Well spoken. Depressing but true. The Trumpian maxim is "hate thy neighbor as you love thyself." I can't understand the sentiment. However, I suppose that's why writers are describing our nation's state as a civil war. There are two diametrically opposed moral philosophies which can no longer be reconciled. I have the distinct feeling things will get worse before they get better too. Perhaps catastrophically.
1
This is another party-political column of Mr. Bruni. Mr Trump gives us many opportunities to criticize him and it is perfectly ok not to like him. You can also question the performance of any member of Trump's team.
Cheap and mostly fictional shots as in this column may make you likable for left wing Democrats, they do not make you more credible.
Mr. Kushner works hard at finding a solution to both the Israeli-Palestinian issue and the Iranian threat by working with Saudi Arabia. While seemingly the Saudis may have committed a horrible and violent act, this should not take our eyes on the ball that the Middle East, with Hezbollah, Hamas and Iran present a clear and present danger. Some of us hope that Mr. Kushner succeeds, other, and clearly Mr. Bruni, hope that he fails so that his preferred party looks better.
35
@Harry Mazal
The man who had trouble with security clearance?
The man who had to change his financial disclosures how many times?
The man whom bin Salman himself mockingly calls the
CLOWN Prince of America?
Saudi Arabia under MBS is as dangerous as Iran.
But Trump and Kushner picked sides and enabled a guy who may be technologically forward -thinking, but is a hard- core, savage dictator nonetheless.
4
@Harry Mazal
Kushner has no experience or expertise. What he does have is financial connections that make him richer instead of looking for american interest he is looking for kushner interests.
8
@Harry Mazal
I recommended your response to readers for it sincerity, and a lapse of judgement, in alignment with the subject discussed. Will you at least concede not paying any taxes, factually proven, is a major problem?
4
Frank you forget that Mr. Kushner is not an elected official. Your public acid tongue lashing of him, outside of perhaps making you feel better, is really useless. We've heard it all before. I suppose that you wouldn't take full advantage of our tax laws in order to minimize what you legally owe the government. If you would then you're no better than Mr. Kushner and if you wouldn't you'd could rightfully be considered an idiot. Justly, this is your opinion piece and you are entitled to it, but keep in mind when you're flinging manure it's recommended that you stand down wind.
4
@Kurt Pickard I wish it were so easy to simply wave away evidence of malfeasance by simply noting that this callow fellow was not elected. Instead he has been given access to state secrets (recall that he initially could not get a security clearance and then what he received has restrictions) despite having shown absolutely nothing to indicate that he has any abilities in the areas he was assigned. I see this as another part of the big con being foisted upon this country. Of course, it only works as long as suckers believe the nonsense. On the tax thing: Trump and his son-in-law's family have benefited enormously by the infrastructures (legal, social, physical, economic, etc.) built up with tax money of others, but they apparently do absolutely everything to make sure that, as Leona Helmsley noted, only the little people pay taxes. I think the word grifter fits quite well. And you find this A-OK!
6
@Kurt Pickard The very fact that kushner is not an elected official, nor a person with knowledge of how we conduct diplomacy for the good of the entire country--not just his personal enrichment and that of his father-in-law--is the point. You are entitled to you opinion, but keep in mind that the stink from the manure in the White House affects all of us ...including you...no matter where we stand.
5
Kushner looks just like the demon seed in the Omen movies only a lot more creepy.
13
At a minimum, Trump and Kushner clearly conveyed, via their continuing kind words for murderous dictators around the globe, that the Trump administration would look the other way regardless of what those dictators might do, so long as it didn't take place on US soil.
Very likely, Trump and Kushner are now advising the Saudis on how to spin the murder of Khashoggi in order to minimize potential repercussions for the Saudis in the US -- especially any that might ultimately affect Trump's business dealings.
At worst, Trump and/or Kushner explicitly gave the Saudis the green light to murder Khashoggi. Sadly, this worst case is all too possible given Trump's deep-rooted rhetoric about how the news media -- and jounalists like Khashoggi -- are the enemy of his administration and dictators like Salman.
Vote on November 6. Toss out all of Trump's Republican enablers. We must begin to end the vile madness that is destroying our democracy and our society.
22
It's all about money Frank, not intellect. The financial conflicts of interests with Trump and his family are breathtaking.
15
Has anybody taken a good long look at this guy? Seriously?
Creepy
Creepy
Creepy
And Ivanka is equally scary looking, just blond.
Check out photos of her and Daddy when she's clearly in her early teens. These are images--whether of Jared, or an adult Ivanka, or a Lolita Ivanka--that beg us to consider what the implications might be.
I don't mean to be superficial, but if the eyes are a window into the soul, we are in soooooo much trouble. Really we are. Creeps and robots.
55
@oldteacher
It's the eyes that seem creepy, cold and sort of dead, to me.
2
I believe that the author is intelligent enough to know the difference between tax avoidance and tax evasion. Should be referred to Supreme Court decisions from many decades ago.
2
Kushner is basically a salesman, like his father-in-law—literally, of course, not just in a cynical sense. But sales force is always about the sale, not the product. Sales is essentially cynical: If you buy it, no one’s at fault but you. (The fluff master is out of the picture by the time the customer really appreciates the limited warranty.)
Trump, Inc. has turned this into a politics: Everything is public relations. There is nothing else. “Look: People buy it. That makes it valid.” Suckered voters have short memories, because they want to believe (just like viewers of silly dramas). Trump, Inc. gets center stage because “everybody” wants entertainment. Even the most esteemed news sources are businesses.
Trump, Inc. turns this into “diplomacy”: Foreign leaders are businessmen. Staying elected is like being an Account Executive.
“It’s not personal, baby. It’s just business.”
6
I’m a nurse of many years and a healthcare provider in other ways of even more time.
I have seen suffering beyond belief. I walked the halls of hospitals as a nurse RN Case Manager listening to stories from the uninsured, especially during those recession years. I have served on hospital committees and boards, as many possible to make sure patients get safe and sound healthcare. I have fought on the phone with insurance companies trying to get approvals for those who are so unfortunate - young people stricken with Lyme’s Disease, those with Multiple Sclerosis, people needing medical equipment, chemotherapy, hospice care.
You wonder where this is going? Jared Kushner, a way multi millionaire has gone years and years without paying any, nada, federal income tax! He could have been supporting babies in NICU’s, diabetics who cannot live without insulin, rehabilitation for those who have had traumatic accidents. But he does not support the need for Medicare, Medicaid, CHiPS, nor the Affordable Care Act. He sides with his rich father in law who also probably has not paid taxes,yet tries to deny healthcare by cutting medical funding and giving many tax cuts to the very very rich!
I get sick when I see Kushner’s picture. A 37 year old, wealthy as can be, yet does not give one red cent of tax money to poor children, ailing adults, grandmas and grandpas for public healthcare funding that they might need!
Shame, shame, shame. Jared Kushner is pathetic.
417
@MIMA, I am a retired physician who has worked for 45 years caring for the people you mention in your excellent post. These patients are the "common man/woman". The Medicaid, Medicare and "self-pay" folks. They pay taxes, as you and I do . . . our "fair share" of taxes which I gladly give as we indeed are our "brother/sister's keepers". Sure, no one likes to pay taxes but we live in a society where the burden of providing education, healthcare, infrastructure, etc., must be shared by the vast majority of us. I am sickened to think that Jared has paid nada, zip, nothing towards the common good for years. We are governed by an aristocracy (and kleptocracy) since Trump took office, not to mention we are governed by a pathologic narcissist autocrat. The most important election in our lifetime is coming up and we must VOTE to change the status quo. VOTE AS IF YOUR LIFE DEPENDS ON IT FOR IT SURELY DOES!
2
@MIMA
Even if he used legal means to avoid taxes (yes, I take legal deductions to limit my taxes), but I also give a percentage of my income to carefully vetted charities that, hopefully, make lives a bit better for those with less than even I have. Do we have any figures that indicate any of the trump camp and family make charitable donations to some of the people you mentioned? Or to any people, for that matter?
4
@MIMA
Yet many of those without insurance voted for and still cheer for trump. Please explain as I don’t vote against my own self-interest
2
NOthing will happen to Jared as long as Trump is in the White House. Trump is corrupt. Jared is corrupt and the Republican party protects them both. The Trump base seems oblivious or utterly unconcerned at the criminal behavior and incompetence of the Trump administration. They are happy with his bully tactics. The actions of Trump and Kushner are setting the stage for the total erosion of our democracy in the future. Does anyone doubt that the miserably low ethical standard they have set will not be duplicated in the future?
If Americans don't curtail these crooks in November, they deserve every misery that will follow in the next two years and beyond.
78
@William O. Beeman; As a Canadian citizen who was born in the USA, I look across the border and weep for my former country, a country I love. But I couldn’t agree more with your last paragraph. If the upcoming election does not result in a change in at least one house of Congress, I can only think that Americans will have elected the government that they deserve.
3
So Jared has accomplished virtually nothing on his own, has depended on his wealthy father's largesse and connections for virtually everything in his life, takes credit for achievements he wasn't responsible for, deflects blame for failures he was responsible for, avoids paying taxes, cozies up to foreign despots, lacks any discernible moral compass, and has carefully cultivated a myth of himself as some sort of deal-making genius and successful real estate developer.
Hmm... who does this remind you of?
24
I can't stand this sleaze ball any more than the other Trumpets, but one of your criticisms is not fair: He tripled his net worth and you said he hasn't accomplished anything. OK. I agree he seems to have done it through nefarious means, but he's not in jail so I can only presume what he did was legal. I still think he's a weasel.
8
@Andrew
In real estate, so called wealth can be tripled by inflated valuations. It's not real, especially when it's back stopped by massive debt.
24
And this is the man that Nikki Haley called a "hidden genius." His genius is very well hidden indeed, to the point of being undetectable.
233
@Art The "stable genius" and the "hidden genius"--all in one grifter family.
The electoral college sure knows how to pick them.
3
@Art
I would say Nicky Haley is also a genius to be thinking in those terms.
2
Jared and Ivanka are Non-Player Characters in The White House video game, lurking at the edges of the screen, shape shifting and stealing points from human players.
11
Jared's moral laryngitis has its roots in the Frisch Academy, a Jewish day school. Unfortunately, many yeshiva boys are reinforced only for getting A's, not for learning ethics. It is ironic that they study Torah and the teachings of the great rabbis, one of whom, Shammei, is quoted in Pirkei Avot as saying, Love work, despise positions of power; do not become overly familiar with the government." And Jared's brother Joshua, another Frisch graduate, is no better. At this point, he is only better at looking sanctimonious--but it's a matter of pot/kettle.
10
Jared and Trump are the new faces of US Capitalism. It is all about power, money and buying privilege, by buying politicians, media and other people to maintain their status. Capitalism does not care about humanitarian causes except if it is for bailing one of their own out. Their God is money.
41
@steve
Can anyone find an example in American history, of an instance where a company, enterprise, or manufacturer ever does business in a way that helps, and does no harm, to the public without having laws in place to regulate that entity and prevent harm coming to the public through the actions of that entity? Without government regulations of industries and businesses, capitalistic greed damages our health, environment, and our future.
1
The apple-in-law doesn't fall far from the tree.
8
In that part of the world, that Jared loves to worship at the feet of, the middle east, he has no conscience, only an adherence to stale, and outmoded ideas, not human rights, or any truth, as even those who assume they have the moral high ground, don't when they begin to mimic, the evil ways of the other side. The idea that just because Jews, Christians, or Muslims claim one God or another, it remains to be seen which few leaders in that part of the world stand for decency in those countries. You would be hard pressed to find any in this day and age.
6
Laryngitis. That's a polite term, Mr. Bruni. I see it more as Criminality and Complicity, and I'm not feeling remotely charitable to any of these people.
22
Emoluments and nepotism. Absolutely illegal. If only we had a moral and ethical Republican Congress
150
@Denver7756
We could if Republican voters weren’t so interested in controling their fellow Americans’ private lives: RoevWade, LBGQT, forcing their religious beliefs onto others.
4
Kushner is simply unfit. Everything he has done since joining the administration confirms that conclusion. And what we have learned about his prior history validates that assertion. The better angels are sitting this one out. Kushner is just so darned tall and pretty. How is it that he is also a cruel slumlord, a tax cheat, an incompetent investor, a corrupt public servant, and a general grifter?
27
Remember the movie "Amadeus?" Court composer Salieri called himself king of the mediocrities. But he really wasn't. Mediocrity doesn't realize that there is anything higher, better, more valuable than itself. But Salieri recognized Mozart's genius. His agony over Mozart's genius and his profound regret over not possessing it proved that he wasn't a mediocrity. He saw how much more worthy Mozart was. That was his tragedy.
Kushner and Trump. Now there are mediocrities. They don't realize, they don't understand, they can't even imagine anyone more worthy than they are. Mediocrity is as good as it gets. It thinks itself wonderful. That is OUR tragedy.
44
@lhc, sorry-- but they'd have to climb quite a distance to reach the foothills of mediocrity.
1
Look at what that cat, Trump, brought into our house! It is still "our" house, right?
5
Wethink: This is a great title for a movie ... "Where Jared goes, embarrassment follows". Reminds one of 1960 era film "Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows".
4
@Drs. Mandrill and Peos Balanitis with Srs. Mkoo, Basha and Wewe Kutomba - Brilliant. Thank you.
1
Well, their base is so happy for them....
4
@Jess
Yes. The base that hates them Ayrabs and Mooslums, but couldn't find the US on a world map, let alone Saudi Arabia.
It's a pity that cognitive dissonance is rarely fatal.
3
Dems made a mistake by not pushing pictures of GW Bush kissing Saudi sheiks into past campaigns against him and his cronies. In the interim, the Saudis have not exactly made themselves more lovable to the American electorate - with the exception of kleptocrats like Kushner. This time around, images of Trump's seance with Saudi royalty, and Kushner kowtowing to them, should be front and center.
12
If being successful is Jared Kushner, then I’ll gladly take a pass, thanks.
There isn’t enough money or power or prestige in several lifetimes for me to rush to besmirch the unknown and undistinguished name that belongs to me.
If there’s a reckoning after this life, I don’t want to have to try to answer these two questions from a supreme moral force for good: (a) “What did you do with your gifts?” and (b) “Did you use them to benefit others less fortunate than yourself?”
“Take all the time you need to answer; it’s all the time you’ll ever have.”
21
trump had to make jared an advisor. He needed someone in the WH who wouldn't overshadow him. Yes, I know, it's a low bar, but jared fits the bill.
24
Another article by the NYT espousing hatred of the winners, Jared being the consummate winner (rich and powerful beyond all belief, lovely wife, lovely life etc.). Oh but he bought his way into Harvard. Well, apparently those are the rules of the game he’s winning (and you’re losing). I can understand the jealousy, but am sick of hearing this envy described as some sort of moral victory. It ain’t.
1
@Bill
Father a convicted felon who went to prison - election fraud, money laundering, witness tampering (set up his own brother with a prostitute).
Is that success? Is that a lovely life? Sounds sleazy to me.
9
Throughout Trump's campaign, I had hoped that a female wrestler or kickboxer would get near enough to Donald to just throw him down while he was threatening to punch people in the face while hiding behind his body guards. Can you imagine how shocked he'd have been? And he probably would have cried.
But alas it did not happen, and so here we are - with these nouveau riche self-involved jerks who couldn't, in all honesty, have a lower regard for the people who elected Trump if they tried.
And as far as the facade they're putting up, it's as thin and shallow as swamp scum.
9
Al Capone, who served eight years in Alcatraz and other federal penitentiaries for tax avoidance on a much smaller scale than Jared’s, at least possessed the requisite decency, moral sense and public relations marketing skills needed to voluntarily tax himself to feed the poor; which I have a hard time imagining Jared and Ivanka ever wanting to do.
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/al-capones-soup-kitchen-great-depressio...
19
You're overthinking this, Frank.
Like every other member of this kleptocracy, he's in it to satisfy his greed.
14
Can we make him the head of the Space Force and shoot him off into space? Just tell him that the Saudis are looking to colonize Mars.
51
Yes, and that he can open some hotels there.
4
Wow Frank, way to weigh in. Bravo!
11
He is Donald Trump’s son-in-law. What good could one expect of him ?
6
Any notion that Jared Kushner was going to broker Middle Ease peace is beyond absurd. He's worse than wet-behind-the-ears. Kushner is pushing a far-right agenda.
Jared pushed a gratuitously cruel agenda of cutting aid to Palestinians, one that went too far for even a hardliner like Mike Pompeo. He also smirked through the opening of the embassy in Jerusalem, knowing full well how inflammatory the move was - and even used the occasion to mock Gazans who were killed at Israeli hands. And cruelty is supposed to promote peace?
Don't hold your breath waiting for him to take seriously Saudi Arabia's abuses of power, either. He sure has no problem with the brutal campaign in Yemen. Kushner is just as comfortable with brutal dictators as is his father-in-law.
These are the last people who should be charged with peace making.
47
Nothing surprising from a kid whose father served time in a federal prison, is married to a grifter, and has an unindicted co-conspirator for a father in law.
118
In a non-rich family unable to get this kid "Ivy League" credentials or lean on a rich criminal father, he would be a dud.
23
@kat perkins He is a dud.
3
I am heartsick that America has been brought so low by this family of grifters that a journalist of Frank Bruni's caliber is writing about the hapless First Son-In-Law. The pallid, silent Jared, whose imagination is limited solely to self-enrichment, hardly merits a designation of "Fit to print." Come on, New York Times, let's concentrate on the myriad ways Democracy is under siege by this appalling administration. This reader has no time to waste on
Javanka.
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NAIL ON THE HEAD, FRANK!! Thank you!
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I'm pretty sure that jared would squeal on trump, to save himself.
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@maturin25 - Trump certainly won't hesitate to push Jared under a bus.
2