I think that Jared is working as hard as he knows how. Maybe he has too much to do? Maybe he should be relieved of some of his projects? But who else is there?
11
Brooks, the best word I can think of to describe your writing is "tautological." The best image? A dripping water faucet.
"Our forebears," not only failed—They weren't Everybody's "forebears!" (That's just ONE of the licorice lies you love to chew on.) What they built is the House we now live in. Their World View is our sclerotic Inheritance: A nation divided that cannot heal from the wound of its origin of human suffering.
Our forefathers are dead. You have a responsibility to live up to your own time and age. Our forebears did not get it right. Face that fact and you can begin to build on what they did get right. BUT THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT A GREAT DEAL THAT IS FUNDAMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO HUMAN EXISTENCE: Women and blacks are just two prime examples. The list is long.
"Our forebears," not only failed—They weren't Everybody's "forebears!" (That's just ONE of the licorice lies you love to chew on.) What they built is the House we now live in. Their World View is our sclerotic Inheritance: A nation divided that cannot heal from the wound of its origin of human suffering.
Our forefathers are dead. You have a responsibility to live up to your own time and age. Our forebears did not get it right. Face that fact and you can begin to build on what they did get right. BUT THEY WERE WRONG ABOUT A GREAT DEAL THAT IS FUNDAMENTALLY IMPORTANT TO HUMAN EXISTENCE: Women and blacks are just two prime examples. The list is long.
33
I have sympathy for those people in Baltimore his company keeps ripping off.
57
Greed greedier and greediest the family tree
35
Maybe Jared just inherited his pop's genes, including the ones that put him in the slammer. Jared is Jared. We should be judging him by what he, does not by the history of his family. In my view he is of the "Mr Hyde" archetype. As more information on the doings of Jared become public, my opinion could change.
11
This member of the Clan of the Cave Bear is clearly very cozy with the Russians and other foreign "investors." What I can't figure out is how he communicates with these people for whom English is a second language when none of US have ever heard his voice. Is he telepathic?!
18
Do not be fooled by Jared's pallid calm, all his life he's served con men - one a convicted criminal and the other is currently under investigation. And his decrepit slumlord buildings? That's probably the most honest business he's engaged in. Steer clear.
57
Perhaps what Jared Kushner is desperately looking for is infusion of money to salvage the horrible real estate deal he made to buy 666 Fifth Avenue, at twice the going rate. Since no sane person would pay him anywhere close to what he did to buy a share of it, he's looking to cut a deal with a sovereign fund that will put in a big chunk -- say a one or two billion dollars -- for political considerations. Hence his meeting with the Chinese fund closely tied to the government there
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/nyregion/kushner-companies-666-fifth-... and meeting with the head of the Putin-linked Russian bank chief. Of course, it all stinks.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/03/nyregion/kushner-companies-666-fifth-... and meeting with the head of the Putin-linked Russian bank chief. Of course, it all stinks.
41
Trump took one look at Jared and thought, " he looks like an angel, No one will suspect him of dealing with the Russians". Well you thought wrong.
15
Kushner seems to have the same wreckless overreach as his father-in-law.....and has looked towards the same Russian piggy bank as his savior.
12
Mr. Brooks did not see fit to write even one single word about Jared's vicious predatory practices as a Baltimore slum lord. Kushner deserves nothing but contempt (and hopefully some cell time) as a rich man boy who profits massively from the pain of those not born into his cushy lifestyle. His behavior in this ghastly Administration is exactly what one would expect someone of his low character. A chip off the old block, I'd say.
59
David Brooks
You have completely lost the plot!
Who cares where his parents or grandparents came from. Frankly, what exactly in their life experience qualifies him or his wife to run the US government?
He is asking Russians to set up communication that can not be monitored by US government. Whose side is he and his father-in-law are on? Seriously.
What do they owe the Russian thugs? Are they going to sell out the country to protect their businesses? They already seem to be taking every advantage of their position to advance their business interests.
You and your fellow Republicans have sunk into such depths of denial and depravity that shocking nepotism and kleptocracy elicits sympathy from you.
God save you and the country!
You have completely lost the plot!
Who cares where his parents or grandparents came from. Frankly, what exactly in their life experience qualifies him or his wife to run the US government?
He is asking Russians to set up communication that can not be monitored by US government. Whose side is he and his father-in-law are on? Seriously.
What do they owe the Russian thugs? Are they going to sell out the country to protect their businesses? They already seem to be taking every advantage of their position to advance their business interests.
You and your fellow Republicans have sunk into such depths of denial and depravity that shocking nepotism and kleptocracy elicits sympathy from you.
God save you and the country!
56
The whole Trump gang is unfit to govern. They are like hiring a plumber to paint your house. They seem to also have problems with reality, honesty and integrity but they are good boorishness. I have passed from anger to despair. I hope the GOP decides to represent the entire country and acts accordingly. They will be damaged if they don't, as well as our nation. Somebody, please send help. Or send us Justin Trudeau. He is an amateur but he is willing to learn and doing quuite well. Look at Macrone, another beginner. He put Putin in his place on live television. Vive la France.
44
David Brooks just blew me away with this piece. His writing is outstanding, insightful, and compelling. Now to the article. Jared is certainly ill prepared, as is Trump, to be a politician. They are both learning the hard way. Jared and Donald do not understand that politics is not the same as being a CEO. Insight is not their strong points. History has tight them nothing. Perhaps Jared should read how Nixon behaved. It might give his wisdom, something he is so desperately is lacking. Jared seems to forget that Donald is not his father and that POTUS's loyalty is blood not blood in law.
10
Kushner makes a colossal mistake by vastly overpaying for 666 Fifth Avenue. Dumb move. Poor judgement. It's an albatross around his neck. It's not the only albatross around his neck right now.
Kushner advises Trump to fire Comey. Dumb move. Poor judgement.
Kushner meets with Sergey Gorgov, Russian banker to discuss possible removal of bank sanctions. DUMB MOVE. Really poor judgement.
A degree from Harvard may open doors for you. But once those doors are open that degree is meaningless. You have to perform.
You keep doing dumb things and pretty soon people are going to call you dumb.
Kushner advises Trump to fire Comey. Dumb move. Poor judgement.
Kushner meets with Sergey Gorgov, Russian banker to discuss possible removal of bank sanctions. DUMB MOVE. Really poor judgement.
A degree from Harvard may open doors for you. But once those doors are open that degree is meaningless. You have to perform.
You keep doing dumb things and pretty soon people are going to call you dumb.
40
During the campaign I half-jokingly bought a T-shirt with "Putin/Trump '16" emblazoned across the front. My head is now spinning. Even Putin when not grinning wildly must be blown away with his victorious hit job on America.
25
Um, David, you left out that little snippet (in the NYT, by the way) about his having been a secretive and utterly neglectful landlord, and his story doesn't seem to get better from there. We'll likely meet the rest of his skeletons, as they'll surely be introduced to us in due course by Mr. Mueller; feeling sorry for any of the male Kushners in the tale you tell is a colossal waste of time. If Jared made a pretty albatross of 666 5th by buying it for $1.2B, he was less adventurous than he was stupid. If he courted the Russians--and concealed from American authorities that he did so--he was less naive than he was venal.
27
No sympathy. Not. One. Bit.
24
Clan behavior sounds very close to mafia behavior.
31
The issues surrounding 666 Fifth Ave (what a pick of an address btw) with seeking foreign investments to recoup the loss, including Russian investment, is another link in the chain to the Trump family and associates ties with Russia for their businesses that makes the allegations of campaign and transition team links to Russia all the more suspicious. The conflicts of interest keep growing and the more Trump tries to conceal this the more the speculation, and the eventual truth telling is going to hurt when it comes.
Kushner himself is so far out of his depth and qualifications for the position and responsibilities his equally as unqualified father in law has handed him. According to all we know about him, he was an under-performing student who got his acceptance into Harvard under very "curious" circumstances (daddy paid for it to happen). His acumen in business is questionable - the 666 investment being just one example of poor judgement and failures. Yet, young Jared is going to solve peace in the Middle East, solve the opioid crisis, and reform government at all levels. Oddly enough, he can't seem to exercise enough sound influence in keeping the White House out of an almost daily leak and scandal, if the Comey firing was truly his brainchild that bodes really poorly for any other expectations on JarVanka's supposed "moderating" influences on Trump, unless their goal is to put a swift end to Daddy's Presidency before he puts his foot too far in it and ruins the brand.
Kushner himself is so far out of his depth and qualifications for the position and responsibilities his equally as unqualified father in law has handed him. According to all we know about him, he was an under-performing student who got his acceptance into Harvard under very "curious" circumstances (daddy paid for it to happen). His acumen in business is questionable - the 666 investment being just one example of poor judgement and failures. Yet, young Jared is going to solve peace in the Middle East, solve the opioid crisis, and reform government at all levels. Oddly enough, he can't seem to exercise enough sound influence in keeping the White House out of an almost daily leak and scandal, if the Comey firing was truly his brainchild that bodes really poorly for any other expectations on JarVanka's supposed "moderating" influences on Trump, unless their goal is to put a swift end to Daddy's Presidency before he puts his foot too far in it and ruins the brand.
35
I think what David Brooks is really trying to say here is that gov't shouldn't be run like a family business. It's funny how we have come to believe that businesses are run like true meritocracies and gov't is corrupt, when in fact things that wouldn't be tolerated in gov't are nothing unusual in the private sector. I would suggest that the skill it takes to run a successful business is highly overrated. In jobs which require genuine talent and hard work it would be unthinkable to imagine a system where people were routinely replaced by their children. How often do you hear of children taking over the "family" science lab or the "family" dance company? A family business where the children are routinely groomed and expected to "take over" signals that the skill required has a lot to do with proximity and very little to do with special talent.
Jared Kushner taking over the business was all about keeping the money and opportunity to make it in the family. People who want to understand the mindset of hugely entitled real estate moguls in NY should watch "The Jinx".
Jared Kushner taking over the business was all about keeping the money and opportunity to make it in the family. People who want to understand the mindset of hugely entitled real estate moguls in NY should watch "The Jinx".
37
Sorry, Mr. Brooks, you missed the story. The relevant story is not about the psychodrama of Jared Kushner or of the president himself. What matters is the bottom line.
For example, it was never important how the psychodrama of the relationship between George W Bush and his father may have influenced the younger Bush to invade Iraq. The important story was that Bush 43 deceived the American public to invade Iraq.
So too the relevant story here is:
"President brings incompetent, inexperienced, corrupt family member to inner White House staff in order to create financial gain for the Kushner family."
Full stop.
For example, it was never important how the psychodrama of the relationship between George W Bush and his father may have influenced the younger Bush to invade Iraq. The important story was that Bush 43 deceived the American public to invade Iraq.
So too the relevant story here is:
"President brings incompetent, inexperienced, corrupt family member to inner White House staff in order to create financial gain for the Kushner family."
Full stop.
40
It is pure naïveté Mr Brooks to believe that Jared Kushner's role in the White House is to attend to the country's business rather than extract the maximum benefit for the Trump Family Empire.
As a man with an extended portfolio he has yet to address the press regarding his vision or agenda. Actually nobody had heard the guy speak ...
As a man with an extended portfolio he has yet to address the press regarding his vision or agenda. Actually nobody had heard the guy speak ...
56
Bre'r Rabbit, he lay low.
7
So, by being a 'good' and dutiful adult child to his father and father in law he has developed a sort of pathological obedience or co-dependency that is deeply ingrained to the extent that his loyalty has taken over his moral compass but may ultimately lead to blowing the election fixing scheme. I do not think Shakespeare could have come up with such a maddening family drama-- that we are now all caught up in. Lin Manuel, can you do something with all of this??
56
Not remarkably, Brooks leaves out what should separate a politician from a businessman: putting the quality of lives of citizens, all of them, above either his or his family. Selflessness should be a prime motivator.
Nepotism? It should never factor in. Imagine an Obama White House staffed by several of his closest family members who'd had zero government experience. Exactly my point: it is unimaginable.
Brooks still doesn't get it. He's like a new convert to a religion, unsure of exactly why he joined but needing a lifeline.
Nepotism? It should never factor in. Imagine an Obama White House staffed by several of his closest family members who'd had zero government experience. Exactly my point: it is unimaginable.
Brooks still doesn't get it. He's like a new convert to a religion, unsure of exactly why he joined but needing a lifeline.
48
Jared could have taken any number of paths in life. He could have been inspired by the determination showed by his family in surviving the holocaust and worked to fight oppression. He could have learned from the destructive family feud and dedicated himself to virtue and peace making. He could have practiced law or pursued a business career separate from family or moved to the woods to write poetry. He does not deserve a bit of sympathy. No excuses or extenuating circumstances for him. He is totally complicit in trump world.
By the way, every time I hear about father kushner, I wince. That man is one evil dude to show such malicious cruelty to his family.
By the way, every time I hear about father kushner, I wince. That man is one evil dude to show such malicious cruelty to his family.
80
This is surreal!
11
In equal parts, bizarre and sordid. But what can surprise us now?
It was inevitable that Trump would get into deep trouble. But because it has happened so quickly, his fans probably think he's the victim. As with Watergate and Vietnam, eventually the evidence becomes overwhelming. Fox News may delay the inevitable but it's still inevitable.
It was inevitable that Trump would get into deep trouble. But because it has happened so quickly, his fans probably think he's the victim. As with Watergate and Vietnam, eventually the evidence becomes overwhelming. Fox News may delay the inevitable but it's still inevitable.
49
Not sure there's much of a difference between "serving self" and "serving family" when you're working in a family business.
18
David Brooks, you are asking us to have "sympathy" for Jared Kushner? He's the last person on earth who needs or deserves sympathy from anybody! I suppose the next time around you'll ask us to have sympathy for DT or Putin!
31
Look at all of you millionaires and billionaires, asking for our "sympathy" as you destroy any semblance of a decent, moral life for us. Who do you think you are writing articles for, David Brooks? Most of us, your readers, do not belong to the elite class of the super rich from whom you crave sympathy. I get it, Kushner is a slave to his family baggage, as is Trump, but why does that mean we also have to become slaves to their family baggage? No.
31
People aren't likely to feel even "a bit of sympathy" for people who appear to be totally self-serving, show no empathy or sympathy for anyone else, and are ruthless in their actions.
I hope Ivanka and Jared have a wonderful nanny for their children, who will encourage their children to develop a conscience--a very important attribute that sadly appears to be missing in the Trump-Kushner family gene pool.
I hope Ivanka and Jared have a wonderful nanny for their children, who will encourage their children to develop a conscience--a very important attribute that sadly appears to be missing in the Trump-Kushner family gene pool.
40
Brooks tries to be objective about this, but fails.
Rather than point out the obvious - a man whose only goals have been amassing wealth, with no government skills - Kushner is unable to do the job he has been given, Brooks ventures off into irrelevant family history. Do we hire senior administration people on the basis of their parents?
This is an embarrassing column for Brooks. One of his worst.
Rather than point out the obvious - a man whose only goals have been amassing wealth, with no government skills - Kushner is unable to do the job he has been given, Brooks ventures off into irrelevant family history. Do we hire senior administration people on the basis of their parents?
This is an embarrassing column for Brooks. One of his worst.
22
Oh, give me a break, Brooks. Not one iota of sympathy for this not-very-bright spoiled brat who actually thinks he's qualified to work at a high level of security he's not entitled to at a "job" created for him by his daddy designed to make the Trumps even more money and put this country even more securely in the hands of a foreign power.
33
Kushner is in over his head. Forget about why he wanted to whisper into the ear of some unknown Russians. He tried to evade American intelligence that aggressively tries to record every conversation by going to the Russians - who aggressively try to record every conversation! Was it out of ignorance? Incompetence? Collusion? Hubris? Who cares? He needs to be fired, he presents a real danger to everyone he deals with, friend and enemy alike, he is out of control.
24
Gary -
Sure he should be fired, but think about what you are saying and how it feeds a narrative that let's Trump himself dodge responsibility. Are Kushner, Flynn, Manafort, et al simply a bunch of individual bad apples?! At what point is Trump himself at all culpable for the actions of people working on his behalf? If they are criminals then he is a criminal--period.
Sure he should be fired, but think about what you are saying and how it feeds a narrative that let's Trump himself dodge responsibility. Are Kushner, Flynn, Manafort, et al simply a bunch of individual bad apples?! At what point is Trump himself at all culpable for the actions of people working on his behalf? If they are criminals then he is a criminal--period.
10
clannishness? isn't this the M.O. of the haves, the people in power regardless of bloodlines or their story - to date the Kushner family drama exclusively to the serial murder of Jews in WWII diminishes that event as well as their family's history. your talent for synthesis is not done justice by the false dichotomy presented here.
12
Anyone who claims to know God's opinions is not to be trusted.
16
Poor little rich boy stories are not going to save Jared. If he did indeed do a secret deal with the Russians to subvert the legitimacy of the USA electoral system. Big business ruthless winner take all tactics don't necessarily work in politics and it is about time that Jared and his father in law found that out.
Making excuses for people whose forebears suffered under Nazi rule is going just a bit too far. Jared might find that he is going to have to answer for his actions and take the consequences, come what may.
Making excuses for people whose forebears suffered under Nazi rule is going just a bit too far. Jared might find that he is going to have to answer for his actions and take the consequences, come what may.
19
"It it's a moral approach based on loyalty". No, clanishness is an immoral approach based on loyalty. How can you not see this?
14
Trump is a terrible president and anything that will discredit and weaken him, and thereby empower the few competent folks around him, is a good thing.
Kushner is tailor made for discrediting and weakening Trump, so he is a good thing.
Let's hope he stays on for a long time.
Kushner is tailor made for discrediting and weakening Trump, so he is a good thing.
Let's hope he stays on for a long time.
13
Let's hope Trump stays on for a long time. He is a totally repugnant person, incompetent and mentally unstable. However, if he were to be impeached or resign, we would have Pence (who is really scary) and a majority of his henchmen in both houses. They could get some really awful legislation passed. Donald is too incompetent to pass anything. Better to keep it that way.
9
Mr. Trump thought the word "president" was a synonym for "king". Mr. Kushner thinks Trump and God are on his side. Good luck with that.
19
If you ever need a definition for "smug elitist" then look no further then this Jared chump. Why don't they ever come out and say "I am completely innocent and would be happy to testify?" Instead they lawyer up which always reeks of innocence.
17
In effect saying "mistakes were made", David Brooks exonerates JK for what others have done. By extension, while avoiding any mention of possible charges of his own JK is under investigation for, he is pardoned. JK is the victim. But this is ridiculous on the face of it. A dysfunctional childhood does not forgive the actions of the adult. Further, a clean brother and good women in the family seem to mitigate the excesses of JK since the "family average" does not look so bad after all?
Seems to me David Brooks is having it both ways here. If he truly believes JK should be forgiven for actions, before a proper investigation has identified those actions, then this belief should be stated and argued, on its merits, without the equivocations. The high editorial standards of NYT require clarity and decidability above all else.
Seems to me David Brooks is having it both ways here. If he truly believes JK should be forgiven for actions, before a proper investigation has identified those actions, then this belief should be stated and argued, on its merits, without the equivocations. The high editorial standards of NYT require clarity and decidability above all else.
12
I just finished reading the article in this paper enumerating the reasons why it was OK for son in law Jared to setup a clandestine communications network with the enemy. Remember when Barack Obama was nearly burned at the stake for appearing in public without a flag pin on his lapel? I am certain that this country has gone completely nuts.
66
We as a nation have made a horrid and to many, an unforgivable mistake. For eight years, we had a rock star president who strengthened bonds with our allies, ended wars and served with class. Now we have elected an infantile, emotionally disturbed egomaniacal racist, a misogynist fool.
53
Jared Kushner ... what are the alternatives ? Bannon ?
3
You sugarcoated the Charles Kushner story somewhat, Mr. Brooks.
Charles Kushner didn't go to prison because he entrapped his brother-in-law with a prostitute. He went on 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions. But, hey, if his parents in Heaven want to forgive him but not his brother-in-law, that's the business of celestial residents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/nyregion/democratic-donor-receives-two...
Charles Kushner didn't go to prison because he entrapped his brother-in-law with a prostitute. He went on 18 counts of tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions. But, hey, if his parents in Heaven want to forgive him but not his brother-in-law, that's the business of celestial residents.
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/05/nyregion/democratic-donor-receives-two...
30
The Politics of Klan.
11
Change the ethnicity and what you are describing is the story of a mafia family.
The obese moron in the White House offered that he was going to clean the swamp. A swamp itself is not malignant but there are species in it that are predatory and should be exterminated — many lobbyists belong in that category. Obama promised that he was going to get rid of them, unfortunately they prospered under his watch. But the swamp is now becoming a gigantic septic field, where predatory behavior, corruption and nepotism is the standard.
The Republican party silence, when not aiding and abetting in this repulsive enterprise is noxious and repugnant, it demandses public outcry and censure. If you have sympathy for it, you need a journalistic ethical debriefing.
The obese moron in the White House offered that he was going to clean the swamp. A swamp itself is not malignant but there are species in it that are predatory and should be exterminated — many lobbyists belong in that category. Obama promised that he was going to get rid of them, unfortunately they prospered under his watch. But the swamp is now becoming a gigantic septic field, where predatory behavior, corruption and nepotism is the standard.
The Republican party silence, when not aiding and abetting in this repulsive enterprise is noxious and repugnant, it demandses public outcry and censure. If you have sympathy for it, you need a journalistic ethical debriefing.
21
The mafiosi are much more competent.
6
Embarrassing intra family competitiveness & hostility particularly over money applies to not a few immigrant Jewish families.
DJT should have primarily stayed full time in his businesses, but his amazing political grasp exceeds his presidential competence.
The ongoing political reality resembles a preposterous movie, except that Peter Sellers acts as Chauncey Gardener for satirical laughs duly deserving an Oscar, and btw, who/what won that year?
DB writes an insightful column about politics as ... unusual, and readers are entitled to cry and cuss, and as per the late Norman Cousins, it's okay to laugh ... before death.
DJT should have primarily stayed full time in his businesses, but his amazing political grasp exceeds his presidential competence.
The ongoing political reality resembles a preposterous movie, except that Peter Sellers acts as Chauncey Gardener for satirical laughs duly deserving an Oscar, and btw, who/what won that year?
DB writes an insightful column about politics as ... unusual, and readers are entitled to cry and cuss, and as per the late Norman Cousins, it's okay to laugh ... before death.
6
There are still people who sympathize with the Romanovs as well.
9
Brooks spent the entire article to justify Kushner's ill behavior as derived from his loyalty to his family.
What a waste!
For one sentence, we can sum up the essence of Kushner's behaviors.
He is simply WRONG for behaving what he has behaved as a public servant (once working in the white house, you are a public servant), which is you should be there for the public and not for private gains.
His lying father-in-law even worse, he should not hire his inexperienced family to run the government. My guess is this liar has so much to hide, so he must rely on his family to do his dirty work.
What a waste!
For one sentence, we can sum up the essence of Kushner's behaviors.
He is simply WRONG for behaving what he has behaved as a public servant (once working in the white house, you are a public servant), which is you should be there for the public and not for private gains.
His lying father-in-law even worse, he should not hire his inexperienced family to run the government. My guess is this liar has so much to hide, so he must rely on his family to do his dirty work.
11
He is a traitor. Your article is clannish minimalization.
10
Sorry, Mr. Brooks. No way to cut JK any slack. He simply should not be in the position of gov't. power and influence he is; he's supremely UNqualified.
The whole family cabal is a terrible idea. How in the heck it got this way, this fast, is astonishing.
And terrifying.
And yes, to borrow from SNL, now both Ivanka and Jared are "Complicit."
The whole family cabal is a terrible idea. How in the heck it got this way, this fast, is astonishing.
And terrifying.
And yes, to borrow from SNL, now both Ivanka and Jared are "Complicit."
12
Highly recommend seeing current Politico article about Kushner (and Ivanka): Chabad, Russians and Murdock -- a social clan network that runs parallel to the families and is very scary.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/25/jared-kushner-russia-f...
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2017/05/25/jared-kushner-russia-f...
6
The only point that I can agree with Jared on is his disgust for Bannon. Of that, I'm on board.
10
Excellent piece today! Maybe their name is really Corleone!
4
A real pro, a real adult, praises their opponent after a tough loss. Then they accept full responsibility. Then they truthfully assess their own flaws so it doesn't happen again.
All is well Dems. Don't change a thing. Steady as she goes. Spread the word.
Sincerely, the GOP
All is well Dems. Don't change a thing. Steady as she goes. Spread the word.
Sincerely, the GOP
9
What? Now who needs to take responsibility for what?
5
Nice try J., but face facts: it's looking like your boy Trump will go down as the third Republican president to get elected by undermining the foreign policy of the incumbent Democratic president, and thereby bordering on TREASON in their actions.
Have no idea what I'm talking about? 1) Listen to the LBJ tapes where he calls up Sam Rayburn and tells him that the CIA and military intelligence had discovered that the Nixon campaign was telling S. Vietnamese president Thieu to "hold out until after the election to get a better deal" at the treaty talks. This was a major reason why talks dragged on, ultimately to a sham result, that left the ARVN regime just as demoralized, vulnerable and doomed as it was before (but hey, at least we got Nixon!). 2) Read about Iran-Contra, and how Reagan's campaign PROLONGED THE SUFFERING OF AMERICAN HOSTAGES by dangling the promise of Israeli-delivered missiles to the Iranians, once again if the Iranians would "hold out" on their planned release of the hostages until after the November 1980 election. Selling out your own countrymen AND undermining your country's good faith negotiations and foreign policy once again is pretty close to treason, if not so in fact.
But it was their campaigns, not them you say? So...Nixon and Reagan weren't criminals, they were just too DUMB to know what their campaigns were up to? So, why did we name an airport after one of these guys, because he was a traitor or because he was clueless??
Have no idea what I'm talking about? 1) Listen to the LBJ tapes where he calls up Sam Rayburn and tells him that the CIA and military intelligence had discovered that the Nixon campaign was telling S. Vietnamese president Thieu to "hold out until after the election to get a better deal" at the treaty talks. This was a major reason why talks dragged on, ultimately to a sham result, that left the ARVN regime just as demoralized, vulnerable and doomed as it was before (but hey, at least we got Nixon!). 2) Read about Iran-Contra, and how Reagan's campaign PROLONGED THE SUFFERING OF AMERICAN HOSTAGES by dangling the promise of Israeli-delivered missiles to the Iranians, once again if the Iranians would "hold out" on their planned release of the hostages until after the November 1980 election. Selling out your own countrymen AND undermining your country's good faith negotiations and foreign policy once again is pretty close to treason, if not so in fact.
But it was their campaigns, not them you say? So...Nixon and Reagan weren't criminals, they were just too DUMB to know what their campaigns were up to? So, why did we name an airport after one of these guys, because he was a traitor or because he was clueless??
7
hey no tough loss, a wide margin win in the popular vote, remember ? (which, in any functioning democracy, translates to HRC in the WH)
4
Republicans, who constantly claim that they oppose government, believe that they can do anything when they have governmental power. because they are convinced of their own political purity This is what brought Nixon down, and it will destroy Trump too. America is not a monarchy.
33
Trump bankrupted a casino and Jared paid for a building at $1,200 per square foot when it was only worth $600 and is still under water. What could go wrong now that they run our government? Trump supporters? How long before they figure out that they have been conned?
68
Jared didn't learn as witness to the debacle of his own family. He's just as vindictive and underhanded and married into the same ilk. He's not pitiable. He is guilty.
41
The Kushner feels like a Mafia clan.
4
impure motives, impure actions, impure results....
INTEGRITY MATTERS... values matter,,, kindness, generosity, good intentions matter...
250 years after the American Revolution rejected rule by a king, the ignoble son-in-law of an ignoble king-wannabe want to subjugate the citizens by turning us against one another and by aligning with a foreign, enemy-plutocrat....
...ain't gonna happen....
Great to see both France and Germany standing tall in the face of this invasion...
INTEGRITY MATTERS... values matter,,, kindness, generosity, good intentions matter...
250 years after the American Revolution rejected rule by a king, the ignoble son-in-law of an ignoble king-wannabe want to subjugate the citizens by turning us against one another and by aligning with a foreign, enemy-plutocrat....
...ain't gonna happen....
Great to see both France and Germany standing tall in the face of this invasion...
32
Jared Kushner has done enough damage to other people all on his own:
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/23/jared-kushner-white-house-senior-adviser...
http://www.salon.com/2017/05/23/jared-kushner-white-house-senior-adviser...
13
I still believe there must be an organized crime connection to Trump. How did he operate as a developer in NY and NJ for 30 years without rubbing shoulders with Tony types, perhaps even Russian Mafia types who are fully integrated into the East Coast organized crime syndicates??
31
Why politely call it clannish? It's the mafia mind set.
35
Poor, pathetic, pitiful little Prince. What a difficult, exhausting life. I'm sure he will be glad to trade places with any peon. Right????
11
Interesting quote from Kushner's father Charles about what God will or will not forgive...as he goes to jail for harassing others in family. We may conclude that Kushner is accustomed to lofty paternal authority superceding ordinary demands of morality or civic rules of lawful behavior.
Speaking of which, I see that Trump Himself will interview 2 candidates for top job in FBI. He should recuse himself, since he is subject of FBIinvestigation. In any case, he and those he interviews should be informed that any requirement of swearing personal loyalty (such as Trump tried with Comey, or interfering with the current investigation) should be regarded as out-of-bounds and not responded to. I trust the press will ask publicly and privately if such loyalty were part of the conversation..
Speaking of which, I see that Trump Himself will interview 2 candidates for top job in FBI. He should recuse himself, since he is subject of FBIinvestigation. In any case, he and those he interviews should be informed that any requirement of swearing personal loyalty (such as Trump tried with Comey, or interfering with the current investigation) should be regarded as out-of-bounds and not responded to. I trust the press will ask publicly and privately if such loyalty were part of the conversation..
26
Clannish or clownish? One and the same, I guess. Welcome to the new reality.
7
While Kushner appears quite naive and demonstrably inexperienced, the blame for his predicament clearly falls at the feet of Donald Trump. Who would put a novice with zero domestic and zero foreign experience in a senior advisor position with an extensive portfolio? Yes, question Kushner and his methods and his motives. But Trump made the initial and tragic mistake.
22
Obviously Trump can't trust anyone except family.
7
He can only trust his children. Why? He has pre-purchased their unconditional loyalty--he's such a narcissist with such a fragile ego they all know very clearly that they stand to lose their inheritance if they question him on anything.
9
Don't forget, Jared Kushner's family bought his way into Harvard despite his mediocre credentials. The ultimate privilege, despite the humble immigrant beginnings of the grandfather.
32
"Humble"? NOT. The immigrant family was POOR. There is zero evidence of humility in this pack of selfish miscreants, and it had to originate somewhere.
3
Follow the money!
21
David Brooks commentary is insightful regarding the clan personality. However, Kushner is not a victim of a clan personality, he's a victim of his personal judgment.
Whether Kushner's actions was naive or machiavellian won't be clear until we learn what his goals were in his Russian initiatives. If his purpose was to help his father in law win the election or for personal gain, then he deserves condemnation and possibly indictment. If they were just Kushner's infatuation with the chance to be a player in international power brokering without any purpose at all, then it would fall into the naive category.
Somehow, Kushner does not seem at all naive. The fact that Michael Flynn was involved makes it even more likely Machiavellian than naive. General Flynn may be many things, but naive is not one of them.
Whether Kushner's actions was naive or machiavellian won't be clear until we learn what his goals were in his Russian initiatives. If his purpose was to help his father in law win the election or for personal gain, then he deserves condemnation and possibly indictment. If they were just Kushner's infatuation with the chance to be a player in international power brokering without any purpose at all, then it would fall into the naive category.
Somehow, Kushner does not seem at all naive. The fact that Michael Flynn was involved makes it even more likely Machiavellian than naive. General Flynn may be many things, but naive is not one of them.
30
Additionally Jared and Donald come from the real estate world of NY, very transactional where either a deal is done or both parties walk away, maybe a bruised ego or a small fee, but it's over. On the national and international stage of governments and politics, if an agreement works it has real consequences and if it does not work there are also real consequences. Up to this point neither one of them has been able to grasp this.
28
My hypothesis for the past several months: DJT has elevated JK to his current status in a grooming process. Further, I suggest that he sees himself creating his own dynasty (in his wildest dreams, that is) as follows: DJT 8 years, JK to follow with another 8 years, and presuming all goes well, not only another 8 years with ITK, but indeed a broken glass ceiling finally.
Okay, I admit, this was actually a nightmare that started this hypothesizing. However, having the first supporting brick removed from this hypothetical tower of power gives me great satisfaction.
Okay, I admit, this was actually a nightmare that started this hypothesizing. However, having the first supporting brick removed from this hypothetical tower of power gives me great satisfaction.
24
Enough with the story about Kushner and the family tunneling out of Belarus. And the father, the crook who spent time in jail. Who cares! The Prince does not need sympathy, he needs to be held responsible for his actions.
58
People who have always gotten away with things, always think they can . . .
41
Looking at Kushner, I sometimes wonder if he's fully human. Does he have red blood in his veins like us mere mortals? He has the facial expressiveness of Data from Star Trek. He is almost robotic, and why, as a practicing Jew does he come across as an uberMormon missionary?
28
I get it, I get it... he is naive. His idiocy in playing solo international politics vs. the cunning, clandestine operatives for an "unfriendly" nation in the midst of an investigation of that very country's interference and influence leading to his own father in law's unexpected election is excusable because, aww, shucks, he meant well, but didn't know any better! WHATEVER.
Here is a more important black and white question which is not getting much ink and for which dufus defense is inoperable: If Jared specifically failed to disclose conversations with officials of a foreign govt on his security clearance paperwork, then we are most importantly looking an actual-fact crime, committed with a signature. It needs to be prosecuted regardless of whether he is too much of a dummy to know that a trying to set up secret comms with the Kremlin is a bad idea.
The form clearly requires disclosure of contacts with foreign government officials, and states that "knowingly falsifying or concealing a material fact" is a felony that could result in 5 years of jail-time. He signed it, likely feloniously. At this critical moment in the history of our laws-based nation, we must apply them to all, post haste, or risk rendering them all worthless.
This is separate from all the palace intrigue and whether there is a there there in the Russia investigations. A felony may have been committed in broad daylight. An arrest needs to be made. Naivete is not a defense.
Here is a more important black and white question which is not getting much ink and for which dufus defense is inoperable: If Jared specifically failed to disclose conversations with officials of a foreign govt on his security clearance paperwork, then we are most importantly looking an actual-fact crime, committed with a signature. It needs to be prosecuted regardless of whether he is too much of a dummy to know that a trying to set up secret comms with the Kremlin is a bad idea.
The form clearly requires disclosure of contacts with foreign government officials, and states that "knowingly falsifying or concealing a material fact" is a felony that could result in 5 years of jail-time. He signed it, likely feloniously. At this critical moment in the history of our laws-based nation, we must apply them to all, post haste, or risk rendering them all worthless.
This is separate from all the palace intrigue and whether there is a there there in the Russia investigations. A felony may have been committed in broad daylight. An arrest needs to be made. Naivete is not a defense.
46
Oh come on jon, it was just a simple mistake.
And so was Sessions.
And so was Flynn.
And so was Sessions.
And so was Flynn.
4
David: An interesting and insightful column. Vocabulary point: "surveyed" is not synonymous with "surveilled."
5
I'm struck by how the Trump administration has it all out for immigrants, assigning them blame for all the woes of the working class blue collar voters they conned into voting for Trump; as is becoming ever more clear, against their own interests. Meanwhile, Trump is the son of an immigrant, and Kushner, one of his closest advisors, is a grandson of immigrants also. How quickly they seem to forget the very values which brought their families to America to begin with. With Trump this can't surprise anyone - he's spent his entire life conning his way to glitz and glory, and failing all along the way. Kushner, ostensibly another genius businessman, on the other hand seems to have been like a Trump voter - conned by some other wily business into overpaying for his signature building. Like Trump however, he is clearly in deep waters and struggling to keep from getting swamped under, out of his depth and in trouble. A minority of American voters chose to elect amateurs and beginners, we could easily have foreseen that they wouldn't smoothly and seamlessly pick up the intricacies of governing, but it would have been difficult to believe that they could make so many problems for themselves, and handle them so poorly. The Trump hard-core base are still well and truly conned, but neither Trump nor Kushner are fooling anyone else.
26
It's not that they don't like immigrants, they don't like immigrants of color.
19
kushner, like trump, believes himself to be an ubermensch, beyond the laws that govern ordinary men. but he isn't even a mensch to begin with.
20
I have considered my own Scots-German ancestry and just how clannish both branches of my family have always been. Neither family ever accepted the other as more than an interloper who could never be trusted and never accepted. This sort of response may be more common than we think.
7
Trump avoided serving in the military during the Vietnam Era. Jared never served. None of Trump's children served. Given the times and circumstances, Trump's families lack of military service was not unusual for the wealthy, it was typical. But if Trump really felt any respect for the people who serve others, who will never be wealthy, and who nevertheless do the best that they can to fulfill their responsibilities, he would actually be more concerned about assuring everyone receives the health care that they need without worrying about whether they can afford it. He would assure that all could get as much higher education from which they could reasonably expect to benefit and are determined to acquire. He would do this because it would serve both the people who serve and the people that they serve and assure that the U.S. will remain a strong and prosperous country in the world. But no clannish leader can do such things because it means considering all those strangers who are also citizens the same as family.
18
Queen Elizabeth has more military experience than the Trumps. She served in WWII.
2
It's difficult to believe that the heart of the Trump/Kushner collusion with the Russians was not the seeking, or covering up, of funds for their real estate ventures. Changing the pass-through tax laws to favor real estate investors is also a blatant quid pro quo scheme for them. Consider this also a vast conspiracy to concentrate the wealth more so in the hands of the wealthy, with the entire Republican congress seeming to be part of it. Perhaps the special prosecutor should also be investigating illegal quid pro quos for all of them.
27
The Trump administration should remember, it's not paranoia if everyone out there really is out to get you. We really are out to get them...because they deserve to be removed from office, and we deserve to have them removed. So, Trump is right that we are hunting him (although it is not a witch hunt, I don't want to demean witches), but he is wrong that it is unfair.
34
No sympathy for Jared Kushner. No sympathy for Ivanka Trump Kushner, either. Donald Trump is so lazy and ignorant that he dumped many of the responsibilities of the presidency on both of them. And they were both too ignorant, themselves, to know that they were and are remarkably unprepared. So, the question is: Do Jared and Ivanka want their children to grow up with the same memories Jared has of his incarcerated father? For the sake of their three children, Jared and Ivanka both need to get out now while there is still a chance they won't go to jail, at the least, for collusion with the Russians and for treason. Remember, even though John Dean eventually gave evidence to Watergate prosecutors, it was too little, too late and Dean did serve jail time. Teflon Trump won't do anything to spare his own children and grandchildren
28
It's difficult to wholly embrace Mr. Brook's analysis since it avoids a fundamental and historical feature of Kushner's behavior. Namely, his father in law's instinctive embrace of greed, malice and diversion. Jared is a product of close association with Donald Trump, a selfish, criminal-minded, greedy, con man. Jared probably thought his actions would garner him praise and loyalty points from a man who would sooner desert him as he might pluck lint from his elongated tie. Jared will pay a heavy price for his mis-placed trust and Trump will conjure more lies trying to distract from the obvious.
25
David, last week on The News Hour you said we should give the newly-elected Montana congressman a break on having physically assaulted a reporter because he said he was sorry. Now you're suggesting Jared Kushner deserves some sympathy. In both cases the behavior of these people is repugnant. Even a judgmental hypocrite like me is capable of forgiveness. I'm just not willing to accept them as employees of MY government. I want them out. I want them prosecuted the same as poor people would be for the same offenses.
38
Agreed. One wishes one had a dollar for every domestic batterer who says they are sorry to the judge and now expects the judge to be lenient. What they are sorry about is that they were caught. This "Montana" legislator (whose roots, I believe, are in NJ and PA) seems to be cut from the same bolt of cloth. And Mr. Kushner...well, there is some significant research on criminogenic families. They aren't all poor living in "inner cities".
4
“I believe that God and my parents in heaven forgive me for what I did, which was wrong,” Charles once told an interviewer, according to Politico. “I don’t believe God and my parents will ever forgive my brother and sister for instigating a criminal investigation and being cheerleaders for the government and putting their brother in jail because of jealousy, hatred and spite.”
Don't count your chickens, Mr. Charles Kushner.
Don't count your chickens, Mr. Charles Kushner.
9
Are you sure we can't say the same about the Gorsuch clan?
5
Boo-hoo. People born with silver spoons stuck in their teeth rarely suffer the consequences that the rest of us do. And the hubris of this guy is breathtaking. The blatant disregard for the American people. He's part of a family, both his own and the one he joined, who are no better than The Sopranos. Look at Melania Trump, standing at the Western Wall, pretending it's meaningful experience. Wearing a $50,000 designer jacket while hardworking Americans struggle to make the rent or pay their medical bills. These people have no regard for anyone but themselves. Quit being an apologist for kleptocrats, oligarchs, or really what they should be called: thieves.
35
And how does Mr. Brooks know that Jared Kushner's grandparent fled from the Nazi's? Because it's part of Kushner's bio. Everything is for sale with this horrible family. I have absolutely had it with the invocation of the Holocaust either as an excuse for moral authority masking ugly behavior or as so much toilet paper to clean up messes. My grandmother's entire family did not perish in Auschwitz just so that soulless, greedy, corrupt liars could use their experience as a justification or a prop.
35
Like father like son...
1
David Brooks: ....define...CORRUPTION....why are the Republicans in
the US Congress willing to ....sell their reputations .....for MONEY..
OK...just answer the question ...why are the GOP members of Congress
willing to only obey their campaign financers...
Answer this question ....NOW..!!! ,,and my guess is that you will not do so.
So...what now...are there such cowards as Brooks,,,,iin the NYTimes.
the US Congress willing to ....sell their reputations .....for MONEY..
OK...just answer the question ...why are the GOP members of Congress
willing to only obey their campaign financers...
Answer this question ....NOW..!!! ,,and my guess is that you will not do so.
So...what now...are there such cowards as Brooks,,,,iin the NYTimes.
10
More now than ever the White House needs to see that their leitmotif can be summed up by the famous quote: "We have met the enemy, and he is us".
9
The enemy is the media who are running with a made up story about "Russian Collusion." No one has enlightened us with any proof on any topic Russian. Yes, people in the White House talked with Russians, so did a ton of people in congress, in previous administrations both pre and post inauguration. The point being there still is not one shred of evidence that any laws were broken. In fact there is more proof that Obama collided with the intelligence agencies and Hillary to initiate the Russian story. The media, under the guise of freedom of the press, have decided that they alone are judge and jury. We are witnessing an unparalleled take down of a presidency.
Couldn't agree more. That's why we need t appoint the Russian ambassador to a Cabinet position.
1
@Brian: U.S. intelligence agencies concluded that Putin ordered an influence campaign aimed at the U.S. presidential election... More here and elsewhere, if you'd care to investigate:
• In unequivocal language, the report pins responsibility for the election attack directly on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, ruling out the possibility that it was ordered by intelligence officials or simply carried out by Kremlin supporters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/russian-hack-report.html
• In unequivocal language, the report pins responsibility for the election attack directly on President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, ruling out the possibility that it was ordered by intelligence officials or simply carried out by Kremlin supporters.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/06/us/politics/russian-hack-report.html
3
What is interesting is that most people who are as clannish as Trump and Jared would never run for President because they understand that the government of the U.S. and the foreign affairs of the U.S. require big formal, legally administered, institutions accountable to many more people than they could ever hope to know let alone influence with the help of kith and kin, alone. The unreal world of reality T.V. seemed to give Trump the idea that he could act the part of President the way he acted the part of the master businessman in the Celebrity Apprentice show and get to remain the man who succeeds in business without really trying. Will Kushner get smart and go do his own thing away from the White House, and let the Republicans furnish Trump with a real professional, or will Trump and Kushner spend four years trying to understand how to fulfill his responsibilities at the expense of the nation and the world?
6
Like father, like son-in-law.
14
Like father, like son. Let him go to jail.
1
'' Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy. All his life he’s been serving his father or father-in-law ''
What hogwash.
IF you take ANY position within the government, you are there to serve the PEOPLE at the pleasure of the President.
~ NOT to serve just yourself, your family and the President.
What hogwash.
IF you take ANY position within the government, you are there to serve the PEOPLE at the pleasure of the President.
~ NOT to serve just yourself, your family and the President.
38
Wow. Excuses for this administration at all costs. I have an idea...Why doesn't Trump and his clan buy an island in the Pacific and become the despots they truly are.
He should be in jail instead of TV. Either charge him with something or leave him alone, Government!
1
At this point it's not appropriate to charge Jared Kushner or leave him alone. An investigation is clearly warranted. Once that is done it may be reasonable to charge him or to leave him alone. But at this point we need to get through the investigation. It's just due process. But Kushner himself created the need for that.
15
Kushner seems a little too smug these days for his own good. Seen in video today smirking at photographers.
As the plot thickens, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has now become a focus of the senate investigation into Trump-Russia.
He's the guy who famously responded in a curious way when CNN's Brianna Keiler once said the Trump campaign was “down:”
“Says who?” he growled. When she cited polls, he bantered, “Which polls?” She replied, “All of them."
Cohen's been refusing congressional requests for cooperation. The Senate Select Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to grant its chairman + the ranking Democrat blanket authority to issue subpoenas as they deem necessary.
Cohen was outed by a British dossier where a spy found he was playing a role in working with the Russians on the hacking of Democrats' computers during the campaign. The dossier had been given to Senator John McCain.
As the plot thickens, Trump’s personal lawyer Michael Cohen has now become a focus of the senate investigation into Trump-Russia.
He's the guy who famously responded in a curious way when CNN's Brianna Keiler once said the Trump campaign was “down:”
“Says who?” he growled. When she cited polls, he bantered, “Which polls?” She replied, “All of them."
Cohen's been refusing congressional requests for cooperation. The Senate Select Intelligence Committee voted unanimously to grant its chairman + the ranking Democrat blanket authority to issue subpoenas as they deem necessary.
Cohen was outed by a British dossier where a spy found he was playing a role in working with the Russians on the hacking of Democrats' computers during the campaign. The dossier had been given to Senator John McCain.
17
Jared is old enough to understand what he knows and what is strange and unfamiliar to him, and when he's simply lost, so while he may be focused on being a loyal and faithful son-in-law by acquiescing to his father-in-law's requests, he's betraying that trust by failing to disclose that he's in above his head. Trump should be seeking experienced professionals to help him accomplish what he wants not expecting in inexperienced family member to magically provide that kind of service.
7
We can all get on the bus that takes us back back back to some awful horrible place - the place that excuses every awful horrible thing done since. Or we can call Kushner on his own self-portrait - which doesn't seem pretty at all. I've been looking for some positive quotes from friends, partners etc. They are all negative. Nothing good ever seems to come out about Kushner. Same for Trump and going forward, I expect it all to get worse for both of them.
16
Jared Kushner is just a man with a lot of money and who can afford to take out time from his business to be Trump's Wild Bill Donovan -- Donovan was the head of the OSS but more importantly he had been a trouble shooter for influential and powerful people for decades, including FDR. Unfortunately, Kushner and Trump are pretty much the same, both have the optimism of those who are profoundly ignorant about what they are attempting to do. Neither of them ever put in the work of understanding the world as did FDR or Wild Bill Donovan.
7
I believe Jared is the key to Trump's derision of all the Russia probes as well as the President's unsettling behavior towards Mike Flynn, precisely because Trump elevates clan above all else.
My theory is Jared did something very wrong involving the Russians, beyond what we currently know. Time will tell whether it was illegal, naive or simply stupid. Mike Flynn knows about Jared's conduct, and President Trump knows Flynn knows. This explains why Flynn was kept on despite warnings from Obama and Sally Yates, why he was only fired when there was no way to keep him in place, and why Trump asked Comey to let up on Flynn.
It also explains why Trump, from the start, has resisted every effort to investigate connections to the Russians, despite their interference with our elections. Any other President, especially a Republican, would have reacted to the threat this insidious activity poses to our democratic institutions. Instead, Trump is circling the wagons to protect his family, and not the country he was elected to serve.
My theory is Jared did something very wrong involving the Russians, beyond what we currently know. Time will tell whether it was illegal, naive or simply stupid. Mike Flynn knows about Jared's conduct, and President Trump knows Flynn knows. This explains why Flynn was kept on despite warnings from Obama and Sally Yates, why he was only fired when there was no way to keep him in place, and why Trump asked Comey to let up on Flynn.
It also explains why Trump, from the start, has resisted every effort to investigate connections to the Russians, despite their interference with our elections. Any other President, especially a Republican, would have reacted to the threat this insidious activity poses to our democratic institutions. Instead, Trump is circling the wagons to protect his family, and not the country he was elected to serve.
15
But Trump must be in charge; he answers to no one. Whatever Jared may have done, he did it at the behest of--and certainly with the knowledge of--Trump himself.
But Trump routinely breaks protocols (and laws!) because he was not aware that what he is doing is wrong. Ignorance of the law is no excuse: he is the President of the United States. My suspicion is that Flynn (who absolutely did know better), Kushner and Trump together have done something treasonous without thinking about it beforehand. That these people would betray our country and not know there is something wrong with that is scariest of all.
But Trump routinely breaks protocols (and laws!) because he was not aware that what he is doing is wrong. Ignorance of the law is no excuse: he is the President of the United States. My suspicion is that Flynn (who absolutely did know better), Kushner and Trump together have done something treasonous without thinking about it beforehand. That these people would betray our country and not know there is something wrong with that is scariest of all.
11
Excuses, excuses. The man could have said no when his father-in-law asked him to "save America" pleading no experience, but hubris will always get ya in the end. And this was hubris, plain and simple.
9
How many of you in the media, Mr. Brooks, are going to continue to endlessly rationalize unexplainable behavior? How many passes do these members of the Trump family and administration really deserve before they must take responsibility for illegal/immoral behavior? You need to note that no passes were given to the Clintons or anyone in the Obama administration by the Republicans in Congress and many in the media. The media--including and especially the pundit class--has over-used false equivalency and specious logic to excuse all kinds of GOP behavior over the last two decades. Do you even have a clue that we are here--in this awful place--because of your unethical, unfair, unjournalistic behaviors and writing? Well, we are. And nothing every changes with most of you.
22
The only thing Kushner is interested in is making as much money from his daddy in law's position as he can while he can. The know nothing Kushner having any role in Trump's oligarchic administration is an insult to all Americans.
6
Holding total contempt for Trump and all he stands for, I still, like David Brooks, believe all of us, including criminals, deserve sympathy. I trust Brooks as a reasonable, intelligent, thoughtful commentator, and he is more broadminded than most of his readers.
1
I always relish reading what you write, but totally disagree with anyone's moralizing. Who determines authenticity? Who has the Gods" ears.
Why, on what basis, can you be in judgment?
1
"boneheaded blunders"?! You need to come up with something better than this description of J.K.'s actions. "boneheaded blunders" just doesn't capture the arrogance and disregard of both the office of the presidency and the best interests of the United Staes citizens.
16
Mueller's windfall investigation of Jared over Russia lays bare Jared's simultaneous illegal sedition with Israel during Dec 2016 as Jared and Trump were caught in flagrante delicto subverting the USA over the devastating UN SCR 2334 against Apartheid Israel. Obama successfully parried the clear and present danger from Trump, Kushner and the Israelis
Jared Kushner, a longtime family friend of Netanyahu was obviously front an center in the secret collusion between Trump and Bibi, during Dec 21, Dec 22, and Dec 23 when the (unanimous 14-0, US abstaining) vote took place
Jared and Trump have obviously have committed t*****n with Israel in Dec 2016, let alone Russia. Mueller will expose Israel, Kushner, and Trump over this.
This culminated in the Dec 23rd 2016 passage of this historic resolution against Israel and precipitated the infamous 'involuntary narcissistic rage' from an increasinly psychologically desperate Bibi Netanyahu
Will Mueller seize Jared's computer and/or find he used Israeli encrypted communications with Netanyahu and the Israelis in Dermer's office in the Israeli Embassy during their infamous completed crime of trying to subvert President Obama and the US?
CHECKMATE ISRAEL .
CHECKMATE ISRAEL LOBBY.
The million dollar realization is COLLAPSE of Israeli/Israeli Lobby domination of the American political landscape.
Jared's collusion with Israel and Bibi over UN SCR 2334 is STUCK LIKE A TARBABY to Jared's collusion with Russia
Jared Kushner, a longtime family friend of Netanyahu was obviously front an center in the secret collusion between Trump and Bibi, during Dec 21, Dec 22, and Dec 23 when the (unanimous 14-0, US abstaining) vote took place
Jared and Trump have obviously have committed t*****n with Israel in Dec 2016, let alone Russia. Mueller will expose Israel, Kushner, and Trump over this.
This culminated in the Dec 23rd 2016 passage of this historic resolution against Israel and precipitated the infamous 'involuntary narcissistic rage' from an increasinly psychologically desperate Bibi Netanyahu
Will Mueller seize Jared's computer and/or find he used Israeli encrypted communications with Netanyahu and the Israelis in Dermer's office in the Israeli Embassy during their infamous completed crime of trying to subvert President Obama and the US?
CHECKMATE ISRAEL .
CHECKMATE ISRAEL LOBBY.
The million dollar realization is COLLAPSE of Israeli/Israeli Lobby domination of the American political landscape.
Jared's collusion with Israel and Bibi over UN SCR 2334 is STUCK LIKE A TARBABY to Jared's collusion with Russia
7
Fire will burn, bee will sting, so I am neither surprise at Jared's back channel, nor the defenses Trump and his administration put up.
But it surprised me that McMaster and Kelly joined in that chorus. These two were supposed to be the adults in the room! This is McMaster's third strike -- the destruction of his integrity and trustworthiness as national security adviser is now complete.
People like Trump, Jared, Ivanka, Tillerson and many more business people in Trump's administration are riding on the myth that running an economy is like running a business. The thinking is if these people can make loads of money for themselves, they can do it for us, the people and the country!
The "people" forget that these people are rich in part because they know how to screw over the "people." Now they have handed them on golden platter the biggest con.
To get out of the pixie dust of the Trump brand, we first need to realize what is good for American business is NOT necessary good for American people.
When a business dumps its business waste on public land, air and water instead of treating the waste properly because it cost money and hence reduce profit, they are essentially privatizing profit and socializing cost.
High risk pool of sicker people paid for by tax payers is the healthcare industry privatizing profit and socializing loss.
Communism is criticized for nationalizing all resources, how should we think of capitalism that nationalized only loss?
Hell awaits?
But it surprised me that McMaster and Kelly joined in that chorus. These two were supposed to be the adults in the room! This is McMaster's third strike -- the destruction of his integrity and trustworthiness as national security adviser is now complete.
People like Trump, Jared, Ivanka, Tillerson and many more business people in Trump's administration are riding on the myth that running an economy is like running a business. The thinking is if these people can make loads of money for themselves, they can do it for us, the people and the country!
The "people" forget that these people are rich in part because they know how to screw over the "people." Now they have handed them on golden platter the biggest con.
To get out of the pixie dust of the Trump brand, we first need to realize what is good for American business is NOT necessary good for American people.
When a business dumps its business waste on public land, air and water instead of treating the waste properly because it cost money and hence reduce profit, they are essentially privatizing profit and socializing cost.
High risk pool of sicker people paid for by tax payers is the healthcare industry privatizing profit and socializing loss.
Communism is criticized for nationalizing all resources, how should we think of capitalism that nationalized only loss?
Hell awaits?
18
Amateurs at government, pros at corruption. Next time people want outsiders to lead government think of Trump and his Klan. They are scum top to bottom - except for Melania, a tragic victim. Thank God we had the Obamas for 8 years. At least we got a temporary cleansing from Bush and Warfare Inc.
10
I had sympathy for Melania - she looks so sad most of the time.
Is she in a loveless marriage? Does she see how deranged trump his - her husband. How does she protect Barron from the pathology of his father?Barron will surely read and hear about his father. Will he be just like him as are his half-sibs (deplorable people). I was thinking she should stay in NYC with Barron to shield him from the trump cesspool.
Then I saw the photo of her in Sicily wearing a flowered coat costing $51,500---much more than median income of many people who voted for trump because they are out of work, or on food stamps, or feel left out of society. How dare she - whether the manufacture gave it to her for free, or trump paid for it, OR we paid for it if she has a clothing budget from our taxes.
She is not a sympathetic figure - she is still a model and shows off herself.
She has been an American citizen since 2006 and does not know that many Americans can't afford a house for $50,000. She is an immigrant who worked illegally (AP report) and then worked on a B1/B2 visitor visa and then on a H-1B visa because she was "a star at her craft." Same visas that trump wants to eliminate for talented, educated immigrants to use to come here -- door is being shut to them.
No, don't cry for Melania. She is not MY FIRST LADY - she is someone who won the lottery. I hope she had a good prenuptial agreement in her favor.
Is she in a loveless marriage? Does she see how deranged trump his - her husband. How does she protect Barron from the pathology of his father?Barron will surely read and hear about his father. Will he be just like him as are his half-sibs (deplorable people). I was thinking she should stay in NYC with Barron to shield him from the trump cesspool.
Then I saw the photo of her in Sicily wearing a flowered coat costing $51,500---much more than median income of many people who voted for trump because they are out of work, or on food stamps, or feel left out of society. How dare she - whether the manufacture gave it to her for free, or trump paid for it, OR we paid for it if she has a clothing budget from our taxes.
She is not a sympathetic figure - she is still a model and shows off herself.
She has been an American citizen since 2006 and does not know that many Americans can't afford a house for $50,000. She is an immigrant who worked illegally (AP report) and then worked on a B1/B2 visitor visa and then on a H-1B visa because she was "a star at her craft." Same visas that trump wants to eliminate for talented, educated immigrants to use to come here -- door is being shut to them.
No, don't cry for Melania. She is not MY FIRST LADY - she is someone who won the lottery. I hope she had a good prenuptial agreement in her favor.
6
Jared Kushner ...does NOT deserve any pity.....
At what price to you...David Brooks value HONOR......I put NO price on
honor.
Read "IF" by Rudyard Kipling ....and then get back to me...
What price is ever put on honor..........
I will give you another salient thought....a Judeo-Christian moral....
'you cannot worship God and Mammon too'....think on this David Brooks.
because Jared Kushner hasn't given his phony Jewish morality ...any kind
of thought....he has only worshiped material things and the god of Mammon
and his own Image....which is not permitted in Jewish teachings.
At what price to you...David Brooks value HONOR......I put NO price on
honor.
Read "IF" by Rudyard Kipling ....and then get back to me...
What price is ever put on honor..........
I will give you another salient thought....a Judeo-Christian moral....
'you cannot worship God and Mammon too'....think on this David Brooks.
because Jared Kushner hasn't given his phony Jewish morality ...any kind
of thought....he has only worshiped material things and the god of Mammon
and his own Image....which is not permitted in Jewish teachings.
6
People in this country need to recognize the fact that being a politician is a career, just like any other. It's time we all acknowledged that. The Roosevelts, the Bushes, the Kennedys were all political clans. They made their way in the world as professional politicians. That is not a dirty word, it's just a reality.
Having amateurs in power, no matter how smart they might be in other areas, is just a recipe for disaster. The Trump administration proves that.
I don't agree with the right wing politicians in this country, but at least I can recognize their skills as professionals. We need to get back to a more cordial and professional attitude towards each other when it comes to the political class.
Having amateurs in power, no matter how smart they might be in other areas, is just a recipe for disaster. The Trump administration proves that.
I don't agree with the right wing politicians in this country, but at least I can recognize their skills as professionals. We need to get back to a more cordial and professional attitude towards each other when it comes to the political class.
8
The principle of service to the American people who elect is lost to many who have sworn this service. Unfortunately, nothing in the Trump-Kushner background is about service except to self and family.
Adding to this is the massive corruption in the Republican Party, now in control of all three branches of government. If Jared Kushner cannot be prosecuted for his role with the Russians, we can say good-bye to democracy. The Russians will have won even more than they won with DT in Europe and can work at their ease in our government.
Tax returns? The refusal to demand them of candidate DT was the beginning of this massive scandal. Will there be an end?
Adding to this is the massive corruption in the Republican Party, now in control of all three branches of government. If Jared Kushner cannot be prosecuted for his role with the Russians, we can say good-bye to democracy. The Russians will have won even more than they won with DT in Europe and can work at their ease in our government.
Tax returns? The refusal to demand them of candidate DT was the beginning of this massive scandal. Will there be an end?
8
There is no reason to pity the Kushner family or the heir of their fortune and sometime misfortune, Jared. There is nothing noble about his participation in his own family drama and now that of his in-laws family drama. There is little noble about how that family flaunts their wealth and power.
Jared is a bad investor and a bad landlord. He doesn't have to worry about accountability and apparently the lessons learned from the past do not inform the present.
The trouble with the clannish behavior is that it doesn't freshen the air around it or allow other means of thought to penetrate and therefore allow it to evolve.
Too bad, because covering things up may get you past things but there is no real growth or a character lift which it seems should be welcome.
Jared is a bad investor and a bad landlord. He doesn't have to worry about accountability and apparently the lessons learned from the past do not inform the present.
The trouble with the clannish behavior is that it doesn't freshen the air around it or allow other means of thought to penetrate and therefore allow it to evolve.
Too bad, because covering things up may get you past things but there is no real growth or a character lift which it seems should be welcome.
8
Isn't it clear that all the suspicions of skulduggery by Trump, Flynn, Kushner et al, with Putin and the Russians, could be made to go away if we had transparency regarding Trump's finances with the release of his tax forms? The longer he resists this very straightforward solution to his deepening problems, the more what's going on looks, smells and feels like a cover-up, the more we are entitled to be skeptical about his motives and reasons, the more we are left with fears that he's deeply in the clutches of Russian and the Russians, and the more everyone near him--including his daughter and son-in-law--are going to be dragged into the looming abyss with him. This is very sad indeed. It the parties were noble in character, we would be witnessing the unfolding of a tragedy. Regrettably the last thing Trump, his family and his minions are is noble. So what were seeing is a farce rapidly turning into the blackest of black comedies. Let's hope that the vast incompetence that goes along with the moral failings we're seeing will not end in a catastrophe for the country as whole and perhaps also the rest of the world.
12
BOOM! This column put into clear focus the otherwise fuzzy behavior pattern of Kushner & Trump, explaining what motivates them. What's odd is that such insular, self-obsessed people would be drawn to politics. What's their ultimate goal? Lower taxes? Self validation. America is a big tent, it cannot be managed in their style.
2
In all the articles covering Kushner's intrigues including those that indicate it is not a crime for a government to establish a "secret" back-channel, each fail to note, Jared Kushner was not a government employee whilst attempting to create the back-channel.
In December, he was a private citizen. He was a private citizen attempting to hide his actions from the very government's rules he was subject to as a private citizen.
In December, he was a private citizen. He was a private citizen attempting to hide his actions from the very government's rules he was subject to as a private citizen.
11
I will have sympathy for Kushner and Trump when they show the first hint of humanity, empathy for others, or seriousness about the job of the Presidency. So far, no luck....
13
Kushner is certainly a chip off the old block-in-law. I am not a citizen and do not have the benefit of an expensive education including a law degree. I have reservations about the original intent of the Constitution and how it is interpreted today. But one thing is crystal clear to me and I hope to those who believe in originalism (hint: GOP) and to anyone who reads a newspaper from time to time. The President has sole authority in foreign affairs; and until noon on January 20th he retains that sole authority. Anyone other than the President attempting to conduct diplomacy is a criminal. And it is particularly egregious when conducted by those who continually claim to be the only ones who understand that Constitution.
10
I keep hearing it is naïveté as if this is some sort of excuse. At the very least, it is bad judgement - plain and simple - and serious enough for him to go.
6
Your compassion for Jared is understandable but perhaps just as naive as Jared himself. I think much of the doubt and confusion would be cleared up if we just saw Trumps tax records. It really is "just follow the money".
4
Trump has no loyalty to anyone but Trump. Trump is a clan on one. In my opinion, if he thinks Kushner has become a liability, he will be booted out of the White House, just as Flynn was and others will be. Loyalty with Trump is a one way street. Ask Rudy Giuliana and Chris Christie, and any number of Trump acquaintances and some family members were shown the door.
Perhaps Ivanka and Jared will save themselves some embarrassment and make the decision to move back to Manhattan where they belong, (as some news sources have indicated was a possibility they were considering), once the handwriting is plainly on the wall for all to see.
Perhaps Ivanka and Jared will save themselves some embarrassment and make the decision to move back to Manhattan where they belong, (as some news sources have indicated was a possibility they were considering), once the handwriting is plainly on the wall for all to see.
6
I think you don't fully appreciate Trump's tie with Ivanka. She's his only real affective tie; the only person he has an actual emotional connection to. Were it not for Ivanka, everything you say might make sense. But Jared is Ivanka's husband and I am not so sure Trump will toss him overboard so easily as that would, presumably, hurt Ivanka.
1
When I'm presented with all of the things JK is responsible for in the Trump administration, I see a list of initiatives that are of very low priority for the president. By naming JK, an inexperienced amateur, as the one heading up these things, how else am I supposed to interpret him being made leader?
3
"Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy. All his life he’s been serving his father or father-in-law. All his career he’s been thrust into roles he’s not ready for. His background has ill prepared him for national government. Now he is in a realm where his instincts seem to lead him astray and where there’s a chance he will end up in disgrace and possibly under indictment.'
Awwwwww. My heart. I don't know if I can take it. Poor Jared. Poor little Jared.
Awwwwww. My heart. I don't know if I can take it. Poor Jared. Poor little Jared.
4
Why so rude? According to his wife and father-in-law, JK is better-looking and brighter than JFK, under whom The Family also had great influence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
I feel that in all this discussion a point is being missed or deliberately avoided. Back channel communication between governments has long been used very appropriately and successfully. I stress between government channels. In this instance "the boy Jared" would appear to have deliberately tried to avoid using his own readily available U.S. back channel to use the back channel of a hostile power in order to hide his conversation with his own government. Call me old fashioned but this smacks of treason.
11
Kushner is a lawyer from one of the best law schools in the country. One would think that he'd have some idea as to the legality of what he was doing. No, it was not naïvety, more like espionage.
13
He's not a lawyer.
• “We seem to now be entering the paranoia phase of the Trump presidency”
In the case of Trump himself, hasn't it been that phase all along? The election was 'rigged' against him; Obama 'tapp my phones'; the 'fake' press is so 'unfair' to him, and so on.
• “Working in government is about trusting the system, and trusting those who have been around and understand the craft.”
... which is, of course, exactly the opposite of Trump's attitude.
In the case of Trump himself, hasn't it been that phase all along? The election was 'rigged' against him; Obama 'tapp my phones'; the 'fake' press is so 'unfair' to him, and so on.
• “Working in government is about trusting the system, and trusting those who have been around and understand the craft.”
... which is, of course, exactly the opposite of Trump's attitude.
6
Unfortunately, people like Trump and Kushner never experience the true depths of failure because when they fall they inevitably land on someone else's feet.
4
Didn't you perhaps miss the dark part about old fashioned nepotism? Giving Jared unbridled power when the American people never heard him speak once in public?
The universal refusal now to do the right thing: immediately revoke his national security clearance.
His total lack of transparency? His bad judgment to recommend fire Comey. Have yet to detect Jared Kushner's bit of sympathy for our US democracy and all of us citizens trapped now in the web of Trump's and Kushner's dark secretive power. We can all smell the swampy danger generated by this audacious son-in-law.
The universal refusal now to do the right thing: immediately revoke his national security clearance.
His total lack of transparency? His bad judgment to recommend fire Comey. Have yet to detect Jared Kushner's bit of sympathy for our US democracy and all of us citizens trapped now in the web of Trump's and Kushner's dark secretive power. We can all smell the swampy danger generated by this audacious son-in-law.
4
Speaking from my own business experience, we often tend to follow our fathers' sense of morality, ethics and right or wrong. Kushnerm as one might expect, simply liked to bend the rules as did his father, sometimes more than he should have. His financial mess pushed him to find business people that he could use to get him out, thus the Russian connection. But so many of the Russian "bankers" and oligarchs are working either with or in the shadow of Putin and that makes working with them hugely dangerous...in this case, it was possibly the perfect storm of a naive young businessman who didn't understand what he was dealing with, related to the president, and possibly inable or unwilling to see the consequences to him, the presidency and the nation. One can only hope that this situation isn't as bad as David predicts, but it's not looking good. And yes, I'm sure Putin is having the time of his life with this poor stooge of a president.
6
Can't believe that your opening line is, "Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy..." You, Mr. Brooks are a perfect example of the hypocrisy that is part and parcel of the GOP DNA. We all know well that if anyone in a Democratic administration was suspected of the misdeeds Kushner with which he appears to possibly be involved, you and your GOP buddies would be screaming for his head.
ps I'm not upset about Hillary losing the election: I am genuinely disgusted with his incompetence, ignorance, and using the Office of the President of the United States for his family and his cronies' benefit.
And I don't know of a singe person from any party who is "upset about Hillary's loss" and now want to "get back" at Trump or "attack" him. And all of us are truly disgusted with Trump for the reasons mentioned above.
ps I'm not upset about Hillary losing the election: I am genuinely disgusted with his incompetence, ignorance, and using the Office of the President of the United States for his family and his cronies' benefit.
And I don't know of a singe person from any party who is "upset about Hillary's loss" and now want to "get back" at Trump or "attack" him. And all of us are truly disgusted with Trump for the reasons mentioned above.
3
What the electoral college chose for us is a celebrity presidential apprentice and his coterie.
Simply follow the money for all the answers to questioned raised.
And let us please get rid of the electoral college that this may never happen again.
Simply follow the money for all the answers to questioned raised.
And let us please get rid of the electoral college that this may never happen again.
5
Poor, poor Jared!! He made a bad real estate deal in the billions and now has to limit himself to living in a what?? a shack? He has lots of money and access to lots of high powered advice. The son in law doesn't fall far from the tree. He is likely not in the habit of seeking professional advice, or if the purpose of this trip was on the shady side, which is likely, he could not seek that advice.
He is not above the law and what he has done or not will come out soon enough.
In the meantime, my sympathies go to the rest of the people of the USA.
He is not above the law and what he has done or not will come out soon enough.
In the meantime, my sympathies go to the rest of the people of the USA.
4
Follow the money, as they say. Congress should force all clan members to release their tax returns and their FBAR -- the yearly mandatory declaration of foreign accounts that held $10,000 in the tax year.
This will provide some clarity into the Russian schmuserei.
This will provide some clarity into the Russian schmuserei.
3
The Trumps act like royalty, corrupt self interested royalty, and certainly not like elected officials. Off with their heads.
8
"The apple doesn't fall far from the tree"
2
jared has only one salient characteristic that Trump was looking for...
He is a yes-man with unquestioned loyalty... doesn't matter if that means intervening for Trump with Russian oligarch bankers, or secretly getting the Russians on board with election hanky panky. Trump says jump and Jared say "how high?"
He is a yes-man with unquestioned loyalty... doesn't matter if that means intervening for Trump with Russian oligarch bankers, or secretly getting the Russians on board with election hanky panky. Trump says jump and Jared say "how high?"
5
No Sympathy for the Devil.
16
Joseph Heller, author of the great novel "Catch-22" had this quote: "Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you."
Sometimes it's entirely deserved, Nixon was also paranoid as things were collapsing in his administration. Ford was wrong to pardon him.
Anyone get the feeling that for a Harvard man, Jared ain't terribly bright? His father had to "gift" the Crimson 2.5 million, most that aren't ostriches call that a bribe. Some of his high school teachers and fellow students were both shocked and dismayed that Harvard granted him admission. They obviously weren't impressed, and knew him better than an admissions committee poring over grades and SAT scores. Sometimes students are more impressive than the mere numbers indicate, apparently not to his peers though.
Combine the wealth, entitlement, and experiences from places like Harvard that rules, like Leona Helmsley's view on taxes, are only for little people. Place such in the corridors of power where his boss and colleagues have little regard for rules and such, where no adult has the presence to say not only "that's a bad idea" but to demand "don't do it."
Any wonder there's going to be an implosion? They keep adding kerosene, and then feign outrage when the media pulls out some matches. "Hey you can't smoke here!"
Sometimes it's entirely deserved, Nixon was also paranoid as things were collapsing in his administration. Ford was wrong to pardon him.
Anyone get the feeling that for a Harvard man, Jared ain't terribly bright? His father had to "gift" the Crimson 2.5 million, most that aren't ostriches call that a bribe. Some of his high school teachers and fellow students were both shocked and dismayed that Harvard granted him admission. They obviously weren't impressed, and knew him better than an admissions committee poring over grades and SAT scores. Sometimes students are more impressive than the mere numbers indicate, apparently not to his peers though.
Combine the wealth, entitlement, and experiences from places like Harvard that rules, like Leona Helmsley's view on taxes, are only for little people. Place such in the corridors of power where his boss and colleagues have little regard for rules and such, where no adult has the presence to say not only "that's a bad idea" but to demand "don't do it."
Any wonder there's going to be an implosion? They keep adding kerosene, and then feign outrage when the media pulls out some matches. "Hey you can't smoke here!"
1
I private citizen is not allowed to carry on diplomacy; It can only be done by the government. Kushner was a private citizen. It's simply illegal, and he should be prosecuted.
It's sad that the Trump clan doesn't understand the rules in most cases; and doesn't respect the rules it does understand. Sad.
It's sad that the Trump clan doesn't understand the rules in most cases; and doesn't respect the rules it does understand. Sad.
58
Is 666 Fifth Avenue noteworthy? Just asking.
13
*i* find it noteworthy because of the number 666. It's like a horror movie!!
1
Very noteworthy for keen readers of the Book of Revelation.
by it's street number, 666, it used to be referred to as the 'devil building'
1
I share your analysis, David, but not your pity.
A well-educated man of means should be smart enough to avoid stepping into a dogpile of family feuds. In fact, the Kushner family dramas should have been a blinking, honking cautionary tale. Instead, he mainlined them. That's a shame, but not worthy of pity.
When all is said and done...at the end of the day...I think Jared will be outed as a conduit between his father-in-law the grifter and the grifter's loan sharks.
The grifter's loan sharks no doubt insisted on dissing NATO, something they've wanted since 1949.
A well-educated man of means should be smart enough to avoid stepping into a dogpile of family feuds. In fact, the Kushner family dramas should have been a blinking, honking cautionary tale. Instead, he mainlined them. That's a shame, but not worthy of pity.
When all is said and done...at the end of the day...I think Jared will be outed as a conduit between his father-in-law the grifter and the grifter's loan sharks.
The grifter's loan sharks no doubt insisted on dissing NATO, something they've wanted since 1949.
64
You are right to the point. Thank you.
1
So the kid isn't a great real estate mogul. Neither is Trump, whose many bankruptcies are common knowledge. Behind all of the shenanigans in the White House, a.k.a. the Trump Toilet, the likely story behind all of this is obvious - money. Money for real estate and golf clubs, money to run for the presidency, money to support Ivanka's little business empire. Follow the money, as Deep Throat famously said. It's the solution now, too.
42
The man is one of the biggest slumlords in the country. He deserves absolutely no sympathy whatever.
57
Non sympathy or pity in this article-just a good explanation
Like Mr Trump, Mr Kushner is now a garden variety kleptocrat.
45
Such audaciousness in deflection from DB; terrific sleight of attention. This is what the magician does, and in this case entertaining us with a moral fable.
What does DB distract us from?
First, and pervasively: Moral agency of Jared Kushner.
Second, and selectively: Jared Kushner's expression of his values and character as owner and publisher of the New York Observer. Little of that was laudable or even detached from self-interest.
But, I suppose we are enjoined from challenging the motives and responsibilities of all the Trump family, because after all, DJT is free to write them out of ownership or effective control of the portion of his estate each hopes to inherit. It is a serious failing of DB that he implicitly expects his readership to always remember and forgive those children for this constraint they are under. (I would 'liberate' them --and Jared, too--from self-interest--with a steep inheritance tax.)
What does DB distract us from?
First, and pervasively: Moral agency of Jared Kushner.
Second, and selectively: Jared Kushner's expression of his values and character as owner and publisher of the New York Observer. Little of that was laudable or even detached from self-interest.
But, I suppose we are enjoined from challenging the motives and responsibilities of all the Trump family, because after all, DJT is free to write them out of ownership or effective control of the portion of his estate each hopes to inherit. It is a serious failing of DB that he implicitly expects his readership to always remember and forgive those children for this constraint they are under. (I would 'liberate' them --and Jared, too--from self-interest--with a steep inheritance tax.)
22
I like Kushner the guy. But the key issue here is how much our government serves us and how much it serves Russia.
4
Like him for what exactly?
30
You're buddies or what?
1
Do you even Know him?
1
We used to have checks and balances. The problem is that there are so few possible breaks on the Trumpian madness. Besides asking so what are they hiding about the Russians, I'm asking so why don't Leader Mitch McConnell and Speaker Paul Ryan act on the Republic's behalf to stem the corruption at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue or have they been sucked into it?
52
Ryan and McConnell have been traitors to the people for decades. Both are the henchmen of the gangsters and racketeers of the coal and petroleum industries. They don't care about the republic or the people. Or haven't you been paying attention for the past 9 years?
3
I think you know the answer to this one, Susan! And that's why they don't act.
2
As a good friend of mine says: As the rich have babies each generation degenerates. This notion is challenged by the past crimes of this family.
9
Yes, we need to go all the way back to the Holocaust so as to forget Kushner the a slumlord. His ..."naivete"... but not his toxic influence on the trumpist agenda. The only talent this guy has ever shown has been to exercise his privileges as a pampered princeling.
And here we are, with Brooks asking us to feel sorry for the poor dear.
And here we are, with Brooks asking us to feel sorry for the poor dear.
52
I'm pretty sure he was writing this in jest. Of course he doesn't really feel sorry for this guy, who's had everything handed to him on a silver platter his entire life -- including his Harvard education.
1
Right. We're supposed to feel sorry for this hypocrite and possible traitor , why? It amazes me how forgiving and sympathetic we're supposed to be for someone who supports a man who wants to cut food stamps, get rid of the EPA, Healthcare, etc. David Brooks needs to leave his ivory tower and talk to real people with real problems. No one made Kushner accept a position he is not fit for, his arrogant and ignorance did that.
4
Seriously, you're having a beef with your brother-in-law and you think the appropriate thing to do is set him up with a hooker and report that to his wife, your sister??? What kind of person does something like this? You would cause your sister, your blood, that much pain out of pique? That is a very small person who resorts to this level of vindictiveness.
Let's call the Trumps and the Kushners what they are: money grubbers. They are merely greed personified. Triumph stay in the White House - may it be short - is still all about money grubbing. That is simply how his minds works. Money is his validation. Kushner is no different.
Sympathy for Kushner? You have got to be kidding.
Let's call the Trumps and the Kushners what they are: money grubbers. They are merely greed personified. Triumph stay in the White House - may it be short - is still all about money grubbing. That is simply how his minds works. Money is his validation. Kushner is no different.
Sympathy for Kushner? You have got to be kidding.
82
"like so much other clan-like behavior, went against the formal system. We also know that they betray rookie naïveté on several levels — apparently trusting the Russians not to betray him, apparently not understanding"
Davo, the breadth of your apologist spin is a comforting fog, for the GOPers who cared to look around.
The nation, as of yet, does not know what went on with Jared-in-Transition and the Russian-Banker-Under-Sanctions, but we will. Currently, a lot of us see a debt-ridden clan and ridiculous prices paid by Russian oligarchs. Only an idiot wouldn't be keeping an eye on that.
As for your obvious attempt to try to lump together everyone who is energized to get the truth about the "It's all fake news" clan, this is not going work:
"and within the standards of behavior that now surround us."
I would recommend not lecturing the people about standards of behavior. Our President trash-talked during his entire campaign and then ratcheted back to "unfacts" (if that suits your delicate constitution). The people are going to stay united for the truth.
Davo, the breadth of your apologist spin is a comforting fog, for the GOPers who cared to look around.
The nation, as of yet, does not know what went on with Jared-in-Transition and the Russian-Banker-Under-Sanctions, but we will. Currently, a lot of us see a debt-ridden clan and ridiculous prices paid by Russian oligarchs. Only an idiot wouldn't be keeping an eye on that.
As for your obvious attempt to try to lump together everyone who is energized to get the truth about the "It's all fake news" clan, this is not going work:
"and within the standards of behavior that now surround us."
I would recommend not lecturing the people about standards of behavior. Our President trash-talked during his entire campaign and then ratcheted back to "unfacts" (if that suits your delicate constitution). The people are going to stay united for the truth.
23
"Our forebears have spent centuries trying to build a government of laws, and not of hereditary bloodlines."
Adams 1 Adams 2
Harrison 1 Harrison 2
Madison and Taylor (2nd cousin)
Roosevelt 1 Roosevelt 2 (cousins as was Eleanor)
Kennedy 1 almost Kennedy 2
Bush 1 Bush 2 (Bush 3 nipped in the bud)
Clinton 1 almost Clinton 2
I guess our forebears didn't do a very good job.
As for Kushner, he has been put in a ridiculous position by a ridiculous man. He should have seen it coming. Trump's super power is the ability to humiliate anyone who comes near him. He draws them in and then leaves them covered in excrement. Trump is the American that people in other countries think all Americans are like. He's not merely the ugly American, he's the revolting American. His shoving and posturing and his absurd pseudo-mussolini scowl were a national embarrassment on his European trip. We've had corrupt presidents, duplicitous presidents, ineffectual presidents and incompetent presidents but none until Trump who has combined so many of the worst attributes of a national leader. He even has the worst hair and the worst ties. He looks like someone who smells bad.
Adams 1 Adams 2
Harrison 1 Harrison 2
Madison and Taylor (2nd cousin)
Roosevelt 1 Roosevelt 2 (cousins as was Eleanor)
Kennedy 1 almost Kennedy 2
Bush 1 Bush 2 (Bush 3 nipped in the bud)
Clinton 1 almost Clinton 2
I guess our forebears didn't do a very good job.
As for Kushner, he has been put in a ridiculous position by a ridiculous man. He should have seen it coming. Trump's super power is the ability to humiliate anyone who comes near him. He draws them in and then leaves them covered in excrement. Trump is the American that people in other countries think all Americans are like. He's not merely the ugly American, he's the revolting American. His shoving and posturing and his absurd pseudo-mussolini scowl were a national embarrassment on his European trip. We've had corrupt presidents, duplicitous presidents, ineffectual presidents and incompetent presidents but none until Trump who has combined so many of the worst attributes of a national leader. He even has the worst hair and the worst ties. He looks like someone who smells bad.
51
You lost me on the statement that Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy: An incredible statement to make for the scion of the super-rich.
A look at this young man's business record shows some pretty wretched dealings - both in media, as well as residential real estate. Both have been covered in the NYT. Objectively, he seems to screw up much of what he touches... for somebody, if not his family. He's clearly from the "Win-Lose" Business Camp.
I am more appalled at the media, including the NYT, that all keep dancing around the transgressions of Trump's relations, friends, and intimate acquaintances as somehow separate from Trump himself. It's been painfully obvious from Day One that Nobody aroubd Trump does anything for Trump without his say-so, and intimate involvement. Trump is ignorant and incomptetent as compost, but he surroubds himself by the easily manipulated. His people are easily persuaded by his power and wealth (real or imaginary), and the sheer volume of his bombastic grandiosity. He sells his brand well, at the personal level, and people do many things to keep this immature narcissist happy - including bend and break the law.
If this was a Democrat, even Democrats would be quick to connect the actions of all family and campaign hirelings back to the character in the middle of it all. It's far past time for Democrats, Congress, and the Media to start looking past the Kushners and Flynns - to the person they work for, who has directed tgeir actions all along.
A look at this young man's business record shows some pretty wretched dealings - both in media, as well as residential real estate. Both have been covered in the NYT. Objectively, he seems to screw up much of what he touches... for somebody, if not his family. He's clearly from the "Win-Lose" Business Camp.
I am more appalled at the media, including the NYT, that all keep dancing around the transgressions of Trump's relations, friends, and intimate acquaintances as somehow separate from Trump himself. It's been painfully obvious from Day One that Nobody aroubd Trump does anything for Trump without his say-so, and intimate involvement. Trump is ignorant and incomptetent as compost, but he surroubds himself by the easily manipulated. His people are easily persuaded by his power and wealth (real or imaginary), and the sheer volume of his bombastic grandiosity. He sells his brand well, at the personal level, and people do many things to keep this immature narcissist happy - including bend and break the law.
If this was a Democrat, even Democrats would be quick to connect the actions of all family and campaign hirelings back to the character in the middle of it all. It's far past time for Democrats, Congress, and the Media to start looking past the Kushners and Flynns - to the person they work for, who has directed tgeir actions all along.
34
This is another David Brooks column which seems to want to say something more or different than it actually says. Why does the Kushner family saga begin with the Holocaust? What were they doing in Belarus before WWII? What does this have to do with the current situation?
I agree with the point about clannishness vs politics and public service. When then do I get a whiff of double-speak from this column? I haven't heard anyone suggest that there was any public service dimension to Jared or any of the Kushners.
I agree with the point about clannishness vs politics and public service. When then do I get a whiff of double-speak from this column? I haven't heard anyone suggest that there was any public service dimension to Jared or any of the Kushners.
26
Today Brooks restored my faith in the old axiom that even a blind pig can, occasionally, find an acorn.
Spot on, David...
Spot on, David...
6
David Brooks must be a good, decent man.
You need a suspicious streak to recognize rats like Jared Kushner.
You need a suspicious streak to recognize rats like Jared Kushner.
17
"Decent", aka "foolish".
David is seeking absolution for having voted for Trump.
2
Kushner is a man who has arrogated to himself vast political power through his connection to Trump. By all appearances, he has treated his position in the White House as an opportunity to advance his self-interests or those of his father-in-law, at the expense of the United States and the democracy we hold dear.
Yet here is David Brooks, telling us that poor Jared has "been thrust into roles he’s not ready for" and that his "rookie naïveté" has caused him to make "some boneheaded blunders."
I would suggest that the problem with this child of privilege, this Harvard- and NYU- graduate, is not that he hasn't had time yet to learn about and appreciate the pillars upon which our democracy rests. It's that he, like the rest of the Trump administration and the entire GOP, couldn't care less. Now, that's dangerous.
Yet here is David Brooks, telling us that poor Jared has "been thrust into roles he’s not ready for" and that his "rookie naïveté" has caused him to make "some boneheaded blunders."
I would suggest that the problem with this child of privilege, this Harvard- and NYU- graduate, is not that he hasn't had time yet to learn about and appreciate the pillars upon which our democracy rests. It's that he, like the rest of the Trump administration and the entire GOP, couldn't care less. Now, that's dangerous.
37
Off-topic, but thanks for saying "couldn't care less" instead of the sadly ubiquitous " could care less."
2
The weasel element in Jared Kushner's history (culminating in having a major part in electing an unfit monster to the highest office in the land) is covered in depth hither and yon.
How he got into Harvard: http://tinyurl.com/z48oybp (ProPublica)
"The Story Behind Jared Kushner’s Curious Acceptance into Harvard: ... how the rich buy their children access to elite colleges."
Kushner destroyed the New York Observer: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/03/30/i-worked-wit...
"I would say in his zeal to trim the fat, he began eliminating muscle and hacked into a few bones. I realize also, in retrospect, that he may never have intended to grow it or improve it. It was for him, in essence, another vanity object"
"a vanity project, one that exists primarily to put Kushner in the same room with people he admires whom he wouldn’t have had access to before, ... what appears to be capitalism but is really just nihilistic cost-cutting .... anyone who volunteers to carry out the administration’s agenda may be handed wholesale control ... where their domain expertise isn’t just low, but nonexistent."
Kushner, slumlord: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/jared-kushner-poor-tenants-le...
How he got into Harvard: http://tinyurl.com/z48oybp (ProPublica)
"The Story Behind Jared Kushner’s Curious Acceptance into Harvard: ... how the rich buy their children access to elite colleges."
Kushner destroyed the New York Observer: https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2017/03/30/i-worked-wit...
"I would say in his zeal to trim the fat, he began eliminating muscle and hacked into a few bones. I realize also, in retrospect, that he may never have intended to grow it or improve it. It was for him, in essence, another vanity object"
"a vanity project, one that exists primarily to put Kushner in the same room with people he admires whom he wouldn’t have had access to before, ... what appears to be capitalism but is really just nihilistic cost-cutting .... anyone who volunteers to carry out the administration’s agenda may be handed wholesale control ... where their domain expertise isn’t just low, but nonexistent."
Kushner, slumlord: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/26/opinion/jared-kushner-poor-tenants-le...
18
A page right out of Borgia history!
How long until the dead bodies start appearing in the river?
How long until the dead bodies start appearing in the river?
15
David, I'm surprised at you for using the Holocaust as a means of creating sympathy for Jared, he doesn't deserve it. This is no excuse for bad business or ethical decisions made by Jared or his father Charles. Over sixty million people died during WWll, ten percent as a result of the Holocaust. Looking at events from this perspective opens a whole can of worms, Putins family suffered unimaginable hardships during the War, his father fighting Nazis at the front, his mother during the seige of Leningrad and his older brothers death from disease and starvation, so please David reserve the Horrors of the Shoah for the memory of those who merit it, not some possibly upside down real estate wheeler dealers.
28
I live in Portland, Oregon. I'm devastated for the families of the two men who stood up to a white supremacist and lost their lives; one was a Irag and Aghanistan veteran, the other a young recent college graduate. I feel no sympathy for this little wimp, Jared Kushner.
41
Thank you for this eloquent perspective, skbpdx
4
Crooks do not deserve sympathy.
22
Loyalty to his "Clan" ?
Give me a break!
How about loyalty to the United States of America?
What he did seems to me as close to treason as one can get..
Give me a break!
How about loyalty to the United States of America?
What he did seems to me as close to treason as one can get..
20
The bit about Jared deserving sympathy is pretty funny. Great joke, David.
15
Follow the money...it leads to treason for Trump and his clan (including Kushner). There are no gold toilets at Leavenworth.
13
Everything he has is inherited. Without that he would not be where he is. For sure he could not have married Ivanka if he didn't have money. He is the type that has born entitled and that is all he knows. He deserves understanding but no sympathy.
8
The Roosevelts, Kennedys and the Bushes were all ultimately about service to their country. The Trumps and the Kushners are solely about service to themselves.
The Russians have propped up Trump and Kushner in the hope of having sanctions lifted and the resultant financial windfall for them all. Now, with the spectre of Russia hanging over the Trump White House blocking any chance of lifting of sanctions, the Russians no longer see any value in supporting them. It is only a matter of time.
The Russians have propped up Trump and Kushner in the hope of having sanctions lifted and the resultant financial windfall for them all. Now, with the spectre of Russia hanging over the Trump White House blocking any chance of lifting of sanctions, the Russians no longer see any value in supporting them. It is only a matter of time.
11
It's small wonder that Trump so loves his son-in-law; Kushner is Trump's idealized youth....handsome, wealthy, borne of privilege. He also embodies Trump's values of wealth and vengefulness above all else. Like Trump, thoughout his career, he's stayed one step ahead of his creditors. While Kushner doesn't appear the dimwitted, know-nothing, Queens born bigot--Archie Bunker in better suit, without the naive charm--that his father-in-law appears to be, it's clear he's not afraid to cheat, lie, bully and con to his advantage.
It won't be long before the money trail ends up leading back to Trump and his businesses, and poor Kushner will be just another victim of Trump.
It won't be long before the money trail ends up leading back to Trump and his businesses, and poor Kushner will be just another victim of Trump.
164
"Poor" Kushner?
1
The big question is, will Trump throw Jared out of "the circle of trust"?
4
Sympathy for a slumlord? Wow. You must not know anyone who lives in an apartment...
16
Really sounds like a movie script. You know the one...where Michael Corleone is played by Jared Kushner.
6
Isn't Jared fortunate to have such a powerful apologist as David Brooks? You should be ashamed of yourself Mr. Brooks.
12
Good read Mr. Brooks. I would add tribalism to clannishness. There is a very good probability that Jared was in a hurry to talk to the Russians before January 20th because things were moving fast in Syria, and he wanted to make a deal that would help Israel out. I don't have to tell you what that looks like to an outsider.
5
Why would the Russians be interested not just in Real Estate in the US, but over priced real estate in the US? Why would a bank, be interested in and have a long term relationship with Trump? Why would a bank act as a front, and serve Putin?
When Germany moved against bank of Cypress, Putin said that Russia was not consulted. It turned out Bank of Cyprus, whose later chairman is now the Secretary of Commerce for Trump was used for money laundering.
When Germany moved against bank of Cypress, Putin said that Russia was not consulted. It turned out Bank of Cyprus, whose later chairman is now the Secretary of Commerce for Trump was used for money laundering.
11
Sympathy and blunders? Forced into roles he was not ready for? How about greedy and privileged? How about self serving and treasonous? I am supposed to feel sorry for Jared Kushner who didn't know its illegal to go behind your countries back with another country?
They say you marry your father. Ivanka certainly has. She managed to find another spoiled brat who thinks hit a double when he was born on third base, who cares about nothing except his own bank account and yet it so incompetent they STILL manage to lose money is Manhattan real estate.
Incarcerated? I believe the Constitution makes treason punishable by death.
They say you marry your father. Ivanka certainly has. She managed to find another spoiled brat who thinks hit a double when he was born on third base, who cares about nothing except his own bank account and yet it so incompetent they STILL manage to lose money is Manhattan real estate.
Incarcerated? I believe the Constitution makes treason punishable by death.
13
Mr. Brooks-Allow me to correct your first sentence. It SHOULD read, "Jared Kushner deserves no sympathy." The horrific circumstances and any heroic outcomes that his relatives faced during and after the Holocaust are their stories, not Jared's. He gets no credit for what his grandparents faced and over which they persevered. Nor should he be vilified by the illegal actions of his father. But no kudos for taking over the family business while his father was incarcerated. One could argue, very easily, that that was his choice and one that he greatly benefitted from financially. Your column was confusing. You both excuse his conduct by evoking some clan defense but then you call him out for purchasing an overpriced 1.8 billion dollar building. The reality and only reality is this-Jared Kushner is responsible for his own actions, pure and simple. You said he may have “lacked wisdom.” I’m going with what Michael Hayden, former director of the CIA and NSA said- "What manner of ignorance, chaos, hubris, suspicion, contempt would you have to have to think that doing this with the Russian ambassador was a good or an appropriate idea?”
18
If Jared Kushner looked like Mitch McConnell, or even Harry Reed, would there be any doubt that he is a rapacious landlord, a person who played a considerable role in electing the most dangerous president in history, and a possible traitor? He looks like an innocent, so maybe he is innocent, a victim? Or is he just Dorian Gray, with a frightening portrait of himself locked away in the West Wing?
150
Interesting perspective.
He seems like a clothing mannequin to me. Has the same zombie eyes as Speaker Paul Ryan. His eyes uncaring, his expression cold and calculating.
He's not a sympathetic character, no matter how this story gets a spin.
Which is substantiated by reports of a clear pattern of Kushner Companies’ pursuing tenants over anything--a broken lease, or outstanding rent -- even in the unbelievably many multiple cases where the facts were actually on the side of the tenants.
Politely I guess I'm saying he really isn't a nice guy. With his father's history, you'd think he'd stay out of trouble, but he hasn't.
He seems like a clothing mannequin to me. Has the same zombie eyes as Speaker Paul Ryan. His eyes uncaring, his expression cold and calculating.
He's not a sympathetic character, no matter how this story gets a spin.
Which is substantiated by reports of a clear pattern of Kushner Companies’ pursuing tenants over anything--a broken lease, or outstanding rent -- even in the unbelievably many multiple cases where the facts were actually on the side of the tenants.
Politely I guess I'm saying he really isn't a nice guy. With his father's history, you'd think he'd stay out of trouble, but he hasn't.
2
Appealing to the Holocaust in defense is PR desperation, and to do so in defense of greed, self-importance, and ushering in the Russians is beyond shameful.
17
Well, at least he hates Chris Christie for putting his father in jail and making him fly to Alabama every week to visit him. Given his father's total lack of self awareness and venality, we will see exactly where that apple fell.
12
If a 36YO man with a Harvard degree and a JD/MBA from NYU can be considered naïve, I wonder where that would put me?!?
13
You should know: degrees don't make the many or women. The ranks of incompetents with fine degrees serving presidents stretch back to the Kennedy years and earlier. Hillary would have been overstocked with them, too.
3
Naïve and incompetent are two different things - I would agree that this White House is full of incompetents (at least in what we want them to do - They are proving very competent in fulfilling their own wishes of getting rich out of this deal), but naïve, no way.
1
Sympathy? Hahahahaha! You have GOT to be kidding me.
10
Mr. Brooks: In the first line of your column, you state that Jared Kushner deserves our sympathy, then proceed to give us every reason why he doesn't. If anything, your column only shows why this callow, unqualified beneficiary of nepotism is deserving of contempt.
11
Why the concern? Ivanka has great experience in selling perfume and shoes. Jared great experience in his family real estate business. Absolutely zero experience in government. But then again, your local town council member had more government experience and qualifications than the President. Not sure if this is bad dream.....
6
The adventures of Jared Kushner?
Really? This is a title to a "meaningful discussion" of the sorry escapades that are occurring daily over at 1600? Give us a break. Stop it.
Why not call it: The dangers of nepotism: How hiring in your image and appointing your unprepared son in law for high level roles is a sign of major incompetence and detrimental to the country. And unethical. Too bad it's not illegal. It should be.
Whatever.
David, please find a friend to assist you in owning up to your part in this giant charade. You'll write better articles and you'll quit asking the nyt readers to give these people a break.
In fact, just stop it right now.
I'm not giving any billionaire who ran under his own volition or his son in law a break. If they don't know what they are doing they should leave.
And, they should leave because it's very clear they do not know know what they are doing.
Regardless, they have to pay the consequences. Ignorance is an excuse. Won't pass muster in s court of law..."but I didn't know what I was doing Judge."
Not having real consequences is the major issue here. Chances are they never have had to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Now is the perfect time.
Really? This is a title to a "meaningful discussion" of the sorry escapades that are occurring daily over at 1600? Give us a break. Stop it.
Why not call it: The dangers of nepotism: How hiring in your image and appointing your unprepared son in law for high level roles is a sign of major incompetence and detrimental to the country. And unethical. Too bad it's not illegal. It should be.
Whatever.
David, please find a friend to assist you in owning up to your part in this giant charade. You'll write better articles and you'll quit asking the nyt readers to give these people a break.
In fact, just stop it right now.
I'm not giving any billionaire who ran under his own volition or his son in law a break. If they don't know what they are doing they should leave.
And, they should leave because it's very clear they do not know know what they are doing.
Regardless, they have to pay the consequences. Ignorance is an excuse. Won't pass muster in s court of law..."but I didn't know what I was doing Judge."
Not having real consequences is the major issue here. Chances are they never have had to deal with the consequences of their actions.
Now is the perfect time.
13
I believe you are also describing the Democratic and Republican parties as well.
Their clannish behavior is what is destroying this country.
Hopefully they read your column and recognize that their behavior is no better than Jared Kushner's.
Their clannish behavior is what is destroying this country.
Hopefully they read your column and recognize that their behavior is no better than Jared Kushner's.
3
After the NYT in-depth reporting on Jared Kushner's "investments" in Baltimore's community housing, and his abuse of lawyers and the legal system to squeeze the last penny from many impoverished tenants, I cannot think of Mr. Kushner having any sense of morality or justice. The Trump Administration - what a gang of crooks, from the top down.
6
It's obvious that Jared met with the Putin linked head of the Russian bank to try to set up financing for the building for which he overpaid by about 50%. He's not exactly the first Russian you would go to to discuss Syria. Jared is stupid, not naive. He doesn't deserve sympathy nor understanding. He deserves the immediate loss of his security clearance and a thorough criminal investigation.
12
So what do the Clintons and Trumps have in common? They have both married their daughters into money.
"In March 2001, Mezvinsky was indicted and later pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 felony charges of bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud."
"In March 2001, Mezvinsky was indicted and later pleaded guilty to 31 of 69 felony charges of bank fraud, mail fraud, and wire fraud."
2
I'm tired of hearing the naivete/not-a-politician excuse, because it's bogus. Most of the mistakes being made by Trump and co. are failures of common sense, because you can't be people of their stature in this world and not know why some of this stuff would at least look bad, or even BE bad. Too much of the like is covered ad nausea on TV, and in books and movies, both for entertainment and nonfiction. And Trump has too many theoretically experienced guides around.
For example, it seems Mike Flynn was with Jared Kushner during the Russian back channel episode. You're telling me Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and senior security officer - picked by Trump to be National Security Advisor - didn't know how bad the back channel thing would look, even if it was totally innocent? Heck, you're telling me Flynn wouldn't know that in fact, it would be an unprecedented form of "back channeling" totally unacceptable to any US security officials worth their salt?
Oh, and everyone involved "forgets" to note it on their security clearance disclosures? As if they have those kinds of contact 8 times a week, year in, year out? Did any "ordinary" person not, upon hearing about it, immediately know how bad it looks - even if they twist their brains into pretzels trying to pooh pooh it away for Trump's sake? So, if these guys can't formulate action better than just about any ordinary person, why should we trust them to govern us?
For example, it seems Mike Flynn was with Jared Kushner during the Russian back channel episode. You're telling me Flynn, a retired lieutenant general and senior security officer - picked by Trump to be National Security Advisor - didn't know how bad the back channel thing would look, even if it was totally innocent? Heck, you're telling me Flynn wouldn't know that in fact, it would be an unprecedented form of "back channeling" totally unacceptable to any US security officials worth their salt?
Oh, and everyone involved "forgets" to note it on their security clearance disclosures? As if they have those kinds of contact 8 times a week, year in, year out? Did any "ordinary" person not, upon hearing about it, immediately know how bad it looks - even if they twist their brains into pretzels trying to pooh pooh it away for Trump's sake? So, if these guys can't formulate action better than just about any ordinary person, why should we trust them to govern us?
6
We seem to now be entering the paranoia phase of the Trump presidency? Hardly. What we are entering is the self-parody phase of the competition between the NYT, WaPo and CNN as they dust off stockpiled leaks and headline page-seventeen stories, daily. An unelected press turning up its clannish nose at a boorish but freely elected president, wondering how he can hope to survive the so-called drip-drip-drip of "news" that it has itself created.
2
trump was not "freely elected."
Mr. Kushner is deserving of no sympathy whatsoever. It appears that he is emulating the criminal behavior of his Father, but the choice to do so is his alone. At this juncture, knowing everything we do about the Trump and Kushner families, the most plausible explanation for the secret meetings with the Russian ambassador and Russian banker were to set up a deal to personally enrich either Kushner, Trump or both of them. Indeed, what other motive could explain all of the secrecy surrounding these meetings and the sense of urgency to have this covert communication channel with the Russians? To think that Donald Trump and his cronies, including his son-in-law, are not occupying their positions of power to primarily line their own pockets betrays everything Trump has ever done in his life and everything that is known about the man. Lock them up!
9
Both Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner have been marketed, (yes, marketed) to the general public as the more reasonable members of the Trump administration, and Democrats and moderate Republicans are supposed take the good along with the bad because they can help push a more moderate agenda. Now we know better. Kushner and Ivanka Trump are really no different from Donald Trump. They push program that would benefit themselves financially rather than championing causes that are in the best interest of the United States. Does anyone question how Ivanka decision to champion paid maternity leave over restoring funding for school lunches or to object to steep cuts in Medicaid would affect the image of her "brand"
9
Come on, people. The boy is only trying to work off debt. Russian Debt.
7
The idea that Jared Kushner deserves our sympathy is laughable.
He was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, his criminal-Dad made a contribution of $2.5 million to Harvard right before Kushner was accepted into Harvard, he "forgot" meetings he had with Russians as way of explanation of why they weren't disclosed on government forms for security clearance.
You are constantly referencing books we should read, Mr. Brooks. Why don't you go back and read about famous Greeks and Athenian democracy? When you read about such wisemen as Solon, you understand how much character matters, how hubris is the undoing of men, how important intelligence, curiosity and knowledge are in leaders.
Kushner's biggest qualification in his yet unnamed position in the White House, is that he married the daughter of the boss. The other thing he has in common with his boss is that he has shady business practices and has been the beneficiary of being born white in the right place, to the right people.
Turns out, like father-in-law, like son-in-law.
He was born with a golden spoon in his mouth, his criminal-Dad made a contribution of $2.5 million to Harvard right before Kushner was accepted into Harvard, he "forgot" meetings he had with Russians as way of explanation of why they weren't disclosed on government forms for security clearance.
You are constantly referencing books we should read, Mr. Brooks. Why don't you go back and read about famous Greeks and Athenian democracy? When you read about such wisemen as Solon, you understand how much character matters, how hubris is the undoing of men, how important intelligence, curiosity and knowledge are in leaders.
Kushner's biggest qualification in his yet unnamed position in the White House, is that he married the daughter of the boss. The other thing he has in common with his boss is that he has shady business practices and has been the beneficiary of being born white in the right place, to the right people.
Turns out, like father-in-law, like son-in-law.
43
"The idea that Jared Kushner deserves our sympathy is laughable."
I believe that was the point of David Brook's opinion piece. Look up sarcasm.
I believe that was the point of David Brook's opinion piece. Look up sarcasm.
Unless there's a dimple emergency, may we just ignore Kushner and let the special team do their investigation? Ignore Melania's style, ignore Ivanka's fake feminism and grinning stride to the helipad, ignore Donald's every burp.
May we send in the people who are good at ferreting out the real dirt and not give one more inch to this family of grifters til we've got the case made? Can't you find something else about which to wax eloquent, indignant, or whatever?
May we send in the people who are good at ferreting out the real dirt and not give one more inch to this family of grifters til we've got the case made? Can't you find something else about which to wax eloquent, indignant, or whatever?
25
So his daddy thought God would forgive HIM for despicably setting up his sibling -- but would not forgive the sibling for turning him in?
How special. How Trumpian. Special Rules For Me.
How special. How Trumpian. Special Rules For Me.
46
How Kushnerian !
How diabolical !
How diabolical !
19
The comments are so much better than the article. The readers show a better insight into the character of Kushner. Unbridled ambition to the point of, if not being, at least appearing to be a traitor to your country deserves no sympathy
46
David, you paint the Kushner-Trump axis versus everybody else in the world as the Hatfields and the McCoys. This is true, #45 has always run a medieval fiefdom, clan first and always. But it's not the Hatfields and the McCoys, it's the Hatfields and the Americans. #45 and his bunch are supposed to be working for us, on our behalf, for the common good, not for the Hatfields. Last I heard, the Hatfields never took a solemn, public oath to uphold the American constitution and serve America's interests. #45 and his bunch did. That's supposed to mean something. In fact, there are laws about it.
22
At what point should Mr. Brooks use his columns to implore Congress to stop Trump rather than continue to scribe about his antics? Similar to those who gave their lives for our freedom in war, Republican members of the House and Senate need to give their political lives for their country by standing up and offering support across the aisle in impeachment proceedings.
While their personal political careers might be terminated by revolting against a Republican president, the end result of no more Trump and Mike Pence as president is for the greater good.
We are in need of heroes.
While their personal political careers might be terminated by revolting against a Republican president, the end result of no more Trump and Mike Pence as president is for the greater good.
We are in need of heroes.
24
Unfortunately our Republican representatives in Congress, rather than rise to the occasion, are sinking deeper into the swamp.
3
It is sad. With Pence as president, the Republicans keep their party in power and still hold hope for a successful legislative agenda. They might even catch an increased wave of voter support by making a country first decision.
2
Hmmm, it sounds like Jared has had " a troubled past", and also perhaps was "no angel". But since he is rich, white and connected, none of that should matter.
11
Poster children for "failing upward." Right down the line.
11
Mr Brooks holds a pity party for Jared Kushner, you know the guy
who forgot to list a billion dollar loan on the disclosure forms.
oh those meetings, oh those conversations
this was not a back channel it was a covert channel designed
to hide what they were up to to our own government.
who forgot to list a billion dollar loan on the disclosure forms.
oh those meetings, oh those conversations
this was not a back channel it was a covert channel designed
to hide what they were up to to our own government.
35
Richie Rich - he and his Father-in-law treat the government like they treat their businesses. Unfortunately, and America will learn the hard way, running a business and running the government are not the same. You can cheat, lie and steal in business and get away with it, even be deemed a success by doing so. In Government, you will get caught and prosecuted and sadly, no one is hurt more than the American public you were elected to serve.
16
Ironically, both Trump and Kushner have blundered ENORMOUSLY in their supposed area of expertise. If you think being great business people might be great for running the country instead of the same old politicians, you DON'T pick the guys who had 6 bankruptcies (including casinos, for crying out loud), or bought a massive building in NY for twice what it was probably worth. Those kind of guys may NEVER figure out that running a government is not like running a business, even the times when policies are mostly involving business.
4
What god has to to with it? Even a non-believer like me feels sorry for the old guy up-in-the-sky, treated like some brain-damaged elderly affected by senile dementia in whose mouth anybody can put any words they want.
OK with football players who thank him for making the last catch after an "Hail Mary" pass (but they never thank the virgin Mary for that -- strangely.)
This is "Familial amoralism" at its best. Actually, even better than that: "intrafamily amoralism." The stereotypical reference for this kind of conduct is Italian Renaissance city-states with their incestuous intrigues, betrayals, hubris, and of course, exemplary religious piety.
I really hope Jared clings to god publicly as much as possible, lest he loses the support of the ultra-evangelicals who so much love fairy tales of sin and redemption.
OK with football players who thank him for making the last catch after an "Hail Mary" pass (but they never thank the virgin Mary for that -- strangely.)
This is "Familial amoralism" at its best. Actually, even better than that: "intrafamily amoralism." The stereotypical reference for this kind of conduct is Italian Renaissance city-states with their incestuous intrigues, betrayals, hubris, and of course, exemplary religious piety.
I really hope Jared clings to god publicly as much as possible, lest he loses the support of the ultra-evangelicals who so much love fairy tales of sin and redemption.
8
I read grandmother Rae Kushner's harrowing and incredible account of life under the Nazis and her escape. This was printed in full in The Guardian and should be read by anyone interested in crown prince Jared. If she were alive today, grandmother Kushner would no doubt throttle her grandson for what he has become. None of his values are remotely inherited from his grandmother, who I understand he adored while she was alive.
17
Democracy cannot flourish in a clan mentality. Democracy is a bottom up system; clans are a top down system. Clan leaders only need to be powerful. Wisdom and mercy are not required.
Trump is failing precisely because of his clannishness. This isn't about a CEO wanting to be the boss of our nation, it's about a guy who paints his face orange, blunders about brandishing a bludgeon, and bellows.
Trump is failing precisely because of his clannishness. This isn't about a CEO wanting to be the boss of our nation, it's about a guy who paints his face orange, blunders about brandishing a bludgeon, and bellows.
9
David Brooks writes a sleazy hit-piece like this and then has the nerve to accuse the Trump administration of paranoia. The truth is that presidential candidates and presidents-elect or their deputies always engage in conversations with the heads of foreign governments or their representatives prior to inaugurations. For example, in 2008 presidential candidate Barrack Obama secretly sent an emissary Tehran to ensure Iranian leaders they could expect improved relations with the United States if he were elected. President-elect Obama sent representatives to meet with the Russian delegation at the G-20 Summit prior to his inaugural, as well as delegations from more than a dozen other countries. Presidential candidate Donald Trump flew to Mexico to discuss immigration and trade issues with Mexicans leaders. Members of the Trump transition team met with Russian officials, but they also met with officials from other countries.
2
The difference is that none of Obama's overtures were intentionally hidden from US intelligence agencies, as Kushner is accused of doing.
7
The current investigation is about Russian interference in our electoral process, not about meeting with foreign leaders.
The investigation into Kushner's meetings with the Russians is to determine if it was part of that interference. Remember, this is just the beginning of the investigation; we'll have to see where it leads.
The investigation into Kushner's meetings with the Russians is to determine if it was part of that interference. Remember, this is just the beginning of the investigation; we'll have to see where it leads.
You seem to be ignoring the fact that in the examples you cited, nobody lied about their activities when applying for their security clearance. This matters.
1
Uh Hello.
Why does Trump & Kushner get a pass on what anyone else would be charged as treason, simply because they were incredibly "naive"?
Did Kushner not attend Harvard? He's no dummy.
Trump always likes to say "he's smart" "he knows more than the generals", and yet he can claim ignorance on such an important matter?
It beggars credulity.
Half the American people and half of Congress are oblivious to the ramifications of Russian meddling, but they were up in arms about Bengazhi ( a no-nothing event compared to what Trump & Russia has wrought so far)
It is so pathetic and sad that this is what America has come to.
Contrary to MAGA, Trump is turning America into a banana republic.
Why does Trump & Kushner get a pass on what anyone else would be charged as treason, simply because they were incredibly "naive"?
Did Kushner not attend Harvard? He's no dummy.
Trump always likes to say "he's smart" "he knows more than the generals", and yet he can claim ignorance on such an important matter?
It beggars credulity.
Half the American people and half of Congress are oblivious to the ramifications of Russian meddling, but they were up in arms about Bengazhi ( a no-nothing event compared to what Trump & Russia has wrought so far)
It is so pathetic and sad that this is what America has come to.
Contrary to MAGA, Trump is turning America into a banana republic.
18
["Did Kushner not attend Harvard? He's no dummy"]
The former doesn't not always make the latter true when money is involved. We may be seeing the Peter Principle in effect.
The former doesn't not always make the latter true when money is involved. We may be seeing the Peter Principle in effect.
1
"That mode, whether in the Donald Trump or Jared Kushner version, simply self destructs in the formal system and within the standards of behavior that now surround us."
Really, David? Are you paying attention to your own party's long developing role in all of this? The "standards of behavior" with respect to country vs. ideology have clearly been flushed down the toilet by Ryan, McConnell, and the whole sorry crowd of house and senate Repulsicans working only to make sure their mind controllers - the likes of the Kochs, the Mercers, the Adelsons of our banana republic in the making - control the country's direction regardless of the effects on all the rest of us. Not one of them is a patriot in any rational sense of the word, and they certainly do not possess any "standards of behavior" worthy of the words. Witness only the latest: their attempt to normalize Kushner's secret channel by ignoring the implications of wanting to use Russian equipment at their embassy to enable such a channel, and that by a private citizen even before the swearing in of the bad seed child-thing now enthroned in the White House.
Really, David? Are you paying attention to your own party's long developing role in all of this? The "standards of behavior" with respect to country vs. ideology have clearly been flushed down the toilet by Ryan, McConnell, and the whole sorry crowd of house and senate Repulsicans working only to make sure their mind controllers - the likes of the Kochs, the Mercers, the Adelsons of our banana republic in the making - control the country's direction regardless of the effects on all the rest of us. Not one of them is a patriot in any rational sense of the word, and they certainly do not possess any "standards of behavior" worthy of the words. Witness only the latest: their attempt to normalize Kushner's secret channel by ignoring the implications of wanting to use Russian equipment at their embassy to enable such a channel, and that by a private citizen even before the swearing in of the bad seed child-thing now enthroned in the White House.
15
"We don’t know everything about his meetings with the Russians, but we know that they, like so much other clan-like behavior, went against the formal system. We also know that they betray rookie naïveté on several levels..."
No, we don't know everything about Kushner's meeting with the Russians; what we do know -- that he omitted the meetings from his security clearance application; that he sought to keep the meetings secret from US intelligence services, placing enormous trust in the Russians and giving no apparent thought to the leverage his actions provided to them -- do more than betray 'rookie naïveté'; his actions reflect the hubris and arrogance that has become the hallmark of the Trump administration: the law be damned.
Kushner's actions warrant his immediate dismssal from government service, as would have happened to any other public servant not related to Trump. It is stupefying that the charge of treason has not been leveled against Kushner for violating the Logan Act of 1799 (https://definitions.uslegal.com/l/logan-act/).
This is the reason clannishness and nepotism have no place in government service. In Kushner's case, the will of the people is ill-served, the security of the nation is placed in extreme jeopardy.
So, David Brooks, you are wrong: Jared Kushner does not deserve a bit of sympathy. He has failed completely in upholding his oath to protect and serve the Constitution, to do the work of the People.
No, we don't know everything about Kushner's meeting with the Russians; what we do know -- that he omitted the meetings from his security clearance application; that he sought to keep the meetings secret from US intelligence services, placing enormous trust in the Russians and giving no apparent thought to the leverage his actions provided to them -- do more than betray 'rookie naïveté'; his actions reflect the hubris and arrogance that has become the hallmark of the Trump administration: the law be damned.
Kushner's actions warrant his immediate dismssal from government service, as would have happened to any other public servant not related to Trump. It is stupefying that the charge of treason has not been leveled against Kushner for violating the Logan Act of 1799 (https://definitions.uslegal.com/l/logan-act/).
This is the reason clannishness and nepotism have no place in government service. In Kushner's case, the will of the people is ill-served, the security of the nation is placed in extreme jeopardy.
So, David Brooks, you are wrong: Jared Kushner does not deserve a bit of sympathy. He has failed completely in upholding his oath to protect and serve the Constitution, to do the work of the People.
14
Somehow reminds me of Crips and Bloods gang warfare . . . meanwhile the GOP devolves into body slamming legitimate reporters with questions about Trumpcare and Texas state legislators threatening those on the other side of the aisle with gunshots to the head . . . don't think "leadership by example" doesn't have an effect on our everyday lives!
8
Neither Papa Don nor Sir Jared and Princess Iva belong in the WH. This is US of A, not a banana republic.
Flaws in the election system allowed someone like Donald Trump to gain entry, and the Republican party is so deficit and decayed that Trump was able to grab the candidacy. Trump is a flimflam and skilled in con-ways.
And anti-nepotism law was skirted to allow Donald Trump to bring the two into his administration. What is a 35-yo kid with no prior experience doing in such a position.
Flaws in the election system allowed someone like Donald Trump to gain entry, and the Republican party is so deficit and decayed that Trump was able to grab the candidacy. Trump is a flimflam and skilled in con-ways.
And anti-nepotism law was skirted to allow Donald Trump to bring the two into his administration. What is a 35-yo kid with no prior experience doing in such a position.
9
The Kushner branch of the Trump Clan is a whole new graft.
3
The US white house was victim of an hostile take over by the Trump-Kushner clan, where money laundering, inside trading and fleecing lenders and their clients were part of their usual MO. The US intelligence services are not an adversary to be taken lightly as they will soon discover. Their flaccid attempts to fool their supporters, hide their misdeeds and constant pathological lying, will soon boomerang with terrible consequences that may shatter confidence in the USA and a possible global financial crisis.
6
I'll reserve my sympathy for people whose drama is not entirely self-created, thank you.
10
The Trump administration is starting to feel like a five alarm out of control missile attempting a liftoff, and the only remedy to correct the thing are claims of fake news, self congratulatory praises. and denials. Americans want to have confidence in their leaders, and unfortunately we are not getting that. Hey GOP leaders, start laying down the law. Get someone in there who can impose some order. Anything.
4
Delusional Donald Trump may have imagined he was qualified to president; surely his family must have understood he was not. Jared, Ivanka, et al, bear a huge responsibility for enabling and supporting Trump's campaign. Desperate citizens, eager for change, may have been in denial about Trump's deficiencies, but his privileged children must be very familiar with his limitations. A former model and a 30 something real estate broker with no relevant experience and hubris to burn; they chose money and fame over duty to country from the start of this debacle, and they will continue to do so.
12
Wow, whatever happened to the “take personal responsibility” dogma of your lot Mr. Brooks? Naïve, ignorant or arrogant, does it really matter? Jared is old enough to know the enormity of the role he took on as an adviser. If he wasn’t up to it (and he isn’t), he should not have taken it, period. If there was an apt occasion to exercise responsibility … public responsibility at that Mr. Brooks, this is it. But no, let’s gloss over what it means to try and establish a secret channel to the Kremlin, with Russian equipment at a Russian facility. Let’s gloss over why existing channels did not suffice - if the motive, as it should be is to advance U.S. interests. Let’s gloss over what it is Jared and Co. wanted to hide. Let’s gloss over the naked nepotism that is on display. Let’s gloss over the erosion of public trust of our government, and let’s take a breather to cultivate sympathy for poor young Jared because . . . oh he is an over-privileged kid shoved into an enormous role to know what he is doing?
Jared’s grandparents, his inheritance . . . are you serious Mr. Brooks?
Jared’s grandparents, his inheritance . . . are you serious Mr. Brooks?
12
I find it interesting that David Brooks shows some sympathy toward Jared Kushner on the basis that his clan-like behavior is supposedly the result of his upbringing. If either Jared or Charles Kushner were criminal trial jurors and were asked to show leniency towards the defendant because his behavior is the result of a tough childhood, I have no doubt that they would insist on throwing the book at him.
7
Morally, ethically compromised Kushner marries into the morally, ethically compromised Trumps. None of these potentially criminal miscreants are deserving of any sympathy — or of any appointed or elected office.
Our nation loses. Don't make excuses for the inexcusable.
Our nation loses. Don't make excuses for the inexcusable.
11
Mr. Brooks, the other side of your ultimately positive belief that Trump will crumble under the weight of our forebears, is that when clans succeed they become dictatorships.
Too many signs from Trump, and his supporters, point to a dangerous outcome - distrust of media, assault on minorities, alignment and verbal support for other dictators, a majority party who is either/both, purchased by corporate interests in short term revenues, or willing participants in the results, (read: Jeff Sessions, Bannon, Priebus, ad nauseam...), and has the backing of the NRA, and the industrial military complex.
Geez, if Trump only had a foreign enemy to go to war with, and rally his minions and distract his opponents... (read: North Korea).
Too many signs from Trump, and his supporters, point to a dangerous outcome - distrust of media, assault on minorities, alignment and verbal support for other dictators, a majority party who is either/both, purchased by corporate interests in short term revenues, or willing participants in the results, (read: Jeff Sessions, Bannon, Priebus, ad nauseam...), and has the backing of the NRA, and the industrial military complex.
Geez, if Trump only had a foreign enemy to go to war with, and rally his minions and distract his opponents... (read: North Korea).
4
To think that Jared was reaching out to the Russians to do 'Americas' business is probably naive. The more likely reason was for personal gain - for his, and quite possibly the Trump families. The likelihood that Jared was doing this without the blessing of our president is also naive. These guys only see the office of the President as an opportunity to make deals that will benefit family first, and America as a possible consequence. A possible consequence - not a necessary one!
8
its worth mentioning that the armed resistance camp was the Bielski Brothers as seen in the movie Defiance. And the town in Belarus was Novogrudek.
N.Heber
N.Heber
2
David, I have profound sympathy for horror that Kushner's ancestors suffered. Sorry, I have no sympathy for Jared Kushner.
I incorrectly assumed that Kushner was much more qualified for the work he was doing in the Whitehouse (it is not clear to me why I made this assumption). But after reading a bio of Kushner, it became clear that he was woefully unqualified for very much of anything in government.
This is a classic case of being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple as the great Molly Ivins said of W.
While Kushner is more qualified to be president than Trump is, that is a low bar. Given how unqualified Trump is, he basically needs to subcontract his whole presidency and serve as figurehead, much like the Queen of England.
Trump doesn't know anything so he can't very well be surrounded by family members who are also unqualified.
Unlike many people who are horrified that Trump is President, I don't want to see him impeached. America deserves this president. We elected him and we deserve the consequences. My thinking is that if Trump is allowed to destroy the country with his proposals, America may then come together as a nation to rebuild the country. We have been headed toward this catastrophe for the last couple of decades. Trump has only hastened the descent. We are going to have hit bottom, aided and abetted by the Republican leadership, if we are going to be cleansed of this madness and hate.
I incorrectly assumed that Kushner was much more qualified for the work he was doing in the Whitehouse (it is not clear to me why I made this assumption). But after reading a bio of Kushner, it became clear that he was woefully unqualified for very much of anything in government.
This is a classic case of being born on third base and thinking you hit a triple as the great Molly Ivins said of W.
While Kushner is more qualified to be president than Trump is, that is a low bar. Given how unqualified Trump is, he basically needs to subcontract his whole presidency and serve as figurehead, much like the Queen of England.
Trump doesn't know anything so he can't very well be surrounded by family members who are also unqualified.
Unlike many people who are horrified that Trump is President, I don't want to see him impeached. America deserves this president. We elected him and we deserve the consequences. My thinking is that if Trump is allowed to destroy the country with his proposals, America may then come together as a nation to rebuild the country. We have been headed toward this catastrophe for the last couple of decades. Trump has only hastened the descent. We are going to have hit bottom, aided and abetted by the Republican leadership, if we are going to be cleansed of this madness and hate.
5
What's that song called again? Ah, right...Sympathy for the Devil.
The Kushner family is no stranger to the concepts of power and revenge, as David himself states here (but somehow seems to miss his own point) . The only difference is that this messenger comes with a smooth, anodyne outer shell.
If he was so loyal to Pops-in-law, wouldn't he toe the line on Bannon, etc? It just feels like the Boy Wonder is too big for his platinum britches. Out of the sandbox, little one!
The Kushner family is no stranger to the concepts of power and revenge, as David himself states here (but somehow seems to miss his own point) . The only difference is that this messenger comes with a smooth, anodyne outer shell.
If he was so loyal to Pops-in-law, wouldn't he toe the line on Bannon, etc? It just feels like the Boy Wonder is too big for his platinum britches. Out of the sandbox, little one!
2
This is too naive an assessment.
The United States Government is now de facto a family business, with the full cooperation of the Republican Congress. It is only a matter of time before it will structurally become a family business. We are watching the unraveling of the once magnificent American Republic.
The United States Government is now de facto a family business, with the full cooperation of the Republican Congress. It is only a matter of time before it will structurally become a family business. We are watching the unraveling of the once magnificent American Republic.
6
I feel about as much sympathy for Jared as the "law and order" administration shows for criminal defendants who came from troubled or deprived backgrounds.
4
'...working in government is about trusting the system and about trusting those who have been around and understand the craft'
Well, Mr.Brooks I feel this view is way, way too trusting - Working in government is about respecting the system and its experienced players, but trust? Trust is earned. And we should also trust that the basic tenets of democracy will get us through the swamp, but I can say with some experience that to trust the politically appointed and long term hired employees without first examining their motives, moves, and judgment is to fail. One can stay within the parameters of appropriate governance without being a patsy.
Well, Mr.Brooks I feel this view is way, way too trusting - Working in government is about respecting the system and its experienced players, but trust? Trust is earned. And we should also trust that the basic tenets of democracy will get us through the swamp, but I can say with some experience that to trust the politically appointed and long term hired employees without first examining their motives, moves, and judgment is to fail. One can stay within the parameters of appropriate governance without being a patsy.
2
Which part of 'enlightened self-interest' do these guys not get? (Hint: I think they have a pretty good concept of self-interest.)
1
What we are all witnessing with the Kushner and Trumps is blatant hijacking of our democracy by the plutocratic class. I, for one, am glad that finally we are seeing plutocracy upfront and clearly. Jared is a classic example of the plutocracy - which includes democrats and republicans.
Jared's parents bribed Harvard to get him enrolled (OK, donated millions to a library) (https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curio.... Rule #1 of plutocratic entry - you need to graduate to a top 15 school worldwide ... Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, etc.
Rule #2 - consort and marry within the plutocracy. Hence the Trump marriage (which is another family that badly wanted for plutocratic). Donald also went to Wharton but only after father called in a favor so that he could transfer from Fordham (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-2016-wharton...
Rule #3 - rule/manage "public policy" through surrogates and stay behind the scenes.
Rule #4 - stay among other plutocrats - Mar Largo etc.
Jared and Donald forgot some of the rules ... especially #3. See, Soros gets this because he is a true plutocrat. He knows he is incapable to govern as it is different than accumulating wealth. So do the Koch brothers.
Not Jared and Donald. They have made their careers by bending rules, favors and bankruptcy rules.
In the end, Jared and Donald will fail. Let's hope our can handle it.
Jared's parents bribed Harvard to get him enrolled (OK, donated millions to a library) (https://www.propublica.org/article/the-story-behind-jared-kushners-curio.... Rule #1 of plutocratic entry - you need to graduate to a top 15 school worldwide ... Cambridge, Oxford, Harvard, etc.
Rule #2 - consort and marry within the plutocracy. Hence the Trump marriage (which is another family that badly wanted for plutocratic). Donald also went to Wharton but only after father called in a favor so that he could transfer from Fordham (http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/11/donald-trump-2016-wharton...
Rule #3 - rule/manage "public policy" through surrogates and stay behind the scenes.
Rule #4 - stay among other plutocrats - Mar Largo etc.
Jared and Donald forgot some of the rules ... especially #3. See, Soros gets this because he is a true plutocrat. He knows he is incapable to govern as it is different than accumulating wealth. So do the Koch brothers.
Not Jared and Donald. They have made their careers by bending rules, favors and bankruptcy rules.
In the end, Jared and Donald will fail. Let's hope our can handle it.
4
The hubris of this administration is galling. This is the story of a conman who entrusted to his middling son-in-law every arm of policy from negotiating Middle East Peace and reforming care for veterans to solving the opioid epidemic and reforming the criminal justice system. Shockingly, this is not an exaggeration, and this only describes half of the major policies with which he's been charged. Jared Kushner, at no point it seems, has had the presence of mind to decline one or any of these responsibilities. Which means he is as guilty of arrogance and conceit as the scammer above him.
And while Kushner clearly has impeccable grooming habits, he has zero qualifications for any position in government. Sorry, your opening premise - that we should feel sorry for Jared Kushner - is misplaced. Feel sorry for our liberal democracy that has come closer to resembling the mafia.
And while Kushner clearly has impeccable grooming habits, he has zero qualifications for any position in government. Sorry, your opening premise - that we should feel sorry for Jared Kushner - is misplaced. Feel sorry for our liberal democracy that has come closer to resembling the mafia.
7
Recommending "The Tudors" http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0758790/?ref_=nv_sr_1 for a thorough curriculum on how all this works.
1
Maybe I missed something, but Mr. Brook's first sentence seems ironic, not meant to evoke sympathy but instead to establish the writer's playing field.
1
Three things: (1) Jared is also a slum landlord, according to the NYT article on the weekend, so Jared is not a naive good boy, (2) Jared and his father in law both desperately needed funding and US banks would not give them any, so maybe they went to the Russians, and (3) Jared really needs to know that anyone who helps Trump gets hurt, but Trump stays looking good.
3
Another David Brooks article which should be titled "Mindless Blather About Nothing". Jared Kushner deserves sympathy, but not poor people who die as a result of cruel Republican health care policies. Remember his opposition to the Affordable Care Act. And he has the gall to talk constantly about "service" to something greater than self. His writings are the very definition of Orwellian. "The Road to Character" should be called "How to Be Completely False". It is astonishing that anyone would imagine that this feeble mind is that of an "intellectual". He is pathologically beholden to a spiritually sick ideology and utterly immune to facts.
8
This is a good column for starting to understand the Kushner family. Thanks David ! When Trump set out to move to Washington with so many family members, I recall wondering if he would end up ruining the careers of Ivanka and Jared.
1
Jared Kushner is an adult. He lives in the modern world. As Trump's "princeling" he seeks power and wants to use it, particularly when it contributes to his personal enrichment. He knows what he is doing. His greed and arrogance led him to commit disloyal acts with agents of a hostile foreign power to the detriment of his country. Period. If justice is done, he will be rocking an orange jumpsuit, perhaps tailored by Armani, in the near future. He deserves that fate. So does his repulsive and disloyal father-in-law.
6
Kushner has prospered by winning the genetic lottery of best schools, best addresses, best travel, best connections. He has learned how to profit from low-income people needing a place to live and supplying the bare minimum. He has not built anything from the ground up or developed a backbone. Now he will again benefit from the best legal team.
6
The Bush family is about public service. George W. Bush gave seniors a much needed drug plan.
Not so much the Trumps. Trump wants to throw granny out of the nursing home and onto the streets with his Medicaid cuts.
Not so much the Trumps. Trump wants to throw granny out of the nursing home and onto the streets with his Medicaid cuts.
3
Behind all this rigmarole of who did what, has it occurred to anyone that Trump, considering his personality, could have been the one telling others what to do? That does not excuse Kuschner or any of his other colleagues but might explain some of the cover ups
3
No sympathy for Kushner. Entitled all his life (he's one of those darn college educated elites), and he whispers to the highest office in the land, peddling his own brand of influence, impacting millions of us little people. No sympathy at all. He accepted the job.
14
Like his father in law, This individual Kushner has spent the majority of his time serving himself.
Serving anything that will not produce an immediate return in either personality adulation, personal power, or money would not evevn rigester as a possibility for these individuals.
Serving anything that will not produce an immediate return in either personality adulation, personal power, or money would not evevn rigester as a possibility for these individuals.
7
Transition team back channel communications are not illegal. I think the Times lead story mentions that like 10 paragraphs down. Actually seems prudent given the volume of leaks we've seen from the CIA and FBI.
What would be illegal is collusion in Russian illegal hacking of the DNC prior to the election in November. But the fact of this meeting in December is hardly evidence of that.
So far all smoke and obfuscation, with Brooks of all people irresponsibly throwing around terms like indictment.
What would be illegal is collusion in Russian illegal hacking of the DNC prior to the election in November. But the fact of this meeting in December is hardly evidence of that.
So far all smoke and obfuscation, with Brooks of all people irresponsibly throwing around terms like indictment.
2
This was not "back channel". Transition teams, especially private citizens do not meet with adversarial governments without input from intelligence services and State. His wanting to meet in the Russian Embassy secretly belies any indication that this was a legitimate "back channel". We do not know what it was, but it does not look good.
4
Ugh. I must have missed the part that is supposed to inspire sympathy. Other than the humble, immigrant beginnings, which have given young Jared himself great sympathy for people currently experiencing these great challenges.
Not.
I'm not sure how many times it needs to be said, but running the federal is not a "let's just wing it" kind of enterprise.
Not.
I'm not sure how many times it needs to be said, but running the federal is not a "let's just wing it" kind of enterprise.
8
"Now he is in a realm where his instincts seem to lead him astray and where there’s a chance he will end up in disgrace and possibly under indictment."
What? Three is no evidence of Jared Kushner doing anything disgraceful, let alone criminal. That makes it premature at best to write a ridiculous sentence like this.
I don't know what it is about Donald Trump that makes normally intelligent people lose their intelligence. The Trump administration is supposedly in a crisis, but as near as I can tell, that crisis is in the minds of the media and no one else.
What the Russians did and didn't do is clear, and it's well past time to move on. As Emmanuel Macron did with his meeting with Vladimir Putin. They discussed what to do in Syria and Ukraine, and apparently made some progress.
The United States could do some good in those two troubled countries as well, and working things out with Russia would help. But this witch hunt reporting by normally sane people like David Brooks do not help. Not at all.
"Amazing reporting" on this subject by the New York Times. Hardly.
What? Three is no evidence of Jared Kushner doing anything disgraceful, let alone criminal. That makes it premature at best to write a ridiculous sentence like this.
I don't know what it is about Donald Trump that makes normally intelligent people lose their intelligence. The Trump administration is supposedly in a crisis, but as near as I can tell, that crisis is in the minds of the media and no one else.
What the Russians did and didn't do is clear, and it's well past time to move on. As Emmanuel Macron did with his meeting with Vladimir Putin. They discussed what to do in Syria and Ukraine, and apparently made some progress.
The United States could do some good in those two troubled countries as well, and working things out with Russia would help. But this witch hunt reporting by normally sane people like David Brooks do not help. Not at all.
"Amazing reporting" on this subject by the New York Times. Hardly.
1
Another famous 36 year old that started out well intentioned and ended up badly - Robespierre. Choose your alignments wisely.
3
Like his father-in-law, Kushner has handled massive real estate transactions but has never been answerable to anyone but himself and his immediate family. No board, no stockholders - no accountability or requirement for transparency.
Now, he and his father-in-law sit atop a massive and complicated system of government, one that makes even 666 Park fade into insignificance. And once again, they presume it'll operate much the same as in their previous incarnations as real estate tycoons, and that they can get away with the same behavior they always have.
But it doesn't work that way. The federal government isn't made up of housing units to be divvied up and sold for profit. They are answerable, suddenly, to many millions of people and to a press not easily manipulated by "John Barron." So far, Kushner has failed miserably. I've little hope for improvement from him - or his father in law.
Now, he and his father-in-law sit atop a massive and complicated system of government, one that makes even 666 Park fade into insignificance. And once again, they presume it'll operate much the same as in their previous incarnations as real estate tycoons, and that they can get away with the same behavior they always have.
But it doesn't work that way. The federal government isn't made up of housing units to be divvied up and sold for profit. They are answerable, suddenly, to many millions of people and to a press not easily manipulated by "John Barron." So far, Kushner has failed miserably. I've little hope for improvement from him - or his father in law.
225
You write:
The federal government isn't made up of housing units to be divvied up and sold for profit.
Are you sure about that? There's an awful lot of public land -- parks, mountain tops in Appalachia, offshore oil -- to be divvied up and sold to your cronies. And at what long-term cost to the public?
The federal government isn't made up of housing units to be divvied up and sold for profit.
Are you sure about that? There's an awful lot of public land -- parks, mountain tops in Appalachia, offshore oil -- to be divvied up and sold to your cronies. And at what long-term cost to the public?
1
Kushner is not some innocent kid. He is a 36 year old and very sinister adult.
11
A man that tries to set up illegal back channels to our adversary against his own country deserves no sympathy. Where are all the personal responsibility adherents when someone plainly should know this is illegal? Yet David you shill out a sympathy story instead. He is an adult, he knew what he did was wrong, he got caught, end of story. Laws were set up to deal with this, may they be put in motion.
55
There is nothing illegal about a backchannel to Russia, let alone discussing setting one up. Turns out this "amazing reporting" about what Jared Kushner did is also trumped up beyond belief. Or so it appears from reliable, non-leaking sources.
And we should be talking with Russia, all the time. We should be trying to help out the Syrians and the Ukrainians, and their problems involve Russia. As Moshe Dayan said, "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies."
And we should be talking with Russia, all the time. We should be trying to help out the Syrians and the Ukrainians, and their problems involve Russia. As Moshe Dayan said, "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies."
1
You're right Barbara, but elites believe laws are only for keeping the minions in order. For the wealthy, exceptions always apply. Our justice system typically, though not always, seems to represent: He with the most money wins. Hence, Trump, Kushner, the billionaires cabinet, etc.
The ethical people get fired, and that's how the wealthy do deals.
The ethical people get fired, and that's how the wealthy do deals.
6
How about the part where he wants to use Russian communication facilities to evade US intelligence? His defenders always seem to leave that part out.
2
Remember last summer when Trump said..."Russia, if you are listening....and I think you are....go find the missing emails...." Then was the time for the Russian Connection to be examined and dissected. Seems like the FBI knew something was up and frankly, so did anyone with half a brain. Then we heard Trump bellow at the Republican convention that only he could fix America's problems.
How false do you have to be these days before America sees right through a corrupt candidate. So how did Trump get elected? I ask those who voted for him, who voted for a third party candidate or who simply stayed home to explain themselves. This really is a sad story.
How false do you have to be these days before America sees right through a corrupt candidate. So how did Trump get elected? I ask those who voted for him, who voted for a third party candidate or who simply stayed home to explain themselves. This really is a sad story.
35
I think in summer of 2016 a lot of people still saw Trump as an entertaining if strange showman. If he had seemed a more plausible contender, perhaps the public and the media would not have been so un-critical.
1
I have a different perspective: "The Kushner family drama begins in the Holocaust." Then why would he support a President and GOP that would create another holocaust with a budget and health care "plan" that would create an America with millions of citizens begging in the streets and dying in the gutters? It's difficult to be sympathetic with someone like that.
27
Forgot to mention that his father gave Harvard $2mm to get his son admitted to Harvard Would never been admitted without this donation. Shame on my alma mater! He is what is known as an "empty suit".
26
Kushner needs to recognize that he has no authority to work in the executive branch, nor skill. Leave now, along with mini me Ivanka. They have to know that no one wants them in their roles, brandishing their unearned faux power. Go home, please! Enjoy your champagne popsicles out of the public's eye.
30
It's infuriating to excuse Jared's ethics because his family suffered in the Holocaust. Many others went through much worse and kept their values.
They put family first? For the Trump and Kushner families, life is only about money, power, fame.
They have never cared a whit for America or its people. The whole reason for the campaign they didn't expect to win was to expand their brand.
It will be interesting to see what kind of fake news Jared will have published in his personal newspaper.
May G-d help the American people -- and the planet -- survive this gang of thugs.
They put family first? For the Trump and Kushner families, life is only about money, power, fame.
They have never cared a whit for America or its people. The whole reason for the campaign they didn't expect to win was to expand their brand.
It will be interesting to see what kind of fake news Jared will have published in his personal newspaper.
May G-d help the American people -- and the planet -- survive this gang of thugs.
40
who are all these survivors who suffered through something worse that the holocaust? and what in the world was that horror they suffered?
1
Why a bit of sympathy? Rathan Tata inherited a fortune, fumbled a bit in his early career, and is an admired businessman, philanthropist and person. It just seems to me that the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
12
Once Jared realizes that Donald will throw him under the bus, he may turnaround and throw Donald under the bus.
22
No you forget Ivanka stands between them.
3
Mr Brooks-
I love your columns. This one reminds me of the book on the politics of clans by Mark Weiner. You may find it of interest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/books/review/the-rule-of-the-clan-by-m...
https://www.amazon.com/Rule-Clan-Ancient-Organization-Individual/dp/0374...
I love your columns. This one reminds me of the book on the politics of clans by Mark Weiner. You may find it of interest:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/26/books/review/the-rule-of-the-clan-by-m...
https://www.amazon.com/Rule-Clan-Ancient-Organization-Individual/dp/0374...
4
Sympathy??? Gimme a break, David.
To serve or not to serve criminals is a choice ~ and Jared made his.
To serve or not to serve criminals is a choice ~ and Jared made his.
38
Yeah, David, let's all feel sorry for the poor little rich kid. I guess you've got to feel bad for a kid who paid $1.8 billion for a NY building that was only worth half of that. Poor guy's clearly in way over his head. I really hope he comes out of this okay.
13
"...paranoia phase..." is right on. "Kushnerville" in the NYTimes Magazine detailing how Jared squeezes bucks from low income tenants while leaving rental units unlivable must hurt. And FB and Twitter full of nausea for Ivanka's champagne popsicle recommendation for Memorial Day. Not ready for prime time, to be sure.
25
I will never have sympathy for someone who's complicit in the dismantling of our country's civil rights, the degradation of our consumer, environmental and financial regulations or support of a sexual predator.
I'm enraged and saddened at what he and the others in this grotesque administration are doing but never, ever sympathy.
I'm enraged and saddened at what he and the others in this grotesque administration are doing but never, ever sympathy.
87
You lost me with your first seven words. He is a grown man, and deserves no sympathy.
62
Great start to Jared's apologia pro vita sua.
Hope his defense attorneys will take note.
But forgive me if I save my sympathies for those who deserve it.
Hope his defense attorneys will take note.
But forgive me if I save my sympathies for those who deserve it.
30
It is only relevant to think of Kushner as an example of natural selection; how a greedy, hateful, and stupid collection of miscreants can find each other in a world of 8 billion people to form a "family". Even the word "family" used to describe this clan sticks in my craw as an insult to real humans.
40
Wow! I'm shocked! So Jared was forced to run his family's business and now since he happens to be the son-in-law of Trump, he has the burden to perform every job in government! And here I thought people had choices! You should have picked a better example than Jared Kushner for Americans to sympathize with. You will get no forgiveness here. The man is evil and if it were up to him, American democracy would be eliminated and we'd be run by a Putin surrogate. As far as I'm concerned, the whole family belongs in prison!
40
Yes, so much for the personal responsibility Republicans claim to believe in.
4
Eloquently and simply stated.
Jared is in way, way over his head. His father in law will jettison him at the first sign of real trouble. Just one sign of the lack of forethought here: Donald has given Jared a larger portfolio than Donald has! And Donald doesn't realize that Jared has NO experience in doing anything, truly, anything.
To Donald and to Jared, it's all just in the family and inherited money. No life experience, no training, no demonstration of ability. Just nepotism and don't answer to anyone.
Hey Don and Jared, YOU WORK FOR US NOW.
Jared is in way, way over his head. His father in law will jettison him at the first sign of real trouble. Just one sign of the lack of forethought here: Donald has given Jared a larger portfolio than Donald has! And Donald doesn't realize that Jared has NO experience in doing anything, truly, anything.
To Donald and to Jared, it's all just in the family and inherited money. No life experience, no training, no demonstration of ability. Just nepotism and don't answer to anyone.
Hey Don and Jared, YOU WORK FOR US NOW.
27
Actually they work for themselves. And they and the Republicans in Congress are trying to make us like it.
1
In a country where we sometimes try twelve-year-olds as adults in murder cases, it is hard to believe that we cannot consider Jared Kushner as an intelligent adult responsible for his actions, and therefore answerable for his attempts to establish secret communications with the Russians through their embassy channels. To treat him as a poor, silly, befuddled baby who somehow stumbled into espionage because of a combination of a mentally-disturbed father and a grandmother who suffered in the holocaust, somehow doesn't hold water with me.
55
I'm really sick and tired of Jared Kushner being portrayed as some naïve babe in the woods. Stop, already. It's not only silly, but offensive.
46
Jared Kushner's effort to establish "back Channel" via Russian embassy and ambassador hiding from our Intel agencies and other government department in order to make connection with Vlad Putin was a dangerous move and smells really fishy. Is it to make money ? Is it to play the role of double agent or something else? or to make good relation with our enemy country Russia? or just to express gratitude for helping in election? Lot of questions in our mind looking for truth. Suspicion among people from innocent mistake to something close to treason. Whatever the truth, it was surely a stupidity.
14
"Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy?"
Mr. Brooks:
If you insist on sending love notes to the Kushner family, could you at least have the decency to do so privately, and spare the rest of us from this display?
You could use a back channel.
Back channels are the appropriate channel to use when dealing with back channels.
Mr. Brooks:
If you insist on sending love notes to the Kushner family, could you at least have the decency to do so privately, and spare the rest of us from this display?
You could use a back channel.
Back channels are the appropriate channel to use when dealing with back channels.
42
"Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy?"
After all, kushner is part of the same tribe!
After all, kushner is part of the same tribe!
“I don’t believe God and my parents will ever forgive my brother and sister for instigating a criminal investigation and being cheerleaders for the government and putting their brother in jail because of jealousy, hatred and spite.”
The Trumps and the Kushners, it seems, were destined for each other (and for the Republican Party)....nobody takes any responsibility for their actions, and worse, cannot understand why they should.
The Trumps and the Kushners, it seems, were destined for each other (and for the Republican Party)....nobody takes any responsibility for their actions, and worse, cannot understand why they should.
36
Why does he deserve sympathy? You catalogued the sins of the father without mentioning the 18 counts of tax evasion he also spent time in the slammer for committing. These are not the kind of people to whom public service is a higher calling. They are kleptocrats intent of using the levers of power to enrich themselves.
That makes Jared a perfect fit with Donald Trump, but a disaster for the country.
That makes Jared a perfect fit with Donald Trump, but a disaster for the country.
40
Not a fan of Jared or Trump. But if you are going to blame the son for the sins of the father, aren't you doing exactly what every right-wing nut job did when painting HRC with the dishonesty & misdeeds of her husband?
Nobody in this country voted for Kushner, nobody asked him to talk to the Russians before the inauguration, nobody voted to pay security and travel costs for this spoiled child of criminal aristocracy. My guess is he'll get the old heave hoe if not prison time. The only question is will he hang on long enough for the next election or be indicted sooner, along with his daddy in law.
27
SO sorry, but this guy is getting no sympathy from me. He appears to me to be rich, spoiled, arrogant and entitled.
25
And fueled by hubris!
I think back to when I was a young man. I am 70 years old today. Unlike Jared, I was NOT brought up in an already-formed universe. Born to a blue collar family, my major asset being a high IQ, I was blessed by the meritocracy based education that existed in the Univ. of Calif. Rumor has it that Jerod was unqualified to attend Harvard. But his father donated 2-2.5 million dollars and Jared had a seat at Harvard. This means that a more-qualified student with less "means" was denied entrance. An unqualified Kushner becomes a Harvard graduate and his resume is polished with money. Then, moving into the "family" business, he overpaid for 666 Fifth avenue (does anyone catch the synpolism of 666), then, desperate for money, he turns into a slumlord of epic proportions (see NYTimes excellent piece on his business), and then into, arguably, the most important advisor to the President.
He is not, in any way, concerned about the global implications of tyrannical leadership in various countries. In fact, he welcomes them. In his young mind, they represesnt stability and, perhaps, an enforcable contract. Would Erdagon REALLY take the Trump Towers logo off the buildings in Istanbul?
So, Jared is promoting his and Ivanka's brand to the detriment of the United States of America.
In other words, he is a traitor.
He is not, in any way, concerned about the global implications of tyrannical leadership in various countries. In fact, he welcomes them. In his young mind, they represesnt stability and, perhaps, an enforcable contract. Would Erdagon REALLY take the Trump Towers logo off the buildings in Istanbul?
So, Jared is promoting his and Ivanka's brand to the detriment of the United States of America.
In other words, he is a traitor.
25
Jared was raised by a man with little or no moral fiber. He married into a family with a father figure whose moral compass is also non-existent. Now in his mid- thirties--old enough to "float his own boat"-- he chooses to act just like dear old Dad and Big Daddy-in-Law. Like them, The Almighty Dollar is his guide. Sorry I feel no pity for Jared as he is old enough to know right from wrong.
20
All those who want to lock Jarred and impeach Trump, should think hard about how they would like President Pence. Jarred -a Democrat- has been a VERY GOOD counter-balance in the white house. Finally, is there any chance that Jarred will go to Jail without Hillary and dare I say Obama (anyone recalls IRS & snooping on journalists) going to jail? The crimes are similar in nature.
2
Gee, is this Donald or Ivanka?
2
Except for one salient fact: Obama and Hillary didn't commit any.
2
"We seem to now be entering the paranoia phase of the Trump presidency, as insiders perceive that everybody else is out to get them."
Four months in.
Sad.
But, Brooks might have a point. Everybody, outside of the republican loyalists (as clanish as it gets) is out to get them.
Four months in.
Sad.
But, Brooks might have a point. Everybody, outside of the republican loyalists (as clanish as it gets) is out to get them.
5
Aa much as I loathe almost all things in Mondo Trumpo, I pity Trump's children and their families. They have been raised in a world whose apparent values involve money, self, and one another, but appear essentially oblivious to a larger sense of duty and of moral proportion. Now this poor Kushner fellow is embroiled, to all appearances, in the "sins of the fathers." May God bless him. He needs it.
1
Everyone has a choice (when making a decision). Jared and Ivanka are smart enough people to know what to take a bite of and how big.
They had choice to be positive enablers for Trump and guided him in selecting right people on cabinet, bring more efficiency in hiring the right talent for literally hundreds of vacancies. instead, Jared and Ivanka, just like Trump, have treated running a country as a mere extension of running family business (without learning from their flawed past decisions). It shows their cockiness at worse and poor judgement at best.
Either way, Mr. Brooks is way off in painting Jared as naive and innocent victim of circumstances and clannish assumptions.
They had choice to be positive enablers for Trump and guided him in selecting right people on cabinet, bring more efficiency in hiring the right talent for literally hundreds of vacancies. instead, Jared and Ivanka, just like Trump, have treated running a country as a mere extension of running family business (without learning from their flawed past decisions). It shows their cockiness at worse and poor judgement at best.
Either way, Mr. Brooks is way off in painting Jared as naive and innocent victim of circumstances and clannish assumptions.
15
For an opinion writer who not infrequently emphasizes the central importance of self-reliance and personal responsibility, you've given Kushner an enormous amount lot of slack here. he's an adult with a good education and every imaginable advantage in life -- advantages he and his "clan" seem determined to deny most Americans. If Kushner follows his father to federal prison, it'll be because he exalted his family's financial fortunes over the needs of the American people. He deserves our derision, not our sympathy.
29
Jared Kushner doesn't understand that the rules apply to him. How could he? In his previous world, they never did.
But he, just like Daddy-In-Law, have now stepped into a world that they don't completely control. This world is not owned by them, it is owned by other people - they are known as citizens. They are supposed to be working for those citizens, not for themselves They clearly don't get any of this.
Both Kushner and Daddy-In-Law are in over their heads, and are headed for a big fall - which cannot come soon enough.
But he, just like Daddy-In-Law, have now stepped into a world that they don't completely control. This world is not owned by them, it is owned by other people - they are known as citizens. They are supposed to be working for those citizens, not for themselves They clearly don't get any of this.
Both Kushner and Daddy-In-Law are in over their heads, and are headed for a big fall - which cannot come soon enough.
Trump and Kushner both come from families that deceive and con, each other as well as others, to get where they are at and to stay where they are at. Opacity is their stock in trade because if we really knew what are in Trump's tax returns, he'd be run out of town on a rail right along with the rest of his grifting family and friends.
The notion that you can waltz into a lofty government position without background in government or law and dazzle everyone with your success is just plain hubris. I wouldn't want my surgeon or dentist to waltz into my procedure and make it up as they go! Professionals have to have the right degree and go endless hoops to land a job, but to be president of the US or an adviser you just have to be rich and have connections. Why did we ever think that these folks would appropriately self select?
21
Most of these criticisms of Kushner are also applicable to Republicans generally and even Conservative thinking. Return to Clan and Blood is just what underlies so many 'policies'.
"Teamwork, majority-building and addition", "trusting the system" can you point to anyone currently in charge who has been advocating for this?
Kushner is not the problem. He is just an obvious and blatant symptom. He may be a bad apple, but the barrel has long been rotten.
"Teamwork, majority-building and addition", "trusting the system" can you point to anyone currently in charge who has been advocating for this?
Kushner is not the problem. He is just an obvious and blatant symptom. He may be a bad apple, but the barrel has long been rotten.
22
We don't need historical fiction or Masterpiece Theater to see what it was like when under qualified noblemen were promoted to high office by sheer accident of birth and family ties. We have our very own royal court in the West Wing, with Ivanka as the Princess Royal and Lil' Jared as the Crown Princeling.
The problem is that it's not enough for Mr. & Mrs. Jared Kushner to swan around town looking glamorous and posh. While Mrs. Jared Kusher's West Wing portfolio is largely a vanity device to promote her own brand in her own narcissistic mind, Mr. Jared has actually taken on matters of national and international importance.
And what do we, the American people, get in return from this grace-and-favor act? Nothing, because Lil' Jared is like a black hole. He absorbs multitudes but nothing, and I mean nothing, ever comes back out. We do not know what Lil' Jared is doing about re-engineering government, ending the opioid epidemic, reforming the criminal justice system, or managing diplomatic relations with China and Mexico.
The public deserves to know if these assignments are a sham or whether the Crown Prince really sees himself as a public servant working on behalf of the American people. I'm leaning towards sham, but Lil' Jared can still redeem himself. He needs to get out there and make a credible showing that he is actually getting things done to fulfill the hugely important mandate he's received from his father in law.
The problem is that it's not enough for Mr. & Mrs. Jared Kushner to swan around town looking glamorous and posh. While Mrs. Jared Kusher's West Wing portfolio is largely a vanity device to promote her own brand in her own narcissistic mind, Mr. Jared has actually taken on matters of national and international importance.
And what do we, the American people, get in return from this grace-and-favor act? Nothing, because Lil' Jared is like a black hole. He absorbs multitudes but nothing, and I mean nothing, ever comes back out. We do not know what Lil' Jared is doing about re-engineering government, ending the opioid epidemic, reforming the criminal justice system, or managing diplomatic relations with China and Mexico.
The public deserves to know if these assignments are a sham or whether the Crown Prince really sees himself as a public servant working on behalf of the American people. I'm leaning towards sham, but Lil' Jared can still redeem himself. He needs to get out there and make a credible showing that he is actually getting things done to fulfill the hugely important mandate he's received from his father in law.
8
You forgot his Middle East Peace imperative.
1
No-one made him do any of this and I have zero sympathy for him.
Family loyalty? How about the easiest path to unearned money, lots of it, and power. That seems more likely, doesn't it? Since his father, uncle and father-in-law are nothing more than greedy amoral crooks who delight in throwing others under the bus for their crimes? Including family members?
It just kills me that Kushner and Ivanka get all of this undeserved sympathy and projected high ideals, based on absolutely nothing, when their actions, or lack thereof, speak much louder than their vacuous words. Stop looking at the package and start looking at the contents.
With an apology to Hunter S. Thompson, they are nothing but "chocolate covered spiders."
Family loyalty? How about the easiest path to unearned money, lots of it, and power. That seems more likely, doesn't it? Since his father, uncle and father-in-law are nothing more than greedy amoral crooks who delight in throwing others under the bus for their crimes? Including family members?
It just kills me that Kushner and Ivanka get all of this undeserved sympathy and projected high ideals, based on absolutely nothing, when their actions, or lack thereof, speak much louder than their vacuous words. Stop looking at the package and start looking at the contents.
With an apology to Hunter S. Thompson, they are nothing but "chocolate covered spiders."
16
Trump's paranoia extended to before his election. Remember how he always claimed everything was rigged? The GOP primaries were rigged; the convention was rigged; the general election was rigged. Until he won, of course.
The idea that a man as secretive as Trump, who maintains such a tight hold on his business empire, is being ill served by neophytes is absurd.
The MSM is creating the meme that Trump is the victim of people like Kushner, Bannon, Flynn and Manafort when the reality is he is ring leader of this criminal enterprise.
The idea that a man as secretive as Trump, who maintains such a tight hold on his business empire, is being ill served by neophytes is absurd.
The MSM is creating the meme that Trump is the victim of people like Kushner, Bannon, Flynn and Manafort when the reality is he is ring leader of this criminal enterprise.
12
While some may say that Jared was naive in his new Presidential Advisor role, I disagree. I think he has the same arrogant " I know better" or " I won't get caught" mentality as his father-in-law. Unfortunately, the Russians saw this & played him like a fiddle.
11
Trump's Fingerprints: Friends, read any recorded history of how the the mind of the emotionally and intellectually arrested developed Donald Trump functions (for instance, "Tumped!: The Inside Story of the Real Donald Trump: His Cunning Rise and Spectacular Fall") and you will understand clearly that Trump is in capable of trusting anyone outside of family. Never has, never will trust anyone who is not blood, or blood bonded. The exact pattern of the deranged mind of past notorious dictators. Dangerous, of course. He will go through the inner circle of hired hands over and over again, but family is "forever" and our nation will fall because of this emotionally ill dynamic.
4
The Kushners will soon turm out to be the "eminence Grisse " of the Trump Aministration leading in both business and political domains.
Being an accepted member of the Establishment , which rejects Trumps, will give them an edge over some of the others.
Business wise they have already influenced Trumps , political,wise : it remains to be seen though their conservative Judaism could be an indicator of things to come!
Being an accepted member of the Establishment , which rejects Trumps, will give them an edge over some of the others.
Business wise they have already influenced Trumps , political,wise : it remains to be seen though their conservative Judaism could be an indicator of things to come!
Perhaps, in due time, Jared will share something else within the Kushner clan and, like his father, end up serving time. It would be his just reward.
3
After reading this piece, I'm left with the same question I usually have after reading Mr. Brooks' column: 'What's your point?" Is he suggesting that Kushner is merely the helpless pawn of a long familial Greek Tragedy? Mr. Brooks' call for understanding with Kushner is interesting given his usual Calvinist call for personal responsibility.
7
I don't believe "rookie naïveté " is what is at play rather is it extreme hubris. Now that he is about to be hung on his own petard I hope is isn't expecting papa Donald to come to his rescue or even stand by his side. The Donald has only 2 loyalties - Money and himself.
10
David, why do you waste time saying "working in government is about..." These people don't want government. They don't care what institutions they destroy. C'mon.
11
Perhaps it's the post -holiday blues. But, I am really tired of seeing the Kushners and the Trumplings, and reading about their misadventures in scheming and scamming. It's now a huge joke, on the international stage. For the very first time, I am embarrassed FOR our Country. Even Bush looks relatively normal. It's that bad. Thanks, GOP. And I really, truly believe in Karma.
6
Like so many 'silver spoons" Kushner proves to be an incompetent placed by birth in a position beyond his abilities.
Incompetence in the Trump White House is a blessing, not a curse, it will help mitigate the damage to the nation.
Incompetence in the Trump White House is a blessing, not a curse, it will help mitigate the damage to the nation.
6
Nice try, Mr. Brooks, but my sympathies lie with my family, my country, my planet, and, yes, myself. For this infamous son-in-law? Not a jot.
12
Vanity, all is vanity.
1
It's difficult to imagine that this op-ed piece came from the same person as the one on May 15 and the commentator on the Newshour. Eisenberg's pitter patter was good, however.
2
What does it mean that Jared Kushner is an observant Orthodox Jew or Sean Spicer a devout Catholic? These descriptions of them as men of faith bear no resemblance to them as men in the world. They lie or perpetrate lies, worse, they work for and defend a man who is without substance or conscience. For the rest of us, who are the recipients of their wrongheaded decision making, we can only hope they will be gone before they do anymore harm.
10
I truly dont care about Jareds ancestral past. Im a tad tired of children, grandchildren, assumping their parents tribulations (or valor) as their own and using them to create a narrative. Or for others to use them as excuse or explanation.
Mr Ivanka is no child. Hesin the worldof adults, amd as such shpuld know better, and know he doesnt know everything. Nor that his RE experiences are whats needed now. He needs to become a student of history, not one who thinks they ARE history.
He must be his own man, not his dad in laws bag man, or fall guy.
I have no room for excuses for any of the Trumps. They should know better. They need to know better.
Mr Ivanka is no child. Hesin the worldof adults, amd as such shpuld know better, and know he doesnt know everything. Nor that his RE experiences are whats needed now. He needs to become a student of history, not one who thinks they ARE history.
He must be his own man, not his dad in laws bag man, or fall guy.
I have no room for excuses for any of the Trumps. They should know better. They need to know better.
4
Don Corleone said, never go against the family. This thinking may belong in a Hollywood movie, or when leading a life of organized crime, but it has no place in American government.
Get this, Ivanka and Jared - you work for me, and every other American. You do NOT work for your father.
Young Jared may have time to reflect on this in jail. And no, I do not feel sorry for these obnoxiously privileged and entitled people.
Do these "advisers" not have to take something similar to an oath of office? If not, maybe it is high time to establish that as a requirement. Even my employees are required to sign their job description, so their roles, responsibilities and accountability are clear.
Get this, Ivanka and Jared - you work for me, and every other American. You do NOT work for your father.
Young Jared may have time to reflect on this in jail. And no, I do not feel sorry for these obnoxiously privileged and entitled people.
Do these "advisers" not have to take something similar to an oath of office? If not, maybe it is high time to establish that as a requirement. Even my employees are required to sign their job description, so their roles, responsibilities and accountability are clear.
6
This reminds me of a Mario Puzo novel...most specifically the Godfather Trilogy. Just like the Corleone family, the Kushner's had difficult and dangerous lives in the "Old Country"...poverty, abuse, brutal murders. They each came to America for a better life, a safer life. But that is where it stops. Jared Kushner, Mr. Brooks, deserves no sympathy. Neither should we blame "naivete" or inexperience. These folks, and I include the Trump family, are beyond clannish. My own Italian immigrant grandparents, their offspring and "compadres" were clannish. They had to be since like minorities of today there was prejudice against them. They prospered in their own way but not for power and money and greed...it was for their children, to not have to go through what they went through in Europe. Kushner, however, is a good fit in the president's family. He was born with a silver - make that gold - spoon in his mouth. He is no fool. He was mentored and groomed to seek power for his own gain. Nothing less.
7
David Brooks writes in such a way as to appeal to our better nature. I appreciate that but this time i have to say Brooks is on the wrong track.
It's not clan thinking and behavior when it comes Jared Kushner. It is just plain everyday selfish, greedy, to the point of being abnormal, evil; humanity naked, flaws easily seen. Most of us at least attempt to fight against our dark side. Kushner does not. He glorifies it. Deep down he knows better. He knows deep down his God knows what is going on. Kushner is a lost man and in that respect a bit of sympathy may be in order. Sympathy served with a strong dose of JUSTICE!
C'mon Republicans, pony up.
s
It's not clan thinking and behavior when it comes Jared Kushner. It is just plain everyday selfish, greedy, to the point of being abnormal, evil; humanity naked, flaws easily seen. Most of us at least attempt to fight against our dark side. Kushner does not. He glorifies it. Deep down he knows better. He knows deep down his God knows what is going on. Kushner is a lost man and in that respect a bit of sympathy may be in order. Sympathy served with a strong dose of JUSTICE!
C'mon Republicans, pony up.
s
2
All of these illegal and covert actions by the Trump campaign and now administration are by themselves very disconcerting.
However it is highly likely now that Trump in an attempt to once again distract the media and all citizens of the USA from these actions will attempt to take us into war shouting patriotism and god bless the USA. With whom...probably North Korea but for Trump it really does not matter.
However it is highly likely now that Trump in an attempt to once again distract the media and all citizens of the USA from these actions will attempt to take us into war shouting patriotism and god bless the USA. With whom...probably North Korea but for Trump it really does not matter.
4
David. How "naive " of you to expect credibility for this "treatment" of a family of grifters. This is not political naivety, this is a family who has been born, raised, supported and educated to live on the edge and outside the Democratic System they live in. They are "Grifters" conning the system their whole life for monetary gain and power. This behavior of winning at any cost by distruction and pimping of the policies, procedures and processes of our Democracy is not an "adventure". The Republican Party allowed this Grifter Family the opportunity to deconstruct our system and throw everything into chaos. This is not naivety this is arrogant willful ignorance.
5
If our country weren't in a constitutional crisis, I might be mildly interested in trying to understand the background or cause of 'the '36 year old's' failings, but at this point, I don't care. Trump more or less delegated the entire presidency to this no-nothing kid (oh, and Queen Ivanka with her little Fascinator hat).
Here's hoping that Mueller and the FBI are way ahead of us on untangling the Russian mess. We will have to bide our time to see results. It is my most fervent hope that the FBI investigation will result in pushing Trump and his clan out, by whatever means necessary. Who would have thought that Bannon might be the sane one, and wouldn't it be priceless if he turned on the clan? Or what if Priebus turns? Or WH Counsel McGahn? Who knows? One can only hope.
Here's hoping that Mueller and the FBI are way ahead of us on untangling the Russian mess. We will have to bide our time to see results. It is my most fervent hope that the FBI investigation will result in pushing Trump and his clan out, by whatever means necessary. Who would have thought that Bannon might be the sane one, and wouldn't it be priceless if he turned on the clan? Or what if Priebus turns? Or WH Counsel McGahn? Who knows? One can only hope.
6
in other news, Jared explained meeting with a Russian banker with links to the oligarchs that rule Russia --- the banker is a long-lost cousin and they were just catching up after all these years.
1
The public has never heard one word out of Jared Kushner's mouth. Who is this man, why does he have so much power, and why is there no accountability to the American people? And the biggest question: why are McConnell, Ryan, and Senator Maverick supporting this? There is no leadership being provided by the Republicans -- they are sheep.
9
Even a child knows that Jared Kusher is not "naïve." He's greedy and there's a hole where his soul should be.
15
Astute observations today, David. Excellent column.
6
Jared Kushner does not deserve one iota of sympathy. And calling his activities the cutesy "adventures" won't spin. Wanting a direct line and safe line to the Kremlin, provided for by the Kremlin, is not a childish mistake. It could very well be treason.
10
For a while I was worried that Kushner can bring peace in Palestine with the help of the other corrupt Saudi clan and gain legitimacy to their reign. I thought they will be able to strong arm the Palestinians in accepting an unjust agreement. I guess I was wrong and don't have to worry about that any more.
4
Clan loyalty. Clannish behavior. Clannish mentality. Blood bonds. Paranoia.
That, ladies and gentlemen, are the folks running our country now. Hereditary bloodlines are what is important, not the Constitution or the welfare of the masses.
Trump or Kushner or even Pence, who waits patiently in the wings for his cue. Can we survive?
That, ladies and gentlemen, are the folks running our country now. Hereditary bloodlines are what is important, not the Constitution or the welfare of the masses.
Trump or Kushner or even Pence, who waits patiently in the wings for his cue. Can we survive?
12
David, you want to make clannish loyalty into a moral virtue but it isn't. It's just selfishness in a group for mutual gain, just another path to self-aggrandizement. I see nothing this fellow has done that is anything else.
8
And don't forget the Republican assault on just about all parts of the federal government (I guess state governments are OK, for now). Paranoia not only runs in the Republican movement conservative mind, it gallops.
8
I am trying very hard not to denigrate the son for the crimes of the father, but it is hard to suppress the feeling that the Trump and Kushner families all belong in jail. As the saying goes, "You are guilty. I am not guilty." "How do you figure?" "I have higher priced lawyers than you."
10
One wonders how far Donald and Jared can get on the "he's no politician excuse." One blunder after another is quite a record for even neophytes and tyros. There must be a primary moving force and that seems connected to Russian money -- a favorite way to compromise an asset.
Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar. This clan looks like well-connected Russian spies.
Sometimes a cigar is only a cigar. This clan looks like well-connected Russian spies.
9
Frightening in every sense of "nyet"...God help us all out of this imbroglio !!
8
It is well-documented that Jared Kushner has spent his life trying to punch above his weight. According to the book The Price of Admission, Charles Kushner donated $2.5 million to Harvard just before his son Jared, with substandard test scores and grades, was admitted to Harvard. More money was given to NYU before Jared attended its law school. He is not smart, accomplished, or even a nice guy. He is out of his league in the real estate business and out of his mind in the world of foreign policy. It is a matter of time before the "I have become a unneeded distraction" resignation press release. And he better hope that Flynn never talks.
12
When you rely upon your wealth to gain you access to everything and hold you responsible for nothing, this is what you get. It was Rae Kushner who had the fortitude to tunnel out of the ghetto. It was Jared Kushner who got into Harvard because of a $2.5million "donation." People who have never had to do the work, will always believe the work easy. Just ask the President.
11
It is not just Kushner.It is all of the Trumps.Donald loved visiting the Saudis not just because the gold and glitz made him feel at home, but also because they are family-run dictatorships to which he aspires. Now he is proposing to change the rules so a bill can pass with 51 votes. He already thinks he owns the place.
Oh,but it it also Ryan,and McConnell , and so on.
Where are the so-called Republican leaders in all of this? Donald Trump is mentally ill,Jared has been caught in the web,but what about all the others? Where is their loyalty to country,to law,to ethics,to morality?
And what about their families? How does Paul Ryan's wife look at him and not yell at him( she is fair game since she appeared on 60minutes with him) for abandoning all principle?
The "clan" seems to include everyone with an "R" stamped on their forehead.
Oh,but it it also Ryan,and McConnell , and so on.
Where are the so-called Republican leaders in all of this? Donald Trump is mentally ill,Jared has been caught in the web,but what about all the others? Where is their loyalty to country,to law,to ethics,to morality?
And what about their families? How does Paul Ryan's wife look at him and not yell at him( she is fair game since she appeared on 60minutes with him) for abandoning all principle?
The "clan" seems to include everyone with an "R" stamped on their forehead.
13
This is more than clannish loyalty! This is more than being naive. What he did was treasonous. How dare this administration work against the United States and ally with a foreign government? What makes them think they could get away with such nonsense? WE now have a government that is doing business for Russia and less concerned with Americans who voted for them. Michael Flynn made it very apparent that the sanctions against Russia would have been dropped had the story of his discussion with Kislyak not been leaked and Flynn would still be in charge of our National Security, should I say Putin and the most wealthy 1% club security, because that is all they seem to be concerned about. Thank-you McCain for standing up for our country against party, "with liberty and justice for all" (Pledge of Allegiance)
1
Ig Jared Kushner has any sense at all, he'll come clean about this -- that he's not qualified to be senior advisor in our federal government. And then he'll resign, effective immediately.
His actions will be investigated, nonetheless; but at least he will have demonstrated minimal decency and a modicum of common sense.
It could be argued that our nation needs his tempering influence, but, notwithstanding the grandiosity with which his father-in-law wheels him out for show (but not tell), all he's really doing is functioning as a fake good cop, in contrast to his father-in-law's blustering, flip-flopping, out-of-control--and very sad--bad.
His actions will be investigated, nonetheless; but at least he will have demonstrated minimal decency and a modicum of common sense.
It could be argued that our nation needs his tempering influence, but, notwithstanding the grandiosity with which his father-in-law wheels him out for show (but not tell), all he's really doing is functioning as a fake good cop, in contrast to his father-in-law's blustering, flip-flopping, out-of-control--and very sad--bad.
6
A person who pays twice the going rate per square foot for an apartment building is considered to be bright and a successful businessman? That sounds like complete idiocy to me. Either that or the Manhattan building was a project to launder money from Russian oligarchs, which is the current theory regarding Kushner. By all accounts he was a mediocre student who got into Harvard after his father gave that university a substantial gift. Bottom line is this: Kushner is a mediocre businessman who has skated through life with the assistance of his family and clan. He should be nowhere near the levers of government.
11
If the Trump clan can actually pull off a 4-year stint without committing major crimes or literally killing us all in WWIII, then I say we eliminate both parties and just randomly pick our next Chief Executive out of a hat.
That would get money out of the process, save tons of time and energy, and every President starts from the same place.
Nowhere in any Trump resume is anything that should get him more than a mid-grade GS position, and hiring real estate and fashion-industry relatives to fill your open positions in the WH shows a level of rank amateurism that it laughable and embarrassing.
That the US Presidency is at this level is truly sickening for those of us who take this job seriously.
That would get money out of the process, save tons of time and energy, and every President starts from the same place.
Nowhere in any Trump resume is anything that should get him more than a mid-grade GS position, and hiring real estate and fashion-industry relatives to fill your open positions in the WH shows a level of rank amateurism that it laughable and embarrassing.
That the US Presidency is at this level is truly sickening for those of us who take this job seriously.
6
Oh David! You are attempting to excuse amoral - likely immoral - behavior reflecting rapacious greed with a scent (or more) of treason by invoking the Holocaust as a possible mitigating factor. What a shameful attempt at finding justification for the inexcusable. For those of us who are children of Holocaust survivors and somehow managed to maintain integrity and patriotism in our beloved refuge land (even if we didn't make billions here), this is a truly hateful and damaging column for those who feel that their experience and its memory stands as a haunting reproach to ultimately corrupt and evil governments.
6
Jared Kushner was likely following out Trump's instructions, but for what purpose? And will he rat him out?
4
Trump needs Kushner and they both need Russian money to get themselves out of bad business deals. Kushner is no angel here, but he's nearly a patsy.
"Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy. "
No. Not one bit. Never.
No. Not one bit. Never.
10
Kushner's not "naive." He's a 36 year-old lawyer and real estate mogul who also happens to own a newspaper which he has used to attack his real estate competitors in New York. He's attempted to set up sleazy deals with Chinese and Russian investors.
He may be naive in one sense: he feels so entitled, he's so used to getting his own way, that he completely lacks ethics — like his father-in-law, it's all about him.
Ivanka married this man because he's just like dear old dad. Maybe they'll end up in adjacent cells.
He may be naive in one sense: he feels so entitled, he's so used to getting his own way, that he completely lacks ethics — like his father-in-law, it's all about him.
Ivanka married this man because he's just like dear old dad. Maybe they'll end up in adjacent cells.
32
Perhaps as a child, Jared Kushner prevailed in family games of Monopoly. He was the kid who always landed on Boardwalk and Park Place.
And now as an adult, he has metaphorically been dealt the card "Do not pass go, do not collect $1.8 billion dollars."
Perhaps it is beginning to dawn on Kushner, that with regard to his self-serving dealings with Russia and China whereupon he capitalized on his White House connections, that he might possibly go to jail.
All in the family: he is a mirror image of his father-in-law. The latter, like Archie Bunker, also hailed from Queens.
And now as an adult, he has metaphorically been dealt the card "Do not pass go, do not collect $1.8 billion dollars."
Perhaps it is beginning to dawn on Kushner, that with regard to his self-serving dealings with Russia and China whereupon he capitalized on his White House connections, that he might possibly go to jail.
All in the family: he is a mirror image of his father-in-law. The latter, like Archie Bunker, also hailed from Queens.
12
I hope Mr kushner can find a way to take his financial losses an get as far away from his corrupt father in law as he can as fast as he can.
People in clans don't change readily I'm afraid.
People in clans don't change readily I'm afraid.
4
Mr. Kushner does _not_ deserve our sympathy. Yes, he is young, foolish and what's worse, ignorant beyond anyone's wildest expectations....but he's not stupid. Instead of learning from his mistakes, he pushes forward, believing the world can be remade in his imagination.
His father-n-law has encouraged that delusion, and in turn, the kid has become a golem...a clay creature doing its master's bidding. At this moment in time, that bidding looks a lot like an attempt to birth totalitarianism in this country and that is synonymous with those high crimes and misdemeanors called treason.
The child of Shoah survivors should recognize the signs and wonders that portent totalitarianism. Did he not listen to the stories of Hitler and and his henchmen every Jewish kid hears at the dinner table and in Hebrew school? Was this kid not listening....or did he think this time it would be different because he and his wife are Jews?
Several years at Club Fed might temper beliefs that a president can do whatever a president wants to do. Perhaps he can take history and civics in his rehabilitation. That might help...but I'm not delusional.
http://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
His father-n-law has encouraged that delusion, and in turn, the kid has become a golem...a clay creature doing its master's bidding. At this moment in time, that bidding looks a lot like an attempt to birth totalitarianism in this country and that is synonymous with those high crimes and misdemeanors called treason.
The child of Shoah survivors should recognize the signs and wonders that portent totalitarianism. Did he not listen to the stories of Hitler and and his henchmen every Jewish kid hears at the dinner table and in Hebrew school? Was this kid not listening....or did he think this time it would be different because he and his wife are Jews?
Several years at Club Fed might temper beliefs that a president can do whatever a president wants to do. Perhaps he can take history and civics in his rehabilitation. That might help...but I'm not delusional.
http://wifelyperson.blogspot.com/
20
An inherited-money-powered bully who finds himself in an arena where he is severely outclassed. What goes around comes around.
10
I wonder if Mr. Brooks has read Alec MacGillis' piece in the NYTM about Jared Kushner's real estate ambitions in Maryland. Kushner is no saint, and at a minimum has been complicit in profiting on the misery of the poor.
10
I have long thought the Trumps to be a family of grifters. I see nothing in their current behavior to change my opinion. How anyone could not see this coming is beyond me. PT Barnum was correct. There is a sucker born every minute.
8
Just as the Watergate scandal was exposed, the media will be our hero when it comes to exposing Trump and his clan for what the really are: fools who don't know that their responsibility is to the people of the United States and not the clan. Media, please keep up with your investigations and truth telling. Please don't let up.
10
Naivety seems to be a popular word with many writing about Kushner. Sincerely doubt that. Any person of average intelligence would understand that setting up "secret communications" with a country who, at the time was under investigation for meddling in US elections is beyond stupid. Perhaps a sense of privilege has blinded Jared--as happens with the uber wealth--so he actually thought he could pull this off. Or perhaps he is suffering from blind loyalty (not unlike that of the Rayburn family on Netflix's great Bloodline series). Additionally, people with even an iota of self-knowledge would understand that if they had Kushner's resume, they would be completely unqualified to take on all the roles assigned Kushner. The whole clan is taking the American public for a ride. A pox on both their houses.
16
For all the Trump spokesmen who are portraying Kushner's actions as normal procedure, I have a question: when has a backchannel to an adversary EVER been run out of that adversary's Embassy?
20
Sorry, Mr. Brooks. Explaining the roots of corrupt, immoral behavior does not lead to sympathy.
12
David Brooks,
Spot. On. Thank you for this piercing analysis.
Spot. On. Thank you for this piercing analysis.
3
"Clannish?"
Clannishness like this we expect from Drug Cartels, Mr. Brooks.
And we're getting precisely what we would expect from a Drug Cartel in the Trump-Kushner Clan.
But you want to make it sound like Jared Kushner is a tragic victim of a good son's loyalty?
Cease and desist your Christian pretensions, Mr. Brooks. You are unseemly for rationalizing the seamy. And Jared can afford his own apologist attorneys. Like the soul-selling Jamie Gorelick. Your Panglossian assistance is neither warranted nor self-flattering.
Clannishness like this we expect from Drug Cartels, Mr. Brooks.
And we're getting precisely what we would expect from a Drug Cartel in the Trump-Kushner Clan.
But you want to make it sound like Jared Kushner is a tragic victim of a good son's loyalty?
Cease and desist your Christian pretensions, Mr. Brooks. You are unseemly for rationalizing the seamy. And Jared can afford his own apologist attorneys. Like the soul-selling Jamie Gorelick. Your Panglossian assistance is neither warranted nor self-flattering.
10
Seeing first the caption to Mr. Brooks' opinion, my reaction was "No matter what, Jared Kushner will forever be linked to Donald J. Trump". That is, Kushner will never have "a life of his own".
After reading Mr. Brooks' opinion, the two aforementioned deserve each other "no matter what" . . .
After reading Mr. Brooks' opinion, the two aforementioned deserve each other "no matter what" . . .
6
Sympathy for Jared Kushner? "Selflessly" loyal to family? Give me a break. Please read your own newspaper's reporting on Kushner's work as a slum landlord for perspective.
13
If I didn't know better, I would think this article is about The Mafia!
7
Normally, one does not make an adult child responsible for a parent's misdeeds. However, your editorial is about the Kushner clan and Jared Kushner's role in it, yet nowhere do you mention that Jared Kushner's father Charles and his uncle Richard Stadtmauer were sentenced to two and three years in jail, respectively, for offenses that included tax fraud (in Charles Kushner's case) in addition to Charles's bizarre plot to embarrass Stadtmauer. Are these facts not crucial to the point you are making (assuming, reasonably, that not all readers are cognizant of these very relevant facts)?
4
"...boneheaded blunders"..."Rookie naivete"...are you kidding?? He's an adult with years of business experience. If nothing else, he's been awake and breathing for 36 years; I can't imagine anyone else, save perhaps you, who would offer ignorance as a defense for him. One other commenter said "hubris." That hits the mark.
12
Asking the Russian Ambassador to allow use of a covert channel of communication in the Russian Embassy to talk to Russians & avoid US intelligence sounds awfully like espionage. Dismissing it by terming it "rookie naivete" is ridiculous.
11
By all means, let's make Kushner out to be a victim here, David. He is an opportunist, pure and simple. His money has allowed him to bluff his way through life pretending to be smart because there isn't one person around him who will tell him the truth about himself. Their paycheck depends on it.
But rather, let's speak about Kushner in his current role: dim-witted accomplice to espionage attempts and collaborator with know adversaries of our nation. That's what we know already. What we don't know yet but will certainly find out is just how despicable his actions may have been. The other thing we'll learn before it is all over is just how many years will come off that dull adolescent face of his while he is behind bars.
But rather, let's speak about Kushner in his current role: dim-witted accomplice to espionage attempts and collaborator with know adversaries of our nation. That's what we know already. What we don't know yet but will certainly find out is just how despicable his actions may have been. The other thing we'll learn before it is all over is just how many years will come off that dull adolescent face of his while he is behind bars.
12
Jared Kushner has no experience to be operating on the world stage. He is the son of a felon who has learned by example how to negotiate his way in the world. Now he is serving the ultimate con man by operating in the shadows and crossing every line of acceptable behavior within diplomatic and foreign service protocols. The Trump administration can make all the excuses they want, but in the end this is what you get when major responsibility is given to someone who is ethically challenged and utterly unprepared.
10
Robert Coles--the Harvard psychiatrist who made his name being concerned about children, the families they grow up in, the civil rights struggle and its impact on black children, and the moral life of children--talked about the family motif or the values and themes evident in a family. So imagine what is like growing up in the Trump or Kushner clans. What are their family motifs? Aggression, self-promotion, materialism, betrayal, mistrust.
These Trumps and Kushners appear to be nothing but a bunch of walking and talking defense mechanisms trying to protect their fragile egos at all cost--denials galore, rationalizations, lies, blaming, scapgoating others, projection…
They people will seemingly do anything but deal with the reality they create and take responsibility for their bad judgments and the harm they do. It will get a lot worse as the net of their misdeeds closes in on them. No small problem for us: these are the people running our country--into the ground.
Or just call it character, and conclude that the Trump and Kushner clans don't appear to have any. We are paying a heavy price as a nation.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” (Abraham Lincoln)
These Trumps and Kushners appear to be nothing but a bunch of walking and talking defense mechanisms trying to protect their fragile egos at all cost--denials galore, rationalizations, lies, blaming, scapgoating others, projection…
They people will seemingly do anything but deal with the reality they create and take responsibility for their bad judgments and the harm they do. It will get a lot worse as the net of their misdeeds closes in on them. No small problem for us: these are the people running our country--into the ground.
Or just call it character, and conclude that the Trump and Kushner clans don't appear to have any. We are paying a heavy price as a nation.
“Nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power.” (Abraham Lincoln)
9
David Brooks can be very perceptive, but his capacity for moral evaluation is blinded by his class identifications and strivings. He wants to see Kushner as "selfless", to wit, "We tell young people to serve something beyond self, and Kushner seems to have been fiercely, almost selflessly, loyal to family." Kushner's selfless loyalty is about greed, about being a slum landlord, about ruthlessness. At around 50, Brooks read Ta-Nehisi Coates and had a revelation about racism in America that he should have had reading James Baldwin when he was 20. He showed great sympathy for poor Scooter Libby's imprisonment, but not much for all the other guys in jail. His aspirations towards moral perspicacity are blinded by class strivings. Wake up Brooks!
7
David......
"Blind Faith" in the family, absent a real world sanity check and/or the ability to comprehend the difference, seldom ends well. On the other hand, organizing a new team of unique, unrelated individuals with different but renowned skills isn't necessarily sustainable either.
Ask E.CLAPTON, G.BAKER or S.WINWOOD.
"Blind Faith" in the family, absent a real world sanity check and/or the ability to comprehend the difference, seldom ends well. On the other hand, organizing a new team of unique, unrelated individuals with different but renowned skills isn't necessarily sustainable either.
Ask E.CLAPTON, G.BAKER or S.WINWOOD.
2
As much as we would like to write this off to a poor thought process by Jared Kushner, there are at least two significant issues underlying the Trump family actions that you have not acknowledged.
The decision to trust the Russian intelligence as an intermediary over the US indicates a very real familiarity and understanding of the Russian's motivations. Although entirely supposition, this familiarity only comes from doing business with people for years. The Trumps know the Russians well and these actions are not generated from an "Anything but the US" view.
I would hazard to say that Jared feels his only poor decision was getting caught.
More importantly, the intelligence community is so concerned with these actions that it has made a decision to leak not just the documents, but that we have broken some of the Russian codes. Admitting that we know certain Russian codes is the highest classification of all secrets. We may have now cut off future access to Russian messages as they will undoubtedly modify codes and procedures.
If we have any respect for our intelligence services, we should realize that they are also telling us something.
The decision to trust the Russian intelligence as an intermediary over the US indicates a very real familiarity and understanding of the Russian's motivations. Although entirely supposition, this familiarity only comes from doing business with people for years. The Trumps know the Russians well and these actions are not generated from an "Anything but the US" view.
I would hazard to say that Jared feels his only poor decision was getting caught.
More importantly, the intelligence community is so concerned with these actions that it has made a decision to leak not just the documents, but that we have broken some of the Russian codes. Admitting that we know certain Russian codes is the highest classification of all secrets. We may have now cut off future access to Russian messages as they will undoubtedly modify codes and procedures.
If we have any respect for our intelligence services, we should realize that they are also telling us something.
3
The Times article about Kushner's slumlord business was more to the point than this column. However he grabbed so much power in our present government, it's time for him to disappear. He's harmful to our national security.
10
I can't escape the feeling that Mr. Trump's primary concern isn't about collusion with the Russians to influence the election - which I find to be doubtful - but rather about what I think is one of the "whoppers" he fielded during the campaign: the one about "no relations" with the Russians.
I suspect that was an outright lie, driven by Trump's belief that commercial relations with Russian banks and oligarchs wouldn't go down well with his base. All the brouhaha about "America First" and "Buy American" would clash horribly with the appearance (largely based on fact) of having been shunned by American lenders and turning to the Russians for help.
Public knowledge of such relations would have gone far to explain his otherwise puzzling admiration - his "bromance" - with Vladimir Putin. Debtors are handicapped when picking a fight with creditors.
It's my opinion that - as is so often the case - Trump's concern isn't so much about "the thing itself" as about the Big Lie and the ensuing cover-up... still in process.
It's too bad for him, inasmuch as any such commercial dealings might've been perfectly legal... but embarrassing. The possibility that they may have raised eyebrows among his "base" was more than he could handle, so he lied. His drive to "win" at all costs led to the Big Lie, and it will trip him up, sooner or later.
I suspect that was an outright lie, driven by Trump's belief that commercial relations with Russian banks and oligarchs wouldn't go down well with his base. All the brouhaha about "America First" and "Buy American" would clash horribly with the appearance (largely based on fact) of having been shunned by American lenders and turning to the Russians for help.
Public knowledge of such relations would have gone far to explain his otherwise puzzling admiration - his "bromance" - with Vladimir Putin. Debtors are handicapped when picking a fight with creditors.
It's my opinion that - as is so often the case - Trump's concern isn't so much about "the thing itself" as about the Big Lie and the ensuing cover-up... still in process.
It's too bad for him, inasmuch as any such commercial dealings might've been perfectly legal... but embarrassing. The possibility that they may have raised eyebrows among his "base" was more than he could handle, so he lied. His drive to "win" at all costs led to the Big Lie, and it will trip him up, sooner or later.
4
At the huge multi-national development institution where I work relatives need not apply. If relatives are found to be working there against the rules they are dismissed. And for good reason...
Imagine the boss's biased view of the usefulness of relatives' advice
Imagine subordinates' reticence to challenge or criticize relatives' views or
competency
Imagine the fear of criticism by the relative
Imagine sycophantic cliques forming around relatives
Imagine the very likely possibility of relatives not having the background and
experience needed for the job
Imagine a culture subverted from fact and results based criteria to one of
who says what and who you know...
Imagine the danger of ethical lapses going unreported
Yes, it has been done before and sometimes it has even worked to the benefit of the country. Edward Kennedy is perhaps the most notable case. But we knew Edward Kennedy. And Jared Kushner is no Edward Kennedy.
Imagine the boss's biased view of the usefulness of relatives' advice
Imagine subordinates' reticence to challenge or criticize relatives' views or
competency
Imagine the fear of criticism by the relative
Imagine sycophantic cliques forming around relatives
Imagine the very likely possibility of relatives not having the background and
experience needed for the job
Imagine a culture subverted from fact and results based criteria to one of
who says what and who you know...
Imagine the danger of ethical lapses going unreported
Yes, it has been done before and sometimes it has even worked to the benefit of the country. Edward Kennedy is perhaps the most notable case. But we knew Edward Kennedy. And Jared Kushner is no Edward Kennedy.
13
Absolutely not! Jared never killed a young lady by driving off a bridge while in a drunken state and cheating on his wife and family. He never left a dying girl to drown and failed to report the incident. Edward Kennedy's "ethical lapse" seems a bit more serious than Jared's alleged and unsubstantiated faux pas.
2
Yesterday I listened to Brian Lehrer interview David McCollough on NPR. Brian and those who called in wanted our eminent American Historian to comment on health of our Democracy in the age of Trump. Inquiring minds want to know if the Republic is about to fall apart. He said no; we will survive. Although he was worried, he made a point of complementing journalists for the careful, albeit critical, coverage of everything going on in our divided and chaotic government. He said the press were courageous. David Brooks is "exhibit A" of courageous journalism. He is a conservative who is thoughtfully critical of a conservative government. I don't agree with him most of the time, but he makes me think.
Jared Kushner's actions and attitude towards Chris Christy are not mentioned here, but the fact that Christy was the prosecutor who sent Kushner's father to jail and he then went after Christy once they were safely elected, tells you all you need to know about Jared and his twisted family beliefs. Loyalty to the crown, and the inability to see consequences beyond that dedication is an apt summation of the son-in-law.
11
As the famous line goes: "America is not a country. It's just a business".
No one exemplifies this better than Jared Kushner, the unelected Prince of the White House and Senior Strategic Advisor to the President.
Living inside the Kushner immoral clan he was well groomed to pursue his personal and his family interests above all else. And who is going to stop him? His equally greedy father-in-law?
No one exemplifies this better than Jared Kushner, the unelected Prince of the White House and Senior Strategic Advisor to the President.
Living inside the Kushner immoral clan he was well groomed to pursue his personal and his family interests above all else. And who is going to stop him? His equally greedy father-in-law?
9
Kushner was acting on behalf of Trump. But why? They could waited until taking power.
4
Jared Kushner needs money. Russian bankers have money. Follow the money.
5
Temperance typically is a virture, and Mr. Brooks certainly practices that here. But where he writes that Jared Kushner's meetings with the Russians "betray rookie naïveté on several levels," his temperance itself borders on naïveté. Instead of "rookie naïveté," we might substitute "sheer arrogance" or "hubris." They seem much closer to the mark.
11
One might ask what Jared Kushner would do, should he be relegated to a laborer's hard life. A child of privilege, he takes his cues from the blunderer in chief, whose view of reality never goes beyond his love of self.
8
I'm an old former federal employee. I can't stand Trump, but I kind of feel bad for this young man. I just wonder if Flynn or Trump put him up to asking to use Russian facilities. He also seems not to fully grasp that an ambassador is the person to speak to unless it's a direct conversation between heads of state. Any GS-7 could tell you that. It's amazing that the Trumpistas lack even basic competence in these matters!
7
Very perceptive article. Kushner and his wife, the other Trump kids have no idea how government works, no understanding nor interest. Whether one believes in government or not is not the issue; one has to understand it to be able to manage it and these bozos not only do not understand it, but don't care whether they do.
14
This is inevitable. Trump himself operates like a mafia boss. The Republicans have promoted a myth that private cooperation is more efficient than public institutes because they face market competition. Even if this myth is valid, not all private businessmen are equally efficient and competent. This Trump presidency can be a blessing because it is a direct experiment on this myth. We elected a businessman because we believe a business is more efficient than the government. In his past, Trump can always bail himself out of bad projects by filing bankruptcy can congratulate himself on his nice escape. It gave him a false sense of invincibility. Can a president weasel out of a bad policy? Can he escape this "Russia Things?"
12
"we" elected a marketer, not really a man of business.
don't the Trumps & Kushner realize it hurts their "brand?"
don't the Trumps & Kushner realize it hurts their "brand?"
"Our forebears have spent centuries trying to build a government of laws..."
I'm pretty sure they weren't talking about "in-laws" either. The audacious arrogance of King Donald, coupled with his utter lack of qualifications and his unwillingness or inability to understand the concept of "conflicting interests" or the true meaning of "democracy" will continue to plague and paralyze this administration to the bitter end.
For those waiting or hoping for a Donald Trump reset, the wait is in vain as those ever expanding teachable moments (provided by so many early and preventable disastrous failures) are not only ignored but scorned. No one individual is entirely prepared for the rigors and unexpected challenges of the Presidency but if that individual is incapable of admitting failure and personal mistakes (at least to himself), success in that role will never be achieved.
I'm pretty sure they weren't talking about "in-laws" either. The audacious arrogance of King Donald, coupled with his utter lack of qualifications and his unwillingness or inability to understand the concept of "conflicting interests" or the true meaning of "democracy" will continue to plague and paralyze this administration to the bitter end.
For those waiting or hoping for a Donald Trump reset, the wait is in vain as those ever expanding teachable moments (provided by so many early and preventable disastrous failures) are not only ignored but scorned. No one individual is entirely prepared for the rigors and unexpected challenges of the Presidency but if that individual is incapable of admitting failure and personal mistakes (at least to himself), success in that role will never be achieved.
12
Many of Kushner's actions need close investigation. Trump's too. But who could possibly succeed as Secretary of Everything? With Bannon in the room and always gunning for power, Kushner ran out of protective cover. My suggestion, go back to NY and tend to your children. They are your family.
4
Somehow I don't feel bad for Jared Kushner.
16
I wouldn't trust his judgment. I wouldn't trust his competence. And I wouldn't trust his intent. Viola. And please, Brooks, the idea of loyalty and blood bonds as a virtue is simply wrongheaded. It's perverse, lacking in real ethics, an excuse for favoritism.
12
Mr. Brooks,
I don't know which one is more disgusting. The continuing problems within the Trump team as it relates to illicit behavior or thinly veiled attempts on the part of commentators such as yourself in defending such behavior by blaming some larger ecosystem at play.
A vast number of ordinary people are placed under difficult circumstances all the time. The vast majority of them choose the correct path despite its sometimes difficult course. The few that don't are called criminals regardless of why they choose to take such a path.
Jared Kushner is increasingly resembling a criminal and we certainly don't need to defend it by drawing past comparisons to the Holocaust, his father's deplorable behavior or anything else for that matter. A super majority of the people whose families were subject to the brutalities of the Holocaust are upstanding citizens and many of whom have gone onto do some wonderful things in their lives and to benefit society. Jared has not despite the choices provided to him. End of story.
I don't know which one is more disgusting. The continuing problems within the Trump team as it relates to illicit behavior or thinly veiled attempts on the part of commentators such as yourself in defending such behavior by blaming some larger ecosystem at play.
A vast number of ordinary people are placed under difficult circumstances all the time. The vast majority of them choose the correct path despite its sometimes difficult course. The few that don't are called criminals regardless of why they choose to take such a path.
Jared Kushner is increasingly resembling a criminal and we certainly don't need to defend it by drawing past comparisons to the Holocaust, his father's deplorable behavior or anything else for that matter. A super majority of the people whose families were subject to the brutalities of the Holocaust are upstanding citizens and many of whom have gone onto do some wonderful things in their lives and to benefit society. Jared has not despite the choices provided to him. End of story.
18
A lot of the people in Kushner's housing projects voted for Trump. Some sympathy he's shown them, eh? Brooks, this is shows your allegiances.
4
They did not know that Kushner was their slumlord and/or that he was related to Trump. BTW, Kushner is able to win so many judgments against the tenants he sues is because if they don't respond or appear, they lose by default and that's a ploy Kushner et al count upon. The tenants are legally unsophisticated and cannot afford to hire lawyers.
Kushner received a BA in government from Harvard, and a JD and MBA thereafter. Interned in a DA's office. Passed a bar exam. Worked for a high profile law firm. Innocent? Inexperienced? Unaware? Deserves sympathy?
No. He acted with purpose. He assessed the risk of public disclosure. He calculated his exit strategy. He understood that he might take a hit, and foresaw how he would prevail.
No. He acted with purpose. He assessed the risk of public disclosure. He calculated his exit strategy. He understood that he might take a hit, and foresaw how he would prevail.
14
This is a fascinating column, but the Brooks telling of the Kushner family drama is awfully muddled; and a coherent account of who begat whom and who got mad at whom could have been fitted into the same space.
2
Move over bleeding heart liberals of all lost causes....David Brooks wants a seat in the section for "Poor Little Rich Boys."
For an antidote, quickly scroll down comments to Doc from Atlanta. Then write a letter to your two Senators and congressional representatives demanding formation of a bi-partisan independent committee and totally open hearings on all matters regarding Trump , his history of relationships with Russia as well as his campaign's, up to and including being sworn in as President and since. Committee should be amply funded with money, people resources and authority as regards subpoenas of all types with the first one being Trump's past ten years of tax filings to the IRS and related audits.
It's hearings need be televised and place of hearings have ample space for reporters and regularly scheduled times for reporters questions.
And as DOC put it "May God Help Us"
For an antidote, quickly scroll down comments to Doc from Atlanta. Then write a letter to your two Senators and congressional representatives demanding formation of a bi-partisan independent committee and totally open hearings on all matters regarding Trump , his history of relationships with Russia as well as his campaign's, up to and including being sworn in as President and since. Committee should be amply funded with money, people resources and authority as regards subpoenas of all types with the first one being Trump's past ten years of tax filings to the IRS and related audits.
It's hearings need be televised and place of hearings have ample space for reporters and regularly scheduled times for reporters questions.
And as DOC put it "May God Help Us"
6
Although trial by media is hardly laudable jurisprudence, Kushner simply bought unquestioningly into the moral vacuum represented by his father and Donald Trump. Perhaps he didn't know any better, this morass represented morality where the law stands as merely an inconvenience instead of a guiding principle or mantra for an ethical existence. He deserves discredit in the same way he may deserve prosecution. Ignorance or insouciance is no defence.
6
"Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy. All his life he’s been serving his father or father-in-law."
Wrong on all counts. Kushner serves himself, and no one else. You really think he married Ivanka because she's such a catch? Not because she was the portal to yet more untold riches? What person with an ounce of integrity would want to be in the same room with Donald, let alone "serve" him?
The NYT has show us in a recent article how "all his life" Mr. Kushner has certainly not been serving the tenants who rental payments help make him rich. He is worthy of no sympathy. A mensch would have declined any and all public offices offered, knowing he was unequipped to do them justice.
Save your sympathy for America, currently under siege from its own home-grown Barbary pirates.
Wrong on all counts. Kushner serves himself, and no one else. You really think he married Ivanka because she's such a catch? Not because she was the portal to yet more untold riches? What person with an ounce of integrity would want to be in the same room with Donald, let alone "serve" him?
The NYT has show us in a recent article how "all his life" Mr. Kushner has certainly not been serving the tenants who rental payments help make him rich. He is worthy of no sympathy. A mensch would have declined any and all public offices offered, knowing he was unequipped to do them justice.
Save your sympathy for America, currently under siege from its own home-grown Barbary pirates.
16
Mr. Brooks has given a very good detailed examination of why Kushner, as an executive in wholly owned corporations, is incapable of performing as a leader in national government. The clannish behavior is also a characteristic of people who don't work well on a team, people who can't delegate responsibility, can't compromise. "My way or the highway."
The Kushner/Trump independence may seem to voters like the outsiders they wanted. But Kushner (and Trump) are so far outside that they are utterly unprepared. Behavior that was successful in business can illegal in government. Every move will be scrutinized by Congress, the Press, and the people. They are answerable to myriad laws that can't be avoided unless they are changed. It is very much like taking someone who has never driven a car and making him pilot of a jet airliner. No matter how good the intentions of the new "pilot" may be they don't even know what all those fancy controls do or find the consequences to the passengers.
Kushner (and Trump) are indeed naive, and their clannish behavior will do them in. They should have been smart enough to know they'd be over their heads and hire exceptionally experienced help, rather than lap dogs and sycophants and members loyal to the clan. They'll go to jail or be impeached for their stupidity.
The Kushner/Trump independence may seem to voters like the outsiders they wanted. But Kushner (and Trump) are so far outside that they are utterly unprepared. Behavior that was successful in business can illegal in government. Every move will be scrutinized by Congress, the Press, and the people. They are answerable to myriad laws that can't be avoided unless they are changed. It is very much like taking someone who has never driven a car and making him pilot of a jet airliner. No matter how good the intentions of the new "pilot" may be they don't even know what all those fancy controls do or find the consequences to the passengers.
Kushner (and Trump) are indeed naive, and their clannish behavior will do them in. They should have been smart enough to know they'd be over their heads and hire exceptionally experienced help, rather than lap dogs and sycophants and members loyal to the clan. They'll go to jail or be impeached for their stupidity.
6
Who are you and what have you done with David Brooks?
I could always count on Brooks to take ethics and morality into account when writing about politics, to bring to bear his wide reading in philosophy and religion, and to be thoughtful.
Jared Kushner's success in business would not have been possible without his family's wealth. Excellent journalism has revealed his business practices which are clearly selfish and unethical. His hubris is astonishing. What kind of person accepts the multiple roles of negotiating peace in the Middle East, heading up the Office of Innovation in the White House, organizing the president's travel, and advising as a shadow diplomat on all foreign affairs? Without any experience in government? I'm sorry his family was affected by the Holocaust. That history doesn't seem to have made them better people.
I could always count on Brooks to take ethics and morality into account when writing about politics, to bring to bear his wide reading in philosophy and religion, and to be thoughtful.
Jared Kushner's success in business would not have been possible without his family's wealth. Excellent journalism has revealed his business practices which are clearly selfish and unethical. His hubris is astonishing. What kind of person accepts the multiple roles of negotiating peace in the Middle East, heading up the Office of Innovation in the White House, organizing the president's travel, and advising as a shadow diplomat on all foreign affairs? Without any experience in government? I'm sorry his family was affected by the Holocaust. That history doesn't seem to have made them better people.
5
So, the boy genius ain't. He pays nearly double the value for a white elephant of a building, for what motive known only to him, and wants to use his pappy-in-law name to get investors from abroad to save his skin and who else to turn to but those smiling Russki Moscow mafiosi. Being an academic, the world of big real estate wheeling and dealing is as alien to me as rocks on Mars, but it's very easy to see someone very far out of his depth in the international political theater. But then, look at his mentor, hero and pappy-in-law. Very telling, that.
3
Jared and Ivanka feeling absolutely entitled to offices in the West Wing is hubris of the highest order. It's simply ridiculous, and ultimately, dangerous. He is a real estate developer with zero government experience or policy knowledge; she is a fashion designer with zero government experience or policy knowledge. To imagine that knowledge and experience do not matter in national and international politics smacks of blind arrogance and dangerous, delusional pomposity. To imagine that brokering Middle East peace is just a business deal, or that it's really ok to unilaterally establish a private communication with Russia without apparently anyone knowing, or that a daughter's whispers in Daddy's ear can and should influence high level policy that affects 320 million Americans, shows the fantastical disengagement from reality-- almost magical thinking-- and wildly undeserved self-confidence these people feel.
This is not upending the establishment or shaking up the status quo or any such nonsense. This is complete incompetence by people who don't know they are incompetent and literally believe they are geniuses. It's a national nightmare.
This is not upending the establishment or shaking up the status quo or any such nonsense. This is complete incompetence by people who don't know they are incompetent and literally believe they are geniuses. It's a national nightmare.
911
Ivanka is not a fashion designer. She has a label- very unlikely that she actually designs anything.
2
Well said!
The real national nightmare continues to be the number of American citizens and members of Congress who rationalize, falsely equivocate, and apparently are perfectly satisfied with this road our nation is careening down at warp speed. Polls show no real wavering in Trump's base of support, and it appears that in their minds "The Russia thing" is no big deal. Loss of our nation's role in leading the world, and being a beacon of democracy, the simple fact that we have an executive branch who governs by executive order and tweets, the looming loss of health care for millions-none of it matters. The base-consisting of the one per cent who are simply smiling all the way to the bank, the social conservatives who just want to overturn Roe v Wade, and a great number of people who stand to lose so much, but are still just happy that the black Muslim guy is gone-they have no moral high ground and haven't since last November!
1
Good riddance. Neither he nor his father-in-law will be missed.
35
I completely agree that Jared is a rookie and far too young and inexperience for the job; much like the naïve, ill-prepared, condescending and clueless adolescent media minions who "don't know what they don't know" and don't care to learn. Jared is an easy target in this non-story designed solely to embarrass and impede Donald Trump. There is no crime, or intent to commit a crime here, and you know it. However, the wasteful, disingenuous process must most certainly continue to a rational, reasonable and lawful conclusion. What I find very disappointing and disheartening is that a highly respected writer like you has to interject pejorative innuendo and unsubstantiated rumors from unnamed sources to join the vicious attack on the Presidency. Your specious conjecture about Kushner spending time "looking for Chinese investors, and possibly Russian ones" is blatantly meant to mislead the ignorant, Trump-hating reader and cast aspersions on a quality young man. You know full well that the money financing New York real estate comes from countries all over the planet. Please don't destroy your once revered credibility, intellect and well-deserved reputation by distorting the truth and inciting the veritable lynch mob of journalists who seem to have lost their objectivity, tolerance and sense of purpose. You should be an elder statesman and trusted mentor to today's "cub reporters" who so desperately need to learn that the world didn't begin when they were born.
3
"Methinks the man...meaning you, Mr. Cobb, doth protest too much. Way way too much."
They are called "The Opinion Pages" for a reason.
What does Trump and his family has to do to before you lose faith in him? What has he done so far that you believe in him so much?
1
"That mode . . . simply self destructs in the formal system . . . " and not a moment too soon . . . can't wait!
7
Surveilled not "surveyed".
6
The only difference between the Trump clan and the mafia is that the mafia was competent.
43
Re Mr. Kushner - A little more than kin, but less than kind!
The Bard
The Bard
10
Too much in the son!
Maybe the Trump Administration should hire Francis Ford Coppola to "direct" these people. He could use "The Godfather" as his template.
8
Yes, they better not
let Dad send them out
on the boat. I fear
the boat/lake is a
terrible metaphor
for our country.
let Dad send them out
on the boat. I fear
the boat/lake is a
terrible metaphor
for our country.
Let's not overlook the Clintons. I'm a liberal but I despise dynasties and nepotism. But clannish, tribal behavior is no better. Hillary's clannish devotion to Huma (I probably misspelled that) with a Wiener scandal always lurking-may have cost her the election. I believe the Clinton foundation was the domain of Chelsea. Blood, clans and tribes. What's changed through the years? Those voting for Trump voted for their tribe: period. They knew he was incompetent and put they tribe before the country. They knew he would keep family in key roles, they didn't care. Moreover, they still don't. Ask a Trump voter how they would vote today, and everyone I asked still said Trump. Disgrace. They should stop wearing US Flag pins and replace them with GOP buttons. Hardly patriots and they know it.
8
Where Mr. Brooks writes Jared Kushner's meetings with the Russians "betray rookie naïveté on several levels," he is being awfully charitable — and naive himself. A more fitting characterization would use words like "arrogant" and "hubris."
25
Clannishness? Just another name for GREED.
16
I have zero sympathy for Kushner, especially after I read The Times article about how many thousands of rental units he owns and what a terrible landlord he is. He is callow, shallow, greedy beyond measure, and has no place anywhere in the government of the U.S. I hope he is investigated to the nth degree, and his father-in-law, the dauphin in The White House, too.
39
You know David, thanks for this. I felt sad for the kid yesterday. Its hard to feel sad for a billionaire but I did and you summed it up well. He is married to a cardboard cutout who has no more feelings than her father, he just lets himself into these messes. But David Brooks where is character in this - he has volition. He is guilty as sin. Its like the "brought up in the ghetto" excuse in reverse.
17
The "formal system" has brought this country to the brink of implosion. Our debt is crushing. Deranged Islamic killers multiply and increase their attacks.
Our borders are practically open to any and all. Our Federal government is bloated beyond recognition. And you, David Brooks, criticizes President Trump and Mr. Kushner for doing things differently. What is the matter with you?!
Our borders are practically open to any and all. Our Federal government is bloated beyond recognition. And you, David Brooks, criticizes President Trump and Mr. Kushner for doing things differently. What is the matter with you?!
1
Yes, incompetence is one way of doing things differently.
1
They're like the Borgia papacy.
11
Not to mention that he seems to be abjectly incompetent. There's that.
16
This whole tribal merging of the Trump-Kushner clans is more akin to the Mafia. Both Trump and Kushner are working the system for profit, not for patriotism or the American people.
Lock them up!
Lock them up!
22
Remarkable that this clan of amoral grifters would have such an insulated knowledge of how this nation works as to think they could do their typical "behind closed doors" real estate shenanigan behavior on a national stage and under the glare of the constitutionally protected free press without anyone noticing!
Ya gotta be way coo coo or have no regard for reality.
Ummm… yeah.
The whole scandal from Trump's brain in summary:
Russia has some good business opportunities for us.
Russia is not so much a country as it is a business for Putin and friends.
I'll run for president - I'll give it a long shot.
Russia, you do what you've been doing to other countries: meddle in the election to favor me.
I'll assemble a circle of people with Russia connections and profit motives to oversee and assist.
Hey I won! Nice work Russia!
Can't wait to start on our relationship - let's make some money!
Jared, go meet with the nice Russians (I'm president-elect, too many eyes on me). Maybe use their facilities to open a channel to them (pssst, say it's about Syria).
Nahhh, no one will notice. Just do it Jared!
We're invisible, right?
Ya gotta be way coo coo or have no regard for reality.
Ummm… yeah.
The whole scandal from Trump's brain in summary:
Russia has some good business opportunities for us.
Russia is not so much a country as it is a business for Putin and friends.
I'll run for president - I'll give it a long shot.
Russia, you do what you've been doing to other countries: meddle in the election to favor me.
I'll assemble a circle of people with Russia connections and profit motives to oversee and assist.
Hey I won! Nice work Russia!
Can't wait to start on our relationship - let's make some money!
Jared, go meet with the nice Russians (I'm president-elect, too many eyes on me). Maybe use their facilities to open a channel to them (pssst, say it's about Syria).
Nahhh, no one will notice. Just do it Jared!
We're invisible, right?
17
Sorry David. ZERO sympathy for Jared. To YET AGAIN say he is naive is a lie that is trotted out by privileged white republican hacks. They are all complicit, committing ethical breach after crime after potentially treasonous acts. They all lied on many government documents, especially security clearance docs. Not naïveté but deliberate acts of omission. The person that wrote about you taking a nuanced white privilege view is SO true. I can't ever remember you talking a nuanced view of the victims of this criminal family over decades. Will you ever wake up? Your credibility is zero.
7
Mr. Brooks, Please don't make Jared Kushner out to be something of a tragic hero. He is still the son of a felon and a Trump surrogate. Ethical behavior stems from within. Kushner does not seem to possess it. As for being thrust into the limelight when least prepared - it happens when you become a sycophant to people who know even less than you. If he goes to jail, it simply means he is following a family pattern. Lock him up and keep him there.
19
What a sad state of affairs that David Brooks has to spend his time writing about the likes of Jared Kushner ( and we are actually spending our precious time reading about the guy ). Jared, Ivanka, Donald, et al, need to crawl back under the rock from whence they came. Jared, the man who can fix everything and knows nothing.
20
Where is Elliott Ness when we need him most ? Oops, Trump just fired him.
6
When David Brooks begins a sentence with Jared Kushner needs sympathy, my eyes glaze over and I turn to the next article. Us little people in the trenches who keep shoveling day in and day out only to find we are worse off year after year look at Mr Kushner with more than a little contempt. You too David Brooks. CAN you spell crony capitalism? Spoiled rich kid. How about, anything for a buck! The list is long.
15
I must take issue with Mr. Brooks on this. There comes a time when simply doing whats right is what you do. You can discuss past history, unique circumstances and the like, however you don't betray your country. Mr. Kushner has made his bed and the day is here where its time to take responsibility for his actions or at least accept the consequences.
19
Who would have thought, such a clean, good looking guy, acting as a mafia guy, with petty interests in money and the power it could grant. And vulgar Trump, so full of himself, seems in the same league. 'What could possibly go wrong, now that they control the reins of government'? Of note, 'we' allowed these thugs to rise in spite of knowing their nasty deeds. And now, are allowing this abuse of power, while the republicans are complicit in dragging their feet. It takes a masochist to want punishment 'undeservedly'. Who are we?
2
Dear Mr. Brooks, words matter a lot, they are able to shape convictions. You write of Nazi mass executions, where "execution" veils the horrendous deeds, in fact the genocide, in some sort of legality. Why not call it for what they were, mass MURDER.
3
David, you were wrong about the election, and admitted it. But you continue to make the same mistakes---misreadings. You have Kushner near indictment already, although you say you don't have all the facts. I say you have none, yet. Get out of the pulse of the mob. You used to be an original thinker.
2
Hey, Kushner can be as clannish and autocratic as he wants with his family business.
But it's downright churlish and presumptuous to view the U.S. as one's own personal fiefdom.
But it's downright churlish and presumptuous to view the U.S. as one's own personal fiefdom.
3
Ivanka knows much.
2
"An Apologia for Jared" should be the title for this column
What drivel!
Trump, Kushner and the GOP are not a government or a political party.
They have devolved into a tribal gang operating a racket in politics.
Lock them up!
What drivel!
Trump, Kushner and the GOP are not a government or a political party.
They have devolved into a tribal gang operating a racket in politics.
Lock them up!
20
Our country is now run by the worst, least qualified, and most unscrupulous citizens - no doubt about it - we are living in a kakistocracy.
18
David has compassion, apparently, for Jared Kushner due to family ties to the Holocaust and the aura of injustice and victimization that naturally creates. But it is difficult to feel much of anything for a man whose voice is never heard. Jared has the sleek demeanor of a silent film star, whose impassive features and slick dark hair signal a villain or hero or both, with the audience kept guessing 'til the end. To be in the public view for so long and in such a spotlight, with so little to offer of his personal self, seems un-American. The American character is noted for being transparent, open, outspoken, and, if heard, loud and direct. What we get from Jared is Uriah Heep-like furtiveness, inscrutability, and ambivalence. That he would be more chatty with our nation's most fiendish rival and more willing to speak on a secret channel, says volumes. Adding this to his intimate association with the worst temperament ever to darken the door of the Oval Office, none of Jared's behavior or actions inspire much in the way of confidence, let alone sympathy.
8
I like how Brooks conveniently leaves out the parts about Kushner's toxic slumlord business evicting blue collar families in the Midwest and Baltimore, because hey, that doesn't play into his flowery narrative and why bother with facts.
19
Mr. Brooks: You leave out the part about his being a slum landlord who squeezes the poor (or has his company do it) for everything they've got including future wages when they leave the premises of his wretched properties, and makes their lives as miserable as possible until they pay money they didn't really owe in the first place.
Do you not read your own newspaper?
Do you not read your own newspaper?
15
You're reaching back to the Holocaust to find sympathy for Jared Kushner? Unbelievable! After he finds a way to place the soul and defense of America in the hands of the Kremlin, after he finds schemes that deprive African-Americans the ability to vote in states that seek that outcome, after he finds a way to deprive millions of necessary health care, after he adds his contribution to the war on poverty and further tips the tax scales to deliver for himself and his father-in-law, after his agenda and his diabolical efficiency further tear America apart and punish the living for being alive in his exclusive country(club) America, and so forth, then look back to the Holocaust and tell us who his teachers are.
20
If you have lived in a small, close knit community, you see the tribe, clan, or family in action in a way, that makes you wonder if it is all mental illness, as too many in these situations, tip toe around truth, real confrontation, and become part of the mental illness. You can't not condone behavior just because someone is a father, mother, son, daughter, or in-law. In other words, if you aren't willing to call out the behavior and even the person if need be, you perpetrate deception, destruction, but when in political office, you destroy any semblance of trust, which is the foundation of any good elected person, and ultimately the whole government, if too many, which they all often, seem to act in this manner in our government, which is why nothing works anymore in Washington D.C.
5
Not a clan, but a cult!
4
I agree with most of what Mr. Brooks wrote (more than I usually do). But consider, with Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were to be out of the picture, what's the alternative? Leave all advising to Bannon and Conway and their hangers-on? Seems like a "frying pan into the fire" scenario.
Jared Kushner's role in the White House may be in jeopardy. Certainly bucking the establishment that so many Americans rejected last November is not a popular role inside the Washington Beltway, when jobs and wealth depend on the establishment.
Perhaps Jared Kushner should look at the Clintons. Bill and Hillary Clinton convinced many Americans that they were for change and for helping "the people": they felt our pain. (Disclosure: I bought Bill Clinton's message: I campaigned and voted for him.)
But the Clintons' move toward wealth, beginning with the sellout to push NAFTA through, was popular among newspeople. Their move to wealth picked up steam as soon as they left the White House. "Dead broke" when they left the White House (Hillary's statement), they amassed a fortune estimated by Wall Street as $250-million-plus.
What could Kushner learn from the Clintons?
- You can look deeply into the abyss of the Washington establishment....and it will look back at you, and it will work to destroy you if you do not join it.
- You can expect good press once you look at the Washington establishment....if you are a Democrat. With JFK's 100th birthday approaching, I dug my copy of Ben Bradlee's book, "Conversations With Kennedy", out of the bookshelf. Bradlee, the quintessential newsman, outlines how reporters loved Kennedy, loved liberals. And that was in the 1960's.... How many 'journalists' admit this now?
Never mind: Kushner doesn't have a chance.
Perhaps Jared Kushner should look at the Clintons. Bill and Hillary Clinton convinced many Americans that they were for change and for helping "the people": they felt our pain. (Disclosure: I bought Bill Clinton's message: I campaigned and voted for him.)
But the Clintons' move toward wealth, beginning with the sellout to push NAFTA through, was popular among newspeople. Their move to wealth picked up steam as soon as they left the White House. "Dead broke" when they left the White House (Hillary's statement), they amassed a fortune estimated by Wall Street as $250-million-plus.
What could Kushner learn from the Clintons?
- You can look deeply into the abyss of the Washington establishment....and it will look back at you, and it will work to destroy you if you do not join it.
- You can expect good press once you look at the Washington establishment....if you are a Democrat. With JFK's 100th birthday approaching, I dug my copy of Ben Bradlee's book, "Conversations With Kennedy", out of the bookshelf. Bradlee, the quintessential newsman, outlines how reporters loved Kennedy, loved liberals. And that was in the 1960's.... How many 'journalists' admit this now?
Never mind: Kushner doesn't have a chance.
1
If not for the delusion that Jared might balance out Trump's crazy impulses he would be viewed as another entitled, self-righteous, arrogant money grabber.
4
"Jared Kushner deserves a bit of sympathy. All his life he’s been serving his father or father-in-law."
Oh for God's sake! No one asked Trump to run for office. I certainly had NOTHING to do with him being there right now. And Jared didn't have to take the call "to serve." The smart thing would have been: "Donald, I have a family business to run. I suggest you find qualified individuals to help run your White House." He CERTAINLY didn't have to get involved with Russia before the Obama WH was out the door.
David Brooks: another columnist on the right who cares more about Trump and his minions than what is happening to this country.
Oh for God's sake! No one asked Trump to run for office. I certainly had NOTHING to do with him being there right now. And Jared didn't have to take the call "to serve." The smart thing would have been: "Donald, I have a family business to run. I suggest you find qualified individuals to help run your White House." He CERTAINLY didn't have to get involved with Russia before the Obama WH was out the door.
David Brooks: another columnist on the right who cares more about Trump and his minions than what is happening to this country.
11
Trump supporters will see Kushner's vicissitudes as evidence of the "unfair" media treatment the administration is always bleating about. A larger discussion of the ongoing ethical violations of the whole Trump clan needs to be front and center, from Conway's "buy Ivanka" plug right on through the channeling of tax payer money into Trump properties. Mr. Mueller, as Special Counsel, needs to subpoena the Trump tax returns and start following the money. Kushner is clearly part of the machine but his part should not be allowed to distract the larger investigation into the moral and ethical malfeasance of this "clan".
4
Very informative column.
1
Trump and the gang of Republicans have fully demonstrated that there no longer exist in Washington "standards of behavior". Just look at the recent election of some brute politician who was allowed to punch out a reporter just for asking a critical question about the guy. But this is what America seems to want out of both their ignorant and amateurish president.
2
The Kushner Family seems more like a television family, like Dallas or Dynasty or At The Edge of Night, just like Donald Trump became that familiar guest in everybody's living room thrilling viewers by being himself: a barker with a sociopathic lilt.
4
Doesn't "666" have something to do with the devil?
"We also know that they betray rookie naïveté on several levels — apparently trusting the Russians not to betray him, apparently not understanding that these conversations would be surveyed by the American intelligence services, possibly not understanding how alarming they would look to outsiders."
Are you among those "outsiders," Mr. Brooks?
This is a pretty mealy-mouth comment. Do you think Kushner's contacts with Kislyak and the VEB are just business-as-usual as McMaster tried to claim? What about the attempt to avoid American intelligence by using the Russians' own secure communications facilities? More business as usual, or do you find that as disturbing as I do? Sadly we cannot tell because you hide your opinions behind a bunch of mushy rhetoric trying to explain away Kushner's actions as a rookie mistake.Sending US forces to Cuba during the Bay of Pigs was a rookie mistake on JFK's part. At least he knew who his adversaries were. These days it seems like our adversary list starts with Germany and France while Putin's Russia is down near the bottom, or not on the list at all.
Do you think Kushner went "rogue," or do you think these overtures to the Russians were well-known and instigated by Trump, Bannon, and/or Flynn?
I was skeptical in 2012 of Mitt Romney's warnings about Russia. Now they seem rather prescient.
Are you among those "outsiders," Mr. Brooks?
This is a pretty mealy-mouth comment. Do you think Kushner's contacts with Kislyak and the VEB are just business-as-usual as McMaster tried to claim? What about the attempt to avoid American intelligence by using the Russians' own secure communications facilities? More business as usual, or do you find that as disturbing as I do? Sadly we cannot tell because you hide your opinions behind a bunch of mushy rhetoric trying to explain away Kushner's actions as a rookie mistake.Sending US forces to Cuba during the Bay of Pigs was a rookie mistake on JFK's part. At least he knew who his adversaries were. These days it seems like our adversary list starts with Germany and France while Putin's Russia is down near the bottom, or not on the list at all.
Do you think Kushner went "rogue," or do you think these overtures to the Russians were well-known and instigated by Trump, Bannon, and/or Flynn?
I was skeptical in 2012 of Mitt Romney's warnings about Russia. Now they seem rather prescient.
3
It is difficult, if not impossible, to believe that Michael Flynn and Jared Kushner worked to set up communications about dropping the Obama sanctions with the Russians without the knowledge, consent, and encouragement of Donald Trump. Clearly, they were working on his behalf and at his behest. Neither of them would do what they had done if it were contrary to the wishes of their boss. And with devoted clannish behavior, each is willing to fall on his own sword to protect the chieftain.
18
I think the jury is still out on Mr. Kushner, although his reported actions seem suspicious. In addition, too many Trump appointees omitted Russian contacts on official forms for security clearances. That is too odd, it seems, to be coincidence. I hope the various investigations find the truth for the American public, regardless of the consequences.
8
In the clannishness that predates the Trump-Kushner axis, David Brooks mentions "the Roosevelts, the Kennedys and the Bushes." Then, we have the Clintons, who despite Herculean effort have not yet achieved mini-dynasty status. Chelsea waits in the wings, however; hopefully less fatally flawed than her parents but an exemplar of the Clinton clan nonetheless.
Still, our founding fathers would doubtless recoil. A major point of their (and our) revolution was to escape dynastic rule of any kind.
Still, our founding fathers would doubtless recoil. A major point of their (and our) revolution was to escape dynastic rule of any kind.
Not quite. Wasn't Washington originally offered the role of King? Didn't we elect John Adams (2nd President) and John Quincy Adams (6th President)?
And Teddy Roosevelt and FD Roosevelt were fifth cousins. Eleanor Roosevelt was Teddy's niece.
While the Kennedys seem like a dynastic clan, what really resulted after World War II? A President, an Attorney General/Senator and a Senator. JFK, Jr. avoided politics as has Caroline Kennedy (except for her short stint pursuing the NY Senate seat). There were a few Kennedy clan Representatives and there's a Shriver who was mayor of Santa Monica, but it's not like they inhabit any great seats of power. I think most Kennedys figure they've sacrificed enough.
I think Chelsea is smart enough to avoid an attempt at politics. I think she'll perform her public service in other ways. It's almost impossible to achieve anything in politics these days.
And Teddy Roosevelt and FD Roosevelt were fifth cousins. Eleanor Roosevelt was Teddy's niece.
While the Kennedys seem like a dynastic clan, what really resulted after World War II? A President, an Attorney General/Senator and a Senator. JFK, Jr. avoided politics as has Caroline Kennedy (except for her short stint pursuing the NY Senate seat). There were a few Kennedy clan Representatives and there's a Shriver who was mayor of Santa Monica, but it's not like they inhabit any great seats of power. I think most Kennedys figure they've sacrificed enough.
I think Chelsea is smart enough to avoid an attempt at politics. I think she'll perform her public service in other ways. It's almost impossible to achieve anything in politics these days.
1
So Martin, would the "offer" made to George Washington, if accepted, have made him King George IV?
My Congressman is Joseph Kennedy III. He's been doing an excellent job of working for his district while staying out of the limelight. During the 100th anniversary of JFK's birth, Joe has been asked a number of times about his aspirations for higher office. He seems pretty happy where he is at the moment.
Jared K's background makes him perfectly suited for THIS govt administration. After all, this presidency is not like any other, and it appears that Jared fell in with those so much like his own family values. Perhaps that was the attraction to Ivanka in the first place.
The setup the elder Kushner executed upon his brother-in-law is the material of soap operas. I thinking surviving something as horrific as the Holocaust leaves a dauntingly colossal mark: an adverse experience (to put it mildly), the stress of which weaves itself into the folds of DNA and is passed on to future generations. I can understand how this might lead to clannishness, issues with trust and perhaps with minimizing the seriousness of one's wrongs (E.g.: the father insisting his setup was a lesser wrong than the consequences of that setup). I do feel some sympathy for Jared. I don't think he has had a chance to grow. We continue to grow well after our childhood. Our 20s and early 30s are a ripe time to learn the ropes of adulthood. But during this time, Jared was flung into the family business, had to save it and keep it afloat, and experience the stress of a parent behind bars. Donald Trump's decision to give a young man so much power is a bad decision. Trump is good at that: bad decisions. Trump, too, never experienced the life of the common man.
164
You feel bad for Jared? This is the problem. We keep excusing bad decisions on inexperience. Didn't a certain Constitutional Lawyer, Senator and community organizer ( which is extremely important - it wasn't a bake sale) get a label of wildly unqualified.
Here's the thing with Trump and Kushner. Both learned dirty tactics at the knee of their father. Both are incredibly greedy and have terrible chips on their shoulders. They bombed in business on their "own" projects and are constantly begging foreign banks for money because no US banks would loan.
Here's the thing with Trump and Kushner. Both learned dirty tactics at the knee of their father. Both are incredibly greedy and have terrible chips on their shoulders. They bombed in business on their "own" projects and are constantly begging foreign banks for money because no US banks would loan.
The mere fact that Kushner has bought into Trump's delusional world demonstrates his lack of gravitas. No doubt he magically believes he stride in and streamline the government, Veteran Affairs, negotiate peace in the Middle East and move a few Rocky Mountains.
18
Now that I have seen all that has come to pass, I have come to the conclusion that what Trump has in mind is to be the first great oligarch of America. His intolerance for democratic ideals, his indulgence of foreign potentates (he identifies with them so easily), his lack of historical knowledge, his tax plan, his health care plan--all lead to a society ruled by wealthy powerful people to which the rest of us would be subservient. If he can also control the military and press like Putin, then his power as an oligarch would be complete. However, his attempt to be a populist leader like Caesar will fail because of his narcissism and lack of empathy; he will be more like Nero, who played music while Rome burned.
11
clannish indeed, david brooks. perhaps no one might be enjoying this more than one chris christie. the u.s. attorney that sent dear old dad to prison. the evidence and the history suggests that as long as kushner has trump's ear, christie will not even be able to get a federal job as a part-time census taker.
7
I don't see how this dalliance in "serving" as President turns out well for either one of these families (Trump or Kushner). In the long run the nation is big enough that can recover and move forward, although it looks as if we'll be experiencing a tough stretch over the next four years. But the Trump and Kushner families appear to be in way over their heads, and with no idea of how to turn things around. That, in the long run after Trump's term is over, is going to hurt them personally.
139
Hopefully, the names will carry a shameful cloud forever.
3
I certainly hope so!
1
“I don't see how this dalliance in "serving" as President turns out well for either one of these families (Trump or Kushner)”.
They'll make lots of money.
They'll make lots of money.
Temperance typically is a virtue, and Mr. Brooks certainly practices that here. But where he writes that Jared Kushner's meetings with the Russians "betray rookie naïveté on several levels," his temperance amounts to naïveté. Instead of "rookie naïveté," we might substitute "sheer arrogance" or "hubris." They seem much closer to the mark.
11
Yes, elected position and government service is all about subordination to and respect for the rule of law. At least that's the theory. The big exception to that has been the sustained abuse of African-Americans (and other minorities) in the violation of their Constitutional (the 13th and 14th Amendments in particular) rights. Read Richard Rothstein's recent Color of Law for important details. Anyway - the rule of law must be a primary principle for anybody aspiring to public service. As they say - justice is only justice when it is rendered wearing a blindfold. Enter the contemporary period - where every possible partisan calculation is made regarding the pursuit of narrow personal and group advantage. The whole edifice of freedom, justice, and equality collapses in a cloud of dust. One is reminded of the Army officer in Vietnam who offered the the thought that, "We had to destroy the village in order to save it." Sorry to say - that is where we are currently at in the American political system when someone like Jared Kushner (with no legal standing whatsoever) thinks that he can pursue back channel communication with the Russian government in advance of his father-in-law's inauguration. We also now have a Secretary of Homeland Security, John Kelly, who thinks that behavior was entirely acceptable based on the opinion that Kushner is a "really good guy." Really? As much as I dislike George W. Bush I have to agree with his assessment that, "This is some really weird s**t."
6
Your remark---that Justice always wears a blindfold---reminded me of what the head of Chicago's patrolmen once said. After the police were acquitted of all responsibility for attacking the 1968 Democrat Convention, their chief was jubilant: "This acquittal proves that Lady Justice is NOT blind!"
1
Imagine if Hillary had won and it was revealed that her campaign and people around her campaign had extensive contacts with the Russians.
And imagine if all our intelligence services had corroborated Russian meddling in the election. Hacking Trump's campaign.
And if, soon after the election, Chelsea Clinton had tried to establish a back channel to Russia.
The Republicans would be bouncing off each other like pinballs. Hannity and Rush would be have to be institutionalized with severe apoplexy (incapacity from cerebral hemorrhage) and there would be by this time, what, like seven hundred and fourteen investigations and articles of impeachment going?
Just take that shoe, slip it on the other foot and you got all the answers you need about this.
And imagine if all our intelligence services had corroborated Russian meddling in the election. Hacking Trump's campaign.
And if, soon after the election, Chelsea Clinton had tried to establish a back channel to Russia.
The Republicans would be bouncing off each other like pinballs. Hannity and Rush would be have to be institutionalized with severe apoplexy (incapacity from cerebral hemorrhage) and there would be by this time, what, like seven hundred and fourteen investigations and articles of impeachment going?
Just take that shoe, slip it on the other foot and you got all the answers you need about this.
1075
Thank you for succinctly expressing the sentiments I share.
1
Yep,that says it pretty well.
1
Best letter I've read all day.
Pirates are more interesting when they’re wearing eighteenth-century costume and played by Johnny Depp. Kushner is just annoying; he’s dangerous without the slightest entertainment value.
I keep hoping that, with all the awkward facts coming out, we’ll finally get to a tipping point where the entire country will be completely fed up with Kushner and his father-in-law and throw the bums out. Thanks, intrepid reporters, please keep digging.
I keep hoping that, with all the awkward facts coming out, we’ll finally get to a tipping point where the entire country will be completely fed up with Kushner and his father-in-law and throw the bums out. Thanks, intrepid reporters, please keep digging.
41
Hopefully before Mr. Bannen can bring about his ominous and destructive plans.
Coincidence is an amazing thing. Like how Jared's (and Donnie's) pictures just happened to pop up in his sister's presentation to some rather wealthy Chinese businessmen who somehow got the idea that dropping $500,000 into a Kushner project might work out well for them. Amazing how that happens!
Jared is well and truly placed to serve his father-in-law, one of the most vile and slimy humans on earth. As the Western Alliance collapses and we cozy up to Saudi autocrats, our country is suffering damage whose repair once Trump is gone will take decades, if it is possible at all. The abrogation of civil rights, the determination to destroy our meager safety net, the destruction of the environment, the utter contempt for ethics and values, the eagerness to remove all accountability from business, the small, nasty humiliations imposed on his staff, anyone who has criticized him and even those who support him and do his dirty work--all speak to a vindictive, corrupt tyrant whose shame is shared by the Republican Party, which is standing by and watching without lifting a finger to stop him.
Feel anything but contempt and loathing for Jared? Not me.
Jared is well and truly placed to serve his father-in-law, one of the most vile and slimy humans on earth. As the Western Alliance collapses and we cozy up to Saudi autocrats, our country is suffering damage whose repair once Trump is gone will take decades, if it is possible at all. The abrogation of civil rights, the determination to destroy our meager safety net, the destruction of the environment, the utter contempt for ethics and values, the eagerness to remove all accountability from business, the small, nasty humiliations imposed on his staff, anyone who has criticized him and even those who support him and do his dirty work--all speak to a vindictive, corrupt tyrant whose shame is shared by the Republican Party, which is standing by and watching without lifting a finger to stop him.
Feel anything but contempt and loathing for Jared? Not me.
64
Every word of your description of Trump/Kuschner fits the complicit Republican Congress.
Article in Sunday Mag section on Kushners as Baltimore slum lords.
Probably all the Kushners need jail time (not just the head of that gang).
Probably all the Kushners need jail time (not just the head of that gang).
29
Kushner doesn't deserve sympathy at all. He's a bright and thoughtful young man. However, he's got the same condition his father in law has, extreme hubris. One of the first things anyone should understand, especially when heading into a new career, is humility. In this ase, the humility to acknowledge that you don't understand how things work and that there may be better people for the job. Just because Trump offers him the job, doesn't mean he has to take it. "Thank you sir, but I think the country would be better served by somebody more qualified who understands how government works."
310
There's really no other way to look at the "1st Quarter" of the first 12 months of the Trump Presidency: Incompetence and Failure. Trump has the majority in both Houses of Congress. What has been accomplished? Aside from securing Gorsuch's place on the Supreme Court (a slam-dunk in this scenario)... NOTHING!... and every day the waters are deeper and murkier surrounding Russia's involvement in the 2016 Election.
Ascribing ascribing Kushner's current troubles to clannishness let's him off the hook too easily. Add n incompetence, arrogance and inexperience.
21
And, of course, as with all members of this family...greed.
Eventually, the greed and ego trips them all up. It is in their DNA. Pride goeth before the fall. When the snakes can't escape the pit, they will eat one another.
It's a story of need and greed plain and simple. As a Jew I am horrified by the give him sympathy intro. He's past his cavity prone years. He choose power control and callous depraved indifference over integrity honesty and country. He adores Putin. He identifies with abusers users and tyrants and covets power with Trump to enrich and save his failures.
29
it is a story only Shakespeare could write.
1
It is kind of David Brooks to express sympathy for Jared Kushner, given his appalling family history, but according to the excellent reporting in the NYTimes, he is no innocent, idealistic loyalist. Kushner has no compassion for people who are struggling economically in this awful age of late capitalism and who have the misfortune of being his tenants. We are reliving the bonfire of the vanities with a vengeance. Kushner is an arrogant, entitled idiot, whose deer in headlights handsome face is better suited for the fashion page or on the golf course rather than in the board room or, heaven help us, in the Oval Office.
Jared Kushner is a 36 year old grown man, not a sniveling child who has to kowtow to his father-in-law. He is of an age where he could be elected to Congress. Whatever Mr. Kushner has done, he must bear personal responsibility for his actions.
He has unwisely accepted an impossible portfolio of responsibility as a totally unelected functionary in the White House. He is far out of his depth, and clearly has no perspective on his lack of experience or knowledge. Worse, his reckless actions have cast yet another shadow on the dysfunctional Trump administration.
Mr. Kushner's power and influence needs to be curtailed. We do not have a Royal Family in the United States. In places where such things exist we have seen idiot brothers, sons-in-law and reprobate children of monarchs who have ruined the governments of their parents, to the detriment of the public. This is the danger we face with Mr. Kushner. He has no brakes on his actions and is likely to do much damage before his inexperience creates irreparable mistakes for all of us.
He has unwisely accepted an impossible portfolio of responsibility as a totally unelected functionary in the White House. He is far out of his depth, and clearly has no perspective on his lack of experience or knowledge. Worse, his reckless actions have cast yet another shadow on the dysfunctional Trump administration.
Mr. Kushner's power and influence needs to be curtailed. We do not have a Royal Family in the United States. In places where such things exist we have seen idiot brothers, sons-in-law and reprobate children of monarchs who have ruined the governments of their parents, to the detriment of the public. This is the danger we face with Mr. Kushner. He has no brakes on his actions and is likely to do much damage before his inexperience creates irreparable mistakes for all of us.
392
"We do know that Jared’s father, Charles, hired a prostitute to have sex with his brother-in-law so he could send a tape of the act to his sister, and ended up pleading guilty to 18 felony counts."
It would certainly be interesting to see the reactions of Limbaugh, the paid shouters on FOX "news" and Breitbart about Jared if he'd been part of the Clinton campaign, seeing as they're so quiet about him now.
It would certainly be interesting to see the reactions of Limbaugh, the paid shouters on FOX "news" and Breitbart about Jared if he'd been part of the Clinton campaign, seeing as they're so quiet about him now.
18
Excuse me if I save my sympathy for the people who have the misfortune to live in a Kushner owned project. It is one thing to honor one's family. It is another to bilk tenants for pennies. Greed is a terminal illness, which afflicts the "tight-knit," loyalist families in the White House. Pardon me, too, if I fail to see that naiveté is one of this young person's attributes. Cunning, merciless, and craven, yes. Naive, never!
36
The hubris and stupidity of the Trump-Kushner "clan" seem bottomless. The gang that couldn't shoot straight doesn't begin to describe their idiocies. Too bad we're stuck with this gross, and probably criminal, incompetence, until Congressional Republicans have had enough, or Mueller forces the issue, or both.
14
Crown Royal Prince Jared......enough ssid
5
Trump's administration is an unprecedented national embarrassment, especially to the majority of Americans who can see all this nefarious behavior by Trump himself and all those he has chosen to be surrounded by. These are truly despicable people who think they can con us with their lies about their shocking (and some-would-call treasonous) actions. Do they think this is a game? Do they think we're stupid?
I hope and pray that this embarrassment of an administration will end sooner rather than later - and without too much damage to ourselves and our standing in the world.
I hope and pray that this embarrassment of an administration will end sooner rather than later - and without too much damage to ourselves and our standing in the world.
11
So many Americans voted for? How about the so many more majority of Americans that voted against this fascist? How about the so many Americans, plain, simple working people, and people all over the world, who have gotten out of their armchairs, not just to go to some rally, but to walk, to protest, to make their voices heard. How about the fact that 45 hates these people who are the majority of the nation, he refuses to acknowledge them and ONLY SPEAKS TO HIS BASE! This man was not legitimately elected, and neither was pence. They both have got to go!
12
Poor Jared.
When's the poor kid going to catch a break, anyway?
Sympathy? The only response that comes to mind surely would
not be printed here.
Most of our grandparents have inspiring stories of survival, so I'm a bit
confused as to how that in some way accrues to Jared.
My grandparents also overcame tremendous odds and obstacles to immigrate from Russia and Lithuania to Canada and the U.S.
Nobody gives a hoot, we're all from somewhere.
Maybe the next time I walk into the Russian Embassy and ask to set up a secure back channel to Russia, I'll tell the U.S. investigators about my grandparents and I'm sure they'll forget about the whole thing.
However you could describe his strolling into the Russian Embassy,
naive and patriotic would not be two words that immediately spring to mind.
Arrogant and Self Serving, along with a splash of stupid sound about right to me.
Hillary and Obama would have been impeached by now.
This is a rogue presidency filled with incompetent, arrogant and self interested fools without an iota of integrity or a bit of concern about helping the american people.
And were supposed to feel "sympathy" for Jared Kushner?
Now I've heard it all.
When's the poor kid going to catch a break, anyway?
Sympathy? The only response that comes to mind surely would
not be printed here.
Most of our grandparents have inspiring stories of survival, so I'm a bit
confused as to how that in some way accrues to Jared.
My grandparents also overcame tremendous odds and obstacles to immigrate from Russia and Lithuania to Canada and the U.S.
Nobody gives a hoot, we're all from somewhere.
Maybe the next time I walk into the Russian Embassy and ask to set up a secure back channel to Russia, I'll tell the U.S. investigators about my grandparents and I'm sure they'll forget about the whole thing.
However you could describe his strolling into the Russian Embassy,
naive and patriotic would not be two words that immediately spring to mind.
Arrogant and Self Serving, along with a splash of stupid sound about right to me.
Hillary and Obama would have been impeached by now.
This is a rogue presidency filled with incompetent, arrogant and self interested fools without an iota of integrity or a bit of concern about helping the american people.
And were supposed to feel "sympathy" for Jared Kushner?
Now I've heard it all.
31
Sympathy is the last thing this arrogant slum lord deserves.
17
"Jared’s brother was very young while all this happened and has since gone on to a fantastically successful independent career. " Why do Mr. Brooks and so many people equate "success" with making tons of money? I like to think that success can be much broader than that, and this narrow definition ruins a good word.
17
Omertà meaning "manhood" is the Mafia's code of silence when dealing with the government. Loyalty to family is all. Never divulge information to legal authority: Lie, sew your lips together, or disappear. The Trump-Kurshner Clan is as principled as the Russian Mafia, government will never have its way with them; they operate outside the law
(Divulging tax returns--Omertà, baby!)
(Divulging tax returns--Omertà, baby!)
13
And while all this corrupt clannish behavior consumes everyone's thoughts and time, Mr. Mnuching is dismantling Wall Street regulations; Mr. Mattis is planning more troops and more disasters in Afghanistan; Mr. Session is busy planning more private prisons for minor drug offenders; Mr. Price is destroying the health insurance system; Ms. Devos is quietly planning the end of public education as we know it; Mr. Carson wants to end public housing; Mr. Pruitt is damaging our fragile environment for the benefit of big oil; Mr. Mulvaney wants to end Medicaid, The children Insurance Progrm, and the food stamp program in his budget; and God knows what Mr. Perry is doing with our strategic arsenal at DOE.
It's almost as if these clannish clowns are deliberately planning to destroy this country. Is it Republicanism or someone else's agenda to weaken the nation once and for all. It smells like the latter to me. Have we elected a Manchurian candidate and his clan?
It's almost as if these clannish clowns are deliberately planning to destroy this country. Is it Republicanism or someone else's agenda to weaken the nation once and for all. It smells like the latter to me. Have we elected a Manchurian candidate and his clan?
877
Deliberately planning to destroy the country? Isn't that Steve Bannon's modus operandi?
People wanted a smaller government. This is what it looks like.
Yes, I believe we have elected "a Muncharian candidate". It will be the essential work of our remaining system of government to rescue us -- if possible. That includes recruiting the GOP to get off their chairs and for the entire system to take effective action to prevent Trump and company from wreaking further damage on their way out. You are so right about his nominees and the destruction they are carrying out as we speak. They will be much harder to stop.
In the gangland ethos of Charles Kushner the worst person in the world isn't the guy who paid bribes, obstructed justice and tried to extort his family so that they would risk their own freedom by joining the conspiracy -- no, the worst guy in the world is a snitch. We are horrified by this mentality in urban drug gangs but try explaining to me the difference between them and the Kushners and Trumps of the world. Why do you think Trump himself is so outraged at leaks? In a nutshell, we are now living through government by a mafioso style gang.
26
Russia has been a country the U.S. has been keeping at arms-length for decades, for Jared Kushner to believe he could have honest talks with the Russsians clearly shows the naivety Trump and his entourage. Besides, Jared was not qualified or capable of having "talks" with the Russians.
Which country is Jared Kushner's allegiance to?
Which country is Jared Kushner's allegiance to?
12
Never in Kushner's wildest dreams did he ever imagine that he would have such a huge cookie jar and all he had to do was hold on to his father in law's slimy coat tails.
5
What completely befuddles me is that the NYTimes and WaPo come up with new information about the Trump-Russia love affair just about every day, but those actually charged with investigating it on behalf of the people, whether criminally or for purposes of counterintelligence, simply seem to sit comfortably in their own barely warm juices. I read things such as that the Senate Intelligence Committee told the Trump administration in March that they "planned" to interview Kushner about a particular meeting he had with the nefarious Russian banker-cum-spy whose bank was a primary target of American sanctions. Sorry to raise a sensitive question, but if you are going to interview this amazing young genius-of-all-trades expecting a spontaneous, unrehearsed answer, why not actually interview him without three months advance warning????? I am retired now, but if I had done the job I was charged with doing with the diligence of those who are supposedly doing an investigation to get to the bottom of whether our country has been sold out to Vladimir Putin, I would not have had the job for very long, nor should I have had. It appears clear that no one who has any power in the government the American people supposedly elected is interested in getting to the bottom of this. So all the stories we are reading about what may or may not have happened are really nothing but bedtime stories for those of us whose worry about the future of the country has turned them into insomniacs.
7
Trump and his Clan should be indicted, convicted, and tossed in jail with society's other miscreants. This incompetent blowhard will at best ruin America's world standing, at worst destroy civilization. This fool is dangerous and an embarrassment to all humanity.
7
Seriously? I'm supposed to have sympathy for billionaire Jared Kushner? While his billionaire father in law and the Republicans try to cut taxes for the wealthy while simultaneously taking healthcare off the working poor and while gutting union rights all over the country?
10
Jared Kushner's loyalty to kith and kin is praise-worthy, but clannishness can be damning, as the President's son-in-law is learning. Too many ugly truths have come to light in Kushner's orbit. Pushing Tump to fire FBI Director Comey, squabbling publicly with Steve Bannon, the president's main strategic adviser and alt-right hobgoblin, Jared's meetings with the Chinese and the Russians before and after his wife's father was elected our 45th President. Hereditary bloodlines didn't build America's government by laws, but now they are in the spotlight with Trump's family in unearned positions (nepotism) as they were in the John F. Kennedy years of the 1960s up to the present-day. Donald Trump's annd Jared Kushner's valueless and unacceptable standards of behaviour will self-destruct sooner or later. The President's administration is full of corrupt and ill-chosen Cabinet members and their underlings - bad apples in the Trump barrel - though there are still 100+ good jobs in Trump's governance to be filled. Did President Trump hit "a home run" in his entourage-laden, self-applauding voyage to the Middle East and Europe? No, he hit a pop fly. Trump's corrupt "bloodline connections"must and will be be exposed. The truth will out to restore our democracy though it may take longer to be revealed than the treachery of President Nixon's Watergate (Waterloo) amd resignation in 1974. Kushner's actions foretell a Watergate Redux. This is not the way to Make America Great Again.
1
Brooks opens by telling us that Jared deserves a bit of sympathy, and then develops an argument demonstrating thoroughly that he deserves not an iota.
5
Do not EVER cry for Jared Kushner. He's a rich, cosseted, scion of privilege who is worth hundreds of millions of dollars for basically ... breathing. He is smug, arrogant, pretentious, and according to those who attended school with him, not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He has ZERO experience with government - except perhaps in attempting to evade government regulations - and fancies himself a junior Trumpolini but he cannot carry it off.
5
Brooks hints at what no one in the media has quite publicly said out loud: there's money moving here. Money between Trump, Kushner, Flynn, Putin, De Vos, Manafort ... the list goes on. Trump never thought he would win, all of their efforts during the campaign was laying the groundwork for more Trump business. What amazes is that after election day, rather than pull up and say "Whoa!" Trump and his crew moved immediately to consolidate their gains. You can have the job, or you can have the money, but you can't have the job AND the money.
253
Not true. For example, Rachel Maddow has frequently talked about the financial links between the Trump folks and the Russians, and that quite in some detail.
Family loyalty apparently includes carrying on the proud slumlord tradition right through to the present day (in Baltimore). The religious overlay just makes the hypocrisy that much more nauseating.
3
J-Red does not deserve anyone's sympathy. Let's hope he gets what he does deserve: thorough scrutiny of his connections with Russians of various descriptions, and appropriate punishment for any crimes and misdemeanors of which he is found to be guilty. He has an established track record of being a world-class conniver happy to exploit anyone and anything he can get his hands on. Boos, yes; boo-hoos, no way.
2
To see these smug criminals flying around on
planes and trips paid for by the US taxpayer is beyond
galling. People who are rich without ever having worked.
People who could care less about average Americans.
People who are bent on destroying our democracy.
Trump doesn't pay taxes. I'm wondering why should I.
The difference is the average person would go to jail.
But not trump: he can go whatever he wants along with his rotten and corrupt son in law and his ice queen
robot daughter , the daughter who yesterday made a
mockery of Memorial Day with her champagne
popsickles.
planes and trips paid for by the US taxpayer is beyond
galling. People who are rich without ever having worked.
People who could care less about average Americans.
People who are bent on destroying our democracy.
Trump doesn't pay taxes. I'm wondering why should I.
The difference is the average person would go to jail.
But not trump: he can go whatever he wants along with his rotten and corrupt son in law and his ice queen
robot daughter , the daughter who yesterday made a
mockery of Memorial Day with her champagne
popsickles.
6
The one lesson that Americans might learn from watching Trump and Kushner bollix up the White House is that you don't need brains to become a billionaire. So many Trump supporters assumed that The Donald was smart because he had a lot of money. But as Trump, and now Kushner, are demonstrating, you can become a billionaire without being that smart if you start with a wealthy father, and show a concerted willingness to break the rules.
3
Clannish? I guess. Bonded less by family ties than money-grubbing and power-accumulating. I am seeing a bloodless Hamlet-like conclusion to this ignoble drama...no...soap-opera.
Defence--Naivete is not a defense and it is ridicullous to propose it as an explanation for Jared. Also a father's heritage or a father's criminal and sociopathic behavior is also not a defense for Jared.
People in our country have been arrested or shot and killed by police simply for skin color and body posture with the police defence/justification that they seemed threatening in one moment. But somehow it is ok to explain Jared's stupid, greedy, duplicitous, possibly treasonous behavior with the phoney psychiatic explanations in this column?
I didn't know any better about talking to Russians and I am part of a family clan that alters my judgement-- as a defence? Spare me, Brooks. Any child who watched Rocky and Bullwinkle or any teen age boy who saw one James Bond movie knows better.
Why are you trying ot explain him and excuse him?
This will be our test of sociopathy: If Jared looks into the camera and speaks the words "I didn't know any better" and has no facial expression of profound embarassment of how deeply stupid he is, how much he has endangered and disgraced the United States- that will be the indication of sociopathy.
Naive, my foot!
People in our country have been arrested or shot and killed by police simply for skin color and body posture with the police defence/justification that they seemed threatening in one moment. But somehow it is ok to explain Jared's stupid, greedy, duplicitous, possibly treasonous behavior with the phoney psychiatic explanations in this column?
I didn't know any better about talking to Russians and I am part of a family clan that alters my judgement-- as a defence? Spare me, Brooks. Any child who watched Rocky and Bullwinkle or any teen age boy who saw one James Bond movie knows better.
Why are you trying ot explain him and excuse him?
This will be our test of sociopathy: If Jared looks into the camera and speaks the words "I didn't know any better" and has no facial expression of profound embarassment of how deeply stupid he is, how much he has endangered and disgraced the United States- that will be the indication of sociopathy.
Naive, my foot!
2
Jared Kushner is nearly 40 years old. There has to be an expiration date on empathy for being young and stupid.
384
Yes, years ago , 18 was considered adulthood. At what point are we responsible for our actions, unintended consequences or not????? All of us are held responsible and pay dearly for mistakes at the lower rungs of society. Jared, you are up. Your turn. Take your medicine and shut up. Just like we do every day of our lives.
"The game's a-foot!" and it isn't a nice one. This special pleading for Jared Kushner is embarrassing, to say the least, both for the reader and more so for the journalist who wrote it. Using the Holocaust as a backdrop for the Kushner family saga is even more of a disgrace. This column reads as shabby Victorian melodrama, with a touch of Sherlock Holmes at the end. David-- What were you thinking? Jared is pulling deals with Russia, and worse, just like his idiot father-in-law in the presidency, and all this done deliberately as far from FBI and CIA surveillance as possible! This is espionage, at the least, and treason at the most. Elementary, my dear Brooks!
1
These people are wholly owned by the Russians.
This means we need a Congress that is not controlled by GOP hacks who will tolerate ANTYHING for the sake of tax cuts for the rich.
We the People ought to give control of the Congress to the Democrats in 2018 to put a check on the power of Trump, the Manchurian president.
We get the government we deserve.
This means we need a Congress that is not controlled by GOP hacks who will tolerate ANTYHING for the sake of tax cuts for the rich.
We the People ought to give control of the Congress to the Democrats in 2018 to put a check on the power of Trump, the Manchurian president.
We get the government we deserve.
2
Italy had Berlusconi & now we have Trump, both utterly unacceptable as leaders of democratic republics. Republic, a Latin word, "public things"; the state as something that belongs to all, not one or more powerful clans.
That Italy would experience such a fate is not surprising. The current Italian state is really quite young; there were many centuries during which the state was a thing alien to the people, an arbitrary instrument of power controlled by a few, in many cases people who weren't of Italy at all.
But how did it happen to us? I am a liberal Democrat & I don't hesitate to blame the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement. Their desire to enact policies which are opposed by solid majorities of citizens led them to create what is virtually a giant conspiracy, well-funded by extremely wealthy families, against us, the people.
But I can't stop there. Donald Trump has always been a morally depraved slime ball. The fact that he became an American celebrity, nay an American icon, shows that the rot runs deep in our land. I wish I had a plan to offer to stop the rot of our nation.
Please folks, no boiler plate. If, for example, the Christian religion could save us we wouldn't be in this slime pit. That's just an example! We need, somehow, to find a new remedy.
That Italy would experience such a fate is not surprising. The current Italian state is really quite young; there were many centuries during which the state was a thing alien to the people, an arbitrary instrument of power controlled by a few, in many cases people who weren't of Italy at all.
But how did it happen to us? I am a liberal Democrat & I don't hesitate to blame the Republican Party and the Conservative Movement. Their desire to enact policies which are opposed by solid majorities of citizens led them to create what is virtually a giant conspiracy, well-funded by extremely wealthy families, against us, the people.
But I can't stop there. Donald Trump has always been a morally depraved slime ball. The fact that he became an American celebrity, nay an American icon, shows that the rot runs deep in our land. I wish I had a plan to offer to stop the rot of our nation.
Please folks, no boiler plate. If, for example, the Christian religion could save us we wouldn't be in this slime pit. That's just an example! We need, somehow, to find a new remedy.
2
And the Republican party continues to idle along with their head in the sand.....
Jared Kushner deserves not one bit of sympathy. He is, after all, an adult, and has chosen his path of serving his father and father-in-law, and has been given all sorts of material rewards for his troubles. Nobody pointed a gun to his head to force him to do this. One can conjecture whether or not at any time in his bringing up he was exposed to the concept of ethics (hard to fathom that he had no exposure given his religious upbringing--but it is possible), but clearly if he was exposed, it never took. Materialism won. And now, maybe, the chickens will come home to roost. No, no sympathy. Perhaps some karma.
258
Does exposure to ethics in one's religious upbringing ever really matter when there's money and power at stake? Nixon was raised a Quaker, after all.
There was no "exposure" to ethics. He is simply following the example his father set--and may end up in the same federal prison his father occupied.
Your insights on clan above all make sense. Family is everything it would seem to Jared, not service to the country which seemed the driving force in FDR, Kennedy and the Bush families. He seems almost as locked in his behavior as Trump but without the overwhelming narcissism. I hope he takes his wife and kids back to New York before the deluge. I do feel a bit sorry for him. He is very young. But not that sorry.
61
Sorry, Alison, but how do we know Kushner isn't as narcissistic as Trump? Have we heard him actually say anything in public? It's altogether possible that Ivanka married someone just like dear old Dad.
1
In "The Godfather" Tessio arranged a meeting between Michael Corleone and Don Barzini. And we all know what happened to Tessio.
7
Tell Mike it was only business. I always like him. Which Trumpster will play the role of Sal Tessio?
Trump's WH appointment of Kushner is the ultimate Apprentice episode where the Dauphin is designated. It's time for a Trump presidential dynasty, no?
Media reports on JK as a Harvard applicant, a landlord and investor are somewhat less than inspirational. There seems a ruthless, at-any-cost, operating principle in this pair that Shakespeare would term "bad dudes".
Media reports on JK as a Harvard applicant, a landlord and investor are somewhat less than inspirational. There seems a ruthless, at-any-cost, operating principle in this pair that Shakespeare would term "bad dudes".
5
Is it not odd that Brooks would cite the holocaust in a story about a Jewish person who works for someone who achieved his position by reaching out to white supremacists? These horrible, vulgar people are the worst sort of opportunists. They have no business in public service as it's obvious that everything they do is about them. The only good that can come of their adventure into public service is that they are showing just how patriotic the GOP is. The stain left on them will be difficult to remove.
13
Well, Jared belongs right with the Trump and the Saudi dynasties. No wonder the first trip of the Trumps and the Kushners was to Saudi Arabia where the family always come first and the law is what the chief of the clan says it is and every one else is to serve the clans and enrich them. Welcome to age of the Barbarians where the Trumps and the Kushners fir right in.
10
Jared would be a perfect roommate for Bernie Madoff.
9
Judging from the way Charles treated his siblings Jared learned nothing of family loyalty as a young man. I think you've mistaken loyalty with a wish to please the father who controls the money and power in the family. Greed gets passed on from one generation to the next.
298
Another aspect of this so-called clannishness is that as one matures and becomes an integrated human being, one can maintain love for one's family but see each member with a certain clarity, in other words, warts and all.
The fact that they are not able to see Donald's ineptitude and shortcomings in all areas, cognitive, social, emotional, et al., is no reason to admire them.
They have enabled him, propping up his grandiose assessment of himself, with no thought to the harm he could do our nation.
Remember Trump's imbecile son's statement that the White House would actually be a step down for his father!! The highest office in the land!!
This family is not faithful and devoted. They are deluded and dangerous.
Their hubris is astounding. All of them.
The fact that they are not able to see Donald's ineptitude and shortcomings in all areas, cognitive, social, emotional, et al., is no reason to admire them.
They have enabled him, propping up his grandiose assessment of himself, with no thought to the harm he could do our nation.
Remember Trump's imbecile son's statement that the White House would actually be a step down for his father!! The highest office in the land!!
This family is not faithful and devoted. They are deluded and dangerous.
Their hubris is astounding. All of them.
27
"blood bonds ... loyalty and vengeance"
Even if this sets your moral compass, when are people in the administration going to figure out that DJT is a clan of one? It's a one way street. He'll dispose of you like an empty candy bar wrapper when your usefulness to him has ended ... and he'll pin the blame on you as you exit in discrace.
Here's another one that has always bothered me: People somehow justified having family members Jared and Ivanka as part of the administration because of their calming positive influence on the president. It's just weird that folks pinned their hopes on the "grown ups" in the administration to mitigate the damage that our president might do to the country and to the world. The fact that the family affair was accepted because of this ... heck, the fact that folks worried in such a way about our president's stability in the first place ... is both extremely unique, bizarre and disturbing.
Mission NOT accomplished!
Even if this sets your moral compass, when are people in the administration going to figure out that DJT is a clan of one? It's a one way street. He'll dispose of you like an empty candy bar wrapper when your usefulness to him has ended ... and he'll pin the blame on you as you exit in discrace.
Here's another one that has always bothered me: People somehow justified having family members Jared and Ivanka as part of the administration because of their calming positive influence on the president. It's just weird that folks pinned their hopes on the "grown ups" in the administration to mitigate the damage that our president might do to the country and to the world. The fact that the family affair was accepted because of this ... heck, the fact that folks worried in such a way about our president's stability in the first place ... is both extremely unique, bizarre and disturbing.
Mission NOT accomplished!
18
It is like boarding a jet with your family, peering into the cockpit, and seeing Jarod Kushner getting prepared to pilot the jet. Someone is telling him what each button and lever does, and he's saying: "I can do this!"
Kushner should be a White House intern, maybe starting in the kitchen or something. He is in so far over his head.
Kushner should be a White House intern, maybe starting in the kitchen or something. He is in so far over his head.
14
Jared is better looking, better dressed (even without the belts) and has better manners, at least in public. But basically, Ivanka married daddy.
13
Will,President Trump reciprocate clannish ly ? or objectively to what is coalizing into a major test of both the man and the President ?!