Is Jared The Power Behind The Throne?

In an earlier post, I posited that Michael Flynn’s “Marshall Plan for the Mideast” provided a roadmap for the foreign interference in the 2016 election. That plan brought together the Russians, Turks, Saudis, and Israelis in a wide-ranging scheme that benefitted all the parties and brought them together with the Trump campaign. While Flynn clearly had close contact with the Russians and the Turks, it was a Kushner who really had the connections to the Israelis, having been a lifelong friend of Netanyahu. It was that connection to Netanyahu that allowed Kushner to gain high level access to other parties to the plan, the Russians, the Saudis and their allies, and the Turks. Together, they were perfectly positioned to execute the deal. In fact, when you look at the whole of the Trump campaign and presidency from the 30,000 foot view, what you realize is that Jared Kushner has had has fingers in nearly everything that has gone on and gone wrong.

It was Jared who was in charge of the digital portion of the Trump campaign and it was he who brought in Cambridge Analytica. It is unclear whether he was also aware of the meeting at Trump Tower between Don Jr., the Saudis, Emiratis, and Israelis offering to aid the Trump campaign but as head of the digital operation which was the focus of that meeting, it is hard to imagine he was not informed. Jared was also there at the infamous Trump Tower meeting with the Russians. Jared was the one willing to use the Russian embassy to set up a back channel to Putin. He directed Flynn to contact Kislyak in order to sabotage a UN vote on Israeli settlements in late December 2016. He lied on multiple occasions about his contacts with the Russians and failed to report them on his security clearance, forcing that clearance to be downgraded. Kushner was also one of many Trump officials who continually lied on their financial disclosure forms.

It was Kushner who apparently okayed the blockade of Qatar after the Qataris backed out of bailing him out of his disastrous investment in 666 Fifth Avenue. Kushner was the one who bonded with Mohammed bin Salman (MbS), who soon claimed that Kushner “was in his pocket”. Kushner is suspected of giving MbS classified information on opponents of the Saudi regime, information which the Saudis apparently acted on by eliminating them, including Khashoggi,  one way or another. It is certainly possible that MbS was given the okay to murder Khashoggi by Kushner or at least felt that he had it. In addition, four other countries believed they could influence Kushner by exploiting his business difficulties.

It was Kushner who was behind the push to move the US embassy to Jerusalem, a clear sop to Netanyahu and part of the “Marshall plan” deal. Kushner’s Mideast peace plan, like so many of Trump’s policies, is always going to be announced soon but, two years in to the administration, it is looking more and more mythical. The outlines of it are already readily apparent, a deal between the Saudis, Egyptians, and Israelis that will benefit them all, probably monetarily, and totally ignore Palestinian interests, making it dead on arrival.

Looking back on the totality of the Trump campaign and presidency, Jared Kushner definitely looks like he is far more exposed than most, even more than perhaps Don Jr. and Trump himself. When the White House was informed that Flynn had lied to the FBI about his contacts with Russia, Trump kept Flynn on for nearly another three weeks until the press got wind of the story. Trump could have cut Flynn loose, claiming he was freelancing on his own with the Russian ambassador. At least on plausible reason he didn’t is not out of any loyalty to Flynn or need for self-preservation, but to protect Jared, because if the FBI knew about Flynn’s conversations with the Russians then they clearly knew about Kushner’s. When Trump kept pressuring Comey to go easy on Flynn, that also meant that Kushner would stay in the clear. And Comey’s firing, which again protected Jared, was done at Kushner’s urging, as he told Trump that the Democrats would “love” the move.

The recent US actions in the Mideast also appear to have Kushner’s fingerprints all over them. Trump’s refusal to condemn MbS despite overwhelming evidence of his guilt in the Khashoggi murder again looks like a pretty blatant attempt to protect Kushner from whatever MbS apparently holds over him. It was Kushner who counseled that the uproar over the assassination of an American permanent resident on order by the Saudi ruler would soon blow over. And now it appears that the way he will get it to blow over is by letting Erdogan loose on the Kurds in return for a less aggressive posture on the Khashoggi murder that will spare MbS and, by extension, Kushner further trouble. The idea that Kushner was behind the rash decision to pull out of Syria is reinforced by the fact that Netanyahu was apparently briefed on the decision before our own military commanders were informed. Unfortunately, pulling out of Syria to protect Kushner only increases the likelihood of conflict between the Russians and the Israelis in Syria. Israel does not want to see a restoration of Assad control in Syria with Russian backing and has increased its air attacks on the Assad regime in the last few days. But that puts it in direct conflict with Putin’s interest in Syria and perhaps Lebanon. Of course, Kushner may have another grand deal in mind the US and the Russians will let Israel have a freer hand in Syria in return for the Russians having a freer hand in Ukraine.

In retrospect, almost every effort that Trump has made to obstruct the Russia investigation has been to protect Jared, whether that was its primary purpose or not. And almost every foreign policy move in the Mideast has either had Kushner’s fingerprints on it or was done to protect him. In many ways, it looks like Trump is the front man but Jared Kushner is the one with significant power behind the throne. Unfortunately, because he is rich, he apparently believes he is smart, although the results of his most important decisions belie that as others, such as Trump and the Qataris, have to keep covering up for his egregious mistakes..

One last point about Kushner that speaks to the failure of our criminal justice system to hold white collar criminals to account. Kushner is the poster boy for that failure in two distinct and almost polar opposite ways. He continues to evade any responsibility for what has been clear criminal behavior in his business and in the Trump campaign and administration. On the other hand, the one truly good thing that Kushner has done is to push for the modest criminal justice reform package that recently became law. It is doubtful that Trump would have signed that bill with Kushner’s prodding. And the reason that Kushner may have been so invested in that idea is that he actually had to go and visit his father in prison. Kushner had to actually confront the inherent inhumanity of the carceral state and it clearly affected him. That alone speaks to the real need to crack down on white collar crime. And, in the same vein, it could also be posited that there is a direct thread from allowing Nixon to escape criminal prosecution to Iran-Contra, to the Bush war crimes, and now to the crimes against humanity occurring at our southern border and that real prosecutions at any point along the way may have inhibited what came after. But that is a post for another day.