PLEASE STAND BY: multiple additions to the Jared Kushner thread are coming. https://t.co/AYd8QwRxsf
— Daniel W. Drezner (@dandrezner) January 24, 2019
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Because we deserve a snark break:
… “Repeatedly assuring Trump that he can personally strike a deal with Democrats, Kushner has overshadowed other advisers in a largely empty West Wing this month. He usually huddles to discuss strategy each morning with the president, Vice President Pence and a few others, White House aides said…
Kushner, who referred a request for comment to the White House, has told Trump advisers that he has solid relationships with several Democrats, such as Senate Minority Whip Richard J. Durbin (Ill.), and that he can sell a compromise to moderate Democrats and Republicans with whom he built a rapport while working on the criminal-justice bill.
But a number of key Senate Democrats, including Sen. Joe Manchin III (W.Va.), haven’t heard from Kushner in weeks, according to aides. And aides to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) say he has played no role in their discussions to reopen the government.
“He is totally a nonentity,” one senior Democratic aide said…
Kushner has been a constant at the Capitol, ducking into meetings with party leaders and attempting to shepherd talks. He has mostly avoided speaking publicly, instead working from his sparsely decorated West Wing office where Reese’s candy is on the table, a Kanye West poster is above the door and photos of his wife, Ivanka Trump, are on his desk.Kushner speaks frequently with Republican leaders, such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (Calif.) along with some rank-and-file lawmakers, officials said…
A person familiar with Kushner’s strategy said he has been focused on targeting Democrats who may want to break from leadership and has had positive conversations with many of them. The person declined to say whom Kushner had spoken to, citing the sensitivity of the negotiations…
That person, as Mr. Pierce would say, may have been wearing Jared Kushner’s socks.
… “I love the Cush,” Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.), a conservative Trump ally, said. “I’ll tell you what, he’s turned out to be a master negotiator and a competent force on the Hill. Jared has really deployed private-sector dealmaking to this process and brought that to Trump world.”…
Does Gaetz recognize the drug-related double entendre there? Cuz I would have marginally more respect for him, if so.
… “They can’t jam Pelosi. They never will. They think Nancy Pelosi will have to eat something. She’s not going to have to eat anything,” said one senior administration official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to speak publicly...
Speaker Pelosi probably doesn’t have much of an appetite right now, since she’s just eaten Donald Trump’s lunch. In full view of the media, and the world.
But you do you, young Jared!… at least until Robert Mueller’s assistants come calling.
Why do I feel like Jared suggested Trump's brilliant State of the Union strategy today? "Call her bluff, what's she going to do, lock you out?"
— Schooley (@Rschooley) January 24, 2019
Mnemosyne
I’m wondering who in the White House finally read the Constitution and realized that they were fucked. And which one of them had to break the bad news to Daddy.
Mary G
That piece was a delight to read. Too bad Jared is too stupid to realize how bad it makes him look. When Matt Gaetz and your long-time BFF sre the best defenders you have, and everyone from John Kelly to Lisa Murkowski come close to calling you an idiot, you’re not the Master of the Universe you think you are.
I bet a lot of White House staffers will be giggling over their cereal in the morning.
Balconesfault
A Kanye poster???
Plato
Awww.
Fucking sickening puffery.
Aleta
First they plant a story that he’s been assigned to work on some problem they created. Then they encourage a story, with handpicked sources, to talk about his talent of talking to a couple of people on opposite sides. At some point after something happens, comes a story celebrating him for whatever happened. I guess they are polishing his vitae maybe for a future run for office somewhere or a sleazy appointment? I bet he or Ivanka would love to be a VP.
JoyceH
So the White House is counting on the guy who sold them on “fire Comey, the Democrats will love it!” to come up with a deal that the Democrats will go for? Ooookay…
Brachiator
Trump has already blinked, and backed away from the SOTU address. Now it may be make-or-break time for Young Jared. With all the various resignations, Trump seems to be depending more on family, and specifically Young Jared, as his advisors.
A few reporters and GOP folk song his praises even as Chris Christie’s new memoir tries to undermine Young Jared . Oh, who to believe?
Young Jared seems to be trying to avoid Pelosi and engage moderate Democrats. Problem is, there ain’t no moderate Republicans, certainly none with any mojo, and I can’t see Pelosi continuing to let Young Jared try to run around the Democratic Party leadership.
The reckoning should be interesting.
SRW1
@Aleta:
Apparently, Jared and Ivanka have a pact that he gets to run for president first.
SRW1
@Brachiator:
Dear Jared, beware of the Smash!
Aleta
How gracious and yet radically out-of-the box, a diplomat and a thinker. Who inhabits a rarefied plane where he never speaks directly to the press.
sukabi
@JoyceH: sure they have, he’s already brought peace to the ME.
Brachiator
@Brachiator:
Meant to throw in that whatever Young Jared thinks he is doing, McConnell is running the show and catering to hard core anti-immigration Republicans in the Congress.
sigaba
Just finished watching the Netflix Fyre Festival documentary. The parallels are remarkable.
Aleta
@Brachiator: Some day there’ll be a ballad of Young Jared with final two verses about sitting in the jail house.
trnc
Anybody happen to take a look in the desk drawers?
trnc
@Brachiator: I assume there will be some official questions soon from the oversight committee about his numerous fraudulent financial disclosures.
Villago Delenda Est
Jared is a Master Baiter.
Villago Delenda Est
@Plato: Fuck the Villager scum of the WaPo.
sm*t cl*de
He meant to say ‘Kush‘.
Anne Laurie
@SRW1:
He’ll run for president, possibly of Venezuela, and she’ll run for a country with no extradition treaty.
Let’s face it, she didn’t marry him for his brains. She married him because he was the son Daddy always wanted.
Anne Laurie
@sm*t cl*de: This is the Major Mainstream Media — they can’t accuse a Republican office-holder of not knowing his drug slang!
Chetan Murthy
@Anne Laurie:
That’s actually touching in a way. I figured she married ihm b/c he’s actually got money, unlike Daddy.
Cermet
@Chetan Murthy: More likely still, she married him to keep daddy out of her bed. We know the orange fart cloud still lust’s after her.
Keith P.
@SRW1: Like a pact with a Trump is worth a damn thing…
Alien Radio
@Chetan Murthy:
HAD money. 666 Fifth Avenue has probably eaten it.
Ken
@Aleta:
No, but a “source close to Kushner” speaks to them constantly, and has nothing but praise for himse– er, for Jared.
Pittsburgh Mike
Jared comin’ !
( snicker )
Mom Says I*m Handsome
Heyoooooo! That’s gold right there. Anne Laurie wins one Internet.
The Pale Scot
Delusional Hubris, the movie