Trump is suspicious of everyone, with probably the only people on the planet getting cut even a bit of slack being his immediate family. The three oldest children and their spouses chiefly. It’ll be interesting to watch all his various advisers and cabinet members get dissed and ignored, with Trump defaulting to the counsel of family. How long Bannon, Conway, Flynn, et al will put up with being overridden will be a story to keep watch on.
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Meet The Kushners.
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Just because Mike Allen says something doesn’t make it so. And if he were worth squat he’d find out what that work around might be.
But he isn’t.
Yep. Get the Autopen ready. Jared has first dibs on that booger. They should make that thing like the new IPhone with fingerprint recognition software.
Who sez we don’t need no stinkin’ nepotism laws?..I ask you.
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That would probably work. And free Ivanka up from calls of being an adulterer when its exposed she is sleeping with Daddy.
The “pardon” approach however is just plain stupid, and wouldn’t work. A pardon is for crimes committed. its not a cover for future crimes. Pardoning Kuchner would only protect him for the time he served before the pardon…if he held the job one minute after the pardon, he would be violation once again.
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I’m just as disgusted with these people as everyone else, here, but I don’t think this really breaks with the spirit of the anti-nepotism laws. It’s one thing if this guy was getting to head up a federal agency or something. But if Trump wants to have his son-in-law offer advice on certain matters, is that really a problem? Every word that comes out of Jared Kushner’s mouth is .5 seconds of time Trump ISN’T listening to Flynn, Conway, Banon, et al. (To say nothing of the Newts, Rudys and Christies we assumed would be filling out these roles.) Pick your battles.
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…Richard Painter, President George W. Bush’s chief ethics lawyer…
Talk about your oxymorons!
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Its not just “spirit” involved here. I believe any job Kushner takes, that involves a governmental salary, will be violation of the word of the law. So my guess is, they are going to play loose with what “salary” means…name him to a position so he carries clout in meetings, but have the Trump Organization pay his salary…that sort of thing.
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My favorite tidbit of that NYT article is the mention of the “fading jewel in the crown” of the Kushner real estate empire, 666 5th ave. As a former NYer I know that building and it’s former swanky restaurant but can you imagine what the right wingers, evangelicals and fake news folks would do with that if a Democrat owned it? Clearly, it would signal the End Times.
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My main point is effectively there are no laws governing Trump’s conduct in office. Much of what I read about restrictions on the Executive seems to have caveats, exceptions, avenues of avoidance, the needed intervention of Congress to enforce them or invoke sanctions for violations, etc. I gather when you get right down to it damned little is illegal in the most technical, chargeable, enforceable sense. I think with Trump we’ll see he does whatever he chooses, to little legal detriment or calling to account.
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That’s dangerous thinking, that assumes those people don’t already have Kushner’s and, more importantly, Ivanka’s, ears. The whole process of running an inner circle around someone like Trump is to unify messages as much as possible to Trump hears the same ideas from everyone.
A lot of time was spent during the campaign to paint Ivanka as a moderating influence on Trump. But there is scant to no evidence to show that she actually is. She took no significant positions counter to her father’s, and nearly every “reasonable” thing she said was quickly countered by her actual actions which showed the exact opposite.
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Main takeaway: Donald Trump doesn’t know very many people. Sad!
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Of all things to be upset about. “Trump hires adviser to continue being adviser.’” This is not some instance of a corrupt ruler bestowing riches on his family once in power (although I think that is also likely to happen as well). This is the classic case of a President transitioning the advisers from his campaign into advisory roles in the White House. Every President does this. The fact that Jared is his son-in-law is incidental. This is a total distraction from all of the truly corrupt and awful things this administration is gearing up to do.
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That may be true, especially with regards to willingness of Congress to enforce. But that is an extremely dangerous path to go down for the Trump administration. Its literally placing your head on the chopping block and just trusting that Congress won’t drop the axe. Eventually, the situation will change, and when it does, he is cooked.
And the situation will change. The problem with hiring a bunch of unethical people to run your cabinet is…they are unethical, and will each have their own agendas for running the country. Look at what is reportedly happening with the DoD and the transition team. They are probably never going to hit a point where “things are locked and loaded, lets go do this!”, which means…high levels of incompetence and corruption. Eventually…probably around the beginning of 2018, the electoral cost of not taking action becomes too high…especially with the added reward of taking action means you get to paint the GOP Congress critters as stand up patriots defending America from corruption. (I know, it sounds absurd…but it WILL be how this will be played out in the media)
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Who do you believe helped pick those bad choices?
Hint: it was Kushner.
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Was about to post exactly the same sentiment. “Spirit”? If that doesn’t call for a spit take, nothing does.
I think the emphasis is on fail. The US went on after that to back a war in Colombia that displaced 5 million people. And certainly, the Shah and the roughly half million Iranians who moved to the LA area couldn’t stay in Iran due to the collaboration problem. The US is currently involved in numerous conflicts around the world, drone-bombing away without much consequence, and a Congress that seems to go along with this. Failure in Trump’s case means having to turn the power of the state against parts of the citizenry not usually brutalized by the state.
It’s a huge problem, and a direct violation of black-letter law.
No family members may work for any president’s administration, per the anti-nepotism law passed after RFK was Attorney General for JFK.
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That’s when you know up is down, black is white, and the sky really is falling…
Just say that again outloud…“GEORGE BUSH’S ETHICS LAWYER”. Sheesh. We really have arrived at the 9 circles of Hell.
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The crime is not in accepting such a position.
The crime is in offering such a position.
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