Donald Trump’s reelection campaign has been going after former Vice President Joe Biden’s son Hunter. Even though that is tacky, how do Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner get away with making millions in other countries?
A former speechwriter for Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) and current CNN contributor Amanda Carpenter took them on in an article she wrote for The Bulwark. She wrote about the two top Trump advisers who came into their jobs with no government experience, except Trump trusts them.
Carpenter wrote about Jared briefing the country about coronavirus:
‘Why, for example, is Jared on the television screen again, this time to brief the nation about the coronavirus? Why do we have to listen to Ivanka laugh along as she accepts false credit from her father for creating 15 million jobs? Of course, these are stupid questions because we all know the answer. Nepotism, duh. And yet, nepotism doesn’t even begin to explain what’s so galling about their presence.’
For some reason, the press has given the two freedom to do as they wished without criticism. Trump’s youngest child is 14-years-old and off-limits. Yet, Ivanka is 38 and her husband is 39. They are fast approaching middle-age and certainly should be given close examination. Carpenter wrote:
‘Maybe reporters hoped Jared and Ivanka would provide a friendly access point to the White House. Maybe some commentators thought the couple would serve as a moderating force upon the president. Maybe longstanding journalistic norms about presidents’ “children” being off-limits to close media scrutiny are somehow being applied to this 39-year-old man and 38-year-old woman. For whatever reason, Jared and Ivanka still don’t get the full criticism they deserve—a fact they use to full advantage. Their carefully crafted calm and cool public images are cheap plaster over unbridled greed and arrogance that leads them’
Carpenter wrote this warning about Trump’s immediate family:
‘Recall, neither Ivanka nor Jared has ever been elected or confirmed to any position. Neither has prior government experience (aside from Jared’s brief internship in the Manhattan D.A.’s office). Neither has subject-matter expertise in the policy fields they have been involved in. Yet, they now have a say in who gets life-saving medical equipment and to whom and how billions of dollars will flow. If you’ve been waiting to get worried about their roles, now would be the time to start.’
Last month Vice President Mike Pence suggested Kushner work with FEMA (Federal Emergency. Management Agency) on the test kits and managing ventilators. Yet, when Trump’s son-in-law finally spoke he was way off:
‘The notion of the federal stockpile was it’s supposed to be our stockpile. It’s not supposed to be state stockpiles that they then use.’
The president also has Kushner handling peace in the Middle East, Iraq, and China. Plus, he is in charge of building Trump’s revered border wall and reforming the Veterans Affairs and the criminal justice system. In his spare time, he was tasked with the opioid crisis, government technology, and making the whole government more efficient. Carpenter wrote:
‘Kushner has no “lane.” He dabbles in everything while being accountable for nothing at all.’
Carpenter took on Ivanka next, writing:
‘Then there’s Ivanka, who Axios reports is busy lobbying banks for billions. She is playing “a key role in negotiating small-business provisions in the new rescue bill being planned by the Hill and the White House.” Last year, President Trump said he thought about appointing her to the United Nations and offered her the top position at the World Bank because she’s “good with numbers.” She declined; why would she leave the White House where she’s at the center of all the action?’
It seems that Ivanka and Jared made somewhere in the neighborhood of between $28.8 million and $135.1 million in investments in 2018. Carpenter continued:
‘Their supporters often point out how they forgo government salaries, but that’s easy to do when their combined assets are worth as much as $786 million. Especially when they never really gave up their day jobs to begin with.’
The journalist noted that this nepotism is “paving the way for something worse:”
‘In her new book American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power, journalist Andrea Bernstein argues that Jared and Ivanka are the products of multi-generational grift. She traces how both families have a long history of abusing the various tax, immigration, political, and legal systems to get ahead. But neither Jared nor Ivanka seems quite wealthy enough, competent enough, or capable of wielding enough political influence outside of Trumpland to properly earn the title of “oligarch.” That doesn’t mean they aren’t using their time in the White House to toy with the idea, though.’
Carpenter continued:
‘[T]heir wealth comes from dodging taxes, greasing the political system, seeking political favors, and flouting the rule of law. Really, it’s no wonder why Jared and Ivanka fell in love…How they help Dad and how Dad helps them may be their business, but it shouldn’t be the country’s. Not unless, that is, we are willing to accept a government of, by, and for the Trumps.’
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
