Donald Trump has been publicly told “No,” and that is a good thing for conservatives.
Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, has again confirmed that he would not be joining his father-in-law in the White House if asked.
Talking Points…
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Republicans are now looking into Hunter and Joe Biden for influence peddling, but the very same thing could apply to Jared Kushner, the second Democrats get control of the House again. Kushner had some notable accomplishments during Trump’s administration, but that will all be overshadowed by the Saudis writing him a check for $2 billion after he left office and Kushner was back in the private sector.
The panel that screens investments for the Crown Prince noted several objections to handing an unproven fund $2 billion, but all of those concerns were dismissed, with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman overriding those concerns to give Kushner the money.
Trump’s detractors say this looked like a payoff for Kushner leading the defense of the Crown Prince during the Trump administration after intelligence reports concluded that the Crown Prince had approved the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in 2018. It also did not help that the investment given to Kushner was double the amount given to another Trump administration official, former Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. His Liberty Strategic Capital Fund was given $1 billion by the Saudis even though Mnuchin had a proven track record.
There has been a lot of talk about who would work in the Trump administration if Trump wins this election. More specifically, there are questions about which family members Trump would bring in. While Ivanka has been adamant that she is done with politics, Kushner seemed to leave that door open in previous interviews, but that just changed.
With Trump seemingly having the nomination locked up and now it just being a matter of beating Joe Biden in a general election, Kushner was asked directly if he would join Trump if he were to win again in 2024. Kushner responded:
“I was very fortunate to play a role in the campaign and then join him in the administration.
“There was some incredible things we were able to get done together. Very, very proud of them. But this time, I think he’ll be able to build a really incredible team based on the people who are available.”
Kushner also drew a distinction between the current campaign and the 2016 campaign, which he described as more of a “family campaign.” Kushner stated:
“They’re doing an incredible job. And I suspect that if he gets into office again, he would have just the level of competence and pretend professionalism, even more so than it was in the last administration.”
This is a good thing for Trump, whether he likes it or not, that Ivanka and Jared will not be joining him in his administration. Many conservatives still hold a grudge against both of them for influencing Trump on some matters where his policy leaned a bit more left than right.
If Trump is going to be successful in a one-term presidency, he will have to have the best of the best, and he absolutely has to avoid the turnover he had in his first administration. The biggest question that needs to be answered is who will work for Trump after seeing how he treated his officials in the first administration?
Most of the former officials that were in his administration are either in legal trouble, had their careers ruined, or had to deal with Trump’s rants, such as Trump calling Kayleigh McEnany “milk toast.” Prior to Trump trashing her, most would have considered her to be the best modern-day Press Secretary we have ever seen, but now Trump has alienated her. During the primary race, Governor Ron DeSantis broached this very topic, saying the most talented people in the GOP would be skeptical of joining Trump, whereas DeSantis already had a pretty good idea of who his key players were going to be.
Donald Trump needs to start putting some names out there in terms of who will be filling key roles to raise confidence in his possible administration. I understand that he wants MAGA-committed people working for him… but who are they? More importantly, can they work to unite a Republican Party that now has three divided factions that are barely speaking to each other at this point?
