March 4, 2018
This week, we learned that Jared Kushner secured a $184 million dollar loan from Apollo Global Management after discussing an administration post with Apollo head, Joshua Harris in a White House meeting (Source: “Kushner’s Family Business Received Loans After White House Meetings,” by Jesse Drucker, Kate Kelly and Ben Protess, The New York Times, 2/28/18). We also discovered that the administration “coincidentally” backed the Saudi blockade of Qatar (location of U.S. Central Command, a base housing 10,000 American military personnel) after the Qatari Fund rejected Kushner’s request for a loan (Source: “Mueller team asking if Kushner foreign business ties influenced Trump policy,” by Carol E. Lee, Julia Ainsley and Robert Windrem, NBCNews.com, 3/2/18).These two incidents prove that Jared, despite his vapid exterior, is as reckless and stupid as his father-in-law and as corrupt and criminal as his father. As several commentators have pointed out, it is one thing to engage in garden-variety corruption, dangling the prospect of administration appointments or favorable legal treatment for American business leaders in exchange for pecuniary gain, but it is quite another to be so desperate for the money to bail out your sinking real estate empire that you willingly betray important strategic allies and get in bed with treacherous “friends” like Saudi Arabia.
This news comes on the heels of the revelation that officials from the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico have all discussed how they might take advantage of Kushner’s combination of financial desperation and foreign policy ignorance (Source: “Kushner’s overseas contacts raise concern as foreign officials seek leverage,” by Shane Harris, Carol D. Leonnig, Greg Jaffe and Josh Dawsey, The Washington Post, 2/27/18). In a functioning democracy any one of these stories would be enough to prompt Congressional hearings and a demand for Kushner’s resignation. Instead, Congressional Republicans protect this treasonous empty suit while he mindlessly endangers our national security.
Meanwhile, Kushner’s father-in-law spent the week giving Republicans whiplash by careening wildly from one heterodox position to another. First, Trump shocked the Republican faithful by seeming to offer a full-throated endorsement of gun control. Trump being Trump, his policy idea included the blatantly unconstitutional proposal that guns be seized from citizens without due process (Source: “Trump Stuns Lawmakers with Seeming Embrace of Comprehensive Gun Control,” by Michael D. Shear, The New York Times, 2/28/18). Then, in a fit of pique presumably brought on by the imminent departure of Trump whisperer, Hope Hicks, Trump announced steep tariffs on imported steel and aluminum, raising the specter of a costly and destructive trade war, (Source: “Trump’s Steel Tariffs Raise Fears of a Damaging Trade War,” by Jim Tankersley, The New York Times, 3/2/18).
Many seem bewildered that Republicans continue to sit idly by while Trump flirts with war with North Korea, trashes decades’ old alliances and endangers our economy. They overlook the area in which Trump’s administration has been ruthlessly effective – using the massive machinery of the federal government to eviscerate protections for and inflict harm on people of color. ICE is tearing families apart and detaining record numbers of law-abiding immigrants. Jeff Sessions is ripping up consent decrees with police departments, and seeking to incarcerate as many people as possible. Sessions is also gearing up to attack colleges and universities for their affirmative action policies, hoping to choke off avenues of opportunity for students of color. The inescapable conclusion is that the desire of Republicans to undo any progress towards equality made in the last fifty years far outweighs any sense of patriotism or fealty to the democratic ideals that are a key part of our nation’s legacy. Clearly, Republicans and their supporters are gripped by paralyzing fear of a truly pluralistic democracy, where their primacy isn’t foreordained by gender, sexuality and skin color. The writing is on the wall: they would sooner destroy this country, than share it with us.
#Votethemout
#Paperballots
#Bluewave2018