Javanka Inc

Kushner Inc: Greed. Ambition. Corruption

Vicky Ward
 

St Martin’s Press; $29.99, 292 pages

The ascent of Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner as presidential advisors is one of multiple controversies that assail Donald Trump’s presidency. His regime that has seen unprecedented turnover at senior levels — Mr Trump is on his third Chief of Staff, that too in a temporary capacity. But his daughter and son-in-law have displayed more resilience than achievement. What makes this underachieving power couple tick? Journalist and author Vicky Ward attempts to answer that question in Kushner Inc: Greed. Ambition. Corruption.  

Javanka is the derisive label Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s powerful White House Chief Strategist, bestowed on the couple. Mr Bannon was sacked after Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury, the sensational insider account of the Trump regime, revealed him as the principal informant of Mr Kushner and Ms Trump’s shenanigans. But the nickname has endured.

Much of the information in this book is not new but taken together, the facts suggest a Third World regime than the rule-based democracy of the world’s most powerful nation. Mr Wolff’s book quotes Mr Bannon as saying that Javanka were using their stints to prepare for future presidential bids: first Ivanka, then Jared. Ms Ward sort of confirms this but suggests that their immediate interests are more prosaic: for Jared to save his family from a disastrous real estate deal — the purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue — and Ivanka to pursue her fashion line.

Ms Ward paints a picture of two dysfunctional families led by billionaires with elastic morals and ethics. Donald Trump’s scandal-ridden history is well documented. But as Jared came into the limelight, the Kushner family came under scrutiny, and it’s not a pretty story either. Kushner Senior is a devout and domineering patriarch, self-appointed doyen of the Jewish community and realtor extraordinaire. But he is also a convicted felon, spending 14 months in federal prison for tax evasion and related misdemeanours (a saga that included blackmailing his sister and brother-in-law).

Ms Ward supplements published reportage with wide-ranging interviews — not difficult in this leaky White House — that recreate Javanka’s gilded world. Neither, it is clear, is the sharpest knife in the box but both have the street smarts to exploit their access to power.

As she writes, “It was felt both at the offices of the Observer  [the paper Jared’s father bought for him to run] and at 666 Fifth Avenue that the couple was well-mannered and more self-controlled than either of their volatile fathers, but beneath the polish was a toxic mix of arrogance and ignorance. Elizabeth Spiers, a former Observer editor, noticed during a visit to Jared and Ivanka’s apartment that there was not a book in sight and the pair had zero intellectual curiosity. (Others refute that ‘no books’ claim: they recall a few art books — or ‘decorator-curated books’).”

There are other digs at the couple’s sub-par intellect. Jared had up on his office wall a frame containing the famous opening lines of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities —“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.” He loved the phrase, he told a reporter. But when a visitor sought to discuss the classic, Jared admitted he hadn’t read it.

As for Ivanka, her supposed moderating impact on her father have been a conspicuous failure (his creepy relationship with her is duly noted).  Her ostensible agenda to promote the cause of working women has had a modest impact, though it allows her to globe-trot on taxpayer dime. Her claims to have contributed to tax policy have been hotly refuted. According to Ms Ward, she arrives late to the office, hair and make-up professionally done. Last year, she wound up her business after consumers and retail outlets shunned her brand but, mysteriously, her companies continue to amass patents in China in the midst of a trade war between the two countries.    

Jared’s survival is no less mysterious. He has a weighty portfolio by any standards: from forging peace in the Middle East, to solving the opioid crisis, to government reform, criminal justice reform, liaison with Mexico, with China, with Muslims. We know how all of that has turned out. Yet he has escaped scrutiny on his meetings with Russians, his role in the sacking of FBI chief James Comey, his limited divestiture from his businesses (last year his sister offered Chinese investors US visas if they invested in Kushner Companies) and his secretive bromance with Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammad Bin Salman (who privately told the UAE crown prince that he has Jared in his pocket).  

Like the Mueller report, Ms Ward’s book points to much circumstantial evidence of ethical transgressions. Her contributions to the mass of reportage on Javanka are two. First, that Mr Trump told John Kelly, “Get rid of my kids, get them back to New York.” Apparently, he thought they were giving him bad press. When the FBI declined to grant Jared top-level security clearance, Kelly obliged by savagely downgrading his access. Then, nothing happened. Instead, Kelly exited; Javanka are still around.

Second, early in the presidency, Ivanka tried to reorganise the East Wing, traditionally the preserve of the First Lady, and was thwarted in no uncertain terms by Melania. In an interview, Ms Ward said only the reclusive first lady can counter Javanka’s influence with President Trump. Implausible? In the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party that is the Trump White House, all bizarre options are on the table.

From the Adams to the Roosevelts, Kennedys, Bushes and Clintons, dynasts have been part of the US political scene for at least two centuries, and those in power have not hesitated to promote their relatives. But even by those amoral standards, Javanka have lowered the bar. That is, the bar as set by American standards. Indians inured to the deep-rooted corruption of our myriad political dynasties may wonder what the fuss is all about.