Old_Trapper70
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- Dec 17, 2014
- Messages
- 2,383
Irregardless of what you think of Trump, is nepotism now the wave of the future? I know the right wing is already whining about the possibility of Chelsea Clinton running for a political office, and we saw the whining they did about the Clinton duo. Why aren't they whining now?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jared-ivanka-ask-country-can-090040557.html
"My fear was that Trump would run his White House the way he had run his business empire — as a right of inheritance. The convention in Cleveland had made it clear to anyone paying attention that Trump wasn’t running as a Republican, but rather as the patriarch of a celebrity clan. I called the column “Ivanka Trump, White House czar.”
I was wrong. In an administration where women play only supportive roles, Ivanka has settled for assistant White House czar. The bigger job belongs to her 36-year-old husband, Jared Kushner, whose portfolio so far includes brokering Middle East peace, negotiating trade deals, reconfiguring the federal government, stamping out opioids, establishing ties with China and Mexico and — as of this week — surveying our strategy in Iraq.
"I guess all that’s left is to put him in charge of financial regulation and criminal prosecutions, and then the entire aging Cabinet can spend the next three-plus years swimming and swing dancing at Mar-a-Lago, like characters from “Cocoon.”
A raft of critics have recently come after Jared and Ivanka, alleging that they don’t know a thing about policy (well, yeah) and that they’re awash in ethical conflicts (like that matters). But the problem with Washington’s newest power couple is larger and more pervasive than any of that, and it illuminates the underlying darkness in this administration.
Before we get to that, though, let’s put all this in some context. It’s not uncommon for presidents to rely on the guidance of spouses or other relatives, as we all do. But you’d have to go back to the early 1960s to find anything remotely comparable to the familial power center in Trump’s White House.
<skip>
And this gets to the heart of my issue with Kushner and Ivanka, and with the Trump family acquisition of the White House generally. Basically, they’ve decided all of a sudden that they’d very much like to run the country for a spell, but they’re not willing to sacrifice a damn thing for the privilege.
Robert Kennedy could probably have doubled his fortune had he wanted to stay outside of government and profit from his brother’s name. That was never the idea.
Whether you loved the power-thirsty Kennedys or hated them, whether you agreed with their vision for the country or not, no one could reasonably argue that they didn’t choose to serve our interests over their own. The same was true for the Bushes, by the way.
was cratering.)" data-reactid="105">Not so with the Trumps, from Donald on down. Public service is a playground to them, an accidental hobby. (Though apparently not as important a hobby as skiing, which is what Jared and Ivanka were doing while the health care bill was cratering.)
The idea that they should lose anything in order to govern, that doing this with integrity should cost them any real wealth or opportunity, seems as foreign and misguided to them as a North Korean haircut."
https://www.yahoo.com/news/jared-ivanka-ask-country-can-090040557.html
"My fear was that Trump would run his White House the way he had run his business empire — as a right of inheritance. The convention in Cleveland had made it clear to anyone paying attention that Trump wasn’t running as a Republican, but rather as the patriarch of a celebrity clan. I called the column “Ivanka Trump, White House czar.”
I was wrong. In an administration where women play only supportive roles, Ivanka has settled for assistant White House czar. The bigger job belongs to her 36-year-old husband, Jared Kushner, whose portfolio so far includes brokering Middle East peace, negotiating trade deals, reconfiguring the federal government, stamping out opioids, establishing ties with China and Mexico and — as of this week — surveying our strategy in Iraq.
"I guess all that’s left is to put him in charge of financial regulation and criminal prosecutions, and then the entire aging Cabinet can spend the next three-plus years swimming and swing dancing at Mar-a-Lago, like characters from “Cocoon.”
A raft of critics have recently come after Jared and Ivanka, alleging that they don’t know a thing about policy (well, yeah) and that they’re awash in ethical conflicts (like that matters). But the problem with Washington’s newest power couple is larger and more pervasive than any of that, and it illuminates the underlying darkness in this administration.
Before we get to that, though, let’s put all this in some context. It’s not uncommon for presidents to rely on the guidance of spouses or other relatives, as we all do. But you’d have to go back to the early 1960s to find anything remotely comparable to the familial power center in Trump’s White House.
<skip>
And this gets to the heart of my issue with Kushner and Ivanka, and with the Trump family acquisition of the White House generally. Basically, they’ve decided all of a sudden that they’d very much like to run the country for a spell, but they’re not willing to sacrifice a damn thing for the privilege.
Robert Kennedy could probably have doubled his fortune had he wanted to stay outside of government and profit from his brother’s name. That was never the idea.
Whether you loved the power-thirsty Kennedys or hated them, whether you agreed with their vision for the country or not, no one could reasonably argue that they didn’t choose to serve our interests over their own. The same was true for the Bushes, by the way.
was cratering.)" data-reactid="105">Not so with the Trumps, from Donald on down. Public service is a playground to them, an accidental hobby. (Though apparently not as important a hobby as skiing, which is what Jared and Ivanka were doing while the health care bill was cratering.)
The idea that they should lose anything in order to govern, that doing this with integrity should cost them any real wealth or opportunity, seems as foreign and misguided to them as a North Korean haircut."
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