Jared Kushner Still Has a Job Because Washington Only Fears Republicans – The Intercept
We dont know the reality underlying recent reporting about Jared Kushners meetings this past December with the Russian ambassador to the U.S. and the head of Russias government-owned development bank. The only two plausible explanations seem to be that Kushner was involved in something supremely sketchy, or that hes extraordinarily nave and incompetent.
What we do know for certain is that if the Washington Post and New York Times had run similar stories about the top-level son-in-law aide to a Democratic president, that son-in-law would have been out the White House door before the dead-treeversions of the newspapers hit doorsteps the next morning.
Or not. Its more than likely that,if a Democratic president attempted to put their son-in-law in a comparable position of power, the intense outcry would have prevented it from happening at all.Try to imagine Hillary Clinton proposing that Chelseas husband Marc Mezvinsky like Kushner, a rich New Yorker with a convict father and no relevant experience should be in charge of reinventing government, solving the opioid epidemic, reforming the criminal justice system, and negotiating peace in the Middle East.
Even speculating about such a thing, however, is irrelevant, because a Democratic president whod bragged that shed fired the director of the FBI in order to relieve the pressure of a counterintelligence investigation would already have been impeached 37 times. In the run up to the 2016 election, prominent Republicans were calling for Clinton impeachment hearings to start on her inauguration day, or even before she took office.
All of this is a symptom of the extraordinary rightward tiltof the U.S. political system one that goes deeper than even most Democrats and progressives understand and which makes it unlikely that well ever get the full story about President Trump and Russia, nefarious or not.
To take a particularly salient example, there hasnt been a significant investigation headed by a Democratic special prosecutor or independent counsel since the Nixon administration. The last one was Archibald Cox, whod been solicitor general during the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, and then was the first special prosecutor appointed to look into Watergate.
After Richard Nixon ordered the Justice Department to fire Cox in 1973, the next special prosecutor was Leon Jaworski. Nominally a Democrat, Jaworskivoted for Nixon in 1960 and again in 1968. After Watergate, he went on to support George H.W. Bush in the 1980 presidential primaries and then, after Bush lost, founded Democrats for Reagan.
And thats essentially it. In the subsequent four decades it became accepted D.C. wisdom that a special prosecutor investigating a Republican administration cant be a Democrat, whereas one investigating a Democratic administration must be a Republican.
So Lawrence Walsh, who ran the Iran-Contra inquiry beginning in 1986, was a member of the GOP. For his troubles he was mercilessly attacked by his fellow Republicans.
The first independent counsel to investigate Whitewater during Bill Clintons presidency was Robert Fiske, a Republican. When he found that White House aide Vince Foster had in fact killed himself rather than being murdered by the Clinton octopus, columnists and GOP politicians predictably declared that this raised questions about Fiske. So he was replaced by Kenneth Starr, another Republican, whose inquiry went so far afield from Whitewater thathe ended uplooking into Clintons affair with Monica Lewinsky, leading to Clintons impeachment. Whitewater was finally wound down in 2003 by Robert Ray, a third Republican.
Next up was John Danforth, a special counsel for an investigation of the FBIs siege of Waco, Texas, and, of course, a Republican.
Patrick Fitzgerald, who was appointed in 2003 by then-Deputy Attorney General James Comey to look into the Valerie Plame affair, broke the pattern, sort of. Fitzgerald wasnt a Republican, but he wasnt a Democrat either;he was a self-declared independent.
Things have returned to normal, however, with the appointmentof Robert Mueller to head the investigation into whatever happened with Russia and the Trump campaign in 2016: Mueller is a Republican.
A similar phenomenon exists with two key D.C. power positions, director of the FBI and secretary of defense.
Since the ultra-conservative J. Edgar Hoover, there have been six FBI directors, three appointed by Democratic presidents and three appointed by Republicans. All six directors have been Republicans, although James Comey recently changed his longtime GOP registration.
Not all defense secretaries have been Republicans. But three of the seven chosen by Democratic presidents since Jimmy Carter have been and in fact President Obama simply kept George W. Bushs secretary of defense, Robert Gates, who served under Obama longer than he did under Bush. Meanwhile, six of the seven defense secretaries appointed by Republican presidents post-Nixon have been Republicans, while James Mattis does not have a declared political allegiance.
President Obama presents the Presidential Medal of Freedom to outgoing Secretary of Defense Robert Gates during the Armed Forces Farewell Tribute for Gates at the Pentagons River Terrace Parade Field in Washington on June 30, 2011.
Photo: Jim Watson/AFP/Getty Images
An in-depth New York Times examination of why Comey broke with FBI policy to publicly discuss the FBIs 2016 investigation of Clinton while following the rules and keeping that of the Trump campaign under wraps was headlined Comey Tried to Shield the FBIFrom Politics. Then He Shaped an Election. But what the Times article reveals is that the politics Comey feared was solely attacks from Republicans. Michael Steinbach, the FBIs former top national security official, is quoted saying that if Comey had not revealed the Clinton emails found on Anthony Weiners computer and Clinton went on to win, Republicansfury would have been so intense that he didnt think the organization the FBI would have survived. None of the people around Comey had any comparable apprehension that keeping the Trump investigation secret could lead to Democrats destroying the bureau.
Similar D.C. stories are legion. In 2009, right-wing provocateur James OKeefe released misleadingly edited videos about the 40-year-old Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, which did critical work registering poor voters. Within weeks, congressional Democrats, then with large majorities in both chambers, killed federal funding for ACORN. Five separate investigations later found that ACORN personnel had not broken any laws or misspent government money. Nonetheless, within a year, ACORN collapsed.
Then in 2010, Andrew Breitbart posted an excerpt from a video of a speech by Shirley Sherrod, a Department of Agriculture official, falsely presented to make it appear that Sherrod held bigoted views toward white people. It quickly spread throughout the rest of the right-wing media ecosystem. Predictably, the Obama administration immediately folded, asking Sherrod for her resignation the same day. Even prominent progressive Benjamin Jealous, then head of the NAACP, criticized her. Sherrod later sued Breitbart for defamation, settling the case in 2015 withundisclosed terms.
And now, as the Trump administration gets going, government staff reportedly fear being personally targeted by right-wing media attacks more than ever before.
In the end, whats most remarkable about this phenomenon is that both parties and the journalists who cover them have accepted it as the natural state of American politics. No one in D.C. seemseven to perceive anything could be any different. Republicans and their conservative media apparatus are engaged in a continuous war against Democrats orany Republican who moves an inch out of lock step. Democrats exist in a permanent defensive crouch, willing to throw any part of their coalition to the wolves at a moments notice and failing to even articulate this dynamic, let alone fight it. For their part, many Washington journalists allow Republicans to setthe agenda by credulously covering even the flimsiest of attacks at legitimate scandals.
So dont fear for Jared Kushner or Donald Trump. As Bruce Bartlett, a GOP apostate and former staffer for Jack Kemp, Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, glumly put it, if Watergate happened today, Nixon would have finished his term.
Top photo: Jared Kushner, senior White House adviser, attends a luncheon with Mauricio Macri, Argentinas president, and U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington on April 27, 2017.
See the article here:
Jared Kushner Still Has a Job Because Washington Only Fears Republicans - The Intercept
- Trump is crushing it, but the Republicans can still blow it in 2026 and 2028 - The Hill - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Jan. 6 Rioters Are the New Hot Event in Town for Republicans - The Wall Street Journal - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Republicans and Democrats visited Alligator Alcatraz for the first time. Heres what they saw. - Politico - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Pollster: Republicans outnumber Democrats in number of active registered voters in Louisiana for first time - louisianaradionetwork.com - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Cortez Masto Blasts Republicans for Refusing to Fix the Provision in Their Tax Bill that Limits the Wagering Loss Deduction - Senator Catherine Cortez... - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Karoline Leavitt Just Made A Trump Claim So Ridiculous That Even Republicans Are Calling It Out - Yahoo - July 14th, 2025 [July 14th, 2025]
- Republicans Blame Canada for Wildfire Smoke Suffocating the U.S. - The New York Times - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans block attempt to roll back massive tax hike on professional gamblers - AP News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans run a risky strategy for holding the House that rests on redrawn maps - Politico - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- As Texas Republicans prepare for mid-decade redistricting, cautionary tales loom from the past - The Texas Tribune - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Trump warns Republicans against rejecting cuts to PBS and NPR - The Hill - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans probably shouldve read their far-right megabill before passing it - MSNBC News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans Are Changing Their Tune on Immigration: Poll - Newsweek - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Kelly: Republicans cut health care and food for AZ families so the wealthy could pay lower taxes - Arizona Mirror - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Think Democrats and Republicans can't work together? On sealing eviction records, they do. - Stateline - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- How Republicans Rejected A Texas Flood Warning System - The Lever - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Texas Republicans have a brazen new plan to block Democrats from retaking the House in 2026 - Mother Jones - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Ron Faucheux: Will the Big Beautiful Bill sink Republicans? - NOLA.com - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- The big, beautiful bill could get ugly for Republicans - The Hill - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans push for business sanction on sanctuary cities - NJ Spotlight News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Nicolle Wallace: Trump 'has turned Republicans in the Senate into ghosts' - MSN - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Jury finds former head of Island County Republicans guilty in Elections Office mask mandate case - Whidbey News-Times - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Charlie Kirk sounds the alarm on the biggest threat to Republicans holding the White House in 2028 - Fox News - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Jon Stewart Rips Republicans for Trying to Jedi Mind Trick Americans Into Thinking There Never Was an Epstein List | Video - Yahoo - July 12th, 2025 [July 12th, 2025]
- Republicans toe Trump line even in aftermath of deadly Texas floods - The Guardian - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Opinion | How Republicans can defy history and survive the midterms - The Washington Post - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- What the Big, Beautiful Bill Reveals About Republicans - Slate Magazine - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Are Republicans bowing to Trump even more than they used to? - KCRW - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- How Republicans sidelined the health care industry and pushed through historic Medicaid cuts - STAT - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans urge US universities to cut ties with 'nefarious' Chinese-backed scholarship program - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Full List of Republicans Who Voted To Slash Weather Forecasting Funding - Newsweek - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans are already getting hammered over the OBBB - Punchbowl News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Will Republicans in Virginia pay a price for the One Big Beautiful Bill? Here's what the math shows. - Cardinal News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- These Republicans fought for green energy tax credits. Trumps latest order could threaten them - Deseret News - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- 'Nefarious mechanism': Republicans issue stern warning to US universities against Chinese scholarship pro - Times of India - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans Are Already Licking Their Lips at the Chance of Another Reconciliation Bill - NOTUS - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Republicans say 'big, beautiful bill' will address states with high SNAP payment error, including Colorado - Denver7 - July 10th, 2025 [July 10th, 2025]
- Opinion | Everyone Hates This Bill. Dan Osborn Could Make Republicans Pay for It. - The New York Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 'Big, Beautiful Bill': Which House Republicans voted against the bill? - FOX 5 DC - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- 2 Ohio Republicans taking on their own party to protect access to marijuana - News 5 Cleveland WEWS - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Republicans just cut Medicaid. Will it cost them control of Congress? - Politico - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- News Analysis: The healthcare cuts approved by Trump, Republicans go well beyond Medicaid - Los Angeles Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- People Are Saying We Might Not Even Make It To The Midterm Election After Elizabeth Warren Tried To Give Hope About Republicans Having To "Face... - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Fake Weather, Fake Flooding: Republicans Are Spreading A Bizarre Conspiracy Theory After The Deadly Texas Floods - HuffPost - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Trump & Congressional Republicans Big Ugly Bill Will Hurt American Families - New Democrat Coalition (.gov) - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- What the Republicans New Policy Bill Means for Higher Education - The New York Times - July 8th, 2025 [July 8th, 2025]
- Republicans used to be the fiscally conservative party, but look at us now - Idaho Capital Sun - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Trump Goes on a Charm Offensive as He Woos Holdout Republicans - The New York Times - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- U.S. Rep. Castor Statement on Republicans Big Ugly Bill That Will Inflict Outsized Harm & Raise Costs on Floridians - U.S. Representative Kathy... - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Opinion | Republicans may be cooking up a mess in Texas - The Washington Post - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Republicans, Democrats start gaming out Trump's tax-cut bill hit to 2026 elections - Reuters - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- Republicans Pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Ahead of the July 4 Deadline - Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP - July 6th, 2025 [July 6th, 2025]
- These Republicans Savaged Their Partys Bill, Then Voted for It - The New York Times - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- How Republicans Re-engineered the Tax Code - The New York Times - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Republicans passed the 'big, beautiful bill.' Will it come back to haunt them? - USA Today - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Congressional Republicans defy expectations and send megabill to Trump - Colorado Public Radio - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Why Republicans once staunchly opposed to Trumps bill changed their minds - PBS - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Texas Republicans vote to send GOPs tax and spending megabill to Trumps desk after threatening to tank it - The Texas Tribune - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- The 2 House Republicans who voted no on Trump's sweeping domestic policy bill - ABC News - Breaking News, Latest News and Videos - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- House Republicans pass their megabill, sending it to President Trump - Politico - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Jeffries calls out Republicans over Medicaid ahead of final megabill vote - Politico - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Which House Republicans voted against Trump tax bill? - USA Today - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- These House Republicans Voted Against Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' - Newsweek - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- These are the 5 Republicans who voted against Trumps Big Beautiful Bill - AL.com - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Where Trumps massive policy bill stands in the House as some Republicans express concerns - PBS - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- House Republicans expected to pass Trump's massive tax and policy bill by July 4 - NPR - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Republicans Vulnerable to Losing Their Seats After Voting Yes on Trump Bill - Newsweek - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Who were the 2 Republicans that voted against Trump's tax bill? - NBC 5 Chicago - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- House Republicans advance Trump's tax-cut bill to a final vote - Reuters - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Congress passes Trump's tax and spending bill, with all four Colorado Republicans in the House voting "yes" - The Colorado Sun - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Republicans Just Passed the Worst Bill in Modern American History - Mother Jones - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Senate works a tense overnight session as Republicans seek support for Trumps big bill - PBS - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Article | Senate Republicans shock the House with a supercharged megabill - POLITICO Pro - July 4th, 2025 [July 4th, 2025]
- Senate Republicans struggle to push Trump's budget bill over the finish line - BBC - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Which Republicans Voted Against Trumps Bill in the Senate - The New York Times - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- The Republicans who bucked Trump on his big bill: From the Politics Desk - NBC News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Why Republicans are rushing to pass Trump's "big, beautiful bill" - MSNBC News - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- House Republicans don't have the votes yet to pass Trump's megabill - CNBC - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Which Senate Republicans voted against Trump's tax and spending bill? - USA Today - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]
- Fact-Checking Trump and Republicans on Proposed Tax Cuts in Policy Bill - The New York Times - July 2nd, 2025 [July 2nd, 2025]