I don't know what others would define as a Red Wave, but whatever we got Tuesday night, I'll take it. As of this writing, the GOP is set to pick up the House of Representatives, giving chairman gavels to both Reps. James Comer and Jim Jordan, along with subpoena power. It is going to be some kind of fun in the Capitol. And if the remaining votes left to count in Arizona come from whom we think they come from, the GOP may not even need the likely win coming in the Georgia run-off to take the Senate.
Individually, though, there were oddities. Early voting carried the brain-damaged John Fetterman across the finish line. And Joe Biden has been able to spin the outcome of the election to where his 2024 campaign is still viable. But a Biden nomination in 2024 might be the event that finally wrecks the Democrat party. We should all be so lucky.
Donald Trump, on the other hand, is taking a lot of heat. For not spending his $100 million in PAC money to help candidates. And for costing Senate seats by backing inferior candidates for nomination. Trump's response has been churlish at best, striking out at Ron DeSantis and even Glenn Youngkin.
Meanwhile, Gov. DeSantis played 2022 like a fiddle, redirecting the focus back onto the millions of illegal aliens pouring across the border. That, along with crime and inflation, became a dominant issue for the Republicans. DeSantis and his Florida Republicans then pulled off a tsunami of a Red Wave on Tuesday night.
Team Trump noticed, and Jared Kushner, of all people, was out early to complain. If you recall, it was Kushner who worked against the Border Wall and other Trumpian policies, to the fury of conservatives like Ann Coulter. It was Kushner who pushed out Steve Bannon and his allies in the White House and brought in so many D.C. lifers, like the generals — Kelly, McMaster, and Mattis — who hated Trump.
And it was Kushner who took over COVID policy (Mike Pence was just a figurehead) and empowered Fauci and Birx to run the response to the pandemic. Scott Atlas was finally brought in to do some real science; then he was also terminated by Jared.
Apparently, things were so bad in late 2020 that Peter Navarro led a "coup" to get Kushner fired, but Jared and Ivanka simply ignored Trump's request to leave.
So who is this all-powerful son-in-law, anyway? It's important to understand that Kushner's influence is not just from the fact that Trump adores Ivanka and will give her just about anything she asks. He is deeply indebted to Jared himself. After Trump's near-business-death experiences, it was Jared, the scion of the billionaire Kushner family, who came to his rescue.
Having burned his old lenders with Atlantic City casinos and the Plaza Hotel deal, Trump was able to get a lifeline at the Deutsche Bank to build his Chicago hotel project, but he soon defaulted there also and wound up in litigation in 2011.
But coming to the rescue were the new son-in-law and Jared's buddy in another division of Deutsche Bank, Rosemary Vrablic. Trump then got all the refinancing he needed to stay afloat and keep going. recommended by Blood Sugar Formula Diabetes Is Not From Sweets! Meet The Main Enemy Of Diabetes Learn more
It turned out that Vrablic was a bit too close to the Kushners, and she was later herself fired by the bank when it came out she was doing real estate deals with them on the side. No matter.
And again, it was Kushner and his friends — Steve Roth of Vornado Realty and a tiny bank in San Diego — who just recently arranged sales and refinancing of the lion's share of troubled Trump properties, leaving The Donald sitting pretty, with a mountain of cash. So, in any contest for influence inside Team Trump, there can only be one winner: Jared. He has the keys to the mint — the trust of powerful lenders Trump can't live without.
Kushner and his family have had their own financial problems, namely 666 5th Ave., the massive NYC office tower that threatened to ruin them. After Trump was elected president, Jared took over the Middle East desk for Trump, and suddenly the Kushner family entreaties to Qatar's sovereign wealth fund to buy 666 off their hands were no longer ignored. A lot of suspicious people think Jared got his friends in Saudi Arabia to lighten up their sanctions on Qatar, and as a reward, Qatar's Brookfield Properties bailed them out. Democrats have long been investigating the deal, but I doubt they even know where to begin.
After Jared returned to the private sector, he also formed a venture firm, like Hunter Biden, with no previous experience. But he did manage to get $2 billion from the Saudis — the same Saudi fund, in fact, investing in LIV Golf, which is working with Trump golf courses and now has a pay-for-play deal with Fox Sports. Democrats were also investigating all this.
The latest Kushner mess may even be the juiciest of all. Jared's droopy little brother, Joshua (married to supermodel Karlie Kloss) is at the center of what Kanye West says was the ripping off his share in ex-wife Kim Kardashian's underwear line. With West's money and career going down like MC Hammer, he will have a lot of time on his hands the next few years to complain about the Kushner family.
While the Democrats have until now never been able to land a punch on Trump's son-in-law, someone with more savvy and political know-how might — say, the Governor of Florida. DeSantis wouldn't even have to say anything bad about Trump himself. Just pummel Jared for the rotten job he did on the campaign, running the White House, the pandemic response, border security, and the continuing crime wave.
Rather than be angry, a lot of die-hard MAGA folks might even cheer him on as their bête noire got his just deserts. Mr. Trump has always had a lot of untalented courtiers, from Michael Cohen to Omarosa Manigault, whom he had no trouble dismissing. But the problem with a son-in-law is, it's not so easy to just say, "You're fired!"
Frank Friday is an attorney in Louisville, Ky.