President Trump’s selection of his son-in-law Jared Kushner as his policy guru was regarded as old-fashioned nepotism, but after four years he has “quietly racked up two dozen foreign and domestic policy wins that make up the core of the president’s legacy, reports Paul Bedard in his “Washington Secrets” column in the Washington Examiner.
Kushner told Bedard in an interview that his atypical background as a real estate developer that led to accomplishments such as criminal justice reform, the construction of 450 miles of border wall, coronavirus initiatives, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade deal, moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and the Middle East peace deals, the Abraham Accords.
“I got criticized for taking on too many initiatives and too many hard problems. But if I’m leaving my life and leaving my businesses and coming to volunteer for the government and having the honor to do this, I wanted to spend every minute working to accomplish for the American people,” said Kushner.
“I wanted to work on as many problems as possible. I wasn’t afraid to take on the big challenges because that’s where you can make long-term existential change,” he said.
Tommy Binion, the vice president of government relations at the Heritage Foundation, said Kushner “took on Washington’s toughest challenges and excelled.”
Historian Doug Wead said that there hasn’t been a presidential aide comparable to Kushner since former Nixon national security adviser Henry Kissinger.
“Jared Kushner towers above all other White House aides and all but a handful of Cabinet officers,” he said. “We have not seen the likes of him in history, and we will not likely see it again for a long time to come.”
The accomplishments:
- Moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem.
- The Abraham Accords between Israel and four Arab neighbors.
- The opening of Saudi airspace for flights to and from Israel, which had been banned since 1948.
- The original Trump Peace Plan that set the stage for the Accords.
- The successful negotiations of the Serbia-Kosovo economic normalization that also included Serbia agreeing to move its embassy to Jerusalem and Kosovo, a Muslim-majority country, to recognize Israel and move its embassy as well.
- The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Trade Agreement that replaced NAFTA.
- The negotiations with Saudi Arabia, Russia and Mexico that stabilized global oil markets.
- Hosting the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
- Hosting the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
- A negotiated trade deal with China.
- The tentative end of a Saudi-led blockade of Qatar.
- Playing a role in the setup of a Counter Terror Finance Center to help Arab nations limit funds to terrorist organizations.
- Holding a peace summit in Bahrain last year that produced an economic plan for peace between Israel and the Palestinians.
- The First Step Act, which cut recidivism and urged federal prison reforms.
- Operation Warp Speed.
- Working with private firms to change production lines and make 100,000 ventilators needed in the war on the coronavirus.
- Project Airbridge, setting up over 100 flights with 1 billion pieces of medical supplies and equipment to front-line coronavirus fighters.
- Soon-to-be-reached total of 450 miles of border wall.
- Helping with the Safe Policing for Safe Communities Executive Order after George Floyd’s death in May.
- Improving handling of electronic healthcare records.
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