Aside from the once explosive power struggle between them and Steve Bannon, which may or may not have dissipated, very little is known about Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner’s true roles in the White House. Yes, President Donald Trump finally gave his daughter an unpaid federal job, and yes, her husband is doing just about everything else (sans going to actual war). Aside from the occasional leaked items in the 24-hour news cycle, however, the American public has been left in the dark. And as Last Week Tonight host John Oliver points out in his latest deep dive, that’s not a good thing.
“Let’s set aside the questions surrounding potential conflicts of interest between their business ties and their positions in the administration,” Oliver prefaced. “Instead, let’s focus on answering just two basic questions: Is Ivanka really the moderating influence that people claim, and what in Jared’s background justifies such a gigantic White House portfolio?” Unsurprisingly, the Last Week Tonight team’s research seems to suggest the worst possible outcomes for each: that Ivanka isn’t all that moderate, and Trump’s high praise (and consequential responsibilities) for Kushner isn’t truly deserved.
Consider the Trump campaign’s proposed childcare policy. Not only was Ivanka its chief proponent, but the then-presidential nominee’s daughter also served as its main media surrogate. In a Fox News interview with Megyn Kelly, she praised her father’s plan while denouncing Democratic rival Hillary Clinton’s apparent lack of one. “None of that was remotely true,” noted Oliver, adding that Clinton’s website featured such policy proposals. Even so, pundits still credit Ivanka for her supposedly moderate influence, and Oliver thinks he knows why:
“You may still like Ivanka. That’s fine. She can be appealing, and that’s frankly not by accident. She’s been trained in the art of Trump branding to be as vague and likable as possible so that everyone can plausibly think that she shares their values. Whether or not that’s actually true. If that sounds like a harsh thing for me to say about her, I will point out that she’s basically shared that message in one of her books.”
In The Trump Card: Playing to Win in Work and Life, Oliver explained, Ivanka “pretty much [tells] you to your face not to trust any assumption that you’re making about her.” In other words, “it is possible that she is doing nothing to moderate her father.” And judging by the Trump administration’s actions regarding climate change, Planned Parenthood and other issues near and dear to her heart, that may very well be the case.
As for Kushner, whose father-in-law has given him an incredible amount of responsibility, Oliver panned the media for digesting and repeating Trump’s constant praise for him. Especially those who’ve interpreted Kushner’s quiet demeanor as a sign of intelligence: “Just because you don’t talk does not necessarily mean you’re thinking something amazing. It can just mean you’re sitting in a meeting, staring blankly at people’s moving lips, thinking about why baby cats aren’t called cattens.”
After all, as a mid-election story in Esquire reported, Kushner’s otherwise esteemed academic record may not be as strong as the Trump campaign believed. And as The Price of Admission author Daniel Golden noted in his 2007 book, Kushner’s father pledged $2.5 million to Harvard University at around the same time the future real estate mogul and White House staffer was accepted. So who knows? Maybe Kushner isn’t as qualified as the man who appointed him thinks he is.
Then again, as Oliver quipped with disturbing frequency throughout the 22-minute segment, Americans may also be blind to the possibility that Trump is often naked in the White House.
