You'll Never Believe This, But Jared Kushner Is Not Well-Respected Overseas

The Associated Press has a long story out about Trump fundraisers and business partners Elliott Broidy and George Nader, who reportedly functioned, for a time, as an obscenely high-paid backchannel between crown princes from the UAE and Saudi Arabia and the Trump White House as the countries sought to position U.S. foreign policy against Qatar. Jared Kushner, aspiring best friend and confidante to said Saudi princes, does not receive a particularly respectful mention.

From the AP:

Broidy met Trump once again on Dec. 2. He reported back to Nader that he’d told Trump the crown princes were “most favorably impressed by his leadership.” He offered the crown princes’ help in the Middle East peace plan being developed by Jared Kushner. He did not tell Trump that his partner had complete contempt for the plan — and for the president’s son-in-law.

“You have to hear in private my Brother what Principals think of ‘Clown prince’s’ efforts and his plan!” Nader wrote. “Nobody would even waste cup of coffee on him if it wasn’t for who he is married to.”

This isn’t the first report from the Jared-Makes-a-Poor-Impression-While-Trying-to-Do-Bad-Stuff-With-Bad-People-Who-Are-Smarter-Than-Him genre. In March, Saudi prince Mohammed bin Salman reportedly bragged that he had Kushner “in his pocket,” while the Washington Post reported in February that officials in at least four countries had discussed how to take advantage of Kushner’s “financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience.”

It is unlikely that either Elliott Broidy or George Nader made a particularly positive impression on anyone, themselves, considering their criminal histories (bribery and 10 counts of sexually abusing minors, respectively) and buffoonish incompetence at effectively running their shady operation, as painstakingly chronicled by the AP (Broidy’s lawyer issued a denial). Neither were registered as foreign lobbyists, which is illegal, and Nader was eventually detained by Robert Mueller’s team, although the specific reason for that is unclear.

And thus ends another chapter of my upcoming nonfiction tome, Stupid Men Throwing Each Other Under The Bus: An American History.