What Jared’s Been Up To: Serving As A ‘Shadow Secretary Of State’?
Image by Getty Images
Jared Kushner might have a bigger hand in keeping tensions down with America’s southern neighbor than previously anticipated: According to reports, the White House senior adviser along with Mexico’s foreign minister rewrote sections of President Trump’s January speech on constructing a border wall in order to make it more conciliatory.
Trump delivered his January address at the Department of Homeland Security, when he signed the executive order to start building a fence on America’s southern boundary. “We also understand that a strong and healthy economy in Mexico is very good for the United States — very, very good,” he said, in the passage identified as Kushner and Mexican Foreign Minister Luis Videgaray’s insert. “I truly believe we can enhance the relation between our two nations to a degree not seen before, certainly in a very, very long time.”
“Everyone is trying to get to know Jared Kushner,” an unnamed diplomat told The Washington Post, citing the presidential son-in-law’s new role as a kind of “shadow secretary of state.”
But there are definite limits to Kushner’s power. His efforts to broker a post-inauguration meeting between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto came to naught after the two got into a war of words over who would pay for a border wall. And the new president has proved to be unpredictable, frustrating his handlers with his caprices.
Contact Daniel J. Solomon at [email protected] or on Twitter, @DanielJSolomon
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
