Jared And Ivanka ‘Exfoliate’ Friends As Social Circle Pushes Back Against Trump

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By Daniel J. Solomon March 30, 2017

Jared Kushner has lost so many friends since he became a close adviser to President Trump that he has even coined a term for it: exfoliation.

“We live in a world and time that are interesting,” he is said to have told investor Wiley Cerilli. “I am seeing which friendships break in the wind.”

Kushner said he was happy to “exfoliate” pals who would not remain loyal to him in the face of political differences.

Cerilli was one of those axed from Kushner’s inner circle, according to a story in Business Insider. He asked Kushner to withdraw last year from a shared business venture due to Trump’s divisive rhetoric, and the remarks come from a phone transcript that Cerilli kept when he made the request.

Other liberal friends have ditched Kushner, now a White House senior adviser.

“I’m not planning on being friends,” one ex-pal told Business Insider. “I don’t think I’m going to be over it… I feel really, really upset about what they’re doing.”

Many had placed their hope in Kushner and his wife, Ivanka Trump, to push the president on a more moderate path, especially on social issues. So far there’s been scant evidence of that.

Kushner has taken a sanguine attitude about losing his ex-friends over politics. An ally quoted Kushner as saying, “If you’re doing well in politics, only 45% of the people hate you.”

Daniel J. Solomon is the former Assistant to the Editor/News Writer at the Forward. Originally from Queens, he attended Harvard as an undergraduate, where he wrote his senior thesis on French-Jewish intellectual history. He is excited to have returned to New York after his time in Massachusetts. Daniel’s passions include folk music, cycling, and pointed argument.

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