This is not a thread I would have ever dreamed of starting. I found the above podcast interview with Kushner fascinating. The first hour or so is Kushner talking about Israel Hamas situation, which I’ve have listened to. The remainder was before the Hamas attack, which I just started. I found the first part extremely informative, and I really impressed with his knowledge and overall approach to things. It totally changed my perception of him - not withstanding the alleged 2 billion grift with the Saudi’s (which I don’t know if it was addressed in the later part of the podcast, yet, the whole thing is 4 hours. I know this is probably triggering to some people - it was to me even a bit, but I listened and found it totally fascinating.
Good find, I’ll check it out. Fridman manages to get some great interviews. In fact, not long ago he had Netanyahu and a Palestinian activist on. I recommended both for additional perspective.
You are a truly a man with an open mind, seriously. Personally, though I'm neutral with respect to Kushner, I'm not interested in what he has to say, but I do applaud you for listening and sharing with us.
Thanks. The thing about him is he didn’t speak in public so people project on him their own perceptions. He is one of the more thoughtful people I have listened to. I like getting different POVs, but intelligent ones. Whatever you think, what they accomplished in the Middle East was significant and largely unexpected.
I wish people could understand how important getting access to Israel's markets is to investors in the Sunni Arab Gulf States. And if you want to invest in Israel, who do you think is going to the most popular person when it comes to taking meetings and raising capital than the guy that brokered the Abraham Accords? I want to see Trump permanently retired but I get why Sunni Arab states would want to invest in Jared as almost every major decision maker in Israel will immediately take his call. Seeing as Israel is Start Up Nation with some of the best tech in the world, you can see why the Saudi's are willing to invest in Jared's firm. If he does not produce the returns they expect, I would expect them to withdraw their investment before too long.
Fascinating that President Trump would entrust such a person as his right-hand man in the White House.
The Abraham Accords were the signature accomplishments of the Trump Administration. Lost amid the huge negatives
Israel is much more complicated than that. Many major wealthy investors in Israel are also Putin oligarchs.
So you think that Sunni Arab States are not interested in the military and civilian tech that Israel has developed when it comes to ISR? I realize that Israel is forced to keep every door open but the Sunni Arab states want in on Israel markets and Jared in a good medium to reach them.
I think they have seen the benefits of normalized relations and want those. Not so much access to Israeli markets, but technology for sure. And defense cooperation.
I realized at the time that I worded that poorly. I have read and watched TV about the Israel/Hamas situation and am not interested in spending an hour or more listening to Kushner or anyone else on the subject. It breaks my heart to learn of all the killed and wounded children on both sides. "The fact that man knows right from wrong proves his intellectual superiority to the other creatures; but the fact that he can do wrong proves his [inferiority]." -- Mark Twain
I’ve been able to watch most of this interview. Thank you for the heads up. I’m not surprised your thread isn’t getting more heat. Kushner does an eloquent job of laying out how successful Trump foreign policy was, particularly in the Middle East and the mistakes Biden has made since taking the helm. Kushner does this in a non-rushed, logical, methodical and calm demeanor. His point about not advertising the buildup to the Abraham accords versus how the Biden administration has handled the Saudi-Israeli normalization talks was nails. Prescient AF. If Iran was to become directly involved in this war, the Biden administration are going to have a lot more questions to answer.
99% of the $3B in his fund came from foreign interests. Unprecedented for a US PE company, let alone one headed by someone who received all of their funding shorly after leaving a sr admin position in the WH. just announced a $500M development in Serbia on same site that DJT had a proposed project. nothing to see here. look, Hunter just went into another strip club.... "Unprecedented": Jared Kushner’s “unusual” dependence on foreign money shocks other investors (msn.com) Technically, it would not be accurate to say that literally all of the investment money that’s been flowing to Jared Kushner since he left the White House has come from foreign sources, such as the governments he worked with while serving former President Donald Trump. The actual figure, as reported by The New York Times on Tuesday, is “just” 99 percent, the vast majority of the $3 billion raised thus far coming from authoritarian governments. It’s an arrangement – Kushner cashing in on relationships forged while his father-in-law was the president – that at the very least constitutes an appearance of impropriety. It is also far from the norm, experts say. In 2022, just six months after leaving the White House, Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund invested $2 billion in Kushner’s newly formed private equity firm, despite misgivings among the fund’s staff that Trump’s son-in-law had little relevant experience. Kushner has also accepted investments from state-managed funds in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. Kushner, who won’t rule out serving in a second Trump administration, has in turn invested some of that money in a foreign project, last month announcing a $500 million real estate project in Serbia at the same site where Trump himself had previously sought to build a luxury hotel.
Kushner is currently doing a world leader tour to set up quid pro quo projects should his FIL regain the White House. Yeah, he's awesome.
There is no doubt Kushner is engaging in a giant grift from his relationship from his father in law and his prior (and maybe future) relationships. Nonetheless I did find his interviews rather revealing. He is a smart and savvy guy and accomplished a lot for someone who didn’t come from a government or foreign policy background.
