H- wrote:
But this is a special position -- special advisor. And you don't have a problem with Trump getting advice from him. I think the American public is smart enough to know that Trump has him as an advisor since he want the advice -- not to give his very wealthy son-in-law a job. Also is anyone arguing that Trump chose him because he wants to give his daughter's husband a job? Last time, or you strike out on this one: do you think it was bad for the country that Robert Kennedy was AG?
I have a problem with Trump getting advice from him. To date, Trump hasn't divested himself of his interests in his businesses, and last I'd heard, Eric, Don, and Ivanka were going to run them for him. If he's getting advice from his son-in-law, how can we trust the advice is for the good of the country and not the good of his family's business interests?
To some degree, I suppose that's a concern with anyone he appoints, but it raises particular concerns when he's receiving advice from someone with a direct familial relationship. Will Kushner advise Trump to act in the country's best interests even when it might harm his wife's (and let's face it, Trump's) business interests? It's the appearance of impropriety and the fact that we can't ever know for sure if Kushner is giving sound advice that benefits the country or benefits his own (and Trump's daughter's) interests. Kushner may be no more likely to act in his own interests than anyone else, but his relationship to Trump calls into question any advice he may give in an official capacity.
One other thing. I believe there is a privilege that exists between the President and his official advisors, which may be the reason Trump wants Kushner in an "official" position. If he just wants to run stuff past his son-in-law occasionally, he wouldn't need the official position unless he wanted to discuss classified information. With Kushner in an official advisory role, not only can they discuss classified information, their conversations enjoy some legal protection. So, even if they are discussing wholly inappropriate stuff, we'd never get to know unless there was a damn good reason to pierce the privilege. Whenever Trump acts on Kushner's advice, we'll always wonder whether the actions Trump takes are being unduly influenced or taken for personal, familial reasons rather than for our own good. In fact, they may very well be, but we won't get to know that. Kushner's relationship with Trump creates suspicion, which makes it look more like Trump is stocking the swamp with his own morally questionable denizens rather than draining it as he promised. Even if Kushner is on the up and up, it won't look that way publicly.
THAT is what bothers me about it.
''The enemy isn't conservatism. The enemy isn't liberalism. The enemy is bulls**t.''
—Lars-Erik Nelson