Jared Kushner, the son -in -law of former President Donald Trump and former White House adviser, is not the first person to receive a large salary after resigning as senior White House adviser. He was not the first member of the president or the former president’s family to use his position to raise money. But the $ 2 billion stake Saudi Arabia has invested in new private investment firm Kouchner is shrinking all previous post-presidential money, both in size and volume.
The New York Times reported On April 10, the Saudi sovereign wealth fund, headed by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, contributed $ 2 billion to Kushner’s Affinity Partners, warning of “inexperience” and not Kushner’s “unsatisfactory” processing. Characteristic signs in Trump’s company’s personal investments) and the compensation for managing “excess” assets.
As an adviser to Trump’s White House, Kouchner was a close ally of the Crown Prince who offered him advice and protection after Saudi army and intelligence officers killed journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the Saudi embassy in Istanbul.
U.S. intelligence agencies say bin Salman ordered the assassination of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post columnist and critic of the Saudi regime. While Kushner stayed at the White House, he continued to hang out with Crown Prince Bookless via SMS WhatsApp.
Like most Trump and his family have done, Kushner’s $ 2 billion payment to Saudi Arabia underscores a pre-existing disease in the lives of Americans, driving it to the extreme. In this case, the disease is a post-presidential commercialization established over the past 40 years.
The “commercialized presidency,” as writer Thomas Defranck calls it, began in the late 1970s, at the dawn of the neoliberal era, when Gerald Ford served on company boards and shortly thereafter was a paid speaker. President of the United States.
“[E]“A former president should visit his grave in Grand Rapids and thank him for being an instant billionaire,” said Defrank, who wrote Ford’s biography.
And most former presidents complied. Before being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, Ronald Reagan received a multimillion-dollar communication job from Japanese companies. Companies paid George W. Bush most of the dollars for his speeches and he held an honorary paid position at a Canadian mining company.
Bill Clinton took post-presidential commercialization more More than $ 100 million in paid speeches Since 2001. Although George W. Bush, hampered by his deep unpopularity, has not earned as much Clinton’s amount in his first three years in office he received $ 15 million.
Since stepping down in 2017, Barack Obama has gone to the polls and paid $ 400,000 a word. He and his wife, Michelle Obama, also founded a multimedia production company and signed a multi-year contract with Netflix Production of scripted and unwritten programming for an unknown amount.
Family members of presidents and vice presidents also tried to make money from their relationships. Decades ago, they were usually siblings like Billy, Jimmy Carter’s brother, who registered as a foreign agent in Libya or the consulting business of then First Lady Hillary Clinton’s brother Tony Rodham.
Now that presidents are older, their children are more noticeable: for example, Hunter Biden was advising and lobbying when Joe Biden was vice president and selling his art now that the president is his father.
There are many reasons why Saudi Arabia’s investment in Kushner is unique in past business opportunities for former presidents and their families.
First, it is significantly higher than other payments. It’s $ 2 billion with a “B” and not millions. Yes, Kushner will Alone He earns $ 25 million annually in management fees, plus a portion of the revenues earned (if any), but the injection is equivalent to almost all of Kushner’s raised capital, according to the Times, which makes his financial success extremely important. . .
Second, unlike money from other former presidents or their family members, it was a massive lump sum from a foreign government with a separate political interest in the U.S. government that Kouchner happily supported while in the White House. .
Third, and perhaps most importantly, all former presidents they sell during their term after the presidency may be constitutionally prohibited from voting again or have no intention of doing so. (Ford considered voting in 1980 and then dropped to the Corporate Council, but eventually decided not to.) However, Trump is likely to run again in 2024 and be considered the leader for the Republican nomination.
If Trump returns to the White House, payments to his son-in-law from a foreign government with its own interest in influencing U.S. foreign policy will far outweigh the conflict of interest created by the sale of Hunter Biden’s paintings. .
But Kouchner’s hefty salary is in the same category of problems that arose as a result of post-presidency commercialization. All of this company’s profits and deals create the appearance of corruption as powerful corporations, a world-rich, fossil fuel-rich autocracy are depriving former U.S. leaders of money at a time when corporations grow, the rich get richer and richer, and they burn. Fossil fuels take us to the end of the universe.
There is no available solution to this problem. Ang For the work of menThe Voting, Campaign Financing and Ethics Reform Bill, passed by the House in 2021, requires re-disclosure to members of the president’s family during his term and includes a two-year cooling-off period before anyone can lobby. manager for former colleagues. But none of this is about the post-presidential book-ike issue.
Former director of the Office of Government Ethics Walter Schaub, who is now under the government’s oversight of the Government’s Nonprofit Transparency Project, recommended the introduction of a pay version of the Constitution in an interview with former government officials . Bloomberg.
Instead of legislation, society only relies for cultural change – an emotional change – on our former presidents who put the public good before serving their personal interests.
Or always the joke policy proposed by former president William Howard Taft provides its recipe for solving the problem of former presidents: “The life of a person who holds the highest office and at the same time protects the country from those who worried that the conqueror might return. “
“His record will be kept for a period of time and his death in a ceremony of honor will free the country from thinking of how to save himself and his family, secure his place in history. and allow society to move forward. “. “New guys and new steps,” Taft continued. “I accept this method of consideration.”
Taft did not comment on the children of former presidents or their wives.
Source: Huffpost
