For all those who ever thought that White House service should be reserved for the best and the brightest, that an opportunity to work at the White House is something earned, and only by those who have proven themselves to be experienced and competent in whatever field in which they serve, Jared Kushner’s elevation to one of the most senior advisors in our government offended everything we had ever presumed about the seriousness of the White House itself.

But it’s only in the last month that we have been able to point to actual damage figures incurred because the president employed someone like Kushner, someone so obviously incompetent, serving at the highest level on the most serious matters.

According to the New York Times, it was Jared Kushner who early on convinced Trump that the media was “exaggerating” the Coronavirus threat.

Mr. Kushner’s early involvement with dealing with the virus was in advising the president that the media’s coverage exaggerated the threat. But when Mr. Pence’s chief of staff asked him to help merge the Pence and Trump communications operations because the two-person shop in the vice president’s office found itself overwhelmed and trying to keep up, Mr. Kushner, long critical of the White House communications shop, tried to supplement the vice president’s team with other aides.

Now, of course, a real president wouldn’t be listening to Kushner’s opinion on whether the media was exaggerating the threat. Only Trump would seek out Kushner’s advice on such a question.

There is no doubt that the media can exaggerate and “overcover” issues, especially issues that drive ratings. It is not unreasonable for a president to question whether the media’s dire warnings are hyperbolic, played-up for the audience. But even though the president should be asking about whether the coverage is legitimate, he shouldn’t be asking “a Jared Kushner.” The president should be asking the world’s leading epidemiologists who happen to also work in the government. In this case, that world’s leading expert, Dr. Fauci might have said; “No, the media is underestimating the possible risks …”

Moreover, had Jared been a competent staffer and been asked his thoughts on the early coverage of the virus, the “competent” staffer says; “I don’t know, that is not my field. I will arrange a conference call together with some of the people at CDC, and maybe some outside people and see what the consensus is.” It takes a special type of arrogance and incompetence for Jared Kushner to not see that even giving his own opinion on the matter was a grave error, knowing that Trump would trust it.

Were that not bad enough, our sniveling little snit slid his way through every crack to aggregate more power to his behalf:

But Mr. Kushner also sought to take on a more expansive role for himself despite his lack of knowledge on the topic and without talking to most of the task force members or public health experts.

So Jared sought to insert himself even further, despite having failed miserably in the initial stages of the problem, misreading the dangerousness of the problem at a level that will cost lives down the road. He still hasn’t learned. He is still trying to do more. Jared doesn’t know what he doesn’t know and doesn’t know that he’s in way above his head.

Trump finally has conclusive evidence that Jared can’t do the job and should be fired – immediately. But that’s the problem with nepotism, it makes it hard to have professional distance, and also makes it hard for others who work at the White House, those that are not “family,” to confront those who are, and address mistakes that put the United States two months behind the rest of the world.

It was Jared who said that the media was “exaggerating” the threat, and it was Trump who listened. Record it in the history books, because unfortunately, it is going to matter a great deal.

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Peace, y’all

Jason

jmiciak@yah