But Kushner’s outsize role has led to larger-than-life sniping and resentments, with rivals whispering that he has little depth and lacks the self-awareness to know what he doesn’t know, and allies arguing that he has hired a team of top deputies, many from outside government. His entrepreneurial background, they say, is exactly what Trump meant when he promised to “drain the swamp” of Washington…

“It’s as if Trump is the don and he only trusts his close family members,” Mann said. “There’s no indication that experience in the real estate business prepares one for the tasks at hand. It’s the hubris of a businessman imagining he can run government just because he’s a businessman. I don’t know if Jared Kushner shares the hubris of his father-in-law, but he’s certainly willing to say, ‘Yes, sir.’”…

“He’s taken on a portfolio that is unprecedented in White House history,” said Paul Light, a professor at New York University who studies the presidency. “My experience is that somebody who has this much in his or her portfolio is not doing anything particularly well. They’re going to flit in and out.”

It is, he added, “remarkable, unprecedented and unwise.”