By virtue of their close relationship with the president, Jared and Ivanka are able to speak truth to power without fear of suspect motives. This is a major advantage of family enterprises. The great merchant banking families were able to cover the globe, operating in distant seaports, with primitive communication and painfully slow transportation by dispatching family members as their emissaries in these far off lands. With shared values, deeper bonds of trust, greater respect for risk taking, and longer time frames, family dynastic wealth has been a huge force in the success of global enterprises. Today, companies like Ford, Wal-Mart, Mars Inc., and Campbell Soup still benefit from large family stakes and faith in the mission of the enterprise.
In the Trump White House, the blowback from the failure of health care reform, the immigration visa ban and other such mishaps did not escape follow-up scrutiny from the family, even as other staff members may try to elude their own roles and responsibilities. It is no coincidence that on Monday, Kushner flew to Iraq with General Joseph Dunford, one of the most respected uniformed officers to ever lead the Pentagon, despite Kushner’s pressing need to prepare for the Chinese delegation arriving in the U.S. days later. Kushner and President Trump knew that they needed to learn from this brilliant, honest, objective military superstar. The subsequent and immediate reformulation of the National Security Council restored the full membership of Dunford, CIA chief Mike Pompeo and the National Intelligence Director Dan Coats, while nixing the controversial role of White House chief strategist Steve Bannon.
The Kushner influence was on display this week, just as it was when it came time to change out the roles of top campaign advisers Roger Stone, Corey Lewandowski and Paul Manafort, or national security adviser Michael Flynn—let alone the selection of Mike Pence as Trump’s running mate over Chris Christie (who as a U.S. Attorney years earlier, had prosecuted Kushner’s father). The Trump White House is being managed like a family business, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
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