The nature of kingship in William Shakespeare’s play Macbeth follows the events that occur during Macbeth’s unlawful rise to the throne......The themes of greed, arrogance and excessive political ambition are still, very relevant to the world today. Shakespeare got it right - his story of Macbeth still applies to today's world....
“Jared Kushner, 36, is married to Mr Trump's daughter, Ivanka. In 2006, at just 25, the softly-spoken millionaire bought the once-venerable New York Observer newspaper……Although he shares with Mr Trump a complete lack of political experience, last year he exerted a powerful influence over the Trump campaign - including digital strategy and top-level hires - and carried that clout into the White House.”
"Your son-in-law Jared seems like a nice guy, but he is wrong about his friend Gary Cohn, the Goldman Sachs guy. I do not support Gary Cohn in any way, shape, or form. Nobody on either side of the aisle wants Gary Cohn to be your chief of staff.......Most people are intimidated by you and won’t tell you to downgrade Jared’s role or to end the honeymoon with Cohn, because one of those guys is your son-in-law and the other is your economic adviser. That’s all well and good, but at a certain point someone needs to appeal to you not as a political careerist, but as a plain old American: Jared is seizing a ton of power in the White House and I don’t think he cares about the populist issues that carried you to victory. Use him on China, use him on the Middle East, fine. But he doesn’t need to run everything, and he shouldn’t. He’s your son in law...."
Jared Kushner & Russia
Russian officials started holding meetings with members of the Trump campaign.....Michael Flynn. Kushner. Now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. They all met with Russian officials at some point, and CNN and the New York Times, respectively, have reported that Sessions and Kushner did not disclose their meetings with Russians on their security-clearance forms. A security clearance is required before a person can be privy to the nation's top secrets. Other members of Trump's campaign already had deep ties to Russia, among them former campaign manager Paul Manafort and adviser Carter Page.
U.S. investigators would have been very intrigued to see then-candidate Trump's son-in-law, one of his closest advisers, receiving meetings with Russians. This is a member of Trump's inner circle, as close as you can get without meeting with the candidate himself. Not to mention that Kushner is family. Going back to April 2016, we know Kushner met at least twice with the Russian ambassador to the United States, Sergey Kislyak, and a Moscow banker.
The FBI, we know now, took Brennan's concerns seriously. The agency is waist-deep in a months-long, mostly covert investigation of Russia meddling and whether the Trump campaign helped. And its investigation has led it to the highest ranks of the White House......Exactly what investigators want to know from Kushner (whose lawyer said he will cooperate) isn't clear. But why their investigation has led them to Kushner is clearer.
The Russian bank chairman who met with Jared Kushner in December isn't your ordinary banker.....His state-run bank has been under US sanctions for nearly three years......He was appointed to his job by Russian President Vladimir Putin after eight years at Russia's biggest state-owned commercial bank......And he graduated from the Russian academy of Federal Security Service, which trains people to work in Russia's intelligence and security forces.
"Donald Trump’s chief strategist Stephen Bannon has called the president’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner a “cuck” and a “globalist” during a time of high tension between the two top aides, several Trump administration officials told The Daily Beast.....The fighting between Kushner and Bannon has been “nonstop” in recent weeks, according to sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. It’s been an “open secret” that Bannon and Kushner often clash “face-to-face,” according to senior officials......“Cuckservative,” a portmanteau of “cuckold” and “conservative,” has become a favorite slur on the right, used like a sexually and racially charged version of “RINO,” a Republican In Name Only. “Globalist” is a term typically used by nationalist, pro-Trump right-wingers against political opponents; however, the term has also come under fire for at times carrying anti-Semitic tones. (Kushner is Jewish.).....Bannon is a self-described “nationalist” and long-time Republican, while Kushner was, until his father-in-law ran for president, a lifelong liberal and a Democratic donor."
One senior Trump aide said that Bannon was also frustrated with Kushner “continuing to bring in Zeke Emanuel to discuss health care options,” for instance. The aide said Emanuel has had three White House meetings, including one with Trump........In 2009, conservatives called Emanuel “Dr. Death” for advocating for end-of-life consultations during the crafting of the Affordable Care Act. (He is also the brother of Barack Obama’s former chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel.)
Bannon’s far-right media allies are ready to wage a sustained war on their new enemy, Kushner.....“Jared Kushner, perhaps the one presidential aide who cannot be fired, is now in regular text message communications with Joe Scarborough,” Roger Stone, a former longtime political adviser to Trump, claimed on Alex Jones’s show. “Many of the anti-Steve Bannon stories that you see, the themes that you see on [MSNBC’s] Morning Joe, are being dictated by Kushner. And while Mr. Kushner’s plate is very full with Middle Eastern peace and the China visit, and so on, in this case I think he is disserving the president.”.....“Jared Kushner, Gary Cohn, Dina Powell: the three big-government liberals tightening their hold on the White House,” influential right-wing radio host Mark Levin warned on Twitter on Wednesday night."
“His father, Charles, founded Kushner Companies in 1985 and made his fortune as a New Jersey property mogul…..A controversial figure, Kushner senior received a prison sentence in 2005 for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering……At the time, he admitted setting up his own brother-in-law with a prostitute, secretly filming the liaison, and sending the tape to his sister in an effort to dissuade them from testifying against him. …..The man who prosecuted Charles Kushner was the former US Attorney for New Jersey and 2016 Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie…..Jared Kushner is reported to have been involved in counseling Mr Trump to choose Mike Pence as his running mate, over Mr Christie.”
March 27…..”Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner to lead US federal overhaul….President Donald Trump is expected to unveil a new unit aimed at overhauling the US federal bureaucracy, and headed by his son-in-law Jared Kushner……The Washington Post, which has reported the move, describes the Office of Innovation as a "Swat team" of former private-sector executives……It will have sweeping powers to reform government procedures, the report says……Mr Kushner told the newspaper that the "government should be run like a great American company”……”Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens," he added…….Technology and data are expected to be a key area, with Apple CEO Tim Cooke and Microsoft founder Bill Gates said to be working with the White House…..Top White House strategist Steve Bannon is expected to have no formal role within the new group……Mr Bannon's previous calls for the "deconstruction of the administrative state" drew considerable attention.”
March 27, 2017……”What do Kushner talks with China's Anbang mean for Trump?….A company part-owned by Donald Trump's son-in-law and now senior White House adviser, Jared Kushner, is reportedly negotiating a deal with a Chinese company to redevelop 666 Fifth Avenue in New York City……The 41-floor ageing property, which occupies a full block that fronts Fifth Avenue between 52nd and 53rd Street, was purchased by Kushner Companies in 2006 for $1.8bn (£1.5bn). At the time, it was the highest price paid for a single building in Manhattan…….But does Chinese interest in the building, just a few blocks south of Trump Tower, raise questions over a potential conflict of interest with someone so personally and professionally close to the US president? And would a possible sale to China's Anbang Insurance Group pose security risks?….Bloomberg reported that Anbang was planning a $4bn (£3.3bn) investment deal with the owners of 666 Fifth Avenue. The agreement, the news agency reported, would make Kushner Companies, owned by Jared Kushner and his father Charles, more than $400m (£327m)…The report says that some real estate experts consider the terms of such a transaction unusually favourable for the US company….….Anbang chairman Wu Xiaohui is considered one of the best politically-connected men in China, having married the grand-daughter of former leader, Deng Xiaopeng.”….
“Mr Trump's overseas business interests invite questions of whether his foreign policy decisions are directed by US interests or by his own - or his family's - business interests……A section of the US Constitution known as the Emoluments Clause restricts what US presidents can accept from foreign governments. …..America's founding fathers included this to prevent US leaders from being beholden to foreign governments…….After Mr Trump was elected in early November he spoke over the phone with Argentine President Mauricio Macri. After that call, the Trump Organization issued a press release indicating that Trump Tower Buenos Aires - which had been waiting permit approval to be built - was a done deal……Meetings with Indian business partners and current projects in places like the Philippines and Brazil are also raising questions about what the power of the presidency could do for the Trump brand's international negotiating power.”
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