FLASH
Shkruar nga Marina Hyde
Does Donald know there's a new chief negotiator in town? Of course he does, he taught the intern everything he knows.
If any playwright were looking for a character through which to distill the madness of selling everything that our time is experiencing, they would hardly find a more striking one than Donald Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Yesterday, he appeared as the protagonist in not one, but two major scenes: 1. The largest leveraged buyout in history, the takeover of video game giant Electronic Arts (EA), in which Kushner's firm brings the company de facto under Saudi ownership. And 2. The plan for "eternal peace in the Middle East," now widely dubbed the "Kushner-Blair plan" for Gaza. Busy week for Jared! He appears so often at tectonic moments in politics and economics that he can't help but think of "Forrest Trump."
A quick reminder: Jared is married to Ivanka Trump and served as a senior adviser in the first Trump administration. After losing the election and the mob rebellion on Capitol Hill, he retired from day-to-day politics to start his own investment firm. Those who thought he would become untouchable by the world were sorely mistaken: Jared floats quietly above it all. Today, his public appearance is so cool and detached that he looks more like a drawing of Jared Kushner, or a cybernetic version of him, built to replace him when the “original model” began to have lapses of conscience.
And so came Jared’s “Manic Monday.” In the morning, the first news: Electronic Arts, maker of giant franchises like EA FC (formerly FIFA) and Madden NFL, was set to go private in a $55 billion deal brokered by Kushner with the Saudi Investment Fund as the majority owner. And who would stand in the way? Don’t worry. As the Financial Times wrote: “People close to the discussions say Kushner’s involvement will make it easier for the deal to pass the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, which reviews acquisitions by foreign investors.”
So in a world where TikTok was punished for being a “foreign threat,” it turns out that if you’re useful to the Trumps, control over American citizens’ data could easily fall into Saudi hands. “Security? You’re looking at it. It’s a joke,” anyone who’s seen Goodfellas would say. Kushner, for his part, preferred to sing EA’s praises: “I’ve always admired their ability to create iconic, enduring experiences. As someone who grew up playing their games, and now enjoys them with his own children — I couldn’t be happier about what’s ahead.”
After the games, came Gaza. In the afternoon, it was publicly confirmed that the “solution” for Gaza is an international council called the Board of Peace, chaired by Donald Trump himself, which would have “oversight” over a committee of non-political Palestinian technocrats who would administer the territory.
Also on the board will be Tony Blair, already known for his “peace projects” in the Middle East, as well as Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff. Kushner has not made a public statement on this part, sparing us an ironic line like: “I grew up playing Risk and watching Tony Blair bring peace to the Middle East, and now I do both with him. The dream came true.”
But the lack of a speech does not mean a lack of influence. Quite the contrary: Kushner is no longer on the front stage, as he was in Trump's first term. He is deeper, in the "back room of the back room," where the real moves are made. According to reports, on Sunday he was in meetings with Netanyahu at the hotel where he was staying in Washington, perhaps popping out occasionally to finalize the EA deal.
In both cases, video games and Gaza, it is clear that Kushner’s Saudi roots, forged during his first term as Trump’s envoy, are bearing fruit. And for the Trumps, Gaza has often been presented more as a development opportunity than a humanitarian tragedy. For this reason, it is wrong to speak of a separation between Kushner’s political and business maneuvers. In fact, they constitute a single doctrine: dealpolitics. A mix of power, money and compromise – as EA Sports’ slogan once said: “It’s in the game.” / Adapted from “The Guardian”
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