Banana Republic special
by digby
I'm not talking about 20% off on t-shirts. I'm talking about this embarrassing, creepy, oligarchic BS:
China has invited President Donald Trump’s daughter and son-in-law to visit later this year, according to people familiar with the matter, in the latest sign of the first family’s growing influence over foreign affairs.
Details of the possible trip by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both of whom have official jobs in the White House, were still under discussion, according to a U.S. official and a Chinese official who asked not to be identified. The visit may also help prepare for a trip by the president himself, said the Chinese official, who asked not be identified disclosing plans that haven’t been announced.
Kushner and Ivanka Trump hosted the U.S.’s newly sworn-in ambassador to China, Terry Branstad, for an introductory dinner Sunday at the Trump Hotel in Washington, according to the U.S. official, who asked not to be identified confirming a meeting that hasn’t been made public. The former Iowa governor, who has known Chinese President Xi Jinping since the 1980s, is expected to depart Friday and arrive in China next week after meetings in Honolulu.
The discussions highlight Trump’s reliance on the couple to manage some of the U.S.’s thorniest issues. Neither Ivanka Trump, 35, who has been an executive in her father’s company and started her own fashion line, or Kushner, a 36-year-old property tycoon, has any prior government experience. Kushner will to travel to the Middle East this week to push for a Israeli-Palestinian peace deal. He also visited Iraq in April.
It's mind-boggling that we're putting up with this. These two people are totally unqualified to do anything in government much less play this important role. It's an outrage.
To think people were freaking out that Chelsea Clinton hadn't promised to enter a cloister and never show her face while her mother served in the White House. There were demands from all sides that she resign from the board of the Clinton Foundation and any other charitable work and go back to school to become a pediatrician or a kindergarten teacher in order to ensure there was no conflict of interest. You can be sure that unless she completely withdrew from all public appearances, including going out to dinner or taking a vacation to a foreign land, we would have had multiple investigations into the outrageous nepotistic corruption on display.
But hey, par for the course. Republican presidents are now allowed to hire family to work in the White House and serve as high ranking government officials in foreign affairs while keeping their private businesses a secret. It's all good.
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