Doesn't give a warm fuzzy feeling.....

Kushner: Nothing Much Has Happened in Middle East Over Past 50 Years

KEVIN DRUM

Jared Kushner chatted with a group of congressional interns yesterday, and warned them not to leak anything he said. One of them promptly leaked an audio recording of the session, and Wired has it. Here is Kushner on his goal of bringing peace to the Middle East:

He doesn’t directly answer either question, but he does reveal that, from his extensive research, he’s learned that “not a whole lot has been accomplished over the last 40 or 50 years.” He also notes that he’s spoken to “a lot of people,” which has taught him that “this is a very emotionally charged situation.”

Later in the clip, Kushner expresses frustration at others’ attempts to teach him about the delicate situation he’s been inserted into, saying, “Everyone finds an issue, that, ‘You have to understand what they did then’ and ‘You have to understand that they did this.’ But how does that help us get peace? Let’s not focus on that. We don’t want a history lesson. We’ve read enough books. Let’s focus on how do you come up with a conclusion to the situation.”

….Finally, Kushner closed with the following statement of reassurance: “So, what do we offer that’s unique? I don’t know.”

Kushner refers to the whole thing as a “problem set” that he’s been given, and assures everyone that he’s done a ton of research about it. How reassuring.