Amid a horrific week, let us look away from the front pages and return, as a diversion, to Jared Kushner, a quiet but exceptionally incommodious presidential relation who should, for the good of the world, stop doing anything work-related, political or commercial, maybe forever. To be sure, bigger and more dangerous things are happening out there, and Kushner’s an easy target, with a fanbase that’s restricted to G.O.P. donors, leak-receiving journalists, and Lindsey Graham. I know that an attack on Kushner by this publication only helps the man. But everything we learn about Jared makes him look worse and worse, and the sooner he’s back in New York, the better for everyone.

Any explanation for why Donald Trump clings to Kushner must take into account more than simple family status. The spouse of your favorite daughter is always going to be tolerated, but he’s not always going to be tasked with forging peace in the Middle East or overseeing a new “White House Office of American Innovation.” No, Trump sets—or set—high store in Kushner’s talents, and the election, in this regard, seems to have been decisive.

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While no one really knows what Kushner did to help Trump win the White House, we can safely assume Kushner told Trump the same story he told Forbes, which in December ran a cover with a grinning Kushner and the caption “This Guy Got Trump Elected.” Never mind that the only sources mentioned or quoted in the accompanying article were Trump Organization contractor Brad Parscale, Ivanka Trump, Trump-supporting venture capitalist Peter Thiel, Fox News C.E.O. Rupert Murdoch, former Google C.E.O. Eric Schmidt (who had nothing to do with it), Henry Kissinger (who had nothing to do with it), and Kushner himself. For Donald Trump, the November victory was proof enough. This kid knows computers. He’s a whiz. Today, though, even Donald Trump must be starting to see that Jared’s political impulses are nearly as bad as his own.

Recall some highlights of bad counsel. It was Kushner who pushed for Trump to fire F.B.I. Director James Comey, thus bringing on the special investigation of Robert Mueller. It was Kushner who lobbied for Trump to hire Anthony Scaramucci. (The latter dutifully compared Kushner to Alexander Hamilton, so I guess I missed one more fan.) It was Kushner who recommended Trump throw his weight behind the Senate candidacy of Alabama Republican Luther Strange, favored by the establishment, over that of Roy Moore, favored by the “deplorables.”