Photo : Spencer Platt ( Getty Images )

Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and holder of a top-level security clearance as an adviser to Trump, participated in a one-on-one sit down with Axios on HBO that can only be described as a one-night-stand between a drunken circus clown and a shitshow that then gave birth to a Jared Kushner interview.




During the interview on Sunday, Axios reporter Jonathan Swan asked Kushner some very straightforward questions that should’ve been easy to answer except for the fact that the entire Trump administration is corrupt, and corruption makes answering straightforward questions impossible.

Kushner was asked if he were to receive another email from a Russian about a meeting in Trump Tower, would he alert the FBI, to which Kushner replied:

Sorry, that was the wrong video. In fact, I don’t have the actual video, but I can tell you that Kushner replied that he doesn’t do hypotheticals so he doesn’t know what he’d do. The obvious answer here is yes.


There are more savory bits in this interview, like Kushner noting how he doesn’t believe that Palestinians can govern themselves, but the pièce de résistance would have to be Kushner’s take on racism, which was very existential:

Swan: Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, she calls, she has called President Trump a racist. Have you ever seen him say or do anything that you would describe as racist or bigoted? Kushner: So the answer is no. Absolutely not. You can’t not be a racist for 69 years and then run for president and be a racist. What I’ll say is that when a lot of the Democrats call the president a racist, I think they’re doing a disservice to people who suffer because of real racism in this country. Swan: Was birtherism racist? Kushner: Um, look, I wasn’t really involved in that. Swan: I know you weren’t! Was it racist? Kushner: Like I said, I wasn’t involved in that. Swan: I know you weren’t! Was it racist? Kushner: Um, look, I know who the president is, and I have not seen anything in him that is racist. So, again, I was not involved in that. Swan: Did you wish he didn’t do that? Kushner: Like I said, I was not involved in that. That was a long time ago. Swan: The other issue that often gets brought up in this conversation is that he campaigned on banning Muslims. Would you describe that as religiously bigoted? Kushner: Look, I think that the president did his campaign the way he did his campaign, and I think … Swan: He did! But do you wish he didn’t? Do you wish he didn’t make that speech? Kushner: Uh, I think he’s here today, and I think he’s doing a lot of great things for the country, and that’s what I’m proud of.

For the TL;DR crowd: Kushner says that if a racist MAGA tree falls in the woods and he wasn’t there when it fell, then it didn’t make a sound because he wasn’t involved in that and therefore can’t even comment upon hearing that the tree lead the charge that former president Obama was a Kenyan national.

Kushner can’t even say that he wishes the president didn’t lead the birtherism claims against Obama because he wasn’t there. Basically, racism can only be commented on by Kushner if he’s there, and then again, like the Russian Trump Tower meeting he doesn’t know if he’d be there.


Confused? Don’t worry. The Root’s Senior Writer Michael Harriot explains Kushner’s Shaggy “It wasn’t me” defense as such:

It’s a novel excuse to use when your homeboy’s wife asks if he’s cheating.

Her: Is Tony unfaithful?

Me: Of course not. He would never do that!

Her: But what about the text messages I found to that other woman?

Me: I didn’t see those, therefore they don’t exist.

Feel free to enjoy the entire interview below: