Rachel Maddow’s show was freakin’ amazing again last night. And I don’t mean that in a comforting way. It was about Jared Kushner. Two big things came up about him yesterday. You probably already know. But, holy crap, do you realize what it means, that it’s happening at once?

Is Jared Kushner in a position right now to wipe out dozens of agencies and hundreds of employees and who knows what else with a stroke of a pen? He just got a powerful new job.

In a striking new piece, the Washington Post reports that Kushner’s power and portfolio are poised to expand. President Trump plans to unveil a new White House office on Monday with sweeping authority to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and fulfill key campaign promises – such as reforming care for veterans and fighting opioid addiction – by harvesting ideas from the business world and, potentially, privatizing some government functions.



The White House Office of American Innovation, to be led by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, will operate as its own nimble power center within the West Wing and will report directly to Trump. Viewed internally as a SWAT team of strategic consultants, the office will be staffed by former business executives and is designed to infuse fresh thinking into Washington, float above the daily political grind and create a lasting legacy for a president still searching for signature achievements. There was a point, early on in the Obama presidency, in which Republicans feigned apoplexy about so-called “czars.” The Democratic president appointed a series of officials to tackle issue-specific challenges, which GOP lawmakers considered outrageous. As the Republican line went, these people were accountable only to Obama, not the public or their representatives, and the nature of their responsibilities were deemed an abuse of policymaking process.



Now, however, Donald Trump wants his inexperienced son-in-law to oversee “a SWAT team of strategic consultants” to start making policy outside the existing legislative and regulatory framework, answering only to Trump.

And on the Very Same Day it came out Kushner had an afore-non-mentioned meeting with the powerful former Russian spy who has moved swiftly up Putin’s ladder, the man who now heads the Russian Bank that handles billions and billions of dollars of “influence and power.” Rachel gives us a frightening look into exactly who the guy is that Kushner met with. But for now, here’s the latest:

Senate investigators plan to question Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and a close adviser, as part of their broad inquiry into ties between Trump associates and Russian officials or others linked to the Kremlin, according to administration and congressional officials. The White House Counsel’s Office was informed this month that the Senate Intelligence Committee, which is investigating Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, wanted to question Mr. Kushner about meetings he arranged with the Russian ambassador, Sergey I. Kislyak, according to the government officials. The meetings, which took place during the transition, included a previously unreported sit-down with the head of Russia’s state-owned development bank. (New York Times)

Seriously. Isn’t it time? This is just beyond partisanship. It’s beyond politics. I always wondered how serious an attack it would take on the United States to unite us again. It seems odd that the attacks often come from within, which is why they can be hard to recognize. But Jared Kushner has never been elected to anything. Michael Flynn has already resigned for doing what Kushner did.

This is a national security threat.

Every American, Republican and Democrat, needs to demand that their representatives, judicial and elected, stand up and insist that the Trump Administration be “suspended” or put on pause, until questions are answered completely and satisfactorily to an independent investigative panel, with full judicial oversight. There is more than enough evidence of questionable ethics, if not outright criminality (dare I say treason?) to justify suspending any further action, domestic or international, from this administration.

Maybe it’s time for us to start talking to our neighbors. All of them. Be nice. If they’re still crazy with “it,” just walk away. But the lights have gotta start coming on for people. The dots have got to start connecting. Our leaders have got to keep hearing from us, and we have got to become leaders ourselves. Leaders who lead.