I agree with much of what you wrote here, Nicholas. I’m not sure about Kushner’s role in the Qatar crisis, but it does look insanely suspicious and deserves more scrutiny than it has received so far. On the other hand, our (infamously) favorable treatment of Saudi Arabia is well documented, so I’m not so sure that things would have played out any differently if Jared were out of the picture.

When it comes to Ivanka, there’s also a lot of suspicious stuff that’s worth picking apart. However, I do want to defend her on one thing in particular. Whenever her father does something people don’t like, everyone seems to blame her for failing to change his mind. The assumption seems to be that because she’s his “favorite” child, she ought to be able to talk him out of doing some of the more controversial things he has done. That’s the premise Samantha Bee’s “feckless” comment was based on. But I don’t think that’s fair. Trump has proven time and again that once he has made up his mind about something, no one is going to talk him out of it. Not Steve Bannon. Not John Kelly. Not Jared. Not Eric. Not the junior Donald. Not Melania. And not Ivanka. It seems the only people who can change his mind are the ones with real star power, like Kim Kardashian.

Anyways, I just wanted to toss that out there since I do think some of the criticism directed at Ivanka has been a little unfair. The issues you raise in this piece are a different matter, and they certainly warrant a closer look.