The Failson’s Tale

Start your day with TPM.
Sign up for the Morning Memo newsletter

I see this as largely comic relief in contrast to the weighty issues currently coming down the pike. But it’s remarkable that these pieces still get written. The Times Peter Baker has a new piece out which makes clear that, according to Jared Kushner, Kushner washed his hands of all of the post-election Big Lie politicking and had nothing to do with any of that bad stuff. “[H]e chose at that pivotal moment to focus instead on his personal project of Middle East diplomacy.” In fact, not only did he have nothing to do with it and not do any bad things, but his lack of presence as a moderating influence meant that the post-election conspiracy leading up to the January 6th insurrection was even crazier and more dangerous than it otherwise would have been. In fact, the whole Trump presidency would have been much worse if not for Kushner’s steadying presence. This may sound like a hyperbolic summary of the article. It’s not. Read it and see for yourself. It’s based on a forthcoming book by Baker and his wife Susan Glasser of The New Yorker. I would be remiss if I didn’t note that in fact Kushner did no bad things, according to the account of Mr. Kushner provided to Mr. Baker.

Latest Editors' Blog
  • |
    November 5, 2024 5:01 p.m.

    We already seem to have pretty good evidence this is a high turnout election. We knew it would be high…

  • |
    November 5, 2024 3:47 p.m.

    Today I’m very interested in your reports from the field: turnout, slices of life, anything and everyone. I want to…

  • |
    November 5, 2024 1:48 p.m.

    We’re already starting to see from the states releasing good real-time data that Election Day isn’t going to be as…

  • |
    November 5, 2024 1:25 p.m.

    We are going to be here a while today. And when I thought about writing today’s Backchannel, a standard post…

Masthead Masthead
Founder & Editor-in-Chief:
Executive Editor:
Managing Editor:
Deputy Editor:
Editor at Large:
General Counsel:
Publisher:
Head of Product:
Director of Technology:
Associate Publisher:
Front End Developer:
Senior Designer: