Jared Kushner is reportedly 'furious' that he can't rein in Trump


Throughout Donald Trump's presidential campaign, his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, was something of a man behind the curtain. After Trump won, Kushner and Ivanka Trump picked up from New York to move to Washington, D.C., where Kushner assumed a role as senior adviser. But "just 10 days in, [Kushner and Ivanka Trump are] starting to see signs that it might not work out well for their own ambitions," Vanity Fair reports.
...According to a source familiar with the situation, Kushner's influence on his boss may be flagging. Last week, Kushner spent 24 hours trying to broker a meeting between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto. The source said that Kushner was even considering flying to Mexico in order to convince Peña Nieto, who had butted heads with Trump over various issues, to travel to the White House. Ultimately, Peña Nieto agreed — a feat Kushner presented to his father-in-law on Wednesday night. It was his first real victory in the West Wing in his role as senior adviser, and it would be a major step toward turning one of Trump's main campaign promises into a reality.Less than 12 hours later, though, it all fell apart. After Peña Nieto reiterated that Mexico does not plan to pay for Trump's proposed wall, Trump tweeted that if Mexico is "unwilling to pay for the badly needed wall, then it would be better to cancel the upcoming meeting." Just like that, the meeting was canceled. "Kushner was f--king furious," the source told me. "I'd never once heard him say he was angry throughout the entire campaign. But he was furious." (A representative for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.) [Vanity Fair]
It's taking a physical toll on Kushner, too: "He had lost a noticeable amount of weight from his already slight frame in just a week," Vanity Fair adds. Read the entire story here.
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Jeva Lange was the executive editor at TheWeek.com. She formerly served as The Week's deputy editor and culture critic. She is also a contributor to Screen Slate, and her writing has appeared in The New York Daily News, The Awl, Vice, and Gothamist, among other publications. Jeva lives in New York City. Follow her on Twitter.
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