Trump has put his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a 36-year-old real estate investor, in charge of streamlining the federal bureaucracy, drawing upon business ideas. At the same time, Kushner is Trump’s lead advisor on foreign and domestic policy and oversees relations with Mexico, Canada, China, and the Middle East.
“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.
“All Americans, regardless of their political views, can recognize that government stagnation has hindered our ability to properly function, often creating widespread congestion and leading to cost overruns and delays,” Trump said in a statement to The Washington Post. “I promised the American people I would produce results, and apply my ‘ahead of schedule, under budget’ mentality to the government.”
“ In a White House riven at times by disorder and competing factions, the innovation office represents an expansion of Kushner’s already far-reaching influence. The 36-year-old former real estate and media executive will continue to wear many hats, driving foreign and domestic policy as well as decisions on presidential personnel. He also is a shadow diplomat, serving as Trump’s lead adviser on relations with China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East.”
Like Trump, Kushner has no experience on government or in foreign or diplomatic affairs.
This is an administration dedicated to amateurism and calling it “innovation.”
Call it “Govern for America.”
Nicholas Kristof wrote this morning that Trump represents the “triumph of incompetence.” He wrote that Trump “has crafted an administration in his own image: vain, narcisstic, and dangerous.”
Diane Ravitch's blog 
Each day with trump gets worse.
Susan Schwartz wrote this earlier today: he is a legitimate president but he is a lunatic.
I disagree with the first claim until the FBI finishes its investigation of the Putin links.
The malignant narcissist in the White House is legally, according to the language in the U.S. Constitution, president of the U.S., but he is illegitimate on many counts and if the GOP wasn’t owned and controlled by billionaires like the Walton family, the Koch brothers, Robert Mercer, etc., they would have removed Trump by now and the removal would have also been legal according to the U.S. Constitution.
Legally sworn in and legally impeached should have happened the same day.
If the malignant narcissist succeeds in destroying the federal government and turning the United States into a branch of his often bankrupt and deeply-in-debt family business, it will be the fault of the Republican Party more than the Democrats because they hold the majority in both Houses of Congress. Congress can stop him faster than the courts can.
He must be a good delegator. I know I would have enough to do if my only assignment was relations with China. Not quite the multi-tasking kind they want.
Fred,
Has it occurred to you that you are not as smart as Jared Kushner?
What is even scarier is Trump’s view of how a successful business is run. I don’t care how much someone despises Wall Street, using a real estate developer as an example of the best of business practice and a model for the way government should be run is beyond ludicrous.
His own business is a family business. So is Jared Kushner’s. There is no Board of directors, no accountability, no stockholders, no transparency, no annual meetings. Whatever Papa wants, that’s it.
I really need a bucket.
Shall we take bets on which agency he guts first? My bet is on the IRS.
A nimble power center from the US treasury into Trump’s secret bank accounts.
Gag me! This dump is the WORSE ever. Impeach! His family and people are … (fill in the blanks).
straight scary – just another way to cut, cut, cut and leave taxpayers out in the cold – wasteful in the long term and cruel…
Grifters Extraordinaire
Eleanor,
You said what I was thinking: Well-dressed Grifters. A family of them.
“”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 …
In a White House riven at times by disorder and competing factions, the innovation office represents an expansion of Kushner’s already far-reaching influence. ”
……………
I feel sorry for anyone who has a federal job. House cleaning by someone who has no knowledge of what’s involved can create horrors for those workers now fearing for their jobs. Knowledge of business doesn’t translate to knowledge of government.
I believe this business take-over of government will be as successful as the business model to ‘reform’ education. People who know nothing about government will screw up, creating an atmosphere of fear in the workplace.
“Trump said a statement. He also said the new team would apply his own “ahead-of-schedule, under-budget mentality to the government.”…
…………….
Trump Taps Jared Kushner To Lead Team That Will Run Government ‘Like A Company’
New White House Office of American Innovation will apply business strategies to federal operations. (Huffington Post)
By Mary Papenfuss
Fresh from the slopes of Aspen, Jared Kushner will on Monday be named the head of an aggressive new team charged with “fixing” the federal government by using business strategies.
“The government should be run like a great American company,” Kusher said on Sunday in an interview with The Washington Post, which first revealed the new initiative. “Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.”
According to The Post, the White House Office of American Innovation has already met with Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Tesla founder Elon Musk, among other business leaders….
“All Americans, regardless of their political views, can recognize that government stagnation has hindered our ability to properly function, often creating widespread congestion and leading to cost overruns and delays,” Trump said …
The team will be staffed by former business executives, such as National Economic Council director Gary Cohn; Reed Cordish, assistant to the president for intra-governmental and technology initiatives; former Goldman Sach executive Dina Powell, who is currently deputy national security adviser and senior counselor to the president for economic initiatives; and Chris Liddell, assistant to the president for strategic initiatives, CBS News reported….
Read the entire article here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/kusher-heads-new-team_us_58d88946e4b02a2eaab52798
“Trump said a statement. He also said the new team would apply his own “ahead-of-schedule, under-budget mentality to the government.”…
Translation: Don’t pay the workers.
“At the same time, Kushner is Trump’s lead advisor on foreign and domestic policy and oversees relations with Mexico, Canada, China, and the Middle East.”
That’s ok. There’s no doubt in (or out of) my mind that Jared will be up to the task. Don’t want him to get bored with those dull international and national policy issues, after all.
“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…”
This is news? Practically everyone Trump has hired is current or former business executive. Love the image of a “SWAT team”, patrolling the far reaching corners of the evil central government. Right up the Trump/Bannon conspiracy alley. Very reassuring.
“This is an administration dedicated to amateurism and calling it “innovation.”
Yep. It’s education reform times one hundred. The stupidity is so transparent, yet it’s backed by big money and power, which makes it so difficult to reign in.
It is a slash and burn expedition. There will be little left to reign in.
Run government just like they run business . Bankrupt 4 times, stiff the smaller businesses you deal with . 16 counts of tax evasion related to buying off politicians with donations, from daddy Kushner. . Trump and Charles Kushner seem to have a thing for Hookers and the uses of film , Charles likes doing the filming while Donald prefers being in the film. Of course just like Donald will run his business from the Oval office . Little Jarred was not ready for prime time and dad ran the business from jail. Jarred and Donald have a lot in common.
They both “earned their money the old fashioned way ,they inherited it.”
Government is not the problem, it is the solution and it will start solving our problems when we stop idolizing business and wealth and take that guys name off the National Airport.
Joel, if I recall correctly, Jared’s father spent two years in federal prison. He was jailed by prosecutor Chris Christie. Maybe that’s why Christie disappeared from the team.
In Fascism, corporate power is protected. It is the very industrial and business elites of a fascist nation who most often put the government leaders into power, creating a mutually beneficial business/government relationship, while labor power is suppressed. Labor unions are eliminated entirely, or at the very least are severely suppressed. Note the rise of “right to work” and elimination of collective bargaining instances.
This hubris is unparalleled in American political history.
SWAT team…maybe….gang of pirates…for sure…
dezerov, the word you are looking for is “grifters.”
Yes, ma’am…you are most correct!
This just came in from the White House:
WHITE HOUSE MEMO
The President will keep working with Congress, with every agency, and most importantly, with the American people, until we eliminate every unnecessary, harmful, and job-killing regulation we can find. It’s all about jobs.
While I have little love for the Trumpeteers, I cannot help but point,out that running education like a business has been a common theme in education reform for most of my 30 years as a teacher. The state park system has to deal with the same silly comparison.
It is not only Trump who believes that services provided for all have the same mission as private companies, who serve the bottom line. This is a common refrain sung by a huge part of society.
We all know there is a difference. Schools cannot just cut off part of their debt by selling off unprofitable students.
Jared and family have yet to learn which day of the week to put their trash to the curb at their rental home in D.C.. Just put it out there whenever you get the urge? Stinks! Neighbors are not happy with that and the endless security that is disturbing their neighborhood. Doubtful any housewarming gifts were delivered to the selfish ones stinking up the neighborhood. Learn and teach the basics to earn respect.
The IRS has a history going back to the Civil War in 1862 and the 16th Amendment in 1913. Does that 16th Amendment give the president the power to meddle with the structure of the IRS?
In fact, the malignant narcissist will be reinventing the wheel if he plans to privatize the IRS.
“The IRS Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 prompted the most comprehensive reorganization and modernization of IRS in nearly half a century. The IRS reorganized itself to closely resemble the private sector model of organizing around customers with similar needs.”
As for the VA:
History – Department of Veterans Affairs (VA)
The United States has the most comprehensive system of assistance for Veterans of any nation in the world, with roots that can be traced back to 1636, when the Pilgrims of Plymouth Colony were at war with the Pequot Indians. The Pilgrims passed a law that stated that disabled soldiers would be supported by the colony.
Fast forward to 1917: when Congress established a new system of Veterans benefits, including programs for disability compensation, insurance for service personnel and Veterans, and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled. By the 1920s, three different federal agencies administered the various benefits: the Veterans Bureau, the Bureau of Pensions of the Interior Department, and the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers.
The first consolidation of federal Veterans programs took place August 9, 1921, when Congress combined all World War I Veterans programs to create the Veterans Bureau. Public Health Service Veterans’ hospitals were transferred to the bureau, and an ambitious hospital construction program for World War I Veterans commenced.
Fast forward to World War II: Following World War II, there was a vast increase in the Veteran population, and Congress enacted large numbers of new benefits for war Veterans—the most significant of which was the World War II GI Bill, signed into law June 22, 1944.
If you click the link and read the history of the VA, you will learn that Congress created the VA and approved changes several times.
Can a president change what Congress created through legislation without approval from Congress?
If the Malignant Narcissist in the White House attempts to privatize any department of the federal government without approval and legislation from Congress, he will be challenged in court repeatedly.
Reblogged this on Mister Journalism: "Reading, Sharing, Discussing, Learning" and commented:
Trump Assigns His Son-in-Law to Overhaul the Federal Government with Business Ideas
by dianeravitch
Trump has put his son-in-law Jared Kushner, a 36-year-old real estate investor, in charge of streamlining the federal bureaucracy, drawing upon business ideas. At the same time, Kushner is Trump’s lead advisor on foreign and domestic policy and oversees relations with Mexico, Canada, China, and the Middle East….https://dianeravitch.net/2017/03/26/trump-assigns-his-son-in-law-to-overhaul-the-federal-government-with-business-ideas/#respond