Jared Kushner is quickly making a name for himself as one of President Trump’s most effective policy advocates, helping the president rack up a series of huge wins over the last few months.
Jared is one of those exceedingly rare and sought-after commodities in Washington, D.C. — an adviser whom the president can trust absolutely and who understands and respects the man the people elected. Rather than relying on career politicians whose own ambitions might conflict with White House priorities, Donald Trump was able to turn to his own son-in-law to spearhead some of his most important initiatives.
That level of trust alone is a huge advantage in the Washington Swamp. That Jared Kushner just happens to be one the dealmaking “killers” Donald Trump loved as a billionaire businessman is just icing on the cake.
Jared Kushner is not the sort of wonky Capitol Hill critter to which the Swamp is accustomed. He’s a no-nonsense New York City deal maker, cut from the same cloth as his father-in-law, who’s used to playing ball with the best of the best in the world’s toughest, most ruthless real estate market — and winning.
Jared brought the same mindset that made him a successful businessman to the White House, and Washington wasn’t ready for that. As we’ve just seen, neither was the world stage.
Kushner recently played an absolutely essential role in the most significant American international trade negotiation in a generation. He helped get Mexico and Canada to agree to scrap the disastrous NAFTA deal and replace it with the USMCA trade agreement.
The leaders of all three countries came away from the USMCA negotiations feeling like they’d scored a victory for their people. Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto even awarded Kushner the Order of the Aztec Eagle, the country’s highest award for foreigners, calling Kushner “a great ally” who has “really contributed to achieving agreement” between the U.S. and Mexico. That’s a dealmaker for you.
Kushner’s considerable talents would be wasted if he just spent all his time dealing with other countries. Here at home, he’s on the verge of closing a major bipartisan prison reform deal. Successive Republican and Democrat administrations have been unable to enact meaningful reform despite broad bipartisan support, but now the Senate is set to vote on the FIRST STEP Act, which the president had delegated Kushner to negotiate with congressional leaders.
People across the political spectrum absolutely love this life-altering legislation. The left likes that it addresses unfairness and racial disparities in the criminal justice system, while the right likes that it implements proven strategies to lower crime rates by reducing recidivism while keeping violent offenders behind bars where they belong. All the president needed was a killer to bring the two sides together, and Jared Kushner delivered — bigly — setting up the president to close on an essential part of his legislative agenda.
When the president needs someone he can count on to forge an important deal, he turns to his son-in-law. With his growing portfolio of major policy victories, the world is starting to recognize why President Trump places so much faith in Kushner’s abilities. Americans ought to as well.
Katrina Pierson (@KatrinaPierson) is a senior adviser for Donald J. Trump for President Inc.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of The Daily Caller.