Jared Kushner was an obvious choice for Time’s 100 most influential people list. Sadly, the same can’t be said about the person chosen to write the short blurb to go with Kushner’s picture: Henry Kissinger.
The two apparently go way back… 18 months to be exact.
Here is Kissinger’s write-up about Kushner:
“Transitioning the presidency between parties is one of the most complex undertakings in American politics. The change triggers an upheaval in the intangible mechanisms by which Washington runs: an incoming President is likely to be less familiar with formal structures, and the greater that gap, the heavier the responsibility of those advisers who are asked to fill it.
This space has been traversed for nearly four months by Jared Kushner, whom I first met about 18 months ago, when he introduced himself after a foreign policy lecture I had given. We have sporadically exchanged views since. As part of the Trump family, Jared is familiar with the intangibles of the President. As a graduate of Harvard and NYU, he has a broad education; as a businessman, a knowledge of administration. All this should help him make a success of his daunting role flying close to the sun.”
If you’ve ever taken “Greek Mythology 101” you know that that last line about “flying close to the sun” — a reference to Icarus — isn’t exactly a ringing endorsement. As the story goes, Icarus and his father, mythological Greece’s greatest inventor, escaped from captivity by flying away on pairs of wings made of wax. But when Icarus ignored his father’s instructions not to fly too close to the sun, his wings melted, and Icarus plummeted to his death.
It didn’t take long before Twitter “sporadically” mocked the president’s son-in-law.
https://twitter.com/pblest/status/855094679125336065?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fonline%2Fnew-phone-who-dis-twitter-mocks-henry-kissingers-lukewarm-praise-for-jared-kushner%2F
https://twitter.com/ezraklein/status/855118986303942657
Kissinger on Kushner in #Time100.
Now that's faint praise. pic.twitter.com/LJanGYaoHK— ian bremmer (@ianbremmer) April 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/kath_krueger/status/855045328822837248?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fonline%2Fnew-phone-who-dis-twitter-mocks-henry-kissingers-lukewarm-praise-for-jared-kushner%2F
When your professor agrees to write you a reference letter even though you skipped all of his lectures https://t.co/5jWzNOo93G
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) April 20, 2017
https://twitter.com/MikeIsaac/status/855110339356106756?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediaite.com%2Fonline%2Fnew-phone-who-dis-twitter-mocks-henry-kissingers-lukewarm-praise-for-jared-kushner%2F
https://twitter.com/kath_krueger/status/855045328822837248
Henry Kissinger Barely Musters Up Some Thoughts On Jared Kushner https://t.co/5pTq235AYh pic.twitter.com/Vx9Ff2yZDT
— lvenus52 (@lvenus52) April 20, 2017