Top White House aide Jared Kushner’s quiet but successful bipartisan efforts to make deals on trade and justice issues have been seized on by President Trump as a blueprint for keeping his agenda alive on a divided Capitol Hill as he enters the 2020 re-election season.
“It’s a good road map,” said a Trump insider, adding, “Jared’s is a guide for the future.”
While others in the administration have used sharp elbows to get their way, Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, has mastered his own deal-making style that favors creating coalitions.
Trump Endorses Prison Reform In Big Win For Jared Kushner https://t.co/YhqQsdl1Ee
— The Forward (@jdforward) November 15, 2018
His trademark deal has been pushing for bipartisan criminal justice reform, endorsed by Trump this week.
Kushner brought together a mix of conservatives and liberals to push for changes to the laws that have imposed harsh and often long sentences.
He worked to win the support of critics, and last week the Fraternal Order of Police and the National District Attorneys Association endorsed it, clearing away concerns it would make Trump look weak on crime if he endorsed it.
Much more than the legislation, Kushner’s style — also seen in his work on NAFTA — is what aides are pointing to as the president crafts a pathway to success now that the House has turned Democratic.
“Ultimately the president is a deal maker, and he’ll find ways to compromise,” said an associate.
The situation for Trump is somewhat similar to what former President Bill Clinton faced when he lost control of Congress. It was after that debacle that he cut some of his most important deals on welfare reform and balancing the budget, key issues to winning re-election.
The administration hopes to do the same on issues such as infrastructure and middle class taxes.
In endorsing the justice reform legislation advocated by Kushner, the president on Wednesday highlighted the bipartisan nature of it. “Working together with my administration over the last two years, these members have reached a bipartisan agreement. Did I heard the word ‘bipartisan?’ Did I hear — did I hear that word? That’s a nice word. Bipartisan agreement on prison reform legislation known as the First Step. And that’s what it is; it’s the first step. But it’s a very big first step,” the president said.
He also offered praise for Kushner, married to Ivanka Trump.
“I want to thank Jared Kushner for working so hard on the bill. Thank you, Jared. He worked very hard. He really did. He worked very hard. He feels very deeply about it. And it’s my honor to be involved, and it’ll be an even greater honor to sign,” the president said.
The Jewish journal Forward, which has covered Kushner extensively, wrote of Trump’s endorsement, “Trump Endorses Prison Reform In Big Win For Jared Kushner.”
