3.27.2017

New Week, Fresh Nepotism

Those questions about Ivanka...

... They're so last week.... On Sunday at 10 pm, here's the Washington Post: Trump taps Kushner to lead a SWAT team to fix government with business ideas.

Aside from the current particulars of who will divide the spoils, it's the usual GOP-Heritage-Business Roundtable template. In that regard, the WaPo's story doesn't sound very different from pro-privatization puff pieces of the last 25 or so years...
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.
It would seem, in Kushner's spare time—when he's not bringing peace to the Middle East.

WaPo's Philip Rucker puffs (and fluffs) away—
Kushner's ambitions for what the new office can achieve are grand. At least to start, the team plans to focus its attention on reimagining Veterans Affairs; modernizing the technology and data infrastructure of every federal department and agency; remodeling workforce-training programs; and developing "transformative projects" under the banner of Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, such as providing broadband Internet service to every American.

In some cases, the office could direct that government functions be privatized, or that existing contracts be awarded to new bidders.

The office will also focus on combating opioid abuse, a regular emphasis for Trump on the campaign trail. The president later this week plans to announce an official drug commission devoted to the problem that will be chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). He has been working informally on the issue for several weeks with Kushner, despite reported tension between the two."
With malice toward all government; with spoils for some.

Also: a nice diversion from this.


Over here! Lean, mean, profit-generating machine; not at all aligned to certain ideologies...
The work of White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon has drawn considerable attention, especially after his call for the "deconstruction of the administrative state." But Bannon will have no formal role in the innovation office, which Trump advisers described as an incubator of sleek transformation as opposed to deconstruction.
But what about creative destruction? Here comes the supposed re-branding—
Kushner is positioning the new office as "an offensive team" — an aggressive, nonideological ideas factory capable of attracting top talent from both inside and outside of government, and serving as a conduit with the business, philanthropic and academic communities.

"We should have excellence in government," Kushner said Sunday in an interview in his West Wing office. "The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens."
In other words...


And,
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