Last spring, Jared Kushner took a break from royally bungling the government’s response to the COVID-19 crisis to have a chat with famed journalist Bob Woodward. At one point in their discussion, the then first son-in-law explained to Woodward that, in this estimation, “the most dangerous people around the president are overconfident idiots.” Rather than having had a come-to-Jesus moment about the fact that he literally had no business advising the leader of the free world about anything but how to impersonate a Madame Tussauds wax figure, Kushner was criticizing other people for supposedly overestimating their abilities—during the same interview in which he bragged that the White House had cut medical experts out of the government’s response to a historic public health crisis. Kushner’s overconfidence, of course, had tragic consequences for the country; by Trump’s last full day in office, the U.S. had lost 400,000 people to the virus the administration claimed would “miraculously” go away and nearly two months later, an additional 135,000 people are dead. That’s part of the reason—among many, many others!—that no one ever wants to see or hear from Jared Kushner or his in-laws ever again. And yet, the guy calling other people overconfident idiots is not only still talking but offering his father-in-law’s successor foreign policy tips.

In an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal published on Sunday entitled “Opportunity Beckons in the Mideast,” Kushner kicks things off by giving the strong impression that he’s been working as a travel agent since leaving the White House in January, writing:

The geopolitical earthquake that began with the Abraham Accords hasn’t ended. More than 130,000 Israelis have visited Dubai since President Trump hosted the peace deal’s signing this past September, and air travel opened up for the first time in August. New, friendly relations are flowering—wait until direct flights get going between Israel and Morocco.

Then, he makes an extremely bold statement, claiming “we are witnessing the last vestiges of what has been known as the Arab-Israeli conflict,” the suggestion being that the root of the Arab-Israeli conflict is all about the ability to go on vacation in Dubai. But before one can fully consider the absurdity of this section of Kushner’s essay, he busts out an even more ridiculous claim, punctuated by a line that only a guy whose every “achievement” in life has been handed to him by his father (and father-in-law) can:

One of the reasons the Arab-Israeli conflict persisted for so long was the myth that it could be solved only after Israel and the Palestinians resolved their differences. That was never true. The Abraham Accords exposed the conflict as nothing more than a real-estate dispute between Israelis and Palestinians that need not hold up Israel’s relations with the broader Arab world.

Yes, according to young Jared, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is simply a matter of real estate and if Trump had had a second term you can bet Kushner would’ve solved the whole thing by hooking the Palestinians up with some sweet two-bed, one-bath condos with two months free on a 12-month lease. (Trump branded, of course.) This take is up there with the one Kushner shared with the world back in 2019, which was that in order to bring peace to the Middle East, people must simply stop “doing terrorism.”

Anyway, the real reason Kushner brought everyone here today was to say that “while many were troubled by the Biden team’s…offer to work with Europe and rejoin the Iran deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action,” he “saw it as a smart diplomatic move.” Here, let‘s take a moment to pause and reflect on the fact that Biden administration employees are probably told on their first day of work that if they ever find themselves in a situation in which Jared Kushner is praising something they’ve done, they should immediately do the opposite and escalate the incident to their superior. No matter: Kushner thinks Biden and company are on the right road thanks, of course, to the groundwork laid by the Trump administration. (“Mr. Trump has said that Iran has never won a war but never lost a negotiation,” Kushner writes. “This negotiation is high-stakes and, thanks to his policies, America holds a strong hand.”)

Still, Kushner warns, things could easily go south. But if the 46th president and his people listen to this unsolicited advice from Ivanka Trump’s husband, who had delivered them this opportunity on a silver platter, they might actually be able to achieve something:

The table is set. If it is smart, the Biden administration will seize this historic opportunity to unleash the Middle East’s potential, keep America safe, and help the region turn the page on a generation of conflict and instability. It is time to begin a new chapter of partnership, prosperity and peace.

While Kushner undoubtedly double-gun saluted himself in the mirror after hitting send on his piece and mouthed “nailed it, J-Man,” the response to the op-ed was…presumably not what he’d hoped for:

The good news is that if you enjoyed this Kushner-penned dreck, the ex-first son-in-law is reportedly working on an entire book about how he saved America and we can probably expect an entire chapter of free tips for the Biden administration.

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In other tax news…

It’d be helpful if the IRS would actually collect the full amount of taxes owed by millionaires. Per Bloomberg:

The Internal Revenue Service has failed to collect more than $2.4 billion from wealthy individuals who owe the federal government back taxes, according to a Treasury Department watchdog report. Auditors were only able to recoup about 39% of the more than $4 billion in unpaid taxes owed by a group of rich taxpayers with an average annual income of nearly $1.6 million, the report found. The findings suggest that the IRS should place more emphasis on a taxpayer’s income when determining whether to pursue an audit case, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration said in the report released Monday.

The findings are the latest in a series of government accountability reports that recommend the IRS do more to pursue high-income taxpayers after audit rates dipped to historic lows in recent years. The dearth of examinations has prompted Democrats in Congress to pursue legislation that would mandate higher audit levels of businesses and wealthy individuals. When the IRS identifies a return with potentially underpaid taxes, it notifies the taxpayer, but many of those cases aren’t routed to teams that enforce collections.

In 2018, ProPublica reported that someone making less than $20,000 a year was much more likely to face scrutiny from the IRS than someone making 20 times that. Just in case you were worried that the agency held rich people to the same standard as the poor.

Is the MyPillow guy on the FBI’s watch list?

If not, maybe he should be!

If you’re a Goldman Sachs employee out to lunch in the Hamptons, whatever you do, do not introduce yourself to the CEO

Because he’ll remember your name* and use it as evidence that he’s not getting enough productivity out of you and your fellow grunts. Per Bloomberg:

Few things annoyed [David] Solomon more last year than an encounter with a junior employee in the Hamptons. The Goldman Sachs boss has told lieutenants how the underling walked up at a restaurant, introduced himself and pointed to associates with him—in the middle of a workday. The tale has become the CEO’s go-to anecdote when he vents about his mostly-empty offices: proof that remote work has run amok.

As early as July, Solomon sought to make a big push to bring back more people to offices but relented after executives around him intervened. In private conversations, Solomon bemoaned that it was politically incorrect to say people need to return to work. He groused about a drop in innovation and the decay of social connections because of the damage done from working at home.

*To be fair he probably won’t remember your name but simply refer to you as “that little shit costing me money.”

Elsewhere!

Spring Breakers Could Be Tipping Point for Key COVID Variant in Florida (Daily Beast)

CDC chief warns of another COVID surge (CNBC)

Two arrested in assault on police officer Brian D. Sicknick, who died after Jan. 6 Capitol riot (Washington Post)

Treasury Secretary Yellen pushes global minimum tax to help pay for Biden’s plans (Washington Post)

New EPA administrator: “Science is back” (Washington Post)

Steve Bannon loses bid to start right-wing political academy in Italy (Reuters)

Tinder will allow users to run background check on dates (NYP)

Elon Musk changes job title to “Technoking of Tesla” (BBC)

“Hot pigeon” goes viral, putting NYC’s flock to shame (NYP)

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