They went to Jared
By 
Another day, another scandal that would have been considered an existential crisis for any presidential administration in the Before Time:
Officials in at least four countries have privately discussed ways they can manipulate Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, by taking advantage of his complex business arrangements, financial difficulties and lack of foreign policy experience, according to current and former U.S. officials familiar with intelligence reports on the matter.
Among those nations discussing ways to influence Kushner to their advantage were the United Arab Emirates, China, Israel and Mexico, the current and former officials said.
It is unclear if any of those countries acted on the discussions, but Kushner’s contacts with certain foreign government officials have raised concerns inside the White House and are a reason he has been unable to obtain a permanent security clearance, the officials said.
Kushner’s interim security clearance was downgraded last week from the top-secret to the secret level, which should restrict the regular access he has had to highly classified information, according to administration officials.
It’s ever-so hard to maintain any sense of perspective in Trumplandia, but let’s review:
(1) Jared Kushner is completely unqualified to be a senior foreign policy advisor to a POTUS. And by “completely,” I mean he’s no more qualified than I am to manage a cricket team, and the only thing I know about cricket is what I learned by watching Pasolini’s The Third Test Match.
(2) Kushner’s father is a crook.
(3) Kushner is saddled with a financial catastrophe, in the form of the 666 Fifth Avenue development, for which he massively overpaid when he bought it a couple of days after getting his driver’s license. The financing for this development has a monster balloon payment coming due soon, and apparently Kushner is in no position to pay it.
(4) Kushner has reportedly kept trying to get countries to use their sovereign investment funds to bail him out, even after he got a top foreign policy position in the White House.
(5) All of this smells so bad that Kushner’s security clearance has been downgraded.
(6) As I was writing this post, The Sorrows of Young Jared lost its status as the most recent major scandal to hit the White House, as CNN just reported that Robert Mueller is investigating Donald Trump’s financial dealings with Russia before he announced his run for the presidency.