Book in the news: the manipulative advisers behind Trump’s throne

Kushner Inc

Greed. Ambition. Corruption

St Martin's Press, $28.99

Buy at Amazon

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Donald Trump is a polarising figure, but even he's not quite as unpopular as "Javanka", the nickname for his daughter Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner. "Contempt for the entitled, venal couple may be the one thing that unites all of DC's warring factions," says Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times. They are perhaps Trump's closest advisers, yet their motivations and goals remain "mysterious". This book aims to shed light on the duo.

One of the main themes in this "damming depiction" of the couple is "Javanka & Co's contempt for rules, at least those that directly affect them", says Lloyd Green in The Observer. Kushner has "eviscerated the line between the public good and his own interests". He held White House meetings with bankers to coax them to bail out a $1.8bn white-elephant purchase of 666 Fifth Avenue, for example.

The pair enjoy "unfettered access to the president", says Ed Luce in the Financial Times, and were behind some of Trump's worst decisions, including the one to fire FBI chief James Comey. For her part, Ivanka is "a manipulative figure who pretends to be her father's conscience but is complicit in whatever he does". Trump has reportedly tried to exile them, but they have proved adept at winning back his graces. Trump seems to have concluded that "you can't fire family".