Jared Kushner Sparks Controversy With Comments About Black Americans

Jared Kushner came under fire on Monday for his commentary about Black voters who oppose President Donald Trump and his policies. During an interview on Fox & Friends, Kushner suggested that Trump’s economic policies could benefit Black communities, but they didn’t “want to be successful” badly enough. Before long, Kushner was called out for racism all over social media.

“One thing we’ve seen in a lot of the Black community, which is mostly Democrat, is that President Trump’s policies are the policies that can help people break out of the problems that they’re complaining about,” Kushner claimed. “But he can’t want them to be successful more than they want to be successful.” Kushner’s rhetoric was compared to racist propaganda going back to the age of slavery when stereotypes claimed that Black Americans are “lazy.” Meanwhile, he was called insensitive for his remarks on the Black Lives Matter movement when he said that most supporters were just “virtue signaling” and did not truly care about police violence.

Critics identified Kushner’s commentary as bald-faced racism, and called him out for hypocrisy too. However, some feared that Kushner was being inflammatory on purpose — perhaps to bury other headlines that could be more damaging to the Trump campaign overall. According to Bloomberg’s report, Trump has been gaining ground with Black voters compared to the last election.

Still, Trump remains far from meaningful success with Black voters, as the latest polls show him behind by 71 percentage points compared to former Vice President Joe Biden. This stat is better than the same metric from the 2016 election, where he lost the Black vote by 82 points, but still not ideal.

Viewers questioned how Kushner’s comments could have been calculated to woo these voters, while others argued that there was no calculation behind it at all. Here is a look at how Twitter responded to Kushner on Monday.

Kushner’s Accomplishments

Many users thought that Kushner’s comments were ironically revealing, since he himself owes much of his success to his father-in-law. Even then, they argued, his success has been mixed at best.

Distraction

Some users feared that Kushner’s overt racist rhetoric was a sign that the Trump administration had something else to hide. Many believe that Trump uses inflammatory stories to bury other news stories, and some guessed that that was the case here.

Nepotism

Critics pointed out that Kusnher has benefited greatly from the policies he was espousing — and from his familial link to Trump. They questioned why Kushner would be taken as an objective voice since he reaps the rewards of the existent system.

Shame

Kushner’s words were so surprising that some assumed that the whole world would respond to them in the same way. They tried to shame the White House adviser for the extreme rhetoric.

Other Examples

Commenters seized on this moment to point out other instances of over-the-top rhetoric from the Trump administration or sympathetic public figures. This selection included a recent comment from Candace Owens.

Loss

Some users tried to lead the conversation away from Kushner and towards the people he spoke insensitively about — Black Americans who lost loved ones to police violence, such as the family of George Floyd. They questioned how Kushner could say that they were “virtue signaling” after such a shocking and tremendous loss.

Work Load

Finally, some users refuted Kushner’s claims by arguing that the workers Kushner was referring to likely put in more work overall than he does himself. Many mocked Kushner’s mission of seeking peace in the Middle East, and questioned what else he really does on a day-to-day basis in his capacity as an “adviser.”