Charles Krauthammer said that Americans have become relaxed about nepotism concerns given the history of Bobby Kennedy and Hillary Clinton, and he does not expect consternation about Jared Kushner to last long:
If it’s a problem, it’s an invented problem. The most famous case of appointing a close family member, of course, is Bobby Kennedy. There was a lot of consternation at the time. The brother of the president. Attorney general is a pretty big job, very important, and he proved to be one of the great assets, we know, in the Cuban Missile Crisis. So I think we’ve become rather relaxed about it. And anti-nepotism laws to prevent the king from appointing all kind of incompetent relatives into sinecure, that’s not the issue here.
There are conflicts. I think there are problems having to do with the businesses that Jared has, and the problem that he and other nominees to high positions could have a conflict of interest. But as for nepotism, I don’t think it applies. I think the law probably is on the side of Trump. We had Hillary, who worked on Hillarycare for her husband, and I think those rulings at the time clearing her made a precedent that says it’s okay to use a close relative in high positions. I expect it’s a one-day story.
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