Trump taps Kushner to lead a SWAT team to fix government with business ideas

[Mileage Psycho]

This could be the pivot for Trump, seeing that the advice of Bannon and Priebus hasn't really worked out to well it could be that Trump figures it's time to bring in the hometown guys.

These Jewish guys from New York are Trumps best shot to turn things around, and in a strong move the president has it setup where Kushner will report directly to him thus circumventing Bannon and Priebus, and the best part for Trump is that he knows and has trust in these New York guys.

I wish these folks the best of luck  

Quote

 

Trump taps Kushner to lead a SWAT team to fix government with business ideas

President Trump plans to unveil a new White House office on Monday with sweeping authority to overhaul the federal bureaucracy and fulfill key campaign promises — such as reforming care for veterans and fighting opioid addiction — by harvesting ideas from the business world and, potentially, privatizing some government functions.

The White House Office of American Innovation, to be led by Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law and senior adviser, will operate as its own nimble power center within the West Wing and will report directly to Trump. Viewed internally as a SWAT team of strategic consultants, the office will be staffed by former business executives and is designed to infuse fresh thinking into Washington, float above the daily political grind and create a lasting legacy for a president still searching for signature achievements.

“All Americans, regardless of their political views, can recognize that government stagnation has hindered our ability to properly function, often creating widespread congestion and leading to cost overruns and delays,” Trump said in a statement to The Washington Post. “I promised the American people I would produce results, and apply my ‘ahead of schedule, under budget’ mentality to the government.”

In a White House riven at times by disorder and competing factions, the innovation office represents an expansion of Kushner’s already far-reaching influence. The 36-year-old former real estate and media executive will continue to wear many hats, driving foreign and domestic policy as well as decisions on presidential personnel. He also is a shadow diplomat, serving as Trump’s lead adviser on relations with China, Mexico, Canada and the Middle East.

The work of White House chief strategist Stephen K. Bannon has drawn considerable attention, especially after his call for the “deconstruction of the administrative state.” But Bannon will have no formal role in the innovation office, which Trump advisers described as an incubator of sleek transformation as opposed to deconstruction.

The announcement of the new office comes at a humbling moment for the president, following Friday’s collapse of his first major legislative push — an overhaul of the health-care system, which Trump had championed as a candidate.

Kushner is positioning the new office as “an offensive team” — an aggressive, nonideological ideas factory capable of attracting top talent from both inside and outside of government, and serving as a conduit with the business, philanthropic and academic communities.

“We should have excellence in government,” Kushner said Sunday in an interview in his West Wing office. “The government should be run like a great American company. Our hope is that we can achieve successes and efficiencies for our customers, who are the citizens.”

The innovation office has a particular focus on technology and data, and it is working with such titans as Apple chief executive Tim Cook, Microsoft founder Bill Gates, Salesforce chief executive Marc Benioff and Tesla founder and chief executive Elon Musk. The group has already hosted sessions with more than 100 such leaders and government officials.

“There is a need to figure out what policies are adding friction to the system without accompanying it with significant benefits,” said Stephen A. Schwarzman, chief executive of the investment firm Blackstone Group. “It’s easy for the private sector to at least see where the friction is, and to do that very quickly and succinctly.”

Some of the executives involved have criticized some of Trump’s policies, such as his travel ban, but said they are eager to help the administration address chronic problems.

“Obviously it has to be done with corresponding values and principles. We don’t agree on everything,” said Benioff, a Silicon Valley billionaire who raised money for Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2016 campaign.

But, Benioff added, “I’m hopeful that Jared will be collaborative with our industry in moving this forward. When I talk to him, he does remind me of a lot of the young, scrappy entrepreneurs that I invest in in their 30s.”

Kushner’s ambitions for what the new office can achieve are grand. At least to start, the team plans to focus its attention on reimagining Veterans Affairs; modernizing the technology and data infrastructure of every federal department and agency; remodeling workforce-training programs; and developing “transformative projects” under the banner of Trump’s $1 trillion infrastructure plan, such as providing broadband Internet service to every American.

In some cases, the office could direct that government functions be privatized, or that existing contracts be awarded to new bidders.

The office will also focus on combating opioid abuse, a regular emphasis for Trump on the campaign trail. The president later this week plans to announce an official drug commission devoted to the problem that will be chaired by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R). He has been working informally on the issue for several weeks with Kushner, despite reported tension between the two.

Under President Barack Obama, Trump advisers said scornfully, some business leaders privately dismissed their White House interactions as “NATO” meetings — “No action, talk only” — in which they were “lectured,” without much follow-up.

Andrew Liveris, chairman and chief executive of Dow Chemical, who has had meetings with the two previous administrations, said the environment under Trump is markedly different.

After he left a recent meeting of manufacturing chief executives with Trump, Liveris said, “Rather than entering a vacuum, I’m getting emails from the president’s team, if not every day, then every other day — ‘Here’s what we’re working on.’ ‘We need another meeting.’ ‘Can you get us more input on this?’ ”

Kushner proudly notes that most of the members of his team have little-to-no political experience, hailing instead from the world of business. They include Gary Cohn, director of the National Economic Council; Chris Liddell, assistant to the president for strategic initiatives; Reed Cordish, assistant to the president for intergovernmental and technology initiatives; Dina Powell, senior counselor to the president for economic initiatives and deputy national security adviser; and Andrew Bremberg, director of the Domestic Policy Council.

Ivanka Trump, the president’s elder daughter and Kushner’s wife, who now does her advocacy work from a West Wing office, will collaborate with the innovation office on issues such as workforce development but will not have an official role, aides said.

Powell, a former Goldman Sachs executive who previously worked in George W. Bush’s White House and State Department, boasts a government pedigree. Bremberg also worked in the Bush administration. But others are political neophytes.

Liddell, who speaks with an accent from his native New Zealand, served as chief financial officer for General Motors, Microsoft and International Paper, as well as in Hollywood for William Morris Endeavor.

“We are part of the White House team, connected with everyone here, but we are not subject to the day-to-day issues, so we can take a more strategic approach to projects,” Liddell said.

Like Kushner, Cordish is the scion of a real estate family — a Baltimore-based conglomerate known for developing casinos and shopping malls. And Cohn, a Democrat who has recently amassed significant clout in the White House, is the hard-charging former president of Goldman Sachs.

Trump’s White House is closely scrutinized for its always-evolving power matrix, and the innovation office represents a victory for Wall Street figures such as Cohn who have sought to moderate Trump’s agenda and project a friendly front to businesses, sometimes in conflict with the more hard-line conservatism championed by Bannon and Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

The innovation group has been meeting twice a week in Kushner’s office, just a few feet from the Oval Office, largely barren but for a black-and-white photo of his paternal grandparents — both Holocaust survivors — and a marked-up whiteboard more typical of tech start-ups. Kushner takes projects and decisions directly to the president for sign-off, though Trump also directly suggests areas of personal interest.

There could be friction as the group interacts with myriad federal agencies, though the advisers said they did not see themselves as an imperious force dictating changes but rather as a “service organization” offering solutions.

Kushner’s team is being formalized just as the Trump administration is proposing sweeping budget cuts across many departments, and members said they would help find efficiencies.

“The president’s doing what is necessary to have a prudent budget, and that makes an office like this even more vital as we need to get more out of less dollars by doing things smarter, doing things better, and by leaning on the private sector,” Cordish said.

Ginni Rometty, the chairman and chief executive of IBM, said she is encouraged: “Jared is reaching out and listening to leaders from across the business community — not just on day-to-day issues, but on long-term challenges like how to train a modern workforce and how to apply the latest innovations to government operations.”

Trump sees the innovation office as a way to institutionalize what he sometimes did in business, such as helping New York City’s government renovate the floundering Wollman Rink in Central Park, said Hope Hicks, the president’s longtime spokeswoman.

“He recognized where the government has struggled with certain projects and he was someone in the private sector who was able to come in and bring the resources and creativity needed and ultimately execute in an efficient, cost-effective, way,” Hicks said. “In some respects, this is an extension of some of the highlights of the president’s career.”

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-taps-kushner-to-lead-a-swat-team-to-fix-government-with-business-ideas/ar-BByQlsU

 

 

[Zambroski]

Better,  

And I just perused it but a lot of us agree that the government needs to start running as a successful business.  Not sure he's taking too much advice on business matters from Bannon or Priebus though.  I think that's a separate media/PR return fire, crap shooting gig those two have taken up.

[Highmark]

Its the economy stupid.  4-5% growth and HC fix failure will be forgotten in a hurry.  

[Ez ryder]

I saw that yesterday and was happy. he talked about that some time back .sonxs like they have already been working at it behind the scene 

[Highmark]

for a president still searching for signature achievements.

I had to laugh at that.   Not even to the 100 day mark yet.   

Quote from Obama during his first 100 days.

Obama stated that he should not be judged by his first hundred days: "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference."^[6]

[Mainecat]

Looks like the senate is slappin Bannon...

Breitbart Denied Permanent Senate Press Gallery Credentials

Source: Media Matters

The credentialing committee for Capitol Hill reporters announced today that they will not grant Breitbart.com’s request for permanent credentials at this time, citing the website’s failure to demonstrate editorial independence from key supporters of President Donald Trump.

Members of the Standing Committee of the Senate Press Gallery referenced several concerns with Breitbart’s bid for permanent status at a hearing this morning. These included the lack of evidence proving that former Breitbart chief executive and current White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon had actually separated himself from the website; questions about whether Rebekah Mercer, who owns part of the outlet and was a key funder of Trump’s presidential campaign, also plays an editorial role; the fact that some on the masthead have also received payments from the Government Accountability Institute, a nonprofit group funded by Mercer and previously led by Bannon; and issues surrounding Breitbart’s apparent use of office space not zoned for commercial leases.

Read more: https://mediamatters.org/blog/2017/03/27/breitbart-denied-permanent-senate-press-gallery-credentials/215826

[Angry ginger]

They should ban fox cnn and NBC as well considering the garbage that they all put out. 

[Jimmy Snacks]

If they can straighten out the VA that would be a huge victory and vets deserve it...I like this whole idea.

[Mainecat]

Looks like  Chamber Of Commerce selection committee for Trump. You know like a toll booth.

[Jimmy Snacks]

Hey MC this just might be a very good thing that improves efficiency and services especially in The VA.....go be a cunt in one your endless anti Trump threads.

[Mileage Psycho]

2 hours ago, Highmark said:

for a president still searching for signature achievements.

I had to laugh at that.   Not even to the 100 day mark yet.   

Quote from Obama during his first 100 days.

Obama stated that he should not be judged by his first hundred days: "The first hundred days is going to be important, but it’s probably going to be the first thousand days that makes the difference."^[6]

11 bills were passed in Obama's first 100 days, we are now at the 67th day of Trump's presidency and bills passed are?

[f7ben]

24 minutes ago, Mileage Psycho said:

11 bills were passed in Obama's first 100 days, we are now at the 67th day of Trump's presidency and bills passed are?

how many of those 11 bills were good for the public?

[Anler]

Good

[revkevsdi]

Evidently the budget cut a small government department with a 60 million dollar budget. They connect US businesses to foreign governments or businesses. The small US suppliers wouldn't be able to connect with those governments without this service.

According to the article for every dollar spent they generate $85.00 worth of business for US companies.

They cut that. Which is good for other countries that have similar business trying to scoop that business.

But I fail to see how anyone with any Business savvy would save a dollar to lose $85.00.

Basically Trump needs all the Business minds that are still ok being associated with him.

[Mileage Psycho]

2 hours ago, f7ben said:

how many of those 11 bills were good for the public?

The big one was the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.

On the bold let's see where Trump ends up at after 100 days, of course it will be fake news  

Quote

 

Obama began to formally create his presidential footprint during his first 100 days.[1] Obama quickly began attempting to foster support for his economic stimulus package, American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[2] The bill passed in the House on January 28, 2009, by a 244–188 vote,[3] and it passed in the Senate on February 10 by a 61–37 margin.

At the end of the first 100 days 65% of Americans approved of how Obama was doing and 29% disapproved.[10] According to Gallup's First quarter survey in April, President Obama received a 63% approval rating. Gallup began tracking presidential approval ratings of the first quarters since Eisenhower in 1953. President Kennedy received the highest in April 1961 with a 74% rating. Obama's 63% is the fourth highest and the highest since President Carter with a 69%. President Reagan's first quarter had 60% approval in 1981, President George.H.W. Bush with 57% in 1989, President Clinton with 55% in 1993, and President George W. Bush with 58% in 2001.[11]

 

 

[Anler]

3 hours ago, f7ben said:

how many of those 11 bills were good for the public?

The recovery act kept alot of companies from going under during those years. People can argue about but I and others lived it. Very stressful time. 

[f7ben]

Just now, Anler said:

The recovery act kept alot of companies from going under during those years. People can argue about but I and others lived it. Very stressful time. 

so the govt picked the winners and losers ......I dont happen to agree with that 

[Anler]

Just now, f7ben said:

so the govt picked the winners and losers ......I dont happen to agree with that 

No, don't be stupid. For construction everything was competitive bid and had strict buy America requirements. You know, socialism...

[f7ben]

3 minutes ago, Anler said:

No, don't be stupid. For construction everything was competitive bid and had strict buy America requirements. You know, socialism...

there were all kinds of businesses that suffered....why should just the construction industry have gotten a govt hand out. the recession touched every industry but the govt let plenty of businesses go under while infuses tax dollars into others. that is called picking winners and losers

 

 

[Zambroski]

1 minute ago, f7ben said:

there were all kinds of businesses that suffered....why should just the construction industry have gotten a govt hand out. the recession touched every industry but the govt let plenty of businesses go under while infuses tax dollars into others. that is called picking winners and losers

 

 

Yes...it is.  And it was wrong.  

[Anler]

Just now, f7ben said:

there were all kinds of businesses that suffered....why should just the construction industry have gotten a govt hand out. the recession touched every industry but the govt let plenty of businesses go under while infuses tax dollars into others. that is called picking winners and losers

 

 

I get where you are coming from and I suffered that too. We started this company in 2008, do you have any idea how hard that was? That curse was also kind of a blessing because we bought all of our equipment for pennies on the dollar from companies going OUT of business. 

The other obstacle was we couldn't get financing. The banks were locked up and they don't like construction companies. I wrote emails to every senator and congressman asking if there was help for us. The govt bailed out the banks but let us rot. They let everybody rot. When the market changes you have to change. We did and we struggled thru it. I think it helped alot of us, sorry if you disagree. 

[Ez ryder]

no one should have gotten a hand out . banks should have been first to drop .

if your credit was good and books in order Germany was lending big time . My bud was flying all over the country closing loans for the German  bank he works for. he was killing it hands down best 2 yrs of his life  

[f7ben]

13 minutes ago, Anler said:

I get where you are coming from and I suffered that too. We started this company in 2008, do you have any idea how hard that was? That curse was also kind of a blessing because we bought all of our equipment for pennies on the dollar from companies going OUT of business. 

The other obstacle was we couldn't get financing. The banks were locked up and they don't like construction companies. I wrote emails to every senator and congressman asking if there was help for us. The govt bailed out the banks but let us rot. They let everybody rot. When the market changes you have to change. We did and we struggled thru it. I think it helped alot of us, sorry if you disagree. 

I think that the liquidity that was provided should have gone directly to consumer lending ...not to line the pockets of the big banks investing in rigged sure things. I am a free market fundamentalist.....certainly not a Keynesian corporatist 

[Anler]

12 minutes ago, f7ben said:

I think that the liquidity that was provided should have gone directly to consumer lending ...not to line the pockets of the big banks investing in rigged sure things. I am a free market fundamentalist.....certainly not a Keynesian corporatist 

I agree, should have helped consumers and not a gift to the banks. They fucked it up, they shouldn't have been rewarded for it...

[f7ben]

Just now, Anler said:

I agree, should have helped consumers and not a gift to the banks. They fucked it up, they shouldn't have been rewarded for it...

exactly