Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
I had to form a lot of trust with Democrats, whether it was Hakeem Jeffries or Dick Durbin.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And then also on the Republican side, I had Mike Lee, I had Lindsey Graham, I had Tim Scott, Senator Grassley, and then also Doug Collins in the House was tremendous.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And every time we maneuvered something, we would get attacked either from the left or
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
There was a time we were being attacked by Nancy Pelosi, John Lewis, for not being inclusive enough.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And then there were times that we maneuvered it, we'd be attacked from the right for maybe going too far.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And ultimately, we had to find just the right place where we can get it done.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And the same thing happened with USMCA, where we were negotiating the biggest trade deal in the history of the world, which was $1.3 trillion in annual trade between Mexico, Canada, the United States of America.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And we were able to form good trust with the other side and try to say, how do we create win-win outcomes?
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And ultimately, we were able to do something in a record time that people thought was very hard to do.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And both of them, in a divided time of the Trump administration, were bipartisan wins with big, big votes in the Senate and the House.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
But in fairness, too, for him, during the time that we were dealing with him, he was always in election versus election and then election.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
you know, what he was saying wasn't wrong.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And I think he was more expressing his concerns given the dynamics.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And, you know, we never held those concerns against him.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
We just said those are real concerns he had.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
We respected those concerns, but then we helped him prioritize to help accomplish the right things.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And that's ultimately what the partnership is, right?
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
My job was to represent America.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
His job was to represent Israel.
Lex Fridman Podcast
#399 β Jared Kushner: Israel, Palestine, Hamas, Gaza, Iran, and the Middle East
And you had other parties representing their own interests.