Dec 20, 2024 · 2h 52m · invest-like-the-best
Jared Kushner - The Mechanic · Invest Like The Best
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In this in-depth interview on Invest Like The Best, host Patrick O'Shaughnessy talks with Jared Kushner about his career spanning New York real estate, diplomatic breakthroughs in the Middle East, federal crisis management, and global private equity at Affinity Partners. Kushner shares core principles on high-stakes negotiations, pragmatic problem-solving, family influences, and disciplined capital allocation.
How this conversation actually went
Every chapter scored 0–10 on four independent dynamics. Hover any point for the reasoning behind the score. Patrick holds 14.3% of the talking time here. How this is scored →
Patrick as informed peer 3.2 Guest teaching 4.6 Guest disagreement 0.5 Patrick pushing back 0.1
speaking balance: gold is Patrick, purple is the guest (3 minute bins)
Sharpest disagreement ▶ 1:53:10 Dismissing political pundits and foreign policy prognosticators
Kushner aggressively rejects conventional political commentary, bluntly stating that foreign policy pundits who talk at dinner parties have no idea what they are talking about.
Hardest push from Patrick ▶ 38:56 Patrick presses Jared on defining 'fair' in global tradePatrick challenges the ambiguity of the word 'fair' in international economics, asking Kushner for a clear operational definition.
Biggest teaching moment ▶ 1:40:10 How the Qatar blockade was actually resolved via speakerphoneKushner walks Patrick through an unprecedented diplomatic maneuver, explaining how placing MBS and Tamim on speakerphone broke a multi-year Gulf blockade without standard diplomatic protocols.
Patrick holds their own ▶ 2:06:40 Patrick highlights Jared's crucial early role in Thrive CapitalPatrick brings detailed background reporting from his private conversations with Josh Kushner, showing precise knowledge of Thrive Capital's early foundational mechanics.
the scores for every segment, with the reasoning behind each
| Chapter | Topic | Patrick as informed peer | Guest teaching | Guest disagreement | Patrick pushing back | Why |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview of Guest Jared Kushner and Key Topics | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Patrick opens the interview warmly, quoting Kushner's mantra 'thank you for this training' and setting the conversational baseline. Kushner explains his mindset of radical acceptance when dealing with life's setbacks. | |
| Restructuring 666 Fifth Avenue and Navigating Lenders | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks about the financial stress and deal mechanics of 666 Fifth Avenue. Kushner recounts meeting Tom Barrack and navigating aggressive debt holders during the 2008 financial crisis. | |
| Jared Kushner on 200 Lafayette and Negotiation Lessons | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick prompts Kushner on how New York real estate negotiation differs from other sectors. Kushner shares operational lessons from renovating 200 Lafayette and the adage 'everyone's got to eat.' | |
| Rick Gerson's Introduction and Listening Orientation in Diplomacy | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Patrick references Rick Gerson's introduction and Kushner's diplomatic approach in the Middle East. Kushner explains his first meeting with MBZ, noting that coming with questions rather than demands built immediate trust. | |
| Confidentiality, Trust, and Sounding Boards in Negotiation | 3 | 5 | 1 | 1 | Patrick asks Kushner to map current global geopolitics in late 2024. Kushner details developments across the Middle East, Russia/Ukraine, and China, while Patrick presses on what a 'fair' global trading system actually means. | |
| Kushner's Journey from Real Estate to Government Service | 2 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks for the foundational model behind Affinity Partners. Kushner outlines blending private equity investing with geopolitical navigation and complex problem solving. | |
| Private Sector Leadership in Global Development and Prosperity | 4 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Patrick quotes Kushner's observation on public companies versus sovereign nations and asks for concrete examples. Kushner explains investments in Mexican infrastructure, Brazilian QSRs via Mubadala, and Israel's Phoenix Insurance. | |
| Affinity's Four Core Investment Principles | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks Kushner to distill his overarching investment philosophy. Kushner recaps advice from Ray Dalio and lists Affinity's core pillars: macro trends, backing great people, structural moats, and the 'why us' rationale. | |
| Pragmatism vs. Ideology and Intellectual Humility | 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | Patrick explores the balance between pragmatism and ideology. Kushner emphasizes intellectual humility, testing premises, and trusting physical intuition when finalizing deals, citing Scott Bessent. | |
| Building Affinity's Long-Term Brand and Reputation | 3 | 6 | 1 | 0 | Patrick brings up the Secret Service nickname 'The Mechanic' and asks about manufacturing deal flow versus receiving it. Kushner details the logistics of Operation Warp Speed, including Ken Griffin's midnight manufacturing advice and locating nasal swabs in Italy. | |
| Defending Conflicts of Interest and Bureaucratic Speed | 3 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Patrick asks whether government bureaucracy ever serves a legitimate purpose. Kushner defends hiring people with industry ties (such as Monsef Slaoui) over sterile regulators and praises the DOGE initiative. | |
| Personal Sacrifices of Public Service | 2 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Patrick asks about the personal toll of public service and the Mueller special counsel inquiry. Kushner describes the surreal experience of windowless FBI depositions and the immense financial and familial strain. | |
| Dealing with Negative Press and Media Strategy Shift | 3 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks how Kushner processes negative press. Kushner explains shifting to open media engagement and shares lessons from co-investing with Brad Jacobs in QXO. | |
| Selecting Strategic Capital Partners in the Middle East | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks about the rationale behind Affinity's major Gulf LPs (PIF, Lunate, QIA). Kushner explains how sovereign wealth funds act as information hubs and gateways for Silicon Valley AI deployment. | |
| Brokering the Qatar Blockade Resolution Between MBS and Tamim | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks Kushner to share the story of brokering peace between MBS and Amir Tamim of Qatar. Kushner narrates putting the two leaders on an impromptu iPhone speakerphone call to break the diplomatic blockade. | |
| Saudi Arabia's Misconceptions, Economic Transformation, and MBS's Vision | 3 | 6 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks what the public misunderstands about Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Qatar. Kushner provides a detailed breakdown of MBS's KPI-driven economic transformation, UAE's business focus, and Qatar's diplomatic function. | |
| Patrick's Inquiry on Worldview, Good vs. Evil, and Geopolitical Realities | 4 | 5 | 2 | 1 | Patrick questions Kushner on worldview and whether certain state actors (like Iran) represent pure evil. Kushner dismisses conventional foreign policy pundits as clueless and argues for practical, incentive-based diplomacy. | |
| Addressing Scrutiny, Media Myths, and Private Equity Dynamics | 3 | 4 | 2 | 0 | Patrick inquires about pre-election congressional inquiries into Affinity Partners. Kushner dismisses the political attacks as ignorant of basic private equity mechanics and advises business executives to engage Donald Trump pragmatically. | |
| Patrick O'Shaughnessy on Josh Kushner and Early Thrive Capital | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick brings up Josh Kushner's gratitude for Jared's early mentorship at Thrive Capital. Kushner reminisces about General Catalyst's initial seed check, helping early portfolio founders with office space, and watching Thrive scale. | |
| Lessons from Josh and the Investment Philosophy of Affinity Partners | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks what Josh has taught Jared in return, as well as the impact of their father, Charlie Kushner. Jared recounts his father's imprisonment, running the family firm at 24, and prioritizing family over ego. | |
| Characteristics of Exceptional Investors and Building Firm Culture | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks about common traits of elite investors and Jared's observations of Donald Trump's decision-making. Kushner explains Trump's intuitive ability to read people and his methodical nature on high-stakes military calls. | |
| Triggers for Personal Intensity and Operational Agility | 3 | 5 | 0 | 0 | Patrick asks what triggers Kushner's intense focus and what new fields he is exploring. Kushner describes launching an enterprise AI application platform with Elad Gill and onboarding Fortune 500 corporations. | |
| Pride in Criminal Justice Reform | 3 | 5 | 1 | 0 | Patrick asks what Kushner is most proud of regarding the Abraham Accords and unfinished government business. Kushner highlights the First Step Act criminal justice reform and shares recidivism reduction metrics. | |
| Key Priorities for the Next Presidential Term | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | Patrick asks about administration priorities, Charlie Munger decision rules, media strategy, and closes with Kushner's formative subway ride after his father's trial. Kushner reflects on empathy and kindness. |
Statements from this episode (148)
Kushner: 2007 Manhattan Plaza District office vacancy was 4% with rising rents
“Manhattan's vacancy rate in the Plaza District was about four percent, which meant the rents were going up double digits every year.”
Kushner: 666 Fifth Avenue investment thesis was right despite structural errors
“We had a thesis at the time, which I think was the right thesis. We just had the wrong timing and the wrong capital structure.”
Kushner: 666 Fifth Avenue was the highest-priced single asset in US history
“The building we bought was for 1.8 billion dollars, which at the time was the largest price ever paid for a single asset in the country.”
Kushner Sold 50% of 666 Fifth Retail for $525M to Carlyle and Chera
“We brought in Carlisle Group and the Chira family to buy 50% of the retail for five hundred and twenty-five million dollars at the time, and then we kept a 50%.”
Kushner: 666 Fifth Retail Space Grew to Over $1B in Value
“Then we were able to turn that value into north of a billion of value over the next three, four years, and the Chira's did a great job along with Carlisle, and we were able to get our 50% of the profits, which also returned a lot of our cash from the original …”
Kushner: Persuading stronger counterparties requires appealing to self-interest, not sympathy
“How could I convince somebody who has more leverage across the table to do something That I want to do, and it was really by catering to their interests more than their sympathy or their fears. I had to find ways to make it worth their while to try to get them…”
Kushner: 200 Lafayette fully leased and sold for ~$160M within a year
“Leased the whole building, and we ended up selling it for about a hundred sixty million about a year later.”
Kushner: Squeezing contractors too hard on price makes them prioritize your job last
“So if you negotiate with this guy too hard and you make too good of a deal, he's going to prioritize your job last. So you don't want to get the best deal. You want to have the best person doing the work for you, and you want to pay them a fair price. You don'…”
Kushner: Buyers should simplify negotiations rather than fight over contract minutiae
“And if you wanted to buy, make it as easy as possible for the seller to sell it to you. Don't let your lawyers overcomplicate it or jam them up with a lot of minutia that doesn't really matter.”
Kushner: Most experienced government officials lack practical negotiation skills
“And I saw this in government as well, because in government, most of the people I dealt with had never really negotiated before. If you think about people who are technically experienced in government, they're experienced because they're more like historians o…”
Kushner: MBZ Was De Facto UAE Ruler During Early Diplomatic Trips
“I sat with MBZ, who's now the president of UAE. At the time, he was the crown prince, but he was the de facto ruler of the country.”
Kushner: Obama's Iran Deal Put Tehran on a Path to Nuclear Weapons
“Iran had just done the deal with Obama where they now were flush with cash and on a glide path to a nuclear weapon.”
Kushner: ISIS Caliphate Was the Size of Ohio, Governing 8M People
“And ISIS was roaming around and had a caliphate the size of Ohio. Where they were governing over eight million people pretty ruthlessly.”
Kushner: I Began Middle East Diplomacy With No Subject Matter Expertise
“It was because I came with no subject matter expertise in the Middle East.”
Kushner: Consulting Vested Stakeholders Built Trust and Drove Diplomatic Breakthroughs
“It was shocking to me at how rare that is, and I think that that approach really built for me tremendous trust and understanding with a lot of the leaders in the region, and ultimately led to a lot of the different breakthroughs that we were able to accomplish…”
Kushner: Middle East doctrine prioritized future interests over past grievances
“And I think that the doctrine that I used in the Middle East, which I think was different than what was done previously, was that I was focused more on mutual future interests instead of relitigating old problems.”
Kushner: Power-based Middle East diplomacy perpetuates arms buildups and distrust
“And a lot of the modern Middle East in particular was really constructed by generals and US diplomats who were focused on strength and power as the way to create an equilibrium. But all that leads to is one creating strength and power, then the other trying to…”
Kushner: Sustainable diplomacy requires economic opportunity alongside security, not just militarization
“And I think that that's the right formula for people to be using going forward for diplomacy, not how do we out militarize each other? I think military is an important component to it, but to have an end state that's sustainable, you need to figure out how can…”
Kushner: Trump was fearless in tackling hard challenges like Middle East and North Korea
“He had a very unconventional approach. But the thing I respected about my father-in-law was that he was very unafraid to go after hard challenges. So like the Middle East, for example, was something that most leaders would set low expectations on and then try …”
Kushner: Arab Spring Forced Middle Eastern Leaders Toward Economic Focus
“So if you think about the Arab Spring, that was really, I think in some ways a turning point where leaders realized that if they're not giving their people hope and opportunity, they needed to break out and they needed to get them focused on economics instead …”
Kushner: Politicians resist change because status quos offer predictable survival
“Most people in politics are very comfortable with their status quo, and they could tell you everything that's wrong with it, but there's risk to moving, because if they change the status quo, then what it does is it creates uncertainty, and they know how they …”
Kushner: Trump eliminated diplomatic status quos to force new alternatives
“In some cases with President Trump, he would just eliminate the status quos and then force people to try different status quos.”
Kushner: Shifting long-held policy requires surprise and strength
“If your policy has been one thing for such a long time, and then you're going to change that policy, you want to do it with an element of surprise and you want to do it from a position of strength.”
Kushner: Trump 2.0 has far more knowledge and better personnel than first term
“People know that Trump two point O is going to be different than the first time. He has way more knowledge of all the problems. There's not going to be as much learning on the job as there was last time. He's surrounded by a phenomenal team of people throughou…”
Kushner: Trump secured the border in term one; Biden repealed it disastrously
“Number one, you absolutely need to secure your border, which is something that we were able to do in the first term at the end. And then the Biden administration just basically repealed all the different efforts we did. And it's been an absolute disaster what'…”
Kushner: I was tasked with building the border wall in Trump's first term
“One of the jobs I got was to build the wall and work on figuring out how to secure the border”
Kushner: Biden eased sanctions, allowing Iran $150B in oil sales
“And then the Biden team was worried about the global oil prices. They stopped enforcing the sanctions. They've sold over a hundred fifty billion of oil, which has allowed them to refill their coffers.”
Kushner: Resolving Russia-Ukraine war will make Iran situation much more manageable
“If the Ukraine-Russia situation is dealt with, I think the Iranian situation becomes much more manageable as well.”
Kushner: Saudi-Israel normalization was nearly ready when Trump left office
“You want to tie everything together with Saudi-Israel. That was pretty much ready when President Trump was leaving office.”
Kushner: Trump could finalize Saudi-Israel normalization very quickly
“It's a shame it didn't happen in the last years, but that's something that I believe President Trump could bring to fruition very quickly.”
Kushner: Internal Focus on Infrastructure and AI Can Resolve Conflicts Quickly
“I think the whole world could benefit from like a decade of rebuilding where people focus internally on building their countries and their societies and their infrastructure and their economies. Focus on AI. I think a lot of these issues could be resolved pret…”
Kushner: Trump Seeks a Fair Global Trading System
“I think that President Trump, what he wants is a fair global trading system, which I think is critical because sometimes when these things become imbalanced, they lead to tensions between countries that are unnecessary.”
Kushner: Capital Spent on Warfare Should Be Reallocated to Enterprise
“Again, these wars, the investments in bullets and bombs really don't benefit the citizens. I think a lot of these wars are negative in that regard. Whereas if we can redirect those funds and those intentions and these young boys I see fighting in these wars, l…”
Kushner: There Is No Big Political Constituency for Compromise in Washington
“I learned this the hard way when I was in Washington, that there's not really a big constituency for compromise, and these conflicts are very heated.”
Kushner: Elon Musk Faced Backlash for Proposing Ukraine Peace Plan
“You saw when Elon Musk put out an idea for how to navigate the situation in Ukraine, he got blasted by a lot of people.”
Kushner: Trump's China work aimed at getting them to acknowledge rule-breaking
“A lot of the work that President Trump did with China in his first term was about having them acknowledge that they were not following the rules that were set in the global trading sphere.”
Kushner: Trump believes American industry outcompetes the world on a level field
“Ultimately what I believe President Trump wants is he just wants a level playing field. And he says, as long as we're all competing on the same principles, Then he has a lot of faith in American industry to be able to outcompete the rest of the world and to do…”
Kushner: Most White House press coverage about us was not accurate
“I was in the most covered building in the world, yet most of what they wrote was not accurate about us”
Kushner: Business press inaccuracies create underappreciated investment opportunities
“I felt like that should probably be the same in the business press. So if you go out and you meet with people and you understand what they're working on, you could find some opportunities that are underappreciated.”
Kushner: Most Affinity Partners Deals Are Co-Investments with Other Firms
“Most of the deals we've done have been with other firms where I try to say with affinity that we're competitive to no one, but collaborative with everyone and complimentary. So we work with all the other top tier firms and we co-invest where they bring differe…”
Kushner: Affinity Partners Initially Focused Mostly on Preferred Equity Deals
“Initially, we were doing mostly preferred equity deals.”
Kushner: Affinity's Best Investments Were Growing, Cash-Flow-Negative Companies
“We found some amazing companies that were technically cash flow negative, but were growing tremendously, and we thought that with our investments, we could help them turn into profitable companies, and those were some of our best investments that we've made in…”
Kushner: Affinity is finalizing a preferred equity deal in Mexican infrastructure
“We've been working on this now for about 18 months, doing a participating preferred equity investment in one of the leading infrastructure companies in Mexico.”
Kushner: Trump's policies will strengthen Mexico's economy if it collaborates
“I think that with what could happen with President Trump, I think that the things that he's focused on, which is figuring out how to curtail the migration and curtail the power of the cartels, I see that only as a net positive for Mexico over time. So I think …”
Kushner: Kevin Hassett to become Trump's national economic advisor
“Kevin Hassett, who's on our team, is now going to become the national economic advisor for president Trump.”
Kushner: Corruption caused Ukraine's economic divergence from Poland
“Poland and Ukraine had very similar plans. The reason why Poland's been one of the phenomenal successes and Ukraine has not been is because Ukraine's just been plagued by corruption.”
Kushner: Biden administration policies drove Affinity to invest globally over US
“We actually like the fact that we're global in that regard because it allowed us over the last years where we were less certain about America given what I saw as like not always rational economic policies put in place by the Biden administration. There was exc…”
Kushner: Affinity and Mubadala acquired Burger King, Popeyes, Subway, and Starbucks in Brazil
“We bought, in partnership with Mubatala, all of the Burger Kings and Popeyes there, and then, since then, we've bought out of bankruptcy the Subway, and we've bought the Starbucks out of bankruptcy as well.”
Kushner: Affinity acquired Brazilian restaurant business at just over 5x cash flow
“We bought just over five times cash flow.”
Kushner: Brazilian restaurant portfolio cut food waste by 35% using AI
“Management has figured out how to use AI and cameras and computer vision In order to figure out how to reduce the food waste by 35%, which has actually led to better margins for the company as well.”
Kushner: Affinity bought 4.9% of Phoenix with options to reach 10%
“We made a big investment in Israel, and we did that in the summertime right before the war in the north. And we invested in a company called Phoenix. We bought 4.9%, and we took a fixed price option, 37 and a half shekels. Today it's trading over 50, and we ha…”
Kushner: AI is much more investable today than a year ago
“The way we're thinking about AI today is much different than how we were thinking about it a year ago. We thought it was a big opportunity a year ago, but it wasn't as investable necessarily as it is today.”
Kushner: I refuse to make investment decisions on 50-50 bets
“One of the things that's been very interesting is that I think the few times that I've made mistakes have been when I've made decisions quicker than I was ready to make decisions. And so now I find that I'm tremendously disciplined on if I don't feel comfortab…”
Kushner: Defining what you don't want filters deal flow faster
“The more we identify what we're looking for, and more importantly, what we're not looking for, that enables us to throw things out of the boat much quicker.”
Kushner: Affinity Partners' job is making three good decisions per year
“And then the more we've gone, the more we basically say, like, our job is to make three good decisions a year. It's basically to, you do a lot of meetings, you travel to a lot of places, you analyze a lot of things, you look at trends, you read a lot, you meet…”
Kushner advocates a 'reverse vacuum' strategy for private equity sourcing
“That's kind of how I think about it is you almost want to create the reverse vacuum where you explain to people What you do, what you are, what you're looking for, what value you could add, why it's in their benefit to be working with you, and it took us a whi…”
Kushner: US government was unprepared for COVID-19, CDC made testing errors
“We were faced at a situation where the government was just very unprepared for what was occurring, and there'd been a lot of mistakes done by the CDC with the testing”
Kushner: Complex problem-solving is constrained by imagination, money, and gravity
“And I always say that when you have a problem, like, the basic three constraints are number one, imagination, number two, money, and number three, gravity.”
Kushner: Early COVID Task Force Had a Fact Problem, Not Messaging
“And I said, with all due respect sir, you don't have a messaging problem. You have a fact problem.”
Kushner: Team Pushed Bureaucrats Aside for Rapid COVID Decisions
“And we just basically pushed all the bureaucrats out of the way. And started figuring out how to make decisions as quickly as possible.”
Ken Griffin advised Kushner to pre-manufacture vaccines during Phase 3 trials
“One of the coolest things, which actually led to, I think some of the success we had with Operation Warp Speed was I got a call one night at about 10 o'clock from Ken Griffin, who basically called and said, Jared, one of the best investments you could ever mak…”
Kushner: Federal Team Planned 400 Retail COVID Testing Sites in Five Days
“And so through that, we were actually making great progress where we basically were going to get about 400 testing sites up from nothing in about four or five days.”
Kushner: Walmart's Doug McMillon Accepted Liability for COVID-19 Testing
“And Doug McMillan from Walmart at the time said, you know what? If our country's asking us to do this, we're going to do it. We'll take the liability.”
Kushner: Early US COVID testing was constrained to 1.2M swabs across 37 sites
“They said, we have 1.2 million swabs in the country. I said, okay, what does that mean? They said, that means we could do 37 testing sites.”
Kushner: Federal Team Dispatched Military C-17s to Retrieve Italian COVID Swabs
“And so we ended up finding more Q-tips in a factory in Italy, and we sent some C-seventeens from the military to pick them up before anyone noticed they were there.”
Kushner: Lowest-Cost Items Become the Biggest Supply Chain Bottlenecks
“And it kind of made me realize that our biggest constraints were going to be our lowest cost items. We're going to become our bottlenecks.”
Kushner: Moncef Slaoui Was Only Warp Speed Finalist Projecting Sub-Year Vaccine
“And we did four finalists, and there was only one person we interviewed who said they could do it in under a year. All the experts said it would take us two to three years to do it. It was a guy, Dr. Monsef Slaoui.”
Kushner: Moncef Slaoui Had Created More Vaccines Than Anyone Alive
“And he'd created more vaccines than anyone alive, so I said, okay, well, you've got the job, and so we put him in charge”
Kushner: The FDA and NIH Actively Worked Against Trump on Vaccines
“We were able to work with the confines of an FDA that was an NIH that was basically working against President Trump, trying to slow him down.”
Kushner: Vaccine controversy surged after the Biden administration created mandates
“I think it became a lot more controversial when the Biden administration took the vaccines and started creating mandates.”
Kushner: Trump administration never intended to mandate COVID-19 vaccines
“That was never the intention of what we want to do. The goal was to create the vaccines for whoever wanted them and then to figure out how to prioritize them towards the cohorts that were at the highest risk.”
Kushner: Federal incentive structures discourage civil servants from cutting costs
“I think with the government, what I found with a lot of the career civil servants is there's actually a lot of incredible people there. But what happens is, is they're not really given a clear objective and they're not given empowerment to go and accomplish th…”
Kushner: DOGE will uncover far more inefficiency than Musk found at X
“I think that what Ilan and Vivek will find at Doge is way more inefficiency than what he found at X, and I think the fact that they're building a lot of popular support for people to go in and find ways to make our government run more efficiently, I think ther…”
Kushner: Only Donald Trump would permit a DOGE-style efficiency effort
“I will say that only a president as out of the box as Donald Trump would ever allow something like this to happen.”
Kushner: DOGE will operate guerrilla-style and produce incredible long-term benefits
“I get the sense this will be much more guerrilla style. I think it's gonna be fascinating what it's gonna uncover, and I think the benefits to our country in the long term Will be incredible.”
Kushner: Javier Milei's Argentina transformation is among the most exciting to watch
“And if you look at with Millet in Argentina, what he's done, I mean, that's been one of the most exciting transformations to watch.”
Kushner: Government culture discourages ambition because it penalizes failure unlike business
“In business, we're rewarded for taking risks, and when I do a company, or if I'm backing a founder, or if I'm building a company myself, I wanna be focused on things that might potentially fail, because we have big ambitious goals in government. The goal is to…”
Kushner: Second Trump administration will bring far more business pragmatists to Washington
“And one thing also that I loved about the first Trump administration, I think will be about a hundred X in the second Trump administration, is that Trump is a businessman, and he was a pragmatist, and he brought a lot of businessmen with him to Washington.”
Kushner: Trump's second administration will be a nonstop push for transformational change
“And I think that this time he has a lot more confidence. He knows
what he wants to do. I think he'll have an exceptional team. So I think it's going to be a really around the clock nonstop effort towards bringing transformational change.”
Kushner: Special Counsel interview included three FBI agents and three prosecutors
“I was getting interviewed in some windowless conference room. I had my two lawyers next to me. I had three FBI agents and three representatives of the special counsel sitting across the desk.”
Kushner: White House service required 33 testimony hours and millions in legal fees
“For my service in government, which I volunteered for, I didn't take a salary, paid for my own healthcare, I've now done 33 hours of testimony between the House, the Senate, special counsel, grand jury, and I've paid for all my legal fees myself, which is in t…”
Kushner: Phoenix Holdings manages over $150B with BlackRock, Ares, Apollo SMAs
“I mean, they manage over a hundred fifty billion dollars. They're doing SMAs now with BlackRock and Aries and Apollo and many others, and they have a very strong position in the market, phenomenal management team, and several business lines that I think are po…”
Kushner: Entry price matters much less than 5-10 year potential
“I'm less concerned with what the current state of the company is. I'm way more focused on what do I think that company can be in five years, or seven years, or 10 years. And if I have a very strong conviction that it could become that, then you kind of have to…”
Kushner: Affinity's investment with Brad Jacobs is up 70-80% in under a year
“70 or 80% in less than a year, but I'll be honest, working with Brad, I think there's a lot that we can complement what he does, but I'm learning a tremendous amount from him.”
Kushner: Brad Jacobs hired former White House official Michael Haydet
“He hired a general, Michael Haydet, from the White House, who was one of our most solid, quiet, get stuff done guys, and he hired Michael.”
Kushner: Affinity Partners' three largest LPs are PIF, Lunate, and QIA
“My three biggest LPs are PIF from Saudi Arabia, Lunait from Abu Dhabi, and QIA from Qatar.”
Kushner: Saudi-Israel normalization is inevitable and will happen
“I think over time it's inevitable. Again, I thought it would happen four years ago, but I'm pretty confident it will happen now that we'll have the Saudi Israel normalization, hopefully under president Trump. And I think that that will lead to a lot of the inn…”
Kushner: Affinity portfolio company Dubizzle turned massively cash flow positive
“We made one investment in the UAE where we invest in a company called Dubizzle, which is the leading online classifieds business there. It's a pretty well-known business model throughout the world, a phenomenal business model of the online classifieds, but we …”
Kushner: Saudi Arabia Tied Israel Normalization to Resolving the Qatar Dispute
“The reason I got into it was basically because my conversations with Saudi, they said that they couldn't normalize with Israel until the Issue with Qatar was resolved.”
Kushner: Spoke with Qatar's Sheikh Mohammed 3x Daily for 100 Days
“Sheikh Mohammed, who's now the prime minister, I spoke to him every day, about three times a day for a hundred days straight.”
Kushner: A United GCC Will Propel the Middle East to Century-High Prosperity
“That core engine that President Trump really helped bring about in the GCC, now that it's all united and they're working in the same direction towards stability and economic opportunity, that to me is gonna be a battery that could help that whole region get to…”
Kushner: Saudi Arabia's economic turnaround will be studied for centuries
“I think that people for the next couple centuries will really study the economic turnaround that they're doing in their country, and it doesn't come without risk.”
Kushner: MBS will be seen as a great world leader for decades
“I think that when people see the depth and the range on what he is able to talk about and the way he thinks about things, I think people will realize that he's truly gonna be one of the great leaders of the world, I think, for the next 3040, 50 years, God will…”
Kushner: UAE positions itself as 'the new Switzerland' to attract business
“They have about ten million people. So it's not as big of a consumption market, but they've tried to make themselves a major financial hub. They're a great tourism destination. They've become a place where a lot of people put their corporate offices, and I thi…”
Kushner: UAE took all the risk in the Abraham Accords deal
“I always say that they were the ones who took all the risk in that deal, but they measured, measured, measured, and they really wanted to make a statement to show the world that we need to all be together, we need to work together, and we need to respect all f…”
Kushner: Qatari University Funding Primarily Backs Local Branch Campuses
“The controversies you hear about them are around, they're funding a lot of these colleges and universities, but From what I've looked into that, it shows that they're basically funding the universities that have built campuses in their country because they car…”
Kushner: Qatar Funded and Hosted Hamas at US and Israeli Request
“And then the other criticism is that they were helping fund Hamas and they have the office there. But the reality is, is that that was always done at the request of the US government and the Israelis were working hand in hand with them in order to work that th…”
Kushner: Middle Eastern Leaders Will Have Growing Impact on Global Diplomacy
“These leaders are becoming more and more seasoned, and they understand the flows of the world, and I think they're going to have a Larger and larger impact in the diplomacy of the world and helping to shape outcomes”
Kushner: In diplomacy, if people aren't screaming, you aren't on track
“One of the lessons I learned from the Middle East is that if people aren't screaming at you, you're not on the right track, because everything I went in and said and did for the first three and a half years, everyone was screaming at me.”
Kushner: Israeli strikes eliminated all of Iran's air defenses
“In the raid that Israel did in retaliation, they took out all of their air defenses and a lot of their Long range missile making capability, which means they don't have the ability necessarily to sustain a long conflict.”
Kushner: Trump presidency will likely reduce Iran's oil sales
“And with Trump coming in, there's a super high probability that their ability to sell oil in the future is going to go down.”
Kushner: Iranian oil exports fell under Trump and rebounded under Biden
“So to give you a sense, when Obama left office, they were selling 2.6 million barrels of oil a day. When Trump left office, they were selling about a 100,000 barrels of oil a day. The Biden administration didn't enforce the sanctions, and now they're selling o…”
Kushner: Obama-Kerry Iran nuclear deal was 'one of the dumbest deals ever'
“They can't do a fake deal like they did with Obama and Kerry, which is probably one of the dumbest deals ever, because it was a temporary restriction on nuclear, and there was no inspection, so they could basically do nuclear anyway.”
Kushner: Trump Did a Great Job Lowering Tensions with Kim Jong Un
“So like one example I use is with North Korea, where I think President Trump did a great job of lowering the temperature with Kim Jong Un.”
Kushner: I Helped Open the Diplomatic Channel with North Korea
“And I was helpful to opening that channel with them during my time. I write about it in my book.”
Kushner: Regimes Need a "Golden Bridge" to Denuclearize Without Fearing Overthrow
“I think what I've seen with Western diplomats is they're saying, well, you have to denuclearize, you have to change. I think that that's the right outcome. The question is, can you be nimble and help build them a golden bridge? We have to eliminate all the esc…”
Kushner: Affinity Partners Received an SEC No-Action Letter After Examination
“We had our first exam from the SEC and we got a no action letter.”
Kushner: Affinity Partners Raised $1.5B Extra and Extended Fund to 2029
“They all agreed, and so over the last year, we closed a billion and a half extra capital and extended the investment period of the fund to 2029.”
Kushner: Affinity Partners Won't Raise Capital for the Next Four Years
“So we preemptively tried to avoid any conflicts so we don't have to raise capital for the next four years.”
Kushner: Affinity Partners Must Return All Fees with 8% Return Before Taking Profits
“They were saying, you're taking all these fees, but they don't realize that we have to pay back all of our fees with an eight percent interest before we get our profits.”
Kushner: Donald Trump is very accessible and pragmatic
“The thing about Trump that I think very few people took advantage of last time is that he's very accessible and very pragmatic.”
Kushner: Trump enters second term more popular than his first
“Now he's coming in much more popular than last time, way more accepted than last time.”
Kushner: Trump administration will not work with vocal critics
“If you're going to go and criticize and say nasty things, they're not going to work with you and they don't have to.”
Kushner: General Catalyst seeded Thrive Capital with $1M after Josh declined job offer
“And what happened was is they said, can we give you a million dollars? To invest in companies that you're investing in with you. And so Josh said, I guess we have a fund now.”
Kushner: Jared sat on Thrive Capital's investment committee for early funds
“I remember we were investing in Warby Parker and Harry's and a whole bunch of other ones. He invested in Spotify, and I'd sit with him on the investment committee for the first couple of funds, and it was just extraordinary.”
Kushner: Father had sons reading financial statements by age 10
“He would have us reading financial statements by the time we were 10 years old, and he would be taking us to properties with him on Sunday.”
Kushner: The only excuse for tardiness is not leaving early enough
“The only excuse for not being on time is that you didn't leave early enough.”
Kushner: Charles Kushner started a second-chance hiring program at Kushner Companies
“He started a second chance program in his company where a lot of people come out of prison, get jobs at Kushner.”
Charles Kushner nominated as US Ambassador to France
“He just got nominated to be ambassador for France.”
Kushner: Charles Kushner sent Trump's first campaign check in 2016
“Actually, when Donald ran the first time, I think he sent Donald his first check because he says, look, I don't know if this thing's going anywhere, but he's, I love him, so I gotta just support him, and he did the same this time”
Kushner: Spending time briefing incoming administration officials on policy files
“I've really been spending a lot of time helping people get up to speed. Who are going into the incoming administration on all of the challenges that we face so they can avoid those challenges on any advice they call for to figure out how on the files that I wo…”
Kushner: Top investors prioritize deep research and humility over routine management
“I think there's a difference between a manager and an investor, and I've been trying very much to be more of an investor than a manager. So the time to think, research, the way they gather information, process information, curiosity, and then I think the humil…”
Kushner: Affinity Partners includes the entire team in investment committee meetings
“So we have a very flat team. Like when we do RICs, everyone's at RICs. I want everyone to be learning from our problems. I want everyone to be learning from our opportunities. I want everyone to be learning from our arguments. And I want everyone to see when w…”
Kushner: Trump is meticulous and deliberate on major military decisions
“He will change his mind if he gets a better argument, which is, I think, very unusual. He's quick to throw out statements on things that don't matter, very careful with the things that really do matter. Like when I would see him make decisions on things like b…”
Kushner: Trump will do disruptive things globally and succeed
“He's a very big and out of the box thinker, and I think he's going to do some very disruptive things in the world. And look, some things may not go perfectly, but I think a lot of things will go very, very well.”
Kushner: Organizations Should Enable Leaders to Go All-In on Key Opportunities
“I'm a big believer in that work shouldn't be distributed. What you should be doing is when you find either a big problem or an opportunity, then you go all in on that thing. That means you need the right organizational structure to enable you to not be bogged …”
Kushner: Affinity Partners Staff Are Being Recruited into Government
“A lot of our good people are getting recruited into the government now”
Kushner: Started an AI company with investor Elad Gil
“So we started a company recently with Elad Gill, who's one of the top investors in Silicon Valley in the AI space.”
Kushner: Brokering partnerships between LLM companies and Middle East investors
“One thing I've been able to do with a lot of these companies is help be a bridge for them to the Middle East and introduce them to the different Middle East investors, because For the first time, a lot of these companies have capex needs that they never had be…”
Kushner: New AI venture has 25+ people and four corporate clients
“Our team is over 25 people now. And major corporations, which we are now working with four of and getting them all to work together and then see what you're able to create out of that.”
Kushner: Biden Administration Has Failed to Implement First Step Act
“Ironically, Biden has done nothing with the First Step Act. They have not implemented it the way that it should be,”
Kushner: Trump and Bondi Will Implement Prison Skills Training Programs
“And I'm pretty confident that under President Trump and Pam Bondi, they'll actually implement a lot of the skills training Programs in prison that will help people leave prison, get jobs, and then not become return customers.”
Kushner: Prison reform study shows recidivism dropped from 45% to ~12%
“There was just a study that came out on the program we put in place, which basically brings skills training, alcohol training, and allowing inmates to earn earlier release by taking these courses. What it did was, there was the people who got out who didn't us…”
Kushner: FOP and Sheriff's Association supported criminal justice reforms
“I had all the police groups, the Sheriff's Association, the FOP, everyone supported the reforms, and I think that they'll make a big difference over time.”
Kushner: Told Biden Team Saudi Deal Was Achievable in Months
“When I met with the Biden team in the transition, I basically told them, you guys can get a deal done with Saudi in three to six months, and that's what they were telling me.”
Kushner: Saudi Deal Will Prompt 10 More Countries to Normalize
“I think getting Saudi done will be key because there's another 10 countries that will happen Right after that, whether it's Pakistan, Indonesia, we had a whole bunch of countries that really wanted to go, and I think there's a lot more work to do there, which …”
Kushner: Mideast vision aimed to economically link Haifa to Muscat
“The vision we had was to integrate from the port of Haifa in Israel to Muscat in Oman, and to get one economic block where people can trade across, they can bring technology across, they can do investment across,”
Kushner: Displaced Mideast Islamists moved mostly to Africa, West
“And you're seeing a lot of the Islamists that got kicked out of the Middle East. I mean, they've gone mostly to Africa. Some have gone to Europe and the US, which is crazy that we let these people in,”
Kushner: Mideast extremism dropped significantly since 2017 MBS reforms
“It's already a massive shift of not having all of the Islamic extremism that was as prevalent in 2017 based on the reforms that MBS worked on with president Trump on his first visit to Saudi Arabia.”
Kushner: Trump AI Policy Will Be the Most Impactful Issue Over Next Four Years
“But ultimately I think the topic that will probably Be the most impactful of the next four years will be how president Trump deals with artificial intelligence and what could be AGI or super intelligence and how this is coming very rapidly.”
Kushner: Biden AI Executive Order Stifles American Innovation
“I think the Biden administration put in place an EO that was really intended to stifle a lot of American innovation.”
Kushner: Work-life balance is about operating at extremes, not even distribution
“I'm able to create the balance that I want to create, which is not like a balanced balance. It's like extreme with them and extreme on my work, but I'm able to make it work in a way that works well.”
Kushner: Running a newspaper is a crappy business
“Running a newspaper is a crappy business, so you really have to learn how to take the nickel off the dollar, so just as a pure operator, I learned a lot about how to run a business.”
Kushner: Social media became the assignment editor for reporters
“And I think the ecosystem was so negative that social media became like the assignment editors for a lot of these reporters over time. And I think that that's largely broken down.”
Kushner: Podcasts Are the Most Powerful Media Format and Still Early
“If I was gonna do something today from scratch, I think the most powerful form of media is the podcast. I think that's clearly in its early stages of what it's gonna be.”
Kushner: X Has Become the Raw Material of News
“X has become so powerful that I was looking last night for updates on Syria, and I was getting all of my news up to speed on X from what I was looking to find. So what was interesting was X has almost become the raw material of the news.”