The West Wing adventures of Ivanka and Jared are coming to end. And none too soon

Before Donald Trump can hope to restore credibility to his fumbling administration he has to give marching orders to two more people, however personally awkward that may be for him

‘Nepotism never ends well’: the US President’s daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared Kushner (Getty)

Is it too much to ask for a little professionalism from the White House? I actually caught myself marvelling the other day at some natty name cards that had been set down before steel manufacturing executives as they sat around a table watching Donald Trump announce “job-saving” import tariffs. There is someone in the West Wing who knows how to work the printer!

Recall that when these warriors of heavy industry arrived in town, no one had a clue how their day would end. Trump wanted to use the occasion to unveil tariffs on foreign competitors in the steel market, but just hours earlier even officials in the White House couldn’t say whether he’d actually do it. With planning like that, spelling a few names right was a minor miracle.

We know what happened. Trump insisted trade wars are “good” and “easy to win”. But it’s how the asylum is being run that concerns me. How does a president announce protectionist trade measures without being able to say what they actually are? Nothing was down on paper when he sent markets plunging. Maybe next week he’ll reverse course. You know he might.

When the boss behaves with such fecklessness, he’d better have grown-ups nearby. As Chief of Staff, John Kelly was meant to bring some military discipline to bear, but then along came Rob Porter, the Staff Secretary whom Kelly defended even after two ex-wives accused him of abuse. He did finally fire Porter, who was dating Hope Hicks. She had the President’s ear like no one else but had zero governing experience. She’s leaving too now.

But for conduct unprofessional, nothing beats the continuing presence at 1,600 Pennsylvania Avenue of “Javanka”. It was clear always that there should be no place there for either Ivanka Trump, the President’s daughter, or for her husband, Jared Kushner. Congress passed an anti-nepotism law in government back in the late Sixties for good reason. Nepotism never ends well.

Maybe the end is nigh for these two though, and none too soon. So deafening is the criticism of both of them now that even Trump is said to have privately conceded in recent days he might be better off without them. There are two train seats to New York with their names on them.

First there was Ivanka travelling to South Korea to represent him at the closing ceremony of the Winter Olympics and, while there, to share his latest plans for tough sanctions on North Korea with South Korean President Moon Jae-in. Really? Few riddles are more urgent than the nuclear threat from Pyongyang, but was she really the right person to help untangle it?

Then came the embarrassment of an interview with NBC News when the correspondent asked her to comment on the #MeToo movement and the allegations of sexual impropriety hovering over her father. “I don’t think that’s a question you would ask many other daughters,” she replied. “I’m his daughter.” There it was, right there. Ivanka had seemingly forgotten that by accepting a desk in the West Wing she had agreed to be precisely more than that, to be a public servant. She was trying to hide behind what is precisely the problem with her being there.

Kushner’s star dims by the hour. Last week, he suffered a downgrading of his security clearance. It was a humiliating blow that called into question his continuing usefulness. Among his portfolios is ending the Arab-Israeli conflict. That always seemed a stretch but all the more so now that he is denied access even to the President’s daily intelligence briefings.

The problem with Kushner is the intersection of his current job and his family’s sprawling property development business. He is meant to have severed his relationship with the latter, but there are growing doubts about that. And it is an area which, according to several reports, is drawing intense scrutiny from Robert Mueller, whose investigation into possible collusion of the Trump campaign with Russia is clearly getting wider in scope.

The day he was downgraded also saw reports from various media outlets – and this, we learn, was especially unnerving to his father-in-law – that representatives from at least three foreign countries, including Israel, had openly discussed how they might exploit Kushner’s conflicting loyalties to business and the country to try to seek some diplomatic advantage over the United States. They saw him, in fact, as a potentially useful weak link inside the West Wing.

Whether any nation actually acted on this instinct we do not yet know. But evidence of double-dealing by Kushner himself may be mounting. That includes reports that executives from two entities, Citigroup and private equity firm Apollo, had visited Kushner in the White House before making large loans to his family’s business. On Friday, meanwhile, the Intercept reported attempts made by his father to access financing from the rulers of Qatar, that ended in failure. Weeks later, the White House sided with Saudi Arabia and other Arab states in their blockade of Qatar. NBC News reports that Qatar believes the two things were hardly unconnected. We will have to see. But you see why they might think so.

On the one hand, “Three-Wheels-On-My-Wagon” Trump must find a way to stabilise his inner circle. The West Wing exodus is starting to get embarrassing. But before he can hope to restore credibility to his fumbling administration he has to give marching orders to two more people, however personally awkward that may be for him. You know who they are.