World
Why Trump's most controversial moments have come on Shabbat
When Orthodox Kushner is absent, Trump falls under influence of far-right Bannon, according to a US report
February 3, 2017 15:49
When Orthodox Kushner is absent, Trump falls under influence of far-right Bannon, according to a US report
February 3, 2017 15:49Some of US President Donald Trump’s more extreme orders and conversations have come on Shabbat because his more moderate Orthodox son-in-law Jared Kushner has not been around to advise him, according to reports in the US press.
Mr Trump’s travel ban on citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries was signed late on a Friday, reportedly minutes before Shabbat came in, when Mr Kushner was not available.
The day afterwards, on Saturday, Mr Trump had an incendiary telephone conversation with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, berating him for asking whether the US was still prepared to take in 1,250 refugees from an Australian detention centre.
Meanwhile, the previous week, just after his inauguration ceremony, Mr Trump spent Friday and Saturday settling scores over reports that the size of the crowd was smaller than at Barack Obama’s event, and on Saturday ordered his press secretary Sean Spicer to deliver “alternative facts” about the level of attendance. An unidentified source told Vanity Fair about Mr Kushner’s failure to influence Mr Trump: “He wasn’t rolling calls on Saturday when this happened. To me, that’s not a coincidence.” The source also said Mr Kushner was “f***ing furious” at his father-in-law for tweeting about a proposed wall between Mexico and the US.
