Trump is the face. The rage. The post on Truth Social at 2am. The man standing at the podium calling himself Jesus.
But somebody is running the actual machinery. Somebody is making the calls, setting the agenda, deciding which war comes next and what gets said in the press conference.
Let me tell you who's actually driving this bus. Because it's scarier than most people want to admit.
Jared Kushner — "Special Envoy for Peace"
My sister thinks Kushner is the one behind all of this. I disagree — I think he's a pawn. A well-paid, conflict-of-interest-soaked pawn. But either way, one thing we both agree on: nobody's making enough noise about the fact that he's resurfaced.
In February 2026, Trump officially named him Special Envoy for Peace. Before that he'd been doing the same job informally — meeting with Putin in Moscow, negotiating with Iran in Geneva, helping broker the Gaza ceasefire.
All while his private equity firm Affinity Partners is sitting on $2 billion from Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund. Another $1.5 billion from Qatar and Abu Dhabi. $5.4 billion under management total — most of it from the same Middle Eastern governments he's negotiating for.
The same Saudi Arabia that has reportedly been pushing Trump to move forward with military operations in Iran — Saudi Arabia's longtime enemy.
Kushner is simultaneously collecting billions from the people who want Iran taken out, and negotiating the terms of the Iran conflict on behalf of the United States government.
Rachel Maddow said it plainly: how is Jared Kushner's role in the U.S. attacking Iran not a show-stopping scandal?
I don't have a good answer. Nobody does.
He's Not the Mastermind. He's the Grifter.
Look — I've been thinking about whether Kushner is a pawn or a player. My read is he's neither. He's a grifter.
Kushner isn't smart enough to have designed the oil play I wrote about in my last rant. He's a real estate guy whose dad went to prison. He got rich off government access in the first term, then turned that access into a private equity fund, then got pulled back in because Trump can't resist keeping family close.
Gulf diplomats — the people he was supposedly negotiating with — called him and his partner Witkoff "Israeli assets" who engaged in "unorthodox and destructive diplomacy" and misrepresented Iran's positions to Trump.
Think about that. The people on the other side of the table are saying he lied to the president about what they offered. That's not a peace envoy. That's a liability with a security clearance and a conflict of interest so large you could park a tanker in it.
Is he a fall guy? Maybe. When this eventually blows up — and it will — someone has to take the hit. Kushner's made his money. He can afford the sacrifice.
Tulsi Gabbard — Runs All 18 Intelligence Agencies
Let me be very specific about what the Director of National Intelligence does, because I think most people don't fully understand the scope of it.
The DNI oversees all 18 agencies in the U.S. intelligence community. The CIA. The NSA. Defense Intelligence. All of them. She's the president's primary intelligence advisor. She sees everything. Every secret we have and every secret our allies share with us — it all flows through her.
The law that created the DNI position after 9/11 literally states the nominee shall have "extensive national security experience."
Tulsi Gabbard has none.
Zero. She's a former congresswoman who left the Democratic Party, started a podcast, and endorsed Trump. She's a lieutenant colonel in the Army Reserve — I'll give her that — but military service is not intelligence experience. Not even close.
And Then There's Her Track Record
She defended Bashar al-Assad — went to Syria to meet with him personally — after he used chemical weapons on civilians.
She spread Russian talking points on Ukraine for years. Claimed Russia had "legitimate security concerns." Blamed NATO for the invasion.
A Russian state TV host called her "our friend." When asked if she was a Russian agent, he said "yes." Russian state media celebrated her appointment, saying the CIA and FBI were "trembling."
That's the person running every intelligence agency in America.
The Washington Post said she's managed to "underperform" even the already-low expectations set for her. As of early April 2026, Trump is reportedly consulting advisers privately about her performance — even he's questioning it.
She's not a fall guy. She's not even a grifter. She's a political commissar — someone put in place to make sure the intelligence community doesn't produce assessments that contradict what Trump wants to believe.
Which means the intelligence going to the president isn't intelligence. It's confirmation.
And Vance Is Whispering in His Ear
JD Vance led the Iran peace talks in Pakistan that collapsed last weekend. He's the one who goes to the meetings. The one who structures the offers. The one who reports back to a man whose cognitive decline is visible in every public appearance if you're watching honestly.
I said it in my last post and I'll say it again: someone smarter is driving this bus. The oil play across Venezuela, Canada, and Iran isn't something Trump designed. He can barely finish a sentence.
Vance is ambitious. Miller is ideological. Kushner is making money. Gabbard is making sure the intelligence community doesn't get in the way.
And Trump is posting himself as Jesus on Truth Social while the people around him reshape the world's energy map.
Bottom Line
This is what the actual government looks like right now:
A son-in-law collecting billions from the countries he negotiates on behalf of. A former podcast host running the entire U.S. intelligence apparatus with no qualifications and documented sympathies for adversary nations. A vice president who — and I genuinely hate that I'm saying this — is the closest thing to a functioning adult in that building. That's not a compliment. That's a condemnation of everyone else in the room. He's using that position to run the foreign policy agenda of a man who can't hold a thought for more than 10 seconds. And I'm being generous. My friend said even 10 seconds is too much credit. He's probably right. Call him 10 Second Tom if you want — except that's an insult to the guy from 50 First Dates.
This isn't chaos. That's the mistake everyone keeps making. Chaos is random. This is organized. It's just organized around enriching the people inside the circle, not around anything that helps you.
Sleep well.
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