Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.

Nothing but the truth. Even if against me.

Friday, April 17, 2026

No Shame Nepotism in Trump's World: Profiteering from Wars he Starts


 

Yes, the Moron-in-Chief says he is running the country like he runs his businesses - scams, fraud, cheating, extortion, sweetheart deals with friend and foe, profiteering.... doesn't matter, as long as he makes money for himself and his family and friends. Making money the way Trump does is not smart, it is smartass Mafia style.

Cheating runs across the Trump universe. You can say it's a way of life. For instance, Jared Kushner's father, Charles, was rewarded by Trump with the ambassadorship to France, even though - or perhaps because - Charles Kushner is a real estate developer (like Trump, like Witkoff and all the sleazebags around Trump) and a convicted felon (also like Trump. He once paid a prostitute to sabotage his brother-in-law's marriage, and was previously convicted of illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering). 

Evidently, in his compassionate heart Trump "feels" the pain of these criminals because, as a criminal-minded convicted felon himself, he identifies with them. So, as president, he pardons them and gives them lucrative posts. As a real estate moron, Charles Kushner was a rare US ambassador to France to be called and reprimanded by the French government for interfering in the country's internal affairs.

Everyone by now knows that the criminal-in-chief plays the financial markets by yo-yo'ing positive and negative statements on wars he starts, during which he and his cronies and family buy cheap stocks (after Trump makes negative comments on war), then sell these stocks two days later at their high (after Trump makes positive statements that a "deal is near"). People say he contradicts himself because he's a moron. That's true, but underneath this innate stupidity, there's a criminal mind at work.

This is only a slice of the nepotism and cronyism his high-end Mafia gang is profiteering from, as they unleash miseries (wars, tariffs, taxes, access fees...) on people around the world while claming to be making peace.
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Trump Admin Hands Mega-Deal to Company Backed by Jared Kushner’s War-Profiteer Brother
Will Neal
Fri, April 17, 2026 


Photo Illustration by Eric Faison/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

The Trump administration just handed a huge deal to a defense firm backed by the brother of the president’s son-in-law.

The Defense Department has announced a new contract with Anduril Industries, Inc.—which counts Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Jared Kushner, among its major funders—to provide up to $20 billion in military equipment and systems.

Large portions of the full contract notice, reviewed by the Daily Beast, are redacted. It nevertheless shows the Pentagon has now effectively agreed to treat Anduril as a go-to resource for computer systems, military hardware, and data infrastructure, as well as support and training for those services, over the next decade.

Hegseth’s department has granted a contract worth up to $20 billion to Anduril Industries, Inc., a defense group backed by Joshua Kushner. / Alex Wong/Getty Images

Joshua Kushner, who at 40 is five years younger than his elder brother Jared, is one of the wealthiest venture capitalists of his generation, boasting an estimated net worth of $5.2 billion. He is married to supermodel Karlie Kloss, with whom he has three children. They share space in at least three luxury properties in Manhattan, Miami, and Malibu.

Joshua holds stakes in Anduril, a private tech company valued at upward of $60 billion, through his New York venture capital firm, Thrive Capital, which he founded in 2009. Thrive has not publicly disclosed its exact holding in Anduril, but co-led a $4 billion funding round for the group just days before the Pentagon announced the new deal earlier in March.

Joshua Kushner, younger brother of Jared Kushner, is a multi-billionaire who is married to supermodel Karlie Kloss. / Daniele Venturelli / WireImage

Jared, who is married to Trump’s daughter Ivanka, previously held a stake in Thrive, but sold his shares following the 2016 election to avoid potential conflicts of interest while serving as a senior adviser during the president’s first stint in the White House.

The elder Kushner holds no official position in the second Trump administration. Trump has, nevertheless, repeatedly tapped him to help with negotiations in areas related to defense, including the wars between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Hamas, and the U.S. and Iran.

Jared Kushner, Joshua’s elder brother, is married to the president’s daughter, Ivanka Trump. / REUTERS / Reuters

At the heart of the deal appears to be the group’s Lattice OS, a cutting-edge AI command system that works at high speed to detect and respond to real-world threats without requiring any human input. Other products manufactured by the company include interceptor and surveillance drones, sentry towers, and loitering munitions, capable of autonomously hunting down and eliminating targets across hundreds of miles.

The Pentagon awarded the contract to the Kushner-backed group under what’s known as a “sole source” framework, allowing the department to sidestep normal requirements for open competition among potential contractors if it determines that only one company can do the job.

Trump has repeatedly leaned on Jared Kushner, who holds no formal role in his administration, to conduct war negotiations and other diplomatic talks related to defense. / Alex Wong/Getty Images

Officials did post a public notice in December, inviting vendors to come forward and discuss the opportunity, but gave them just three weeks to respond over the holiday period. Only one of the four companies that got in touch replied to the DOD’s follow-up queries, confirming it could not match Anduril’s offerings. The Pentagon says it took silence from the remaining three, one of which turned out not to be a defense contractor at all, as a sign they couldn’t either.

The Kushners are not Anduril’s only link to the White House. Palmer Luckey, who co-founded the group in 2017, has hosted high-value fundraisers for Trump, one of which charged $100,000 per ticket, and donated to dozens of Republican candidates and committees. His co-founder, Trae Stephens, served on Trump’s transition team ahead of the president’s first term, and was reportedly being considered for a top Pentagon job in the run-up to his second.

Palmer Luckey, co-founder of Anduril Industries, attends the UFC 324 event on Jan. 24, 2026, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Luckey is a major Republican donor. / Chris Unger / Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

Trump’s son-in-law, in addition to his informal role as the president’s mediator in war negotiations, has also been keenly involved in broader diplomatic talks across the Middle East. His sizable interests in the region have raised alarm among critics, given that he is not subject to the transparency or oversight requirements typically applied to formal government roles.

Jared Kushner is currently facing a congressional inquiry after Democrats accused him of soliciting billions from Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund and other Gulf monarchies while leading diplomatic negotiations with both Russia and Iran. The White House has called that probe the “same, tired narrative,” and said the extended Trump family member was “generously volunteering his time to advance the president’s agenda.”

It follows reports that officials in Qatar, whose royal family gifted Trump a $400 million Boeing 747 jetliner last year, feared they would receive unfavorable treatment from any future MAGA administration if they did not invest in Kushner’s private equity firm, Affinity Partners. Qatar had initially declined when the firm launched in 2021, but ultimately poured in around $200 million ahead of Trump’s re-election.

Trump’s own sons, Eric and Donald Jr., have also significantly expanded their footprint in the region during the president’s second term. Dar Global, a London firm with ties to the Saudi royal family, has pumped more than $20 million into the Trump Organization over the past year in licensing fees alone for two Trump towers in Saudi Arabia.

Donald Trump’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., have been accused of leveraging their father’s presidency for personal profit. / Spencer Platt / Getty Images

A government ethics watchdog noted in February that the family’s foreign property income now looks set to “explode,” potentially doubling in Trump’s second term alone the more than $430 million already earned from overseas developments over the prior decade, with much of that income from real estate developments in the Gulf region.

The Anduril deal also comes amid a string of accusations that figures close to the Trump administration have sought to profit from the president’s increasing aggression on the world stage, such as reports that Trump’s sons have made hefty investments in the drone industry over the past few weeks as his war in the Middle East ramps up demand in the sector.

Other members of Trump’s orbit, even his Cabinet, are accused of cashing in on the president’s war in the Middle East. / Reuters

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced allegations last month that one of his financial brokers had inquired about defense sector investments in the weeks before Trump launched his attacks on Iran, raising concerns of possible insider trading. The Pentagon dismissed those reports as “entirely false and fabricated.”

The Daily Beast has further revealed that Senator Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s pick to replace Kristi Noem as Homeland Security Secretary, purchased substantial stocks in defense contractors and oil giants just five days before the president’s lightning invasion of Venezuela earlier in January.

Mullin was a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee at the time, which receives classified briefings on U.S. military operations. He is likely to have made up to $35,000 from those investments, which will only have climbed further following the outbreak of war with Iran.

More broadly, multiple reports suggest patterns of suspicious trading activity around Trump’s war-related decisions, including $580 million in oil futures flooding the market roughly 16 minutes before the president announced a pause in strikes on Iranian power plants, as well as unusual surges in wagers on Polymarket, a cryptocurrency betting platform, ahead of attacks against both the Islamic regime and Venezuela.

A spokesperson for the Trump administration previously denied that there was anything untoward behind those bets, stating “the only special interest guiding the Trump Administration’s decision-making is the best interest of the American people.”

The White House declined to comment on the Anduril deal. Pentagon Press Secretary Kingsley Wilson said the department “awards contracts based on merit, partnering with U.S.-based companies to equip our warfighters with the world’s most advanced and reliable capabilities.”

Anduril, Thrive Capital, and Jared Kushner’s representatives have been approached for comment, but did not respond in advance of this story’s publication.

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