American Oligarchs: The Kushners, the Trumps, and the Marriage of Money and Power
by Andrea Bernstein
View on GoodreadsWNYC's Andrea Bernstein on the parallel rise of the Trump and Kushner families — both real-estate dynasties with criminal-adjacent histories, joined by the Trump-Kushner marriage — as a single case study in how American oligarchic-family formation works.
Core ideas
- The two families' immigration stories are the book's underexamined parallel — Trumps from Germany under questionable circumstances, Kushners as Holocaust survivors via Belarus — and the contrast with their adult immigration politics is part of the argument.
- Charles Kushner's federal prosecution (witness tampering, illegal campaign contributions, retaliation) by then-US-Attorney Chris Christie is reconstructed in detail — including the Christie firing once Christie crossed paths with Trump-Kushner power again.
- The family-business model — opaque ownership, tax aggression, political access — is treated as the structural unit rather than the individual scandals; the system is the story.
Published2020
Pages496
ISBN9781324001874
ReadAug 2024
