The real threat isn’t Kushner. It’s who loses narrative control

Let’s cut through the noise. Jared Kushner’s participation in Paramount’s bid for Warner Bros. Discovery isn’t scandalous , it’s revealing.

What’s actually happening is simple: a private equity firm with real capital, global connections, and a growing track record was invited into a massive media deal. That firm happens to be run by the president’s son-in-law. People are outraged not because the mechanics are new, but because the name is.

Kushner’s firm, Affinity Partners, is doing exactly what private equity exists to do: deploy capital, take minority positions, and stay out of operations. Paramount’s own filings make clear that foreign investors, Saudi, Qatari, Emirati, will have *no governance, no board seats, no editorial control*. That’s not corruption. That’s compliance.

The pearl-clutching ignores two inconvenient facts.

First, *politics and power have always intersected with media ownership*. Billionaires with clear ideological agendas, Bezos, Murdoch, Bloomberg, control or influence major news platforms. The only difference here is that Kushner’s politics make elites uncomfortable.

Second, Affinity Partners isn’t some shady backroom fund. It manages roughly $5.4 billion, invests alongside heavyweights like Silver Lake, and is now helping bankroll a $55 billion acquisition of Electronic Arts. That’s not amateur hour, that’s institutional finance.

Critics point to Saudi backing as if this is unique. It’s not. Gulf sovereign wealth funds are deeply embedded across American tech, media, and infrastructure. If that’s suddenly unacceptable, then the entire U.S. investment ecosystem needs rethinking, not just Jared Kushner.

The real anxiety isn’t national security. It’s narrative control.

Warner Bros. Discovery owns CNN, a network that has spent years acting as a political combatant while claiming neutrality. 

The idea that a Trump-adjacent entity might own a slice of its parent company terrifies people who are used to media power flowing in only one ideological direction.

That fear doesn’t make Kushner’s involvement unethical. It makes it disruptive.

And disruption, whether people like it or not, is often how entrenched systems finally get exposed.

If regulators find a real security risk, they should block the deal. Full stop. But pretending this is unprecedented or uniquely dangerous because of who Kushner is doesn’t pass the smell test.

This isn’t about corruption. It’s about comfort.

And Jared Kushner is making the wrong people uncomfortabl, which is exactly why this deal matters.

Let us recall that Jared Kushner is also a skilled diplomat. He is the main architect of the Abraham Accords and is very active in efforts to resolve the peace plan for Gaza. 

He also benefits from close ties with both Israel and the Gulf monarchies. This is an asset in politics and in business.