Meet the rich AF white boy tasked with fixing the Middle East

Jared Kushner once had a hopelessly cliché rich kid resume. 

He took over his family's multi-million dollar real-estate empire when daddy went to prison for campaign-finance violations and witness tampering. He bought a newspaper. He married a rich girl. He became richer.

Then, suddenly, at the age of 35, the young Jewish-American businessman became one of the most powerful and influential men in the world. As the husband of Ivanka Trump, the beloved and trusted daughter of U.S. President Donald Trump, Kushner has been propelled to the position of Senior White House Adviser.

Never mind that Kushner has absolutely zero diplomatic, international, governing or military experience. Never mind that Kushner's resume before his White House role only consisted of inheriting his family's business and owning the New York Observer from 2006 until 2017. 

He still took the job. 

In January, before taking office, Trump officially confirmed that he would make his son-in-law a senior adviser with a special focus on the Middle East.

"He knows the region, knows the people, knows the players," Trump said in an interview.

Trump also called his son-in-law a "tremendous asset and trusted adviser." Kushner has been credited as one of the key drivers behind his father-in-law's presidential campaign. Since Trump has taken office, he appears to be leaning on Kushner's support more and more.

Among other significant domestic and international portfolios pushed under his purview, Kushner has been given the responsibility of brokering peace in the Middle East, representing Trump abroad as a foreign emissary, reaching out to the Muslim community and last week, he became the most senior administration official to visit Iraq.

While many found it strange that Kushner was flown to Iraq instead of, say, Trump's secretary of state, defense officials appear to have resigned themselves to reality. One suggested that Kushner holds the key to Trump's support.

"You have to understand where the levers are. You don’t have to like it, but that is where they are,” a defense official told BuzzFeed News.

The photos of the posh white boy – with a face screaming for a swift punch – decked out in his preppy suit and a bullet proof vest drew ridicule on social media.  The hashtag #KushnerAtWar began trending after the images surfaced.

But maybe everyone is just being too hard on young Jared.

Growing up among New York's elite, attending the best schools (after daddy gave an extra large donation) and managing his criminal father's real estate empire may have actually been the perfect training Kushner needed to fix all the problems in the region. Maybe people should just give him a chance?

After all, "experienced professionals" have been trying to "fix" the Middle East for some 70 years or so. And let's be really, really honest. That hasn't worked out so well.

As Trump's policies in the Middle East seem to be heating up since taking office in January, with recent strikes on the Syrian military, and the slaughter of some 300 civilians in Iraq and tens in Yemen, nobody is really crossing their fingers or holding their breath.