Terwijl president Donald Trump blijft volhouden dat hij de tussentijdse verkiezingen van 2026 alleen zal verliezen als er tegen hem wordt gefraudeerd, beginnen Republikeinen zich juist politiek van hem te distantiëren, alsof zij een nederlaag verwachten. Een nieuw rapport in The New York Times biedt opnieuw een aanwijzing dat de GOP de tekenen aan de wand leest: een privéontmoeting tussen Trumps schoonzoon en de Democraat die House Speaker kan worden als Democraten de Kamer heroveren.

“Representative Hakeem Jeffries, Democrat of New York and the minority leader, met privately in recent weeks with Jared Kushner, President Trump’s son-in-law and top outside adviser, and discussed potential areas of common ground, according to five people with knowledge of the meeting,” meldde The New York Times’ Maggie Haberman en Annie Karni zondag. “The rare engagement was held in a private space in New York City, offered up by a mutual friend of the two men, according to two people with knowledge of the meeting and a third who was briefed on it. They and others were granted anonymity to discuss a meeting about which they were not authorized to speak publicly.”

Haberman en Karni voegden daaraan toe: “Through aides, neither man would comment on the session, which was described by one person with knowledge of it as a broad conversation on a range of topics. Still, its timing underscored that those around Mr. Trump were well aware of the likelihood of a Democratic-led House, and trying to foster as much of a working relationship as possible before any change. Mr. Jeffries is in line to be the speaker, were Democrats to win the majority.”

Volgens het bericht bespraken Jeffries en Kushner uiteenlopende onderwerpen, waaronder de kosten van levensonderhoud, huisvesting en immigratie, thema’s die waarschijnlijk centraal blijven staan op de agenda van het Huis als de macht verschuift. Beiden zouden van mening zijn dat Trumps stafchef, Susie Wiles, de MAGA-insider is die het meest openstaat voor compromissen met de andere partij.

“Throughout this Congress, Republicans have adopted a my-way-or-the-highway approach to governing that has failed the American people,” zei Jeffries tegen de Times in een verklaring waarin het Kushner-gesprek niet expliciet werd bevestigd.

Hij voegde eraan toe: “In every conversation that we have with the Trump administration, we will continue to make it explicitly clear that the affordability crisis is not a hoax, and nothing short of transformational policy change is acceptable. We are fighting for an affordable America. The question is whether Republicans will join us.”

De Times meldde dat niets uit de bijeenkomst op dit moment officieel is.

“Should Democrats win the House, Mr. Jeffries would have to balance the need to keep the government funded with Democratic calls to defy Mr. Trump at every turn, and possible pleas to impeach him for a third time,” schreef de krant.

De verslaggevers voegden toe: “Mr. Jeffries and Mr. Trump have danced around questions about what their relationship could look like next year should Democrats take control.”