Kushner just gave the world a masterclass in how not to read history. He sits there, smooth as a real estate pitch, and says there are no eternal enemies or eternal allies.
The Germany Precedent Kushner Skips
So let’s think win-win. Germany was once an enemy. Now it’s a partner. War is negative-sum. Business is positive-sum. Germany stopped being an enemy through concrete actions, not lofty words.
It wasn’t through a negotiated settlement with the Nazi regime. It wasn’t through a ceasefire that froze the front line while the aggressor rearmed. And it wasn’t through some “win-win” deal where Hitler kept a few occupied territories and everyone pretended peace had broken out. Germany became a partner because the regime was destroyed.
Unconditional surrender. Occupation. Denazification. War crimes trials. The complete dismantling of the political project that started the war.
That’s the part Kushner conveniently skips. He wants the outcome without the process. He wants the postwar partnership without the defeat of the aggressor. And he wants to skip straight to the business opportunities while the dictator is still in power. Still killing. Still occupying. Still demanding that the world treat his invasion as a legitimate bargaining position.
The False Framing of Mutual Benefit
The Trump team keeps framing this war as a dispute between two parties who need to find mutual benefit. That framing is the problem. One side invaded. One side commits mass murder, kidnaps children, levels cities, and openly says Ukraine has no right to exist.
That approach only benefits one side. There is only win-lose. The only acceptable version is when the aggressor loses the ability to do this again.
Germany’s transformation is a story about decisive action, a story about consequences.
The United States didn’t offer the Third Reich a real estate deal in 1944. It didn’t invite Nazi leadership to a summit to discuss what benefits all people. It bombed the war machine. It armed the resistance. And it forced the regime’s collapse. That’s why Germany is a stable democracy today. Not because someone found a clever business angle.
The Only Model That Works
If Kushner wants to use Germany as his model, fine. Then the model is clear:
- Total defeat of the aggressor.
- Accountability for war criminals.
- Reconstruction only after the killing stops.
Ukraine is already doing the hard part. The West must face reality: peace with this leadership means responding with strength, not negotiation.
