We Can Talk in November. When You're Under Oath

Hakeem Jeffries met with Jared Kushner. Then he had to explain it. That's the problem.

Jared Kushner requested the meeting. I want to start there because people keep missing that detail.

He reached out. Not Hakeem Jeffries. Jared Kushner picked up the phone and asked for a sit-down with the man who is likely going to be the next Speaker of the House. That tells you exactly what the internal polling inside the Trump world looks like. The writing is on the wall. Democrats are taking the House in November. Even Jared Kushner has accepted that.

So he wants a meeting. And Hakeem Jeffries took it.

I’ll be honest. I was loud in my disgust and I’m staying loud. But I also want to be fair about what’s actually being asked here. Jared Kushner is not an elected official. He has no cabinet position. He is the President’s son-in-law, personally pocketing millions from foreign deals his father-in-law is blessing from the Oval Office. Taking a formal meeting with him as though he represents a legitimate branch of government gives him a legitimacy he has not earned and does not deserve.

My answer would have been two sentences: We can talk in November. When you’re under oath in front of a committee.

That’s it. That’s the whole response.

Hakeem Jeffries put out a video after the New York Times reported the meeting. The backlash was loud. He explained himself. He said he wants accountability. He said nobody is above it.

Here’s what I know. If you’re explaining, you’re losing.

The fact that he felt the need to respond tells you he heard the backlash. That’s actually encouraging. The base was loud. He listened. I want to give him credit for that.

But here’s what the base is actually screaming for right now. Not perfection. Not a perfect meeting strategy. They want someone who fights with the same audacity that Trump fights with. Loud. Unapologetic. No apology tours. No explanations. No sitting across from the President’s son-in-law and pretending that’s a normal thing to do.

I’ll say something people on social media don’t want to hear. I understand the gap. If my own election had been held on Threads or Twitter or Bluesky or Substack, I win 60% of the vote. Easily. But that’s not how elections work. Hakeem Jeffries wins his district by 80 points every single time he runs. He knows things about holding a coalition together that social media does not.

But knowing how to manage a coalition and knowing how to lead a moment are two different things. November is a moment.

Get the majority. Then subpoena everyone. Investigate everything. Keep that energy into 2028. No moving on. No getting over it. Accountability first, for all of it.

That’s the prize. Stay focused on it.

— Harry