Because a 36-year-old real estate jerk is better than the nominated and approved Secretary of State.

For all I know, Kushner might be better than the Exxon ex-CEO.  Tillerson doesn’t seem happy to be a diplomat.  Can you do your entire job in a sulk?

Secretary of State Tillerson has already made it clear he didn’t really care about human rights.  On March 30th, in a (rare) press conference, Tillerson gave this answer:

QUESTION: About [Syrian] President Assad, should he stay or should he go?

SECRETARY TILLERSON: I think the status and the longer-term status of President Assad will be decided by the Syrian people.

The old American position was that human rights matter, and President Assad — a guy who’d sued poison gas against his own people — was a tyrant who needed to leave office.  The new position is some variation on “Eh.”  As Rachael Maddow mentioned, Tillerson has effectively taken the Russian position.

And a few days later, President Bashar Al-Assad launched another poison gas attack against rebel positions, killing and injuring men, women, children and infants.  And then, as doctors tried to treat gasping and writhing children, Assad’s planes started bombing the hospitals treating those children.

And where did Assad get the sarin poison gas?  Obama destroyed Assad’s entire stockpile as part of a deal in 2013.  I see three options: Assad made it himself (probably not), the US gave it to him (we didn’t), or Russia gave their Syrian ally poison gas and the specialized ordinance needed to delivery it.Yes, Jared appears to be no more than a dilettante and a deeply corrupt popinjay.  Might still be better than Tillerson.