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Jared Kushner: Breitbart editors told reporters to 'stop attacking Donald Trump's son-law'

Jared Kushner became a target of the far-right news site amid reports of a fierce West Wing feud between himself and Stephen Bannon

Maya Oppenheim
Tuesday 11 April 2017 06:36 EDT
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Far-right site has softened their attacks on Jared Kushner with no stories about him on their homepage
Far-right site has softened their attacks on Jared Kushner with no stories about him on their homepage (Reuters)

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Breitbart editors have reportedly told their reporters to stop criticising White House senior advisor Jared Kushner.

Mr Kushner became a target of the far-right news site amid reports of a fierce West Wing feud between himself and Stephen Bannon - Breitbart’s former executive chairman who is now Donald Trump's Chief Strategist.

Breitbart, a publication Mr Bannon has described as “the platform for the alt-right”, published three critical articles about Mr Kushner and plugged them on their homepage last week.

According to Business Insider, top editors at Breitbart have now instructed their journalists to stop criticising Mr Kushner, the husband of Mr Trump's daughter Ivanka, in their articles.

Breitbart had softened their attacks on Mr Kushner as of Tuesday, with no stories about him on the entirety of their homepage.

Breitbart has denied suggestions they told their staff not to be critical of Mr Kushner, saying it was “an absurd suggestion that Breitbart would muzzle critical coverage of any senior White House official."

Mr Bannon, the purported ideologue behind Mr Trump’s populism, resigned from Breitbart News in November and has claimed he no longer has any editorial involvement with the publication. The Trump aide took the reigns of the site around four years ago, transforming the agenda from ultra-conservatism to anti-establishment, anti-immigrant, nationalist and overtly pro-Trump during the presidential election.

Tensions between Mr Bannon and Mr Kushner, who are believed to have conflicting ideological visions for the White House, have reached a head recently. Last week it was reported that Mr Bannon labelled Mr Kushner, who is Jewish, a “cuck” and a “globalist” behind his back.

“Cuckservative,” a portmanteau of “cuckold” and “conservative,” has become a popular slur used by members of the so-called alt-right movement and is used as a sexually and racially charged version of “RINO,” an acronym for “Republican In Name Only.” On its own, the word cuckold means a man whose wife has cheated on him and was often used by William Shakespeare.

Mr Bannon’s position in the Trump administration is seen to be waning by some and he was removed from the National Security Council last week.

Breitbart, which has mounting access to the White House, was dubbed “Trumpbart” before Mr Trump entered the White House. The President gave numerous interviews to the site in the build-up to the election, boosting its traffic to a 124 per cent spike in 2016.

Comment pieces published on the site include “Political Correctness Protects Muslim Rape Culture” and “Birth Control Makes Women Unattractive and Crazy”.

A representative for Breitbart did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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