The system is rigged

The College Admission scandal is a good opportunity for Democrats

Kushner affirmative action

Jared Kushner is the poster boy. 

It helps Democrats reposition themselves on elitism. 

The admissions scandal is a gift. Use it.

Hillary Clinton in 2016 tried to present herself as a pioneer of women, the underdog breaking the glass ceiling. True, but she also represented economic and social privilege. She got paid big bucks to speak to Goldman Sachs. She cashed in. Jimmy Carter built houses and lives in a small house; Hillary and Bill vacationed on Martha's Vineyard with billionaires. Her image oozed privilege.

This allowed an improbable result. 

Donald Trump, whose whole life exemplified privilege via inherited wealth and an extravagant playboy lifestyle, was the one who represented anti-elitism in the public mind. He said he opposed the elites. He said he would drain the swamp. 

He got credibility in this message by his low-class tabloid behavior. He spoke simple language in half sentences rather than an oratorical style. His isn't "presidential" or proper. He cheats on his taxes, goes bankrupt, and stiffs contractors--low class behavior. He brags about his money. He has gold toilet fixtures. He acts like a Rodney Dangerfield character in a movie about a fish-out-of-water working class guy from Queens who strikes it rich, gets entrance to a snooty country club, and who then offends the group decorum with his crass vulgarity. The audience finds that character genuine and likable, and we dislike the snobs.

It helped elect Trump, the "man of the people."

Democrats need to switch the polarity. Democrats need to be the anti-elite populists. The college admissions scandal is a vivid symbol Democrats can use.  

Americans have bought into the marketing of supposedly elite universities. Elite universities have big brands. They represent a short path to wealth and power because they represent meritocracy. They brag about how many people they reject--some 94% of all applicants. They must be special.

People criticize and mock them--"Haaaavahd"--because they symbolize something.

Democrats get a two-for with the admissions scandal. It allows them to condemn a rigged system undermining meritocracy, with the bonus that it involves Hollywood elites. Democrats need not be concerned they are attacking and hurting their friends and allies. Both elite universities and Hollywood can take the punch. Democrats can criticize the breach of trust, not the institutions themselves. By attacking the scandal they are actually defending the university and Hollywood brands.

Poor Jared Kushner. He is caught up in the mess, and in a way that Harvard cannot defend other than with vague, unpersuasive comments about "holistic" consideration of the applicant and supposed "leadership characteristics."

Elite universities know full well that admissions of sub-standard students in consideration of financial donations hurts their brand as a meritocracy and that it diminishes the brand value for its students and alumni. The admission of Jared Kushner to Harvard, in exchange for a measly $2.5 million dollar gift, is an embarrassment. It is too cheap. It looks low class. It breaks their brand. Harvard should have held out for $50 million, and made him go to a prep-school for a gap year, and then admitted him. That would have represented high standards. They would have covered their tracks.  Fifty million means deep generational wealth and power. Two and a half million is a bribe.

Shame on Harvard.

Hollywood people, too, know that the fraud committed by a couple of prominent figures diminishes its own brand. They--and their children--are supposedly celebrities because of their star quality, not cheating. 

Democrats can make Jared Kushner the symbol of Trump corruption and elitism. It complements the bigger story of the Kushner financing of their 666 Fifth Avenue property and the sweet bailout from the Qatar sovereign fund. What foreign policy considerations were involved in that deal?  We can never know, but we can wonder.

More generally Jared Kushner's college admission communicates financial corruption and cosy deals between between people with money and people with power. This is a Trump vulnerability, one in which there is documentation. Collusion is a complicated messy thing, but when money moves around it leaves tracks.

Democrats need not worry that they will hurt themselves criticizing elite universities for abandoning meritocratic standards. The public will love it. And in the long run it will help the universities' brands.

Win-win.