Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily.

It is a mystery why President Trump continues to rely on the hapless team of Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff—his son-in-law and fellow real-estate tycoon, respectively—to hammer out treaties to end the most destructive wars of our time: Russia vs. Ukraine and Israel vs. the Palestinians.

Yes, Trump doesn’t trust the professional diplomatic corps or experts of any kind. But, as a self-proclaimed businessman, he must notice when aides don’t get the job done, and the Kushner-Witkoff duo have not lured the combatants one step closer to peace; in fact, they’ve arguably intensified the war in Ukraine.

Their utter incompetence was on full display over the weekend, as they met with Vladimir Putin in Moscow, then—in their first trip to the Ukrainian capital—Volodymyr Zelensky in Kyiv. They carried what Trump touted ahead of time as new peace proposals, and concluded both sets of talks with boilerplate adjectives (“productive,” “meaningful,” “positive,” “businesslike”). But in fact, they came away with zilch—and, once again, proved themselves far short of the task.

This should come as no surprise. Neither has any diplomatic experience; neither knows anything about Russia or Ukraine or military strategy; nor do they travel with any specialists who might advise them along the way.

Witkoff kicked off the tour with an act of full-bore genuflection toward Putin, greeting the Kremlin dictator as follows:

First, Mr. President, thank you so much for having us. We were sitting outside just now, me, Jared, and Kirill [Dmitriev], and then Yuri [Ushakov] joined us, and we were all talking about when we retire, we’ll have all these incredible stories and incredible memories, and yours will be right at the top of it........

© Slate