It’s the art of the dodgy deal, Middle East edition: author Donald Trump, updated by Jared Kushner | Marina Hyde

Does the Donald know that there's a new master negotiator in town? Of course he does, he taught the apprentice everything he knows

Any dramatist seeking a character through whom to distil the sold-out madness of the present times could do a lot worse than President Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Yesterday exposed Jared's starring role in not one but two current deals. 1. History's biggest-ever leveraged buyout, of video game giant Electronic Arts (EA), which Kushner's firm is taking private and effectively into Saudi ownership. And 2. Eternal peace in the Middle East", as per what has been widely referred to as the Kushner-Blair plan" for Gaza. Busy week for Jared! He's popping up at so many seismic moments - just call him Forrest Trump.

Quick refresher on our boy: he is married to Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka, and previously served as a senior adviser in his father-in-law's first administration, taking the opportunity of Trump's election loss/unfortunate insurrection-fostering to seemingly leave frontline politics and start his own investment firm. And contrary to popular conjecture that he would be a pariah after that period, Jared sails unstoppably on. These days his appearance is so coolly detached and rarefied that he looks more like a drawing of Jared Kushner, or maybe like the cyborg you'd build to covertly replace Jared Kushner after the real one was plagued by conscience glitches.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist