What did Donald Trump do today?

He pushed Charles Kushner as the U.S. Ambassador to France.

In a post to his private social media network today, Trump said that Charles Kushner was a "tremendous business leader, philanthropist, & dealmaker" and the founder of "one of the largest & most successful privately held Real Estate firms in the Nation." 

He also acknowledged that Charles is the father of Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law. Jared, who could not pass a security clearance check, was nevertheless put in charge of Middle East policy during Trump's first term. He then received a $2 billion investment from the Saudi Arabian royal family while Trump was still in office.

What Trump did not mention was that Charles Kushner is a convicted felon who served time in prison after being convicted of making illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering. (Perhaps not coincidentally, these are all things that Trump himself is known to have done.)

As part of that scheme, Kushner hired a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law, and arranged to record a sexual encounter between the two. He then sent the tape to his own sister in an effort to intimidate her into not testifying against him. Chris Christie, then a U.S. Attorney and since a prominent Republican politician, called it "one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes" he had ever prosecuted.

Trump also did not mention that he pardoned Kushner for that "loathsome, disgusting crime" on the way out the door of his first term.

Why does this matter?

• It's insulting and counterproductive to make a felon the ambassador to a major military ally just because he's the crony of the president.

• People who commit "loathsome, disgusting crimes" shouldn't be given offices of public trust.