Is it purely coincidence that President Donald Trump takes action at sundown on Friday? One can argue that he wants to own the weekend news cycle, although the massive protests his actions prompt get far more coverage than presidential pundits defending his latest moves.

Many argue that presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner and his wife Ivanka would temper the aggressiveness of lightening rods like Trump's chief strategist Stephen Bannon and Vice President Pence. Perhaps. The power couple travels in liberal circles and were credited this week with thwarting a rollback on LGBTQ rights. The New York Times credits the life-long Democrat Kushner and his Independent wife Ivanka, along with a third -- Gary D. Cohn, chairman of the president's National Economic Council and a Democrat brought to the West Wing by Kushner -- with nixing a planned concession to social conservatives that would have created havoc in LGBTQ circles. Every day is a new protest, and President Trump got a dose of progressive religion about his anti-gay rights agenda.

The problem is that Jared Kushner is an Orthodox Jew, as is his wife who converted to the faith. The couple honor the Jewish Sabbath from sundown on Friday to Saturday evening. The entire world knows that major news can be made during this 24-hour window where the calm and focused Kushner and his wife are not working, and not attached to digital media.

The Kushners seemed oblivious to massive protests at America's airports last weekend over Trump's new immigration order. As Ivanka posted a glam photo of the couple off to a Washington DC soiree, Twitter bashed her back with images of refugees.

In asking if Jared and Ivanka can actually outrun countless Trump scandals, Vanity Fair's Emily Jane Fox dishes that Kushner was furious over the cancellation of the meeting he had brokered between Trump and Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto.

“Kushner was fucking furious,” the source told me. “I’d never once heard him say he was angry throughout the entire campaign. But he was furious.” (A representative for the Trump administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.)

Allies or Enemies?

Steve Bannon Builds a New Node of Power in the White House The Daily Beast

Steve Bannon was the man of the hour this week, landing his own TIME cover. The Daily Beast explains that Bannon and Kushner have set up a brand-new White House body called the Strategic Initiatives Group. an internal White House think tank that answers to them, as well as to Chief of Staff Reince Priebus.

The idea behind the group is not to make policy, but inform it -- if we actually believe the anonymous official explaining the SIG. Its innocent-sounding goal is one of helping guide President Trump through the maze of Washington, D.C. levers of power, while bridging the gap between the White House and industry.

Less charitable observers say the SIG is intended to be an alternative lodestar of power and influence to just possibly supersede the advice coming out of the traditional centers of influence like the National Security Council and the wider agencies of government.

Ivanka Trump Offers No Support To Women

Now that Trump & Kushner Inc. have settled into their home in Washington's Kalorama neighborhood, Ivanka could focus some of her attention on women's issues. Or so progressives hoped.

In fact, her silence was deafening after about four million people supported the January 21 Women's Marches around America, reinforced also by international marches. Ivanka said nothing about Obamacare cuts that were targeted specifically at health benefits for children and women. Cuts against contraception and abortion specifically prompted some blue state governors like New York's Mario Cuomo to announce that health insurance plans sold in their states must continue with the original Obamacare benefits.

As Republicans try to dismantle any federal support for Planned Parenthood, Ivanka Trump's lips are sealed, causing increasing numbers of progressives to argue that she's much more like her father than previously thought.

"Unlike the campaign," writes Fox, "Kushner and Trump’s futures are no longer entirely in their own control. Both have hitched themselves to her father’s wagon and, just 10 days in, are starting to see signs that it might not work out well for their own ambitions. Trump, after all, is about Trump.

“It’s a very difficult line to straddle here, but the question is whether the Trump strategy might end up strangling her,” the source familiar with the couple told me. “It puts her in a really difficult situation.”

True, but Ivanka Trump does nothing to encourage American women -- and men -- stunned by her tight lips. Anti-Ivanka sentiment is building and will hit full throttle with Planned Parenthood confrontations in the coming days.

Nordstrom announced on Thursday their intention to discontinue selling the Ivanka Trump brand, reportedly due to declining sales. Current inventory will sell thru but no further orders will be placed. Business Insider also reports that Macy's is under major pressure to dump the brand. Neiman Marcus announced that they will no longer sell the Ivanka Trump luxury jewelry line in its stores. The luxury retailer said Ivanka Trump maintained a small inventory of 100 percent consigned merchandise, meaning that the brand was never paid until an item actually sold. Racked reports:

Shannon Coulter, one of the women behind the #GrabYourWalletboycott, tipped Racked off to Nordstrom dropping the Ivanka Trump line yesterday, and noticed the jewelry was missing from Neiman’s site earlier this morning.

According to Coulter, there were 21 products for sale earlier this week, including a $12,000 diamond bracelet; now, there are none. Additionally, when you search for Ivanka Trump on the site, no results are served. The Ivanka Trump line is also missing from the list of designers on Neiman Marcus’s master list.

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