Top Democrat Quietly Meets with Jared Kushner; Trump Takes Victory Lap | 8/24/26 FIRST LOOK

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0:33Hey everybody, I'm Dave AI and this is First Look. It's Monday, August 24th, 2026. We've got a packed show for you today. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries sits down privately with Jared Kushner in New York. An unusual sit-down between a top Democrat and a key Trump confidant as the midterms heat up. President Trump takes a victory lap in the Beast at the Freedom 250 Grand Prix right by the Capitol, kicking off the biggest IndyCar race D.C. has seen in a generation, as America celebrates its 250th and an American driver takes the checkered flag. Ghost job ads are flooding the market, wasting millions of applicants' time, and now lawmakers from Pennsylvania to Texas, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, are moving to shut them down.

1:27Let's dive in. First up, in a move that caught more than a few people off guard, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York recently met privately with Jared Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law and longtime informal advisor. The sit-down happened in Manhattan in recent weeks, according to multiple reports that dropped Sunday, including from the New York Times, which cited five anonymous sources with direct knowledge of the meeting. A mutual friend of the two men provided the space. They talked about possible areas of cooperation, specifically housing, immigration, and the high cost of living.

2:05Two sources confirmed those topics. Neither the White House nor Jeffries' office has confirmed the meeting. Now this is unusual. Jeffries is one of the loudest critics of President Trump on Capitol Hill. Kushner, meanwhile, remains one of the president's closest confidants. He served as senior advisor in the first term and now holds the title of Special Envoy for Peace Missions, working alongside Steve Witkoff on the Middle East and the Russia-Ukraine conflict. But this isn't the first time the two have found common ground. During Trump's first term, Kushner championed the First Step Act, the landmark criminal justice reform bill.

2:44Jeffries signed on as a co-sponsor, giving it real bipartisan muscle. Trump signed it into law in 2018. That history of actually getting something done is worth remembering while the media hyperventilates over any Democrat even talking to a Trump ally. The timing matters. We're less than 75 days from the midterm elections. Democrats are desperate to flip the House and Senate. If they take even one chamber, they plan to throw sand in the gears of the Trump agenda. Jeffries has already predicted victory and vowed aggressive oversight of immigration and customs enforcement and just about everything else the administration is doing.

3:25If Democrats somehow claw back the House majority, Jeffries is the odds-on favorite to become Speaker. Still, the fact that the top Democrat in the House is sitting down with Kushner to talk real issues instead of just screaming about the end of democracy tells you something. Americans are hurting on housing, immigration, and the cost of living. President Trump is delivering results. Some on the other side are starting to notice. Next, President Trump brought the full force of the American presidency to the streets of Washington this weekend for the Freedom 250 Grand Prix, the first major auto race in D.C.

4:04in about 25 years, and the capstone event of the summer festivities marking America's semi-quincentennial. Sunday morning, the president climbed into the Beast, the presidential limousine, and took a ceremonial lap of honor around the 1.7-mile Inby Car Circuit near the Capitol. Air Force One roared overhead, capping a series of flyovers that included a B-2 bomber. The crowd cheered as Trump arrived, greeted the drivers and top IndyCar officials, then got behind the wheel for that first lap. Medal of Honor recipients, Command Sergeant Major Matt Williams and Colonel Paris Davis delivered the green flag to the president.

4:50Interior Secretary Doug Burgum told the drivers to fire up their engines. Then Trump waved the green flag to start the race. Later, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy waved the checkered flag for the winner. Trump told Fox Sports before the lap, They've been trying to do it for 20 years. It turned out to be, I think, bigger and better. And the weather is beautiful. You know, I was hearing about rain all week long. It's going to rain. It's going to rain. I said, no, it's not. And this is as nice a day as I've seen in Washington in a long time. First Lady Melania Trump was right there with him.

5:32She has partnered with IndyCar on her Fostering the Future initiative, which provides university-level scholarships to young people aging out of the foster system so they get the same shot as everyone else. She called the Freedom 250 incredible and revealed she's a racing fan herself. When I was growing up, my father introduced me to races and to race cars, and he owned some incredible cars, Maseratis, Mustangs, and Mercedes. This race is just the latest in a string of massive patriotic events in the Capitol under this administration. In June, it was the UFC Freedom 250 fight at the White House.

6:16On Independence Day, the largest fireworks show in American history. Then the great American state fair celebrating 250 years of the greatest country on earth. As for the race itself, 147 laps over those bumpy D.C. streets with the capital, museums, and monuments as the backdrop. Kyle Kirkwood, one of the few American drivers in the field, took the lead from Spain's Alex Pillow early and never looked back. He showed pace all weekend and crossed the finish line first. Christian Lungard finished second, willpower third. An American win on American soil for America's 250th birthday. Perfect. Finally, job seekers across the country are getting fed up with ghost jobs, those online postings that look real, pay well, and go nowhere.

7:14Employers post roles they never intend to fill. Applicants spend hours customizing resumes and cover letters, hit submit, and hear nothing. Months later, the same ad is still sitting there. According to Greenhouse, a major hiring platform, around 19 % of jobs advertised on digital boards in the second quarter were ghost jobs, postings that got at least one application but produced zero hiring activity. No tests, no interviews, nothing. Some companies claim they're building a talent pipeline for future openings or hoping a unicorn candidate appears. Job seekers have darker theories, companies posting fake openings to look healthy to investors, or simply harvesting personal data.

8:00Heather Sanford, a 44-year-old marketing professional outside Austin, has lived it, she told the Wall Street Journal. Her last contract ended in May 2025. She's applied to more than 3 ,000 jobs, burned through nearly$40 ,000 in savings, cut back on meals, and is about to move in with her father just to stay afloat. She keeps seeing the same ads reposted after hundreds of applications vanish into the void. If you've posted a job and you have 500 applicants, are you telling me not one or two or three are qualified? Are you looking for a unicorn, or is it not a real job? Lawmakers are finally moving.

8:42In New York, both houses passed a bill requiring employers to disclose when they expect a role to be filled and setting fines for violations. Governor Kathy Hochul's office says she'll review it. In Pennsylvania, State Representative Jim Prokopiak's bill would force accurate hiring intentions and timelines for removing posts. It's already in the House Labor and Industry Committee. Prokopiak put it simply, when people are putting the time and effort into applying, there's a reasonable expectation that there is a job out there. And in Texas, Attorney General Ken Paxton, who happens to be a Republican Senate candidate, opened an investigation last month into LinkedIn.

9:23He's seeking documents, data, and internal communications, arguing the platform may be misleading paying customers by failing to disclose that some postings aren't genuine hiring opportunities. LinkedIn insists its policies require authentic jobs and that it shows response times and review status, but Paxton isn't buying the corporate line. These ghost jobs don't even show up in the official Labor Department numbers, which only count openings that could start within 30 days and for which employers are actively recruiting outside candidates. Job openings slipped to 7.4 million in June. Talent experts say economic uncertainty is making companies pause, hold, or rethink openings, sometimes after the ad has already gone live, which only makes the experience worse for regular Americans trying to find work.

10:16Bottom line, posting fake jobs while real people drain their savings is a scam. Republican lawmakers and attorneys general are treating it like one. About time. And that's your first look this Monday. Quick recap. Jeffries and Kushner quietly exploring cooperation on the issues that actually matter to voters, President Trump and the First Lady delivering another unforgettable moment for America's 250th birthday with an American driver taking the win, and Ghost Job ads finally getting the scrutiny they deserve from lawmakers who still remember what it means to work for a living. We'll keep following all of it.

10:55I'm Dave AI. Thanks for starting your day with First Look. See you tomorrow.

11:28We'll be right back. through September 7th at Wayfair.com. Wayfair, every style, every home.