The First Daughter is receiving criticism for posting what some feel was a tone deaf photo of herself in a silver ball gown in the midst of growing anger over her father’s immigration ban and airport detentions.
On January 28, Ivanka Trump posted the photo of herself dressed in the gown with her husband, Jared Kushner, in a tuxedo on Instagram. See the photo above. According to the Sun, it’s a Carolina Herrera design that costs more than $5,000, and the couple was headed out to a “swanky” Washington D.C. dinner.
Some thought the photo was shades of Marie Antoinette and “let them eat cake”:
“I would have thought you’d at least be concerned with optics? This is all very Marie Antoinette. Camelot is burning Ivanka,” wrote one outraged user on Instagram.
Who wore it better? @IvankaTrump
According to US Weekly, “The 35-year-old businesswoman shared the image around 9 p.m. ET, when protests outside some of the nation’s airports had reached a fever pitch.” That’s the same day that the effects of her father’s controversial executive order on immigration started to be felt; while Ivanka was posting gown pictures, people were being detained at airports all through the United States.
Donald Trump’s executive order, signed January 27, temporarily bans immigration from six Muslim majority countries (Iraq, Iran, Sudan, Somalia, Libya, and Yemen), and indefinitely bans immigration from Syria. The order also bans all refugee admissions for 120 days and caps refugees at 50,000 for 2017. Two men – including an Iraqi man who served the U.S. military as an interpreter – are the plaintiffs in a lawsuit contending the executive order is unconstitutional, and it’s provoked outrage and protests throughout the nation. Trump says the ban is necessary to protect the country from radical Islamic terrorism. A judge granted an emergency stay on part of the order, mandating that people being detained in airports can’t be sent back to their home countries right now or they might suffer irreparable injury.
On Sunday, January 29, thousands of demonstrators gather near The White House to protest President Donald Trump’s travel ban on seven Muslim countries on January 29, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Getty)
As the stories mounted that the ban also affected people with green cards who have lived in the United States for years, Ivanka’s photo was gaining more and more social traffic, ending up with more than 200,000 likes within 24 hours.
However, not all of the reaction was flattery. Some people were outraged by the First Daughter’s timing. People filled Ivanka’s comment thread on Instagram with comments like:
“It’s not the perfect moment to publish this kind of photo ! Sorry”
“You are shameful. I am watching as your father destroys the fabric of the American flag by discriminating against innocent people. And yet, he is still allowing people in from Saudi Arabia, Pakistan etc- the same countries that in his logic were where 9/11 terrorists were from. Your family is alienating allies and creating a recruiting ground for ISIS. And meanwhile, you are busy sharing a glamorous photo reminiscent of a dictator’s heartless daughter that feels nothing for anyone other than her own self gain. Fake feminist, fake family. May karma be just upon you and your family for all the damage you are causing our planet and humanity.”
Others just didn’t like the dress.
@IvankaTrump your dress looks like tin foil
Read about the two Iraqi men who were detained at JFK airport here:
