politics

From golden couple to outcasts: The spectacular fall of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner.

They were once the prince and princess of New York’s most glittering democratic crowd. Now, just a few months after parachuting into the White House to work alongside President Trump, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump are widely viewed in the same way as a bad smell in a small space.

As Sarah Ellison wrote in a blistering story in Vanity Fair this month, “Their inflated sense of self-importance, lack of political experience, and inability to recognise either, have made them almost universally disliked in Washington.”

Ouch.

So how did the golden couple of New York become so universally reviled in such a short time?

Well, let’s start with Ivanka.

Daughter of Donald Trump and his first wife, model Ivana, Ivanka Trump is an Advisor to the President. Who is also her father.

'Hello.' Image source: Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

When the President holds meetings and press conferences in his office, Ivanka has a tendency to waft in unannounced, according to multiple sources who spoke to Vanity Fair. Sometimes, she brings one of her three small children. The President gets the child to speak a few sentences of Mandarin to show how clever they are, while Ivanka derails the meeting to speak about the childcare policy nobody is interested in discussing except her.

As a result, she's been banned. Chief-of-Staff John Kelly has reportedly imposed a rule whereby Ivanka is no longer allowed to enter the Oval Office, unannounced, as an Advisor to the President. Why? Well, as Tell Me It's Going To Be OK podcast host and journalist, Amelia Lester,  puts it, many Republicans are "visibly annoyed by her presence".

Not unlike when your boss brings her kid to work, and everyone has to be nice to them. Even when they're throwing stationery.

Listen to Mia Freedman and Amelia Lester deep-dive on the curated brand that is 'Ivanka Trump', on Tell Me It's Going To Be OK. Post continues after audio. 

Ivanka recently had a meeting with Cecile Richards, Head of Planned Parenthood, United States' national leader in providing women's healthcare; everything from family planning to mammograms to abortions.

The Republican party - or at least, many people within it - are constantly trying to de-fund Planned Parenthood. This is a long-standing issue. Planned Parenthood, you see, is pro-choice, and the vast majority of Republicans are not.

Ivanka, however, soon after getting into the White House, believed she had a solution to this old-age issue: Planned Parenthood should stop offering abortions. Her logic being, if abortions are out of the equation, Republicans will no longer want to de-fund the organisation.

ADVERTISEMENT

However. There were two problems with that.

Firstly, as Amelia Lester outlines on this week's episode of Tell Me It's Going To Be OK, "You can't just arbitrarily take away one chunk of women's healthcare... you can't pick and choose which parts of women's healthcare you perform."

Secondly, after Cecile Richards shut her down (for reasons outlined above), Ivanka went over her head, and contacted the Planned Parenthood board of directors. Who also shut her down.

Ivanka pissed off Cecile. She pissed off the board. She pissed off everyone who supports Planned Parenthood. And it didn't win her any friends in Washington or beyond.

"What is off-putting about them is that they do not grasp their essential irrelevance. They think they are special."

And then there's Jared Kushner.

This week, it's come out that Facebook sold thousands of anti-Hillary ads to Russia, all of which were targeted specifically at Democratic, or 'left-leaning' states.

Trump's Head of Data during the campaign? Jared Kushner.

This guy. Image source: Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

Kushner luckily happened to get into Harvard University shortly after his father made a $10 million donation. Kushner's main priority was essentially, prior to Trump's campaign, Jared. "He ran with a very moneyed crowd; a very 'New York' crowd," says Lester.

Then Trump became President. He hired Jared as 'White House Innovations Director'. And now Jared is in charge of: peace in the Middle East; the opioid crisis; foreign policy (particularly with China and Mexico); veterans' care; and government innovation.

"That's not bad for a 35-year-old failed real estate tycoon," says Amelia.

As Ellison writes, "Kushner has plunged into an array of issues so broad that it has become a regular source of mockery among comedians..."

According to her report in Vanity Fair, an early return to their coupe of wealthy New York friends may be on the cards sooner, rather than later for 'Javanka'.

"Neither have committed to staying the duration of the Trump presidency."

Listen to Mia Freedman and Amelia Lester's full Jared and Ivanka deep dive, below.

Read more...