Ivanka Trump Posted A Father's Day Photo For Her Dad & Husband & It Didn't Go Well
Ivanka Trump did her daughterly duties by posting a Father's Day message on Instagram. Of course, her father is President Donald Trump, so there are plenty of eyes on what the post said. Trump used her post as a two-for-one message to also wish a happy Father's Day to her husband and father to their children, Jared Kushner. It appears that the end result is not going over so well with the public, because Ivanka Trump's Father's Day message is, unsurprisingly, getting slammed.
You might wonder what Trump could have said to elicit such a negative reaction on Instagram. Save for the fact that her Father's Day tribute on Sunday, June 17, is to two very polarizing men, Trump's Instagram post itself is not all that controversial. Trump shared a photo of herself with both Kushner and President Trump, and she completed the post with a caption that reads, "Happy #FathersDay to these two amazing dads."
On its own, that message doesn't seem too bad. The problem comes from the fact that Trump is part of her father's administration, and the Trump administration has recently come under fire for its practice of separating children from their parents if they cross the border into the United States without documentation, per NPR. Trump's husband, Kushner, also serves as a senior advisor to President Trump.
If Trump's post was seen in a vacuum without the context of families being torn apart at the border due to a Trump administration policy, then a simple "happy Father's Day" wish wouldn't be that controversial. Unfortunately, her celebration of family highlights the destruction of families that's been happening due to the Trump administration policy.
In May, Attorney General Jeff Sessions detailed the plan to prosecute anyone who crosses the U.S. border without documentation when he said,
If you cross this border unlawfully, then we will prosecute you. It's that simple. If you smuggle illegal aliens across our border, then we will prosecute you. If you are smuggling a child, then we will prosecute you and that child will be separated from you as required by law. If you don't like that, then don't smuggle children over our border.
It's descriptions like that one of the controversial immigration policy that made Trump's Father's Day post such a hot-button topic. People left comments like, "...Because of your father’s policy children as young as babies are being torn apart. I hope this never happens to you..." Another commenter said, "You know who would love to be with their dads right now??? The 2000-plus immigrants your dad has allowed to be ripped from their parents at our borders."
After the Trump administration's separation policy was enacted, it was reported by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) that 1,995 minors were separated at the border from their "alleged adult guardians" between April 19 and May 31, per NPR.
This was not the first time Trump posted something that was less-than-suited for the times in which she lives. When it was reported in May 2018 that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) had lost track of nearly 1,500 migrant children, Trump didn't join the chorus that called for more information about the missing children ahead of National Missing Children's Day on May 25. Instead, Trump posted a photo with her youngest son, Theodore, on Sunday, May 27 with an emoji caption that read, "My heart."
Again, it is Trump's failing to understand the context of the world in which she lives that makes this photo so insensitive. Two problems collide in this picture because it was posted amid the news of the missing migrant children, and it came on the heels of Sessions' impassioned explanation of why the Trump administration has adopted a policy of separating children from their immigrant parents at the U.S. border.
On its face, it's a positive thing that Trump seems to care so much about family. What upsets people is that she isn't able to bring that sense of preservation of family into the Trump administration's immigration policy discussions, in which she serves as a senior advisor to her father, President Trump.
It's also troubling that someone like Trump can't comprehend when her family-oriented social media posts only further serve to remind the American people of the ways that the Trump administration is tearing families apart. Thankfully, we can always count on the comments section of Instagram to serve as a reminder that not everyone is on board. Who would ever have thought that there were times when you should read the comments?
