People Are Pissed Ivanka Trump Hasn't Done More For Hurricane Harvey
The White House is raising eyebrows once again -- this time, for Ivanka Trump's response, or lack thereof, to Hurricane Harvey. In the past week, she has tweeted twice about Hurricane Harvey -- and three times about tax reform. Both of Trump's Hurricane Harvey tweets are largely indifferent to the suffering happening in Texas, only offering thoughts and prayers; one points her followers to the government website for natural disaster preparedness. But that's it. No offers to help, no tweets about where to donate or how to help. And people are pissed.
After all, Chelsea Clinton has set a great example of how to use the power and influence of being a president's kid to help the victims of the superstorm. So it's not like Trump couldn't figure out how to advocate for vulnerable people.
Rather, her focus on tax reform is no surprise to those who have kept a close eye on her actions.
After all, this kind of empty-gesture behavior is nothing new for the 35-year-old daughter of and adviser to President Donald Trump.
Trump has positioned herself as not only a moderating force in the White House, but someone who has her father's ear. Someone who can influence decisions and who can help make the world a better place.
But the fact of the matter is that, if she genuinely does care about regular Americans, she sure doesn't have the strength to follow through. She quickly moved on from climate change after her father withdrew from the Paris Accord, according to Politico. She and husband and fellow adviser to the President Jared Kushner were conspicuously absent when Donald Trump, Jr.'s email scandal rocked Washington in early July.
She has even reportedly signed off on her father's decision to end an Obama-era equal pay regulation, despite saying at the 2016 Republican National Convention, "He will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this too, right alongside of him."
Her tweets about tax reform are especially tone-deaf, as President Trump's tax reform plan isn't reform so much as it is tax cuts for the rich and for large corporations -- while staring down the barrel of stagnant middle-class wages, tens of billions of dollars in hurricane damage, and a looming debt ceiling and budget crisis.
It seems clear from Trump's actions that she's not so much a moderating force as she is trying to make sure she doesn't alienate herself from moderate and even left-leaning customers. And so it makes sense that, as a businesswoman who is reportedly worth approximately $740 million along with husband Kushner, she would be more invested in her father's proposed tax cuts for the wealthy.
Some are joking about her apparent lack of interest in Harvey.
But most who are complaining are understandably upset.
I would call for Trump to do better, but at this point, that would be about as useful as tweeting, "Stay safe" to the people of Houston.
