Jared and Ivanka are ready to return to a Manhattan social scene that no longer welcomes them
If the celebrations that swept through the streets of New York City in the wake of Joe Biden's election victory made one thing clear, it's that Trumps are not welcome here.
For the president, who changed his primary residence last year to Florida, this may not be a major loss, but for Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, the block parties celebrating the demise of the Trump administration can give a glimpse of what that awaits them once they leave the White House.
Now that their political life in Washington ends, the question for this powerful couple is what their time in the political spotlight has meant to their brand, particularly on their old Manhattan grounds.
"[The president] was so terrible and divisive about New York, saying it's a nightmare or it's empty, or it has been," said Jill Kargman, writer, Upper East Side resident and daughter of the former Chanel president who has socialized. in events with the couple in the past. No one here is going to forget that. Even coming back here after everything you've said is not going to work.
In the days before they were residents of the White House, Kushner and Trump inhabited a rarefied part of New York society.
They frequented the Met Gala, her in a strapless royal blue dress one year and a backless scarlet jumpsuit the next, and the Vanity Fair party for the Tribeca Film Festival. She made the rounds at fashion events, attending the Carolina Herrera catwalks, a Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts celebration for Italian designer Valentino, and the Glamor Women of the Year awards.
Now, however, they may not like what they find if they return.
A glimpse of what likely awaits them was showcased in Times Square last month, where the anti-Trump Lincoln Project put out ad space on a pair of Times Square billboards that featured their smiling faces along with coronavirus death statistics and an illustration of body bags When the couple threatened to sue, the group also placed the image on a barge to encircle Mar-a-Lago and on trucks surrounding Trump Tower, according to tweets from the project's co-founder.
New York is not the only place to call home, of course. While the couple have been reserved about where they intend to reside after the White House, they have kept their sprawling Upper East Side apartment, an East Wing official said, and would be considering spending more time in New Jersey, according to a a source familiar with the couple's thinking.
Two sources who have worked with the couple believe they may end up in Florida, specifically the Palm Beach area. Trump has built up a string of relationships in the state, both socially and politically, and in recent months he visited Florida at least five times, hosting campaign events in Republican areas like Sarasota, but also making appearances in Miami. A base of operations in Florida would not only provide Trump with a platform if he were to look to a future political career there, but it would also prevent the couple from facing off against New York.
Meanwhile, Mar-a-Lago is not an option for her permanent residence, according to a source with knowledge of family dynamics. Although Ivanka Trump has a private guest house there, Mar-a-Lago is the first lady's preferred home and they have a rather cold relationship.
Meanwhile, Washington may no longer have much appeal. "They only know DC from being in power," said a senior Republican. Wait until they realize that no one is answering their calls.
In fact, inside the White House, according to sources, the expectation is high for them to return to Manhattan, even if that means an inhospitable homecoming for the couple.
On the one hand, anyone can decide to return to their respective family businesses, where they each worked before the White House. Representatives for Ivanka Trump and the Kushner Companies did not respond to requests for comment on this story. A spokesman for the Trump Organization forwarded the calls to the White House.
A White House official said of Kushner that "there are a lot of opportunities to explore," noting his involvement in criminal justice reform and the Olympics, among other issues. The official added: "There will be many opportunities available, and right now it is premature to speculate."
Financial obligations could be a factor
Kushner was previously CEO of Kushner Companies, the real estate company founded by his father, Charles Kushner. The company is mostly a family business, in part because the Kushners prefer it that way, according to a person familiar with their thinking.
Charles Kushner is likely hoping his son will return to business, this person said, and with the relationships Jared Kushner has established in recent years with leaders of wealthy countries in the Middle East, including Saudi Arabia, he could take advantage of those connections. henceforth in the family business or other business enterprises.
Trump also left his post in the Trump Organization when he moved to Washington, but kept passive stakes in the business. He receives fixed payments guaranteed for some of his assets, as well as a financial interest in the Trump International Hotel Washington, DC, where he played a key role in closing the deal, and which is home to Ivanka Trump's first 'Spa.' She reported $ 3.9 million in hotel revenue in 2019.
And while she has tried to position herself as a brilliant, refined figure who stands apart from her father's brash ways, the company values her for her ability to channel his whims and preferences.
Several months before the DC hotel's opening in 2016, he impressed the staff by comparing three identical shades of gold painted in the ornate filigree above one of the arched doors in the hotel's ballroom and stated that one was the obvious choice for a Trump property.
While the couple is still wealthy, their financial obligations could influence post-White House decision-making.
While working in the White House, Kushner obtained two loans from Bank of America, one in 2017 and one in 2019, each of which ranged from $ 5 million to $ 25 million, according to her financial disclosure form. Both loans, which were contracted jointly with limited liability companies, mature in 2022.
The family business, which owns residential properties with hundreds of tenants, will likely also face challenges from the pending real estate crisis. A $ 285 million loan, obtained in 2016 for a Times Square retail complex, is stalled after a tenant declared bankruptcy, according to TreppWire, a real estate data analytics firm.
For his part, Trump shut down his eponymous fashion brand in 2018, and while the clothing line had performed well in election year, it suffered the consequences of anti-Trump boycotts.
And they face legal headaches in New York, where Trump is being sued in federal court, along with his father and two older brothers, for allegedly collaborating with a fraudulent marketing scheme to take advantage of financially distressed and vulnerable investors - claims that have denied.
Kushner has also faced her share of legal concerns at home, where federal prosecutors in Brooklyn are reviewing her family business's use of an immigration investment program, although that investigation does not appear to have been active in about two years.
Political ambitions
One card is whether Trump's taste for politics will hold, as he has gained a sense of his power to generate big political dollars. Since August, he has spearheaded 38 events in various states and organized nine fundraisers, raising more than $ 35 million for his father's campaign.
She has offered an alternative to the huge crowds, "lock her up" chants and the "YMCA" disco dance at her father's rallies. At political events, she often limits herself to talking about issues that she thinks her father has made progress, including job growth, financial stability, the family tax credit, and entrepreneurship.
Trump, however, acknowledges that her future, now more than ever, is tied to her father, said a person familiar with the matter, adding that she came to the White House as Kushner, but has now become a "full MAGA." ».
Several people told CNN in recent months that Trump considers his own potential political future, which may be pushing the more nuanced positions he has taken in contrast to his brothers' strident comments on issues such as immigration and, more recently, the alleged electoral fraud.
Since Election Day, the couple have kept a low profile, although a White House official told CNN that both Trump and Kushner have been working in the White House.
Kushner, CNN has reported, has been part of the team tasked with fostering a legal path forward for Trump's unfounded fight against the election result, while privately trying to convince the president to accept his inevitable loss.
While ballots were still tabulated in key states, three days after Election Day, Trump tweeted that legal votes should be counted, but "all illegally cast votes should not be counted."
But she added: "This is not a partisan statement," noting that "free and fair elections are the foundation of our democracy."
Earlier this week, he appeared to validate the vote count that has continued long after Election Day by celebrating media organizations declaring the president won in Alaska after a series of pending votes were counted.
He had a softer tone than his father's incessant and groundless against what he has called a "fraud" and "deception" voting process.
Returning to a changed social circuit
Despite his presence at Manhattan society events leading up to the White House, including parties hosted by the Kushner family-owned New York Observer newspaper, he attracted the likes of Rupert Murdoch, Padma Lakshmi, Chuck Close, Katie Couric and Michael Bloomberg, the two have never maintained an extensive circle of friends in New York, said people familiar with the matter, who instead spend much of their free time with family and acquaintances from their Orthodox Jewish community.
And while Kushner is close with his brother, Joshua Kushner, as well as a Harvard friend, financier Nitin Saigal, and Trump is still friends with Murdoch's ex-wife, Wendi Deng, according to people familiar with the matter, some of his other New York friends have faced obstacles in recent years.
Kushner's friend, Adam Neumann, resigned as chief executive officer amid turmoil at the company he founded, WeWork. And Ken Kurson, a close friend of the couple, was arrested on federal charges of cyberbullying in late October.
Outside of their immediate social circle, they are unlikely to receive the kinds of invitations they got before the White House. Vogue Editor-in-Chief and Condé Nast Artistic Director Anna Wintour has made no secret of her dislike of the president and his politics, and Wintour's preferences determine invitations to the Met Gala.
Trump's stamp as a glossy fashion magazine star, last flaunted at Harper's Bazaar in September 2016, during the thick of the campaign, in a $ 6,990 Carolina Herrera gown while sitting on a ladder. overlooking the Manhattan skyline, it has also decreased.
A former editor of a prestigious magazine who remains a highly sought-after stylist said Trump will have a difficult time re-entering the fashion orbit. "The fashion industry is a very liberal, Democratic-leaning group," he said, "and I don't see them being welcomed, professionally or socially, with open arms."
New York tabloids, which helped propel the president to fame and chronicled his sons' upward mobility, broke down in recent days promoting the administration's agenda, and even the New York Post urged the president to put an end to their "stolen election" complaints.
Meanwhile, your New York neighbors may have similar complaints. Among the residents of her apartment complex are the president's former attorney - and now estranged - Michael Cohen and his daughter Samantha, who has described that Trump despised her in the lobby of his building, despite having come to dinner the " His father's famous lasagna.
"He once faced me after seeing me smoking cigarettes outside our building," Samantha Cohen told Vanity Fair. "It was so pathetic."
They may find some support close to home: a source from the US Secret Service said the two have been a favorite assignment because they are "so good with their details." They get to know them, he said, and ask about their families.
Other family payroll employees say they are understanding employers. A nanny (there have been up to three employees at the same time, according to a family source) has been with them for several years and "is treated like a member of the family," said a stylist who counted Trump as a client and who often witnessed their interactions with others.
But New Yorkers in general are not exactly aligned with the couple's political leanings. In 2016, about 9 out of 10 Manhattanites voted for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton. With more than 60% of the state's votes counted as of Thursday night, Biden is expected to win Manhattan by a similar margin.
That may herald reactions like the one Kargman said he could envision displaying if he runs into Trump in Manhattan.
"I would yell 'Shame!' At her, like Cersei Lannister in 'Game of Thrones'," Kargman said. "I would just yell at her, 'Shame, shame, shame,' in that same rhythmic pattern."
