THE LONELY FUTURE OF IVANKA TRUMP AND JARED KUSHNER POST-CASA BLANCA: "ANYONE WITH A MINIMUM OF RESPECT FOR HIMSELF WILL TAKE AWAY FROM THEM"
Her political possibilities, social events, her home: the ‘first daughter’ and her husband are considering the next step. But they would not be well received in certain New York circles. Old friends and people around him speak.
Something started to pay off over the summer when Donald Trump turned the White House lawn into the site for the final event of the Republican National Convention, potentially in violation of the Hatch Act (which restricts the political activity of public employees). federal, state and local). There was no outbreak of COVID-19 then, that would come later, in another celebration of the White House with few masks and a mistaken confidence in rapid tests. What circulated, in text message exchanges from the Hamptons to Hollywood, was a fraction of a second of a video taken while cameras were photographing the crowd. In it, viewers saw friends of Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, including businesswoman Wendi Deng Murdoch and art collector Tico Mugrabi. Murdoch, a longtime close friend of the couple and ex-wife of mogul Rupert Murdoch, sported a red and white flowered dress and a red mask with the slogan "MAGA" (Make America Great Again).
Until then, that small group of friends of the president's daughter and son-in-law had mostly shown their support in private. Last fall, for example, Jared and Ivanka played host to Murdoch and Mugrabi; oil heir Mikey Hess and his partner, fashion designer Misha Nonoo; Aryeh Bourkoff, founder of LionTree; the Trump brothers, and Josh Kushner without his wife, supermodel and businesswoman Karlie Kloss, at Camp David to celebrate their 10th wedding anniversary. Details about the celebration were leaked to the press, but the guest list remained hidden, at least from the public. It was shared within their social circles, and some privately ridiculed those who had decided to go, according to several people who had access to the conversations. Karlie Kloss, who did not attend, was saved. "Karlie is the anti-Ivanka," explains an ex-friend. "She Independent, self-made, naturally beautiful and truly authentic." Weeks earlier, when the couple traveled to Rome for Hess and Nonoo's wedding and the paparazzi were on the prowl, the guests sneaked out to avoid being photographed with them, according to these sources.
Those who did appear in the photo, as one person has pointed out, serve as a kind of example of what awaits the couple now that all eyes are on their life after the White House. Among the social group that Jared and Ivanka would prefer to join - with whom they rubbed shoulders aboard the yachts anchored in the Adriatic and on the carpet at the MET Gala - there is the impression that one must look around them for a person, if there is, let him celebrate his return. An article speculating that Ivanka would try to re-enter the New York art scene has been shared in her social circle and ended up in my inbox a dozen times. (For what it's worth, people familiar with her first daughter's art collection referred to it as "unimpressive before COVID-19" but, after COVID-19, "practically impossible to sell." ).
The wide range of responses I have collected over the past week yields a key conclusion: Marriage will be accepted, whether in New York or Palm Beach, by a combination of peripheral high-society couples and bona fide Republicans, but not by the group of people they would like to belong to, and not without social consequences for those who choose to be friends with 'Jivanka'.
“Upon their return they will be welcomed by people who know the Trumps will come as close to power as they can,” an old friend tells me. "But all those who respect themselves, have a professional career, have ethical values, respect for democracy, or who don't want their friends to shame them both in public and in private, will stay away." As another old acquaintance explains, "they will probably be greeted by real estate entrepreneurs and that group of families from the Upper East Side and Palm Beach who read about themselves in Quest magazine - which specializes in New York high society - but nobody cares about them."
“There will always be private dinners they can attend, but they will be the entertainment of the evening,” this person continues. "Ivanka is not Princess Margaret and Jared is not the Duke of Windsor who amuse guests with their funny anecdotes. Nobody wants to hear about Sarah Huckabee's (former Trump Press Secretary) cakes or Steve Bannon's shirts ( former Trump adviser) ".
There is also the question of school for his three children. According to several people familiar with the situation, earlier this fall, the sons of Jared and Ivanka dropped out of the Jewish school they had attended since moving to D.C. There are different opinions about what happened. Some parents say it's because the Trump-Kushners weren't taking COVID-19 safety measures seriously enough. (Given that there have been wide-spread events at the White House, the concern is understandable.) Others say the family wanted to take their children to a school without remote classes. Regardless of whether they return to New York or New Jersey or Florida, the reactions of the school parents are likely to be mixed. "Personally, I can't imagine them going back to school [in New York or New Jersey], but there are people in those communities who would love to," a parent with children in his old environment tells me. "I know there are certain pockets that would like it." Another mother from her former circle in New York and New Jersey adds: “From an Israeli and financial perspective, some parents support Trump. And they want to be close to power and extreme wealth. ”Another New York Jewish school mother says the travel issue would be a major concern as Ivanka has jumped from one campaign event to another in a state after another, and Kushner has been traveling alongside his father-in-law. "I don't think you can send your kids to school if someone in your household has been out of the tri-state area," he says.
Which brings us to the question of what Ivanka and Jared will be doing professionally in January. Will they continue to campaign for the Republicans? Will they be back and forth to Washington? Will they just want to sunbathe at Mar-a-Lago or Tel Aviv? The couple have changed dramatically since they left New York for Washington nearly four years ago. Ivanka, on the stage of the Republican National Convention, presenting his father as he had done four years earlier, showed a more hardened and severe version. He was not the so-called moderating influence that so many people had wanted him to be, although that was never his plan. She had been publicly criticized by the world she left behind (and shunned by world leaders who blatantly ignored her), so there was no longer a reason to care for them. She, like her father, had been acclaimed by crowds at the events she spoke at. Those people in red hats who are lining up for her to see her — and there are undoubtedly many — are now her people. She was no longer the liberal who privately disagreed with her father; they had become one and the same.
They have yet to make plans for the future, according to a person close to them. "If someone in the family chooses to run, he has significant control over the Republican Party, potentially for many, many, many years," says this source. The same goes for the rest of her family, who sees herself as a key person in the leadership of the party, as a kind of kingmaker for what is to come. “As a result of working in the White House, Jared has made international trade and peace agreements, he is on good terms with people around the world, so the opportunities are significant. You can imagine the extent of his connections, ”this person continues, noting what some have suspected from the beginning: that Kushner used his position in the White House to ensure a more comfortable life after the Administration. In addition, the source adds, President Trump could return in 2024. Then, all these options would be ruled out.
Regardless of where they settle and whether they find acceptance, they will never be free from prying eyes. "People will be nice to them," said a former friend. “After all, we are an educated society. But people will not hesitate the next day to say how horrible they have been and how misplaced they are. Deep down, the vulgarity and criminality of his father will always carry too much weight. "
