Snobbery and class contempt: Ivanka Trump pinned by a former friend in a forum
In an article published on the Vanity Fair US site this Tuesday, Lysandra Ohrstrom looks back on the friendship that once linked her to Donald Trump's eldest daughter. She recounts their “grunge” period, their travels in Europe, but also the contempt, indifference and lies of Ivanka Trump.
“We met on the benches of a girls' school on the Upper East Side, and were inseparable for over ten years,” she recounts. In a column published on the Vanity Fair US site on Tuesday, November 17, Lysandra Ohrstrom - nicknamed "Ly" by Ivanka Trump - returned to the friendship that once bound her to the daughter of the 45th President of the United States.
A complicity that the two women would have maintained until 2009. After having officiated as bridesmaid at the marriage of the businesswoman with Jared Kushner, the 38-year-old journalist would have gradually moved away from her childhood friend. She now points to the alleged snobbery, lies and vanity of Ivanka Trump.
"More than friends, we were sisters"
It all started well though. Lysandra Ohrstrom meets Ivanka Trump in sixth grade, at the prestigious Chapin School - which notably welcomed Jackie Kennedy. A popular student, Donald Trump's daughter reigns supreme over Manhattan college. At the time, teenage girls, in the midst of the “grunge” period, shortened their Scottish skirts and dyed their hair blue or green. Invited at the last minute to Ivanka Trump's thirteenth birthday - a limousine ride and stay in a luxury hotel in Atlantic City - Lysandra Ohrstrom gradually approaches the young girl.
They become very friends in second, during a first trip together in Paris. “When we went on an excursion, we pretended to have lost ourselves in the metro to see a film on the Champs-Élysées or visit the Picasso museum,” she recalls. After an express - and confidential - stay in London, they become the best friends in the world. “We had this relationship for over a decade,” continues the Huffington Post reporter. More than friends, we were sisters. ”
Contempt, complacency and vanity
She admits, however, that Ivanka Trump, however "funny" and "loyal" she was, "loved to talk about herself and was shamefully conceited." After university, the two young women would have gradually moved away from each other. During Donald Trump's tenure, Lysandra Ohrstrom would have been disappointed by her friend's complacency towards her father. “The Ivanka I knew has spent her career developing and embodying a more polished and intellectual image of the Trump brand,” she writes. Before adding: "Instead, I saw Ivanka ravage the image she had worked so hard to build."
The reporter thus accuses her former friend of not having opposed her father's political decisions, nor the appointment of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. She also describes Ivanka Trump's contempt for poor people. “I remembered a phone conversation that took place when we were 25,” she says.
Donald and Ivana Trump's daughter would then have asked him to recommend a book, and Lysandra would have recommended Empire Falls, by Richard Russo. “Ly, why advise me a book on p ** ain poor people?” She would have replied. The businesswoman would have, moreover, had the habit of asking questions such as: "Since when can a professor afford a BMW?"
The "hot dog seller" incident
Lysandra Ohrstrom also remembers Ivanka Trump's teenage lies, coupled with a tendency to blame others for her own actions. She mentions in particular the incident of the "hot dog seller", during which the daughter of the 45th American president would have encouraged her comrades to show their breasts to the merchant, through the classroom window. All are then excluded from class ... except Ivanka Trump, who pleads her case with the principal of the school.
But the two friends would have mostly distanced themselves after the arrival of Lysandra Ohrstrom in Lebanon. She then comes to cover the conflict between her host country and Israel. “I remember he was the only person who didn't ask me what the war was like,” writes the reporter. When Ivanka Trump begins a relationship with Jared Kushner, from an Orthodox Jewish family, the journalist's pro-Palestinian positions begin to irritate her.
The Necklace of Discord
Lysandra Ohrstrom then wears a necklace with her first name written in Arabic, abhorred by the businesswoman. "How does your Jewish boyfriend feel when you have sex together and this necklace comes back to his face?" she asks him one day, during a dinner. How can you wear this thing? It's like she's screaming 'terrorist'. ” Despite these differences of opinion, Lysandra Ohrstrom is grateful to Ivanka Trump, who introduced her to Peter Kaplan, journalist for the Observer and future boss of the young woman.
Donald Trump's thoughts
The thirty-something also mentions some of her meetings with Donald Trump. The real estate mogul would have asked her, very seriously, if Ivanka was the prettiest and most popular student in her school. Before questioning her again: "Who is prettier than her?"
The businessman would have, moreover, allowed reflections on the weight of Lysandra Ohrstrom. The latter remembers a lunch in Mar-a-Lago, during which Donald Trump Jr. allegedly stole half of his sandwich. The future president of the United States, who was passing by at the time to say hello, would have said to Ivanka Trump: “She does not need that. He's doing her a favor. " He would have congratulated the journalist after her successive weight losses. Decades later, Lysandra Ohrstrom has cried in relief amid support from Joe Biden.
