Politics - News Analysis

‘Why Would I Be Interested in This?”: Apparently Ivanka Trump Will Flip Out if You Suggest She Read About Poor People

In general, when it comes to the Trump family, Ivanka Trump seems to be altruistic, well-rounded, and heck, even genial. But a former close friend is painting a different picture and saying it may all be part of a carefully created facade. Writing in a 2020 essay for Vanity Fair, Lysandra Ohstrom detailed her childhood friendship with Donald Trump’s eldest daughter, and it offered a rare insight into what really makes Ivanka tick — at least when it comes to Ohstrom’s time with her, according to SheKnows.

She befriended Ivanka after joining her seventh-grade class at New York City’s Chapin School, an all girl’s private school located on the city’s Upper East Side. The two girls spent their teen years traipsing around Manhattan, interspersed with trips to Paris, London, and Mar-a-Lago. Ohstrom also shares some of the gross comments Ivanka’s father allegedly made about her body as the years passed by.

The two buddies kept close into adulthood, and Ohstrom acted as one of two maids of honor during Ivanka’s wedding to Jared Kushner. But political differences and Ivanka’s support for her father’s presidential campaign drove a wedge between the two now former friends. It’s led Ohstrom to remember a few moments from their friendship that foreshadowed Ivanka’s political allegiances.

“As she’s touted the achievements the Trump administration has made for the middle class while not-so-covertly pursuing a massive wealth transfer to corporate America, I’ve been reminded of a phone call we had in our mid-20s,” Ohstrom recalls. “She remembers Ivanka having a harsh response after recommending she read Empire Falls by Richard Russo, which follows a diner manager in a working-class community in Maine. Ohstrom remembers Ivanka responding, “Ly, why would you tell me to read a book about fucking poor people? What part of you thinks I would be interested in this?”

Ohstrom also writes that Ivanka habitually commented on other people’s financial status. She notes: “Ivanka used to point out inconsistencies between a character’s profession and their lifestyle when we went to the movies. ‘Since when can a teacher afford a BMW?’ She would ask, munching on her usual small popcorn, coated in what would be an unpalatable amount of salt to a normal person. Or, ‘Why is a police officer living in a house like that?'”

For Ohstrom these brash and insensitive comments from Ivanka were a sign of her “Trumpian edges.” While Ivanka may have had class and ability to blend into old money circles in a way that her dad was never able to, Ivanka still “had the Trump radar for status, money, and power, and her dad’s instinct to throw others under the bus to save herself.”

All of this means Ivanka learned the nastier killer instincts from her father. And for Ohstrom, her friendship with Ivanka had already fallen away by the time of her wedding. And because Ivanka never checked in and supported her friend meant that their friendship would soon be a done deal. Ohstrom ended her essay by sharply noting that she hopes Ivanka is aware of the many millions of people delighting in her family’s political fall from grace.

It’s about time, isn’t it? And it doesn’t look like these two will be pairing up any time soon, now does it?

meet the author

Megan has lived in California, Nevada, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Florida and she currently lives in Central America. Living in these places has informed her writing on politics, science, and history. She is currently owned by 15 cats and 3 dogs and regularly owns Trump supporters when she has the opportunity. She can be found on Twitter at https://twitter.com/GaiaLibra and Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/politicalsaurus

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