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After winning the Electoral College in 2016 by eking out razor-thin victories in Midwestern states, the Trump Administration seems laser-focused on ingratiating themselves to the region in 2020.
And Minnesota, which Hillary Clinton won by a single point in 2016, seems top of the Administration's to-do list.
Hence, some truly weird, almost menacing photos of Ivanka Trump ... buying a Baby Yoda toy at a farm store in rural Minnesota?
When in the Midwest! 🚜 https://t.co/CgByMGRRrF— Ivanka Trump (@Ivanka Trump) 1600994526.0
The photos were taken during a stop by both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence near the town of Winona, Minnesota.
Trump's shots were snapped at a Fleet Farm discount store, a regional chain that is similar to a Walmart but with an extra focus on outdoor and farming/gardening products.
In one of the photos, Trump is shown standing, impeccably dressed as usual, outside the Fleet Farm store in the dark, weirdly backlit by the store's sign and parking lot lighting. In the other, she is shown in front of a bank of nearly empty shelves inside the store clutching a Baby Yoda doll.
The photos are captioned "When in the Midwest!" with a tractor emoji.
If you're questioning how standing alone in the dark, ghostly backlit by burning red neon, in likely thousands of dollars of designer clothes and sky-high stilettos, outside a farm-themed store in rural Minnesota, translates to electoral victory, you are not alone.
The photos had pretty much the entire internet staring into the middle distance like:
And many people were just downright creeped out.
@D1GGDUGG @IvankaTrump The aliens have landed. Is she photoshopped to look taller? https://t.co/zRd3d5VYVD— JohnJoe (@JohnJoe) 1601005829.0
Ivanka is strangling baby yoda and you idiots are still voting for trump https://t.co/IfHCXxOphu— Cam (@Cam) 1601072209.0
And given that the vast majority of Midwesterners live in urban areas just like the rest of the country—more than 4 million of Minnesota's 5.6 million inhabitants live in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area alone—Trump's tractor-adorned caption resulted in lots of scratched heads, too.
@IvankaTrump Pretty stereotypical representation of who you think lives in the Midwest.— Dr. Cosmopolitan 🌊🇺🇲 🌊🇺🇲 🌊 (@Dr. Cosmopolitan 🌊🇺🇲 🌊🇺🇲 🌊) 1600994781.0
@IvankaTrump "The Midwest, that's farmers, right? It's all farmers, no cities, no Chicago, Minneapolis, Detroit, I… https://t.co/CeDaMSGCW0— Dr. Ohm 🇺🇲 (@Dr. Ohm 🇺🇲) 1600995561.0
@IvankaTrump I grew up in Indiana and I have no clue what you’re doing that is representative of the Midwest.— GiGi 🦋🦮 🌊 vaccinated 💉💪 (@GiGi 🦋🦮 🌊 vaccinated 💉💪) 1600995189.0
Others pointed out the weirdly obvious Trump Administration failures represented in the details of the photos.
@IvankaTrump Very dystopian. Empty shelves, empty parking lot. Your outfit probably cost 100 yodas alone.— PJLM (@PJLM) 1600995403.0
@IvankaTrump Are we not supposed to notice the empty shelves that are due to the ongoing COVID pandemic that this a… https://t.co/kDtRw4g2P7— Miss Aja (@Miss Aja) 1601001741.0
@lindarchilders @IvankaTrump She takes a picture in front of empty shelves with a toy made in China and what looks… https://t.co/7v3RlxEcsh— Toan Loak (@Toan Loak) 1600995854.0
@IvankaTrump Empty shelves, broken supply chains. Great job!— Fully Vaccinated Shark (@Fully Vaccinated Shark) 1600994756.0
In any case, the Trumps' appeals to rural Minnesotans don't seem to be working. Donald Trump currently trails Joe Biden in the polls by an average of 9 percentage points.