Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

USA Today Columnist Says What We're All Thinking About Ivanka Trump's Role in the White House in Blistering New Column

USA Today Columnist Says What We're All Thinking About Ivanka Trump's Role in the White House in Blistering New Column
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 02: Ivanka Trump, White House adviser and daughter of President Donald Trump, speaks during an Axios360 News Shapers event August 2, 2018 at the Newseum in Washington, DC. Axios held the event to discuss workforce development and 'news of the day.' (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Accurate.

Last week, First Daughter and presidential advisor Ivanka Trump gave an interview with Axios in which she expressed her opposition to her father's policy of separating migrant families at the U.S.-Mexican border.

USA Today opinion columnist Raul Reyes tore apart Trump's feigned dissent in a brutal Op-Ed on Monday, saying Trump's failure to pressure President Donald Trump to end the "zero tolerance" policy "reveals her as a profile in cowardice."


"I felt very strongly about that, and I am veryvehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children," Trump told Axios last Thursday. "I think immigration is incredibly complex as a topic, illegal immigration is incredibly complicated."

Yes, we know, Reyes wrote, because beginning in May, all undocumented immigrants, including asylum-seekers, would be criminally prosecuted for attempting to enter the United States. This resulted in thousands of families getting ripped apart, and despite court orders to reunite children with their parents, there are still hundreds of kids still waiting to be given back to their parents.

Reyes said Trump referring to family separation as a "low point" for herself shows how "tone deaf" she is. "Vulnerable children have been irreparably traumatized, wrenched away from their moms and dads, placed in cages under nightmarish conditions … and it was hard for Ivanka?" Reyes asked.

This tone deafness was amplified in two Twitters posts - one in May, when Trump posted a picture of herself and her son, and in June when Trump thanked her father for issuing an executive order ending family separation.

The problem with this, Reyes opined, is that Trump thanked the president for ending a policy he unilaterally started.

In her Axios interview, Trump said: "We have to be very careful about incentivizing behavior that puts children at risk of being trafficked, at risk of entering this country with coyotes, or making an incredibly dangerous journey alone."

Reyes points out that these comments veer "awfully close to blaming migrant parents for family separation." He added that the "boogeyman" is not asylum-seeking immigrants and their children, but rather "a president who has no compassion for Central Americans fleeing for their lives."

Reyes then blasted Trump for not using her "unique position of influence" within her father's inner orbit to match her words.

"These are not easy issues," Ivanka Trump said. "These are incredibly difficult issues and like the rest of the country, I experienced them in a very emotional way."

Trump's lack of action, Reyes wrote, contradicts Trump's decision to "present herself as a child advocate and champion of working women." Reyes's view is that Trump either does not or cannot influence her father despite her words of opposition to the pointless destruction of immigrant families.

Reyes concludes: "The smartest thing that Ivanka Trump could say about immigration policy is nothing," adding that Trump's "comments only illustrate the hollowness of her presence in the White House — just as the family separations crisis reveals her as a profile in cowardice."

More from People/donald-trump

Screenshot of Stephen Colbert
CBS

Stephen Colbert Makes Somber Plea To Americans In Wake Of Charlie Kirk's Death

Late-night host Stephen Colbert had a somber message for Americans as he addressed the assassination of far-right activist Charlie Kirk, stressing that "political violence only leads to more political violence."

Kirk died after an unidentified gunman shot him in the neck as he—ironically enough—mocked victims of gun violence at an event in Utah Valley State University. Kirk's murder has galvanized the far-right, with President Donald Trump and his surrogates claiming without evidence that rhetoric from Democrats is responsible for Kirk's death.

Keep ReadingShow less
a woman sunbathing on rocks.
a person sitting on a towel on a beach
Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

People Share The Weirdest Flexes They Heard Someone Say With A Straight Face

It is never attractive to gloat.

Even so, some people can't help but brag, or "flex" as it is sometimes known, about certain accomplishments or attributes.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @thedowntheredoc's TikTok video
@thedowntheredoc/TikTok

TikToker Hilariously Calls Out Target After Champion Pants Feature Awkwardly-Placed Front Pleat

Sometimes you can just tell when something was designed *for* women, but was not actually designed *by* women.

Take, for instance, the new pleated pants available at Target from the Champion clothing line. While there's nothing wrong with pleated pants and they certainly have a suitable spot in the workplace, the latest rendition of Champion pleated pants are, shall we say, NSFW.

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from @kaicutch's Instagram video
@kaicutch/Instagram

Woman Flips Her Car After Belting Out Ironic Britney Spears Lyric In Wild Viral Video

Whether we want to admit it or not, we've all had our fair share of carpool karaoke and maybe even imagined our car as our own personal recording studio.

But TikToker and Instagrammer Kaitlynn McCutcheon may have gotten too into her performance of Britney Spears' classic, "Hit Me Baby, One More Time," when the road and her car both said, "Bet."

Keep ReadingShow less
Screenshots from ​@lynnshazeen's TikTok video
@lynnshazeen/TikTok

Woman Goes Viral After Revealing How Her Obsession With Matcha Landed Her In The Hospital

Let's be honest: Too much of anything isn't good for us. It's all about the balance!

But the media and social media trends have taught us that certain things are really good for us, encouraging us to be like the "very mindful and very demure" girls and take care of ourselves. One such example is drinking more matcha, especially if you really like coffee or think you have a caffeine addiction.

Keep ReadingShow less