Posted on 06/19/2017 12:31:20 PM PDT by drewh
This is Malia Obama:
malia obama with long ombre hair and a red jacket with hood up Broadimage/REX/Shutterstock
She’s 18 years old, a future Harvard student, and an all-around normal teenager. Oh, and you may have heard of her dad. He was, like, the president for eight years.
And this is Ivanka Trump:
ivanka trump in orange dress with hair down AP/REX/Shutterstock
She’s 35. She designs clothes. And she also has a president for a dad.
Both of these women pop up in the news quite often, and on the surface, it seems that there’s little difference between talking about Malia and talking about Ivanka. After all, they’re both children of presidents.
But there is a huge difference between the two, and Obama should be off-limits. Full stop.
Now, you may be saying to yourself right about now: If I scrutinize one, why can’t I scrutinize the other? Isn’t it unfair to say that Obama is off-limits but Trump is fair game?
No.
And here’s why.
Trump campaigned for her father.
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From day one of Donald Trump’s campaign, Trump was by her father’s side. And I figure some may argue something along the lines of, “Of course she’s campaigning for him! He’s her father!”
But she didn’t just stand next to him, looking supportive. She took an active role in his campaign.
She gave interviews, advocated for him as a family-friendly, progressive candidate, and even introduced him at the Republican National Convention, where she famously said,
Politicians talk about wage equality, but my father has made it a practice at his company throughout his entire career.
He will fight for equal pay for equal work, and I will fight for this too, right alongside of him.
This is not mere, “vote for my father” rhetoric. This is Ivanka saying she will fight right alongside of him.
Trump is an official White House employee.
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While she has been attending official meetings in an unofficial (and, some would argue, troubling) capacity since her father’s inauguration, Trump officially became the Assistant to the President in late March.
She is a member of the Trump Administration, not a mere passerby. She needs to be held to the standards of all other White House employees.
So, while some people may say critics of Trump are nitpicking when they question things like whether or not she should wear her clothing line while working, there are different standards for employees in the highest office of the land.
Further, whether truthful or not, she positions herself as someone her father listens to. So when he makes policy decisions that affect Americans negatively, it only makes sense to criticize the person who supposedly has her father’s attention.
Obama, on the other hand, just graduated from high school last year.
Trump positions herself as a feminist and a leader.
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In her stump speech at the Republican National Convention, Trump talked about how her father taught her to value women. She also discussed maternity leave as a key component of guaranteeing equality and later, in op-eds and interviews, defended her father’s maternity leave plan, even to the point of abruptly ending interviews.
She also famously wrote a book, Women Who Work: Rewriting the Rules for Success, on being a successful woman. Jia Tolentino of the New Yorker quoted it in a scathing review:
‘We must fight for ourselves, for our rights not just as workers but also as women,’ Ivanka writes, and, elsewhere, ‘Honor yourself by exploring the kind of life you deserve.’
If she’s going to lead, she needs to lead.
Giphy Embed Giphy
And leaders must be criticized in order to be better. That is why Prachi Gupta grilling Trump on her father’s maternity leave policy for Cosmo is okay. It’s why taking her to task for the abysmal work conditions her mostly-women employees face should be a priority. It’s why interviewers should push back when she says things like D.C. can be vicious.
Obama, on the other hand, has never given an interview or positioned herself as a leader of any sort. The only interviews on record are the family interviews, where Barack and Michelle were present. Because she’s a freakin’ kid.
Ivanka is a god damn adult.
Giphy Embed Giphy
Trump is 35-years-old. She was born in 1981, the year Ronald Reagan was inaugurated into office.
While she grew up with her father constantly in the news — she even found out about her parents’ divorce by reading a tabloid — she had ample opportunity to step back from the spotlight.
But she chooses the spotlight. She chose to be on The Apprentice. She chose to campaign actively for her father. She continues to take television interviews.
Obama, on the other hand, was 10-years-old when she and her family moved to the White House. Her father’s rise to national prominence was fast, and she had little to no say in the matter.
Maybe if Obama ever decides to step out into the public eye (please, god, yes), we can talk about this. But for now: Leave Malia alone.
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....He was, like, the president for eight years....
This was written, like, the writer is in the 8th grade.
I would take the article more seriously if it at least mentioned that Barron is off-limits, and the Chelsea Clinton is not.
If Malia acts in a public manner, the “full stop” goes away.
Yesh Ivanka is an adfult...so is the Obama tart...
but while Ivanka Trump is a decent married women who lives a decent quiet life and acts and dresses like a lady should, the Obama tart is a slut who shows of her naked butt and does drugs and indent dance moves and dresses immodestly...
yeah there is a difference...
Malia’s “off-limits” but, based upon recent history, Barron is “fair game”. Our mainstream, establishment media is so corrupt and INDECENT!
Who gives a flying #### what ANY obama is doing, as long as it’s outside the wH!! :)
ms dunn has dung for brains.
too bad some of it slips out of her mouth from time to time.
That gal is homely.
That doesn’t stop you filthy hyenas from picking on Barron Trump.
Obama kids are no longer off limits now. They act like sluts and we are going to call them out like anyone else.
poor Malia got the worst attributes of both parents. Moochies awkwardness/bad attitude and Bathhouse Barry’s athletic skills
LOL.
Interesting definition of the difference between liberal “elite” and republican “elite.” Leftist elites are off limits just like the commie apparatchiks of Russia are off limits. meanwhile the bourgeoisie such as Ivanka Trump can be dehumanized so that leftist extremists in the US can take a pot shot at her with a rifle or pistol?
I’d like to stuff a large Haageocereus cactus into the nether regions of the article authoress,Lisa Dunn, just so she can feel what its like to be dehumanized.Better still, let Lisa Dunn dodge a few bullets from people like Hodgekins.
Even by the dumb lib author’s rules in the article, Chelsea Hubbell Clinton is fair game. Try mocking her and listen to them squeal.
She does seems to have lowered her profile since the folks got back into town.
Well, I. B. Fended says that it is racis’ to think otherwise.
It made me think of my old first grade reader:
This is Spot. Spot is a dog. See Spot run. Spot can run fast.
Little Malia has a face like a plywood board. And just as interesting.
Fer sure.
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