How many Trumps cosplaying colonial oppression does the continent of Africa need? It appears that answer is two Trumps, because Ivanka Trump plans to go on a multi-nation tour of Africa in January. Melania Trump just went last month, you see, and it is NO FAIR THAT SHE GETS TO GO AND I DON’T, DADDY, I WANT TO GO TO AFRICA NOOOOOW.
Indeed, according to a very amusing piece in the New York Times, there appears to be a tiny bit of tension between the First Daughter and the First Lady, chiefly that they probably hate each other a lot. Ivanka Trump seems to have trouble staying in her lane—though she is not actually the First Lady, she certainly seems to want to be, even though Donald Trump can no longer talk about how much he wants to fuck her without the lame-o Political Correctness police trying to kill his boner.
The big hook here is that when Melania said she was planning a trip to Africa in October, Ivanka’s staff immediately countered that she planned to go to Africa too, she just hadn’t said anything yet. Now, it’s perfectly normal for people to plan similar trips, as proven by my Instagram feed full of Portuguese beaches. But it appears to have caused some tension in an already strained relationship, which was described thusly:
By all accounts, the two women have a complicated dynamic, and they coexist with little overlap in their roles. But they have not hosted a joint initiative carried out solely between their staffs since Mrs. Trump moved full time to the White House last year after spending the first months of her husband’s administration with her son in New York. They have rarely appeared together. And they clearly see their roles differently. …
And while expanding her own presence in the White House, Ms. Trump has at times, intentionally or not, defined her stepmother’s role in more limited terms.
Friends say she has noticeably bristled when asked questions that she saw as traditionally in line with a first lady’s responsibilities — among friends, she has dismissed queries about whether she would be involved in White House preservation efforts, and has made it clear that she was in the White House to work on meaty policy issues, a move some allies say was out of deference to Melania Trump.
Complicated!
An anonymous White Houses staffer who may or may not have been Ivanka Trump told the New York Times that “[t]he first lady and Ivanka have a great relationship,” but the White House is not known for its veracity.
In fact, the Times interviewed Katherine Jellison, a professor at Ohio University, who likened Ivanka and Melania’s relationship to that of Eleanor and Sara Delano Roosevelt. From what I recall of the 800-hour Ken Burns documentary, those two made each other miserable, so I consider my point proven.
Ivanka plans to go to Africa in January, with Donald Trump’s new BFFAE Lindsey Graham. I can’t wait for the photo opps.