Instagram’s Glitzy ‘Dear Ivanka’ Pleads: Save Us From Donald Trump

Image by Instagram
The messages are written in the voice of a close friend, appealing for help.
“Dear Ivanka,” they all begin.
“I’m afraid of the swastikas spray painted on my park.”
“I’ve been raped and I need to have an abortion.”
“I’m an American Muslim and I was attacked on the subway.”
The instagram account @dearivanka appeared around a week ago and features glamorous pictures of Donald Trump’s Jewish daughter Ivanka, coupled with personal pleas for her to somehow influence her father before he is inaugurated president in January.
The account has more than 8,000 followers and features glamorous pictures alongside foreboding captions, reflecting the fears shared by many Americans about what a Trump presidency will bring, like the mainstreaming of white nationalism, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia. The account touches on her father’s opposition to some abortions and his high profile cabinet picks, like Jeff Sessions and the hard-right media provocateur Steve Bannon.
“Will you keep another Jew like me safe from Steve Bannon and the KKK?” asks one post.
In reporting on the account, Vogue praised the posts as “well-intentioned” but questions what, if any impact it will have. Appealing to Ivanka’s consciences might be a quirky approach, but casting her as a “secret ally” could be a misstep.
“But presuming her to be either the Trump team’s voice of reason or a secret ally within her father’s administration could be Dear Ivanka’s fatal mistake,” Vogue writes. “Ivanka has stood by her father since the day he announced his candidacy, and there’s no sign she plans to stop.”
Email Sam Kestenbaum at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter at @skestenbaum
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