Ivanka Trump is facing criticism for a photo of herself hugging her son on Twitter.
On Sunday, the 36-year-old White House adviser posted an image forehead-to-forehead with her two-year-old son, Theodore, on the social media site. While it seemed like a harmless photo, the picture hit nerves of many who were critical of President Donald Trump administration’s recent decision to separate immigrant families.
“My ♥️! #SundayMorning,” she wrote on the social media site.
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According to Time, her father’s administration had tightened their immigration policy, leading to children being separated from their parents. Earlier this month, reports showed the county’s border agents were authorized to take children from parents who crossed the border illegally and place them in protective custody (while their parents were prosecuted).
In April, the New York Times reported more than 700 children had been taken away from adults claiming to be parents since October 2017.
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“The idea of punishing parents who are trying to save their children’s lives, and punishing children for being brought to safety by their parents by separating them, is fundamentally cruel and un-American,” Michelle Brané, director of the Migrant Rights and Justice program at advocacy group Women’s Refugee Commission told the paper.
Social media users react
On Sunday, after Trump’s tweet, standup comedian Patton Oswalt called out the fashion designer’s tweets.
“Isn’t it the just the best to snuggle your little one — knowing exactly where they are, safe in your arms? It’s the best. The BEST. Right, Ivanka? Right?”
Brooklyn Nine-Nine star Chelsea Peretti also called Trump’s photo “hurtful timing.”
“Truly hurtful timing where is your heart and #WhereAreTheChildren,” she wrote.
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Other users called her “tone deaf,” “insensitive” and said her tweet was “poor taste.”
Others, however, backed Trump’s photo, calling it beautiful, adding how it’s not the government’s (or her) fault families are being separated.
The photo also sparked the Twitterverse to use the #WhereAreTheChildren hashtag, urging the president to release information on what’s happening to children being separated from their parents.
Did she mistime her tweet?
While we don’t know the whether Trump had intentions behind the timing of the tweet, writer Arwa Mahdawi of the Guardian says it’s impossible the first daughter mistimed her tweet.
“I was struck by the fact that the tweet was largely characterised as being ‘tone-deaf.’ The general consensus seemed to be that Ivanka hadn’t considered how the photo might look amid horrific headlines about separated families. That she had been thoughtless,” she wrote. “Ivanka may be a lot of things, but thoughtless is not one of them. Ivanka is no ingenue, who has reluctantly been thrust into public life and is now struggling to keep her personal life separate from the political.”
“When Ivanka tweeted that photo on Sunday, I don’t think it was a gaffe – I think she knew exactly what she was doing. Which was playing to Trump’s specific base; reminding them that it’s white families like hers – like theirs – who are important, not the brown families who Trump is breaking up; using the image of herself as a loving mother to provide a human face to Trump’s inhumane administration,” she continued.
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And while she hasn’t said anything herself, Trump did post a tweet on Tuesday, telling users to ignore their trolls.
“Focus on what is before you, on what you can control and ignore the trolls! Have a great week!”
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