Ivanka Trump thanked her daddy this afternoon for reversing his policy of tearing innocent children away from their parents at the border — but rather than simply telling him, she sent her thanks as a tweet in an act of virtue signaling that left a bitter taste in the mouths of many who know that the president was the source of the despicable policy in the first place, despite his many attempts to pin the blame on the Democrats.
Thank you @POTUS for taking critical action ending family separation at our border. Congress must now act + find a lasting solution that is consistent with our shared values;the same values that so many come here seeking as they endeavor to create a better life for their families
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) June 20, 2018
CNN contributor and Republican strategist Ana Navarro saw Ivanka’s tweet and replied with a scathing indictment of the first daughter’s audacity in brown-nosing her own father for trying to cover his tracks.
“Thank you”? For what? Your daddy single-handedly created a policy which caused endless suffering and grief to thousands of children. He lied about it. He reversed it only due to mass national outrage.
Samantha Bee should have full-stopped at “feckless”. Hard to argue with that. https://t.co/EZwc4bYiiU— Ana Navarro (@ananavarro) June 20, 2018
While Navarro avoided using the “C” word that got Samantha Bee into so much trouble from people who feel that vulgar language is a worse offense than destroying our democracy, her full-throated support of the description of Ivanka Trump as “feckless” — defined as “lacking initiative or strength of character; irresponsible” — is difficult to argue with, particularly after Ivanka’s reference to “shared values” that no one in the Trump administration seems to actually share with the majority of America.
Navarro, as a never-Trump, old-school Republican, accurately places the responsibility for the human rights abuses that have taken place at the border directly where it belongs: in the tiny hands of the president with an enormous ego and an infinitesimal justification for the self-regard.
Daddy Trump’s last-minute reversal of his own policy after it became apparent that the pictures and audio of crying children locked in chain-link holding cages was severely damaging the public image — and the electoral chances — of both himself and the entire Republican party, is hardly worthy of a “thank you,” especially since it was done without an ounce of contrition or acceptance of responsibility from the president.
Navarro was right to call out Ivanka Trump on her insincerity and political opportunism. The first daughter deserves every epithet thrown her way.
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