MEAWW.COM / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Ivanka Trump roasted for offer to publicly take Covid-19 vaccine like former presidents: 'Don't flatter yourself'

The presidential adviser has faced flak in the past too for hobnobbing with world leaders on platforms like G20 Summit despite not being elected or experienced

Ivanka Trump, the daughter of President Donald Trump and one of his senior advisers, is not seeing the best of days ever since his father met an electoral adversity last month. While many have found it to be a setback for Ivanka’s personal prospects, the emergence of legal challenges against the 39-year-old entrepreneur-politician have added to the speculation over her future. And now, Ivanka has faced flak for trying to equate herself with the stature of three former American presidents who have offered to publicly take the Covid-19 vaccine to prove its safety and encourage the common Americans to get the shot. 

On Thursday, December 3, CNN reported that former presidents Barack Obama, George W Bush and Bill Clinton have come forward to volunteer to get the vaccines on camera to encourage people to take them once the Food and Drug Administration grants its authorization. The first vaccines for the coronavirus, which has claimed more than 276,000 people in the US and over 1.5 million people worldwide, are expected to get emergency-use authorization in the US this month. According to officials, front-line healthcare workers and people at risk will get the first doses. 

Ivanka applauded the former presidents’ initiative on Twitter on December 3 and said: “My offer holds to do the same.” 

The first daughter, a former fashion model, soon faced a backlash. People brought back the memory of the G20 summit held in Hamburg, Germany. In that event, Ivanka was seen sitting around a table with presidents from China, Russia and Turkey besides the German chancellor and British prime minister. "This is IvankaTrump, an unelected real estate executive, sitting between British PM Theresa May and Chinese President Xi Xinping," a comment had read on social media back then. She was even found taking President Trump’s seat briefly during a few sessions at the summit as the latter went to meet leaders of some other countries, irking critics who called it nepotism and mocked her diplomatic credentials. Sources, however, said that Ivanka had not spoken on any of those occasions. 

Another video of Ivanka hobnobbing with the likes of British PM Theresa May, French President Emmanuel Macron, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde at another G20 summit (Osaka, 2019) also surfaced on social media. In it, Ivanka was seen awkwardly trying to make her voice heard even as the world leaders were discussing things among themselves. Another social media user slammed her tweeting: "Wait. What? You actually put yourself in the category of three former presidents and actually think you would have as much impact as they would? What planet do you live on!?!"

'Inauguration funds misuse' controversy snowballs

On December 3, Ivanka sat for a deposition with investigators from Washington DC attorney-general’s office as part of the lawsuit alleging misuse of funds for the inauguration, as per a court filing, CNN reported. In January this year, the DC attorney-general’s office sued the Trump Organization and Presidential Inaugural Committee accusing them of abusing more than a million by “grossly overpaying” for the use of the event space at the Trump hotel in Washington for the inauguration in 2017. 

On December 3, Ivanka tweeted an image of an email which according to her was sent in December 2016. In it, she called for a “fair market rate” to be charged and said the “‘inquiry’ is another politically motivated demonstration of vindictiveness & waste of taxpayer dollars”.