Big Apple bites back: Ivanka and Jared will struggle to return to their old life
It looks like Ivanka Trump and husband Jared Kushner will struggle to fit back into their old life. Photo: Instagram
Walking into a room and realising people were gossiping about you behind your back is a dreadful feeling.
But it’s one that Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner are going to have to get used to if they return to New York.
The Trump family’s relationship with the Big Apple has increasingly soured during their four years in the White House.
Outgoing US President Donald Trump has regularly locked horns with New York officials, claimed the city has “gone to hell” and recently threatened to withhold a coronavirus vaccine from the state after Governor Andrew Cuomo said he wanted experts to double check the vaccine was safe.
New York has gone to hell. Vote Trump!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 12, 2020
“As soon as April, the vaccine will be available to the entire general population, with the exception of places like New York state, where for political reasons the governor decided to say – and I don’t think it’s good politically, I think it’s very bad from a health standpoint – but he wants to take his time on the vaccine,” Mr Trump said on Friday.
The administration’s disdain for New York is mutual.
When Joe Biden won the election, crowds of New Yorkers flocked to the streets, dancing and cheering in celebration.
Before the election, an anti-Trump Republican group even went so far as installing billboards critical of Ms Trump and Mr Kushner in Times Square.
On the billboards, Mr Kushner is pictured saying: “New Yorkers are going to suffer – and that’s their problem”, while Ms Trump is pictured smiling next to the words: “33,366+ New Yorkers, 221,247+ Americans”.
The billboards have since been removed and shipped to Mr Trump’s private club in Florida, Mar-a-Lago.
Tweet from @RonSteslow
But now that their jobs in Washington are over, it’s time for the power couple to come home.
Before entering the White House, they used to be major New York socialites.
The pair have attended the Met Gala, the Vanity Fair party for the Tribeca Film Festival and dozens of glamorous fashion events and award nights.
To fit back into their old life, the Kushners will need to do some serious rebranding.
“They’ll be welcomed back by people who know the Trumps are as close as they’ll get to power,” one former friend told Vanity Fair.
“But everyone with self-respect, a career, morals, respect for democracy, or who doesn’t want their friends to shame them both in private and public will steer clear.”
Another former acquaintance added: “They will probably be welcomed by real estate types and that group of Upper East Side and Palm Beach families that read about themselves in Quest magazine but don’t matter.”
“There will always be private dinner parties for them to attend, but they will be the entertainment,” they said.
“Ivanka is no Princess Margaret and Jared is not the Duke of Windsor regaling guests with amusing bons mots to a captive audience. No one wants to hear about Sarah Huckabee’s pies or Steve Bannon’s shirts.”
The couple will need to decide where to send their three children to school.
Whether they move back to New York, or decide to go to New Jersey or Florida instead, gossip among the parents will be rife.
Rumours have also been speculating around Ms Trump’s next career move.
Will she continue to ride the MAGA wave and remain in politics, or will she keep a low profile?
Entertainment site TMZ was reporting on the weekend that celebrity agents have already suggested that after her dad leaves office, Ms Trump could be paid up to $US125,000 ($A172,000) just to show up to events.
On the New York social scene since childhood, the outgoing President’s daughter has been learning for years how to woo a crowd.
But during the 2020 campaign she proved to be much less sensational than her father.
Ms Trump headlined 38 events in multiple US states and hosted nine fundraisers, raising more than $35 million for the Trump campaign.
Rather than working the crowd with chants and dancing like her father, she often spoke about job growth, economic stability and business.
So who knows?
If New York doesn’t welcome her back, maybe Ms Trump will try to get back to the White House.
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