CommentsGUEST WORDS--In a stunningly brazen pivot, the White House has admitted to giving up on the pandemic, even as a "grossly negligent" Pence continues campaigning despite five aides testing positive and Trump gallivants across the country leaving COVID outbreaks in his wake, stopping only long enough to insanely charge doctors are inflating COVID numbers to make more money.
With Trump's monstrousness on full display, it seems fitting the Lincoln Project has taken to highlighting the fact his evil spawn Nepotism Barbie and her slimy slumlord husband also don't give a shit about you.
Thus do the vapid couple from hell known as Jivanka newly tower over Times Square, "the crossroads of the world," on two massive billboards so "people are continuously reminded of the cruelty (and) staggering lack of empathy the Trumps and the Kushners have displayed towards the American people.”
Each gets their own moment of hubris: A smiling Ivanka does her Goya Beans shtick while presenting the COVID body count of 33,366 New Yorkers and 221,247 Americans - which has now become 225,000 - as a smarmy Jared declares "(New Yorkers) are going to suffer and that's their problem" above a line of body bags.
Because they like to pretend they are public servants and not voracious grifters, Jivanka and their sleazy lawyer - a colleague describes the firm as "shitty people defending shitty people" - are furious about the "outrageous and shameful libel." “I am writing concerning the false, malicious and defamatory ads," wrote Marc Kasowitz. “Of course, Mr. Kushner never made any such statement (and) Ms. Trump never made any such gesture. If these billboard ads are not immediately removed, we will sue you for what will doubtless be enormous compensatory and punitive damages.”
Alas, notes George Conway, "Truth is an absolute defense." Jared did say that - per Vanity Fair, railing against Cuomo, he said "his people," meaning New Yorkers; Ivanka did make that pose, mid-pandemic, while hawking beans; and the Lincoln Project found their "indignant outrage" at what was real indifference "comical."
"While we truly enjoy living rent-free in their heads, their empty threats will not be taken any more seriously than we take Ivanka and Jared," they wrote. “Jared and Ivanka have always been entitled, out-of-touch bullies who have never given the slightest indication they have any regard for the American people. We plan on showing them the same level of respect.
The billboards will stay up." Multiple lawyers dismissed the threat as "the usual Trump family bluster” because the ads are accurate and Jivanka are public figures; as the Project deliciously noted, giving the inept Jivanka high-level positions has been disastrous for Americans - "Nepotism kills" - and "now it is also devastating to the prospects of your would-be lawsuit.”
Still, the threat to sue plus the "savage" response got people's attention, and they were loving it. "We're here for this," wrote an admirer. "They wanted to play at government - have at 'em."
It's unclear if Ivanka notices the fury aimed their way, given her other-wordly tone-deafness and how busy she's been - praising "the great American comeback," celebrating her anniversary - "caging kids and ignoring pandemics together," and giddily extolling having time for "life's simple pleasures," like board games and learning to play the guitar, during a pandemic that's left millions struggling to put food on the table, take care of their kids and not get evicted.
"Wow," raged one. "Let's have this bitch tell us more about her corona hobbies." Trees, apples: She is one diseased part of a diseased whole.
The New York Times, on an eviscerating editorial roll, says they all have to go. "The modern Republican Party (no) longer serves any legitimate purpose," they write. "It needs to be crushed, and the earth salted behind it."
(Abby Zimet writes for CommonDreams.org … where this piece was first posted.) Photo above: Noam Galai via Getty
-cw
