Following a bitter presidential election and overwhelming concerns about the future of reproductive rights, I’ve found tools like meditation and yoga to be incredibly helpful to deal with a surplus of aggression. While there hasn’t been much about this administration that hasn’t irked feminists and gender equity advocates, I’ve been able to channel my anxiety to reflect on what I genuinely think the two groups can learn from each other.
Blood is thicker than water. Every mother wants their families to be valued, cherished, and protected ― by both themselves and their partners. Unfortunately, it’s usually the mothers who shoulder the majority of the responsibility (although they often pay a price at the expense of their careers: 2 in 5 working mothers worked less hours to care for a child). Most importantly, he has demonstrated that support of daughters should be a standard behavior by even the most misogynistic of men.
Ivanka Trump the successful, glamourous, glossy picture of female careerism and motherhood and her relationship with her father offers a valuable lens for feminists to consider when it comes to the First Family. Her particular brand of carefully cultivated feminism can certainly be construed as tone-deaf and accessible only through levels of obscene privilege. While she sells this image strategically, it’s clear she has a valuable seat at the table and has been credited with pushing her father to embrace a paid maternity leave policy. She publicly decried his horrendous comments bragging about sexual assault, and he in turn voraciously defended her on Twitter against a perceived slight from Nordstroms.
Similar to the First Lady, the roles and influence of both women are defined almost entirely in respect to their relationship with the President. With one exception: Melania Trump’s decision to remain in New York might be wrought with taxpayer-funding complications, it also represents an unprecedented moment in which a First Lady reclaimed space for herself and rejected the gender specific norms of the role.
Hypocrisy. It’s no secret that President Trump is obsessed with exacting revenge - to a level that makes Sun Tzu look soft. He offers just enough to the Republican detractors and never-Trumpers in terms of tax cuts, policy wins, and positions of power to ensure they get in line and abandon their values, only to unceremoniously dump them. The many governors, Senators, and members of Congress who for a fleeting moment seemed to adhere to their ethical values, only to be exposed as frauds at the slightest suggestion of power. Personally, I find this simultaneously entertaining and alarming that any voters continue to support these staggering hypocrites.
Family loyalty, female independence and skewering hypocrites are all positive takeaways in my book ― perhaps the few things President Trump and I have in common.