Satirical image of Ivanka Trump and Vladimir Putin
Donald Trump went to the G20 international economic forum in Osaka, Japan last week, and took his daughter Ivanka along. The result was an absolute train wreck, wherein Ivanka repeatedly embarrassed herself and the United States of America, by photobombing and intruding into numerous meetings, conversations and photo ops. One especially cringeworthy moment was caught on video, as Ivanka tried to interrupt a serious conversation between leaders of France, Canada, England and the International Monetary Fund, and their reactions were priceless. Here’s the video, which was posted by the French government:
However, out of this Ivanka train wreck came one of the funniest and most devastating internet memes to come along in quite some time. Check out #unwantedIvanka hasthtag on Twitter and elsewhere, and you’ll see Ivanka Trump, like Woody Allen‘s movie character Zelig, inserting herself into all kinds of famous historical scenes. A sampling of some of the best #unwantedIvanka photo creations on Twitter can be found after the jump:
This wins. #unwantedivanka pic.twitter.com/ksqdpKcTai
— Scott Dworkin (@funder) July 1, 2019
My heart belongs to Da-ddy#UnwantedIvanka pic.twitter.com/qQkfGqe5qe
— Ponytail Guy 🐕🇩🇰 (@afkiff) July 1, 2019
https://twitter.com/manningbrad/status/1145571001398439937
https://twitter.com/MollyJongFast/status/1145698240622473216
https://twitter.com/shiruken/status/1145460684555247617
Of course, this kind of ridicule of people in power (Ivanka Trump is an official advisor to Donald Trump) is an age-old tradition. Part of the reason why this tradition endures is because it works: the thing that would-be dictators like Donald Trump appear to hate most is ridicule, and this time, the ridicule is well deserved. Moreover, the wannabe dictator label accurately applies to Trump here, as one thing dictators like to do is install their children in power. In that regard, one particular tweet about Ivanka was quite telling, as it reminded readers of an August 2017 article in the British national daily newspaper The Independent entitled: “Indian diplomat likens Ivanka Trump to ‘half-wit Saudi Prince'” ahead of summit where she will lead delegation”:
Reminds me of the time a top official at India's ministry of external affairs told me…
"We regard Ivanka Trump the way we do half-wit Saudi princes. It's in our national interest to flatter them.”
I don't think they'll have changed their opinion very much. https://t.co/Y1v9hdM7od
— Bobby Ghosh (@ghoshworld) June 29, 2019
Photo by Matt Brown, used under Creative Commons license. https://is.gd/778JxW
