Ivanka Poses With A Can Of 89-Cent Beans She's Clearly Never Eaten
Ivanka Trump posed with a can of beans and aside from being dumb, it’s actually a possible ethics violation
Ivanka Trump is receiving backlash today for posing with a can of beans. Yes, you read that right. In an apparent attempt to boost Hispanic-owned food company Goya after their CEO Robert Unanue was widely panned for saying, “We’re all truly blessed at the same time to have a leader like President Trump, who is a builder,” Ivanka committed a bit of an ethics sin. Though this will probably be totally ignored and disappear from the news by tonight, because this is 2020 and anything goes.
Doing her best “Showcase Showdown” glamour pose while holding a cheap can of beans she’s 100 percent never eaten herself, the First Daughter/Advisor To Her Dad Of Some Sort promoted Goya beans, which was a huge White House no-no as there are federal ethics rules prohibiting the use of “public office for [their] own private gain, for the endorsement of any product, service or enterprise.” She tweeted a photo of herself holding the beans saying, “If it’s Goya, it has to be good.” She included the phrase in Spanish as well.
Walter Shaub, the former director of the Office of Government Ethics said, “Under these circumstances, if you’re a top presidential adviser in the president’s inner circle, there’s a strong appearance that you’re endorsing a product in your official capacity. It would be disingenuous for anyone to argue that you weren’t making an official endorsement.”
I mean, do we even need ethics experts to tell us that a federal employee shouldn’t be helping advertise a product or service using the full clout and platform of their position? How did this erstwhile purse saleswoman decide it appropriate to blatantly promote a product sold by a guy who just took a reputation hit by standing up for her awful father? Chances are, she totally knew — and just didn’t care. Because White House counselor Kellyanne Conway did something pretty similar a few years ago and received no punishment whatsoever.
Of course, her idiot move didn’t go unnoticed in Washington. AOC tweeted in Spanish saying, “If it’s Trump, it has to be corrupt.” Now there’s a slogan I can happily get behind.
But most were just pretty stunned that Ivanka would do something this obviously ethically sketchy. Not sure how they could register any shock after witnessing the last four years, but ok.
And some pointed out that while the Trump family is worried about a food company’s brand suffering, people are actually dying because of this corrupt administration’s botching of the coronavirus pandemic response.
Which, valid.
The White House came out with a statement defending Ivanka’s The Price Is Right model audition. “Only the media and the cancel culture movement would criticize Ivanka for showing her personal support for a company that has been unfairly mocked, boycotted and ridiculed for supporting this administration — one that has consistently fought for and delivered for the Hispanic community,” White House communications aide Carolina Hurley said. “Ivanka is proud of this strong, Hispanic-owned business with deep roots in the U.S. and has every right to express her personal support.”
It’s clear where this administration’s priorities lie, and it’s definitely with brand promotion for political allies and not attempting to attack a roiling pandemic that’s already claimed 130,000+ American lives. MAGA!
