On Tuesday, Ivanka Trump, daughter of and advisor to President Donald Trump, announced a new unemployment initiative, the Find Something New campaign. The goal of the campaign is to aid unemployed Americans in securing new jobs, many of whom lost their previous jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic. As a result, many unemployed individuals will be forced to learn an entirely new skill set to remain competitive applicants in the job market.
The campaign has faced backlash on social media, with many claiming that the name of the initiative is insensitive and superficial, especially coming from an individual who has never experienced joblessness or poverty. In a scathing tweet, HILLTV co-host Krystal Ball said that the initiative “fits perfectly with [the White House’s] belief that the real problem is people don’t want to work.” Ivanka responded to Ball from her personal Twitter account, stating that the campaign was developed to challenge the belief that “2 and 4 yr college is the only option to acquire the skills needed to secure a job.” So far, she is yet to respond to any other criticism on Twitter.
Other Twitter users have compared Ivanka’s plan to that of the last queen of France, Marie Antoinette, who is said to have told advisors to “let them eat cake!” upon discovering that her subjects were starving from a lack of bread. Former Republican political consultant and Lincoln Project co-founder Rick Wilson tweeted that “‘Find Something New’ is Javankanese for ‘Let them eat cake.'”
Previous to her announcement of the new campaign, President Trump was criticized for attending a large event at Mount Rushmore that did not require social distancing procedures or mandatory mask wearing. On the same day as the event, Ivanka tweeted in support of social distancing and mask wearing, leading some Twitter users to accuse her of gaslighting.
