Modern Day Marie

The other day, while on Instagram, I was directed onto the Instagram feed of our president's daughter. It was horrifying. I'm not sure which was worse, the photos posted, or the responses to the photos posted. The rage, vitriol, and the incivility were astonishing. The heading of her page directly identifies her as a government employee. And, although her personal business interests are "on hold", it has been mentioned that the trust she has set up, is not entirely independent from her. And, the earnings report that she filed from the White House, notes that she is still earning substantial monies from these businesses. Formerly, her clothing and accessory lines have been notorious for using sweat shop labor in several countries. Furthering the misery of thousands of families abroad, because she self identifies as a female entrepreneur, shows a moral disconnect from her own love of family.

Her Instagram feed is full of photos of her children, of her wearing expensive evening attire, and of her meetings with foreign dignitaries. The photos are all perfectly groomed and staged. It is also full of incredibly vile comments about all of the above. People mention her silence about the zero tolerance immigration policy on all of the photos with her children. And, there are personal attacks on each and every photo. A normal person would probably stop posting these staged photos, or would take down her site. But, she's not normal. Does she read any of these comments? Does she think it's okay to merge her personal site with her government site? What is she thinking, exposing her children to this mess? Does she think that she actually represents the interests of any Americans? Of women, in general?

I immediately started thinking about Marie Antoinette. Several years ago, I visited Versailles with my two best friends. We wandered around the grounds of the palace, and rented a rowboat to explore the man made lake. It was extraordinary. Eventually, we ran into Marie's 3/4 scale peasant farm, called Le Petit Hameau. Milkmaids and cottagers were hired to wander the grounds, and to care for the little farm. Then, when Marie was stressed from life at Versailles, she could retire to the farm. She would dress up like a peasant, spend time in the gardens, and with the farm animals. Only her intimate friends were allowed to visit this pretend world, where she could act like a peasant. She had an uncanny ability to shut out her real life, and her real actions, and her real choices.

Our president's daughter seems to have this same ability to block out her own real choices and actions. Living in a pretend tableau, and ignoring the pitchfork wielding trolls/peasants, seems very sociopathic to me. Continuing to post photos that make it seem like she's got her finger on the pulse of her father's administration, yet also remaining silent about the rights of immigrant children, is just bizarre. Read the mood of the American public. Get woke. Change or be changed.

Marie's Wedding Dress

Le Petit Hameau