Registering public outrage over the lack of public outrage from particular members of the Trump administration is probably counterproductive.
The Silence of Ivanka Trump has become a go-to on the center-left— whatever the controversy of the day, Ivanka is slammed for keeping her opinion out of the media. Melania Trump gets some of the same criticism too. Both have been knocked by critics as the controversy over family separations at the border has played out in recent days.
[Related: Melania Trump calls for ‘heart’ in family separation situation on the border]
Something about those problems at the border compelled the first lady to put out a statement through her spokeswoman on Sunday. “Mrs. Trump hates to see children separated from their families and hopes both sides of the aisle can finally come together to achieve successful immigration reform. She believes we need to be a country that follows all laws, but also a country that governs with heart,” said the statement.
For that, Kathy Griffin still called her a “feckless complicit piece of shit.” Given how rarely the first lady weighs in on policy questions — and pro-actively, at that — Griffin’s jab seems more rooted in rage and contempt than logic.
More importantly, these criticisms are always predicated on a flawed assumption that people like the first lady and first daughter say nothing where it matters — in private with their powerful family member. Ivanka all but confirmed that private lobbying of her dad was her strategy in an early interview with Gayle King, urging people “not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence,” and predicting most of the impact she would have throughout her father’s administration people “will not actually know about.”
“You asked me … about people who criticize me for not taking to social media on every single issue, and I would ask them if that would render me more effective or less effective with the people ultimately making decisions,” the White House adviser noted.
And that argument makes a lot of sense. The first lady and first daughter know well that deliberate, public splits with the president would immediately create a media narrative on White House division — ensuring it would look as though he caved to his family’s less-than-conservative instincts if President Trump were ever to change his mind in their favor. That doesn’t exactly play well with the base.
Critiques of their public silence actually reaffirm the reasons they stay silent — no matter what they do, it won’t be enough. The Kathy Griffins of the world are always going to hate them, and they’ll rage even if the first lady takes the unusual step of gently signaling her disagreement. There’s no winning, except, perhaps, in private, where they can actually make substantive appeals to the president.
Satisfying as it may be, critiquing the Silence of Ivanka and Melania is facile. And for proving them right about the level of contempt anyone close to Trump inspires, it’s probably counterproductive as well. But who cares about all that when there’s attention and retweets to be had?
