Ivanka Trump was savaged on social media Saturday night after Tweeting out a photo of herself and her husband, White House strategist Jared Kushner, dressed in formal wear for Washington’s annual Alfalfa Club dinner.
The event, which is held every year on the last Saturday in January, is a traditional gathering for high-powered DC insiders, big money political donors, top legislators, and the heads of most corporate and military organizations inside the Beltway sphere of influence.
Bill Gates, Warren Buffet, Michael Bloomberg, Chief Justice John Roberts, former Secretary of State John Kerry, and Amazon’s Jeff Bezos were all expected to attend. But President Trump declined his invitation. He is the first President to do so in his inaugural year since Bill Clinton.
Instead, Trump sent Ivanka and Kushner, Vice President Pence, chief of staff Reince Priebus and adviser Kellyanne Conway.
For the occasion, Ivanka Trump donned a nearly-$5,000 silver Carolina Herrera gown — and was subsequently torn apart apart for showing off her finery while immigrants were trapped at US airports, and thousands protested the “humanitarian chaos” of her father’s executive order.
Twitter users compared the First Daughter to Marie Antoinette, accused Ivanka of distracting the American public with “something shiny,” and peppered her with claims that she was dancing the night away as “Syrian children die.”
One Twitter user, an “empathy training coach” from New York, even called Ivanka a “white supremacist.”
Several even Tweeted personal stories and photos of refugees at the couple.
Ivanka Trump has not pulled the picture, nor made any further comment.