Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Russian mouthpiece, go fuck yourself.

Red lights blinking on democracy’s dashboard

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

The revolution will be supervised.

Teach a man to fish, and he’ll sit in a boat all day drinking beer.

When someone says they “love freedom”, rest assured they don’t mean yours.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

Everybody saw this coming.

Good lord, these people are nuts.

It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

JFC, are there no editors left at that goddamn rag?

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

Americans barely caring about Afghanistan is so last month.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Their freedom requires your slavery.

No one could have predicted…

Let me eat cake. The rest of you could stand to lose some weight, frankly.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

Let’s delete this post and never speak of this again.

When I decide to be condescending, you won’t have to dream up a fantasy about it.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

… riddled with inexplicable and elementary errors of law and fact

Take hopelessness and turn it into resilience.

You are here: Home / Economics / Grifters Gonna Grift / Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree

Apple Doesn’t Fall Far From The Tree

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Josh Marshall has a tweet stream going talking about the Trump-Russia alliance.  As he sees it, the Manchurian-by-way-of-Queens Candidate isn’t even trying to hide his alliance with/subservience to Putin.

I’m not sure I wholly believe it, but I can’t come close to ruling it out, and that cranks the dangers of this election up to eleven. Which is why I found this story a welcome bit of comic relief:

Sargent_MadameX

@IvankaTrump

Shop Ivanka’s look from her #RNC speech: http://bit.ly/29Qj7dE #RNCinCLE

  • 271271 Retweets
  • 748748 likes

This isn’t Ivanka Trump tweeting, technically. It’s @IvankaTrump, but that’s the Twitter handle forIvankaTrump.com. If one has one’s own clothing line, it seems natural that you’d wear pieces from it; perhaps the marketing folks saw an unplanned opportunity to plug the outfit on Twitter. It’s $138 at Macy’s; apparently her father’s boycott of the chain doesn’t apply to her. The garment is described as a “sophisticated sheath dress” that “works wonders at both social and professional occasions” — and, clearly, political ones.

Oh, also? The dress is “imported,” according to its description.

So perhaps this was a just a smart move by the site’s marketing team to capitalize on the moment. Possible. Or perhaps Ivanka Trump has been doing this for the entire convention, posting a series of photos from the event at her website with personalized captions to each — and links to where you can buy all of the things she’s wearing or carrying.

So yeah, maybe the Trump campaign is Putin’s Hail Mary attempt to reverse the outcome of the Cold War.  And maybe it’s just one long grift, the true family business now being carried on by the smart child.

Of course, there’s no reason that what we’re seeing isn’t both a floor wax and a dessert topping.

Image:  John Singer Sargent, Madam X (Madame Pierre Gautreau), 1883*

*Yeah. This is one of those posts that exist at least in part so that I could post that picture. Sue me.

 

Reader Interactions

121Comments

  1. 1.

    Peale

    Were they elected, I doubt they’d stop and we’d be forever in that award situation where the president was chasing down souvenir vendors for copyright infringement. The Franklin Mint and the “Commemorative Painted Quarters” businesses would go out of business.

  2. 2.

    Mnemosyne

    I could tell that people were trying to claim this was a Michelle Obama-like move to wear mass-market clothes and still look great, but Mrs. Obama doesn’t own J. Crew or White House Black Market.

    If celebrities want to market their own clothing lines at events, there are more appropriate venues for that than the Republican National Convention.

    Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have some pearls I need to clutch.

  3. 3.

    scav

    @Peale: Wouldn’t they just be competing to win the gold-plating contract for gilding the comb-over on the Trump Series of Commemorative Quarters, Nickels and Dimes?

    ETA: Competition for BAthTtP (By appointment to his Trumpiness the President) designation could raise some mad money. (BAthTdD would be for Ivanka’s pin money.)

  4. 4.

    Betty Cracker

    I can’t believe making your family name utterly toxic to a significant chunk of the world’s population is good for a business that is essentially a licensing scheme. Personally, I hope Trump suffers such a crushing defeat that even overseas creditors won’t float him a loan and that his entire family is eventually pauperized.

  7. 7.

    Gin & Tonic

    What’s not to believe? Everything Josh cites is well-known, public information.

  9. 9.

    Eric U.

    I’m surprised to be the first to note that Madam X is wearing the same dress as Megyn Kelly wore last night. Slut

  11. 11.

    Roger Moore

    Let’s just say that there’s a massive conflict of interest that would have prevented a Democratic candidate from ever getting close to the nomination. I guess IOKIYADT.

  12. 12.

    The Ancient Randonneur

    @Betty Cracker: Have I told you lately that I love you? Well, I do. You are a force of nature and if anyone were ever going to replace the irreplacable Hunter Thompson or Molly Ivins it would be you.

  15. 15.

    Dadadadadadada

    The theory has been floated that the whole Trump campaign is just a publicity stunt that got out of hand, and is now badly backfiring. Obama himself mentioned it in his destruction of Trump at the last WHCD.
    Why wouldn’t Ivanka get in on that? Surely she knows that the brand won’t be worth anything for much longer, and it’s not like she’ll be all that employable once the Trump “Organization” goes under. Of course she’s going to grab what she can now.

  22. 22.

    slag

    Really? Why not ask this same question of the Donald? Or Mike Pence? Or Chachi? What kind of sexist bullshit is this?

  23. 23.

    debbie

    Yay, anything Sargent!

    I listened to Glenn Beck this morning. who is very frightened for the country. He made many parallels between Trump and Hitler (without naming him). I’m thinking a third party is not very far away.

  26. 26.

    Roger Moore

    @Keith G:

    I thought she did indeed own apparel from J Crew.

    She owns apparel from J Crew; she does not own J Crew. Ivanka owns both the clothing and the business that designs it, so she is advertising her own business through her choice of clothes.

  27. 27.

    WaterGirl

    @Keith G: The point was that Michelle owned dresses from those places, but she didn’t own the clothing lines.

    edit: Ah, I see the question has been answered already! I always wondered what it would be like to come in 7th, now I know.

  28. 28.

    Trollhattan

    @debbie:
    Glenn Beck, poster child for folks who should never have given up drugs. “I’m a-skeert for mah country.”

  33. 33.

    Dadadadadadada

    Well, we have Trump’s stated positions on America’s role in world security, which align suspiciously well with just what Putin would want the US to do. Then we have the fact that Trump’s most major advisor is a known agent of Putin allies in Europe.
    Then some conjecture: Trump is a big figure in real estate/construction, an industry with deep ties to organized crime. And due to his multiple bankruptcies and appalling treatment of contractors, most real banks flat-out refuse t do business with him.
    Given all that, it’s not so big a leap to surmise that Trump is under the thumb of Putin or someone close to him, and meddling in politics on his behalf.

  34. 34.

    Tim F.

    Man, I don’t know that painting but I can recognize a John Singer Sargent work at a glance. He is by far my favorite American painter.

  35. 35.

    Roger Moore

    @Trollhattan:

    Anne Gust Brown doesn’t drape Jerry in Gap and parade him around the capitol.

    She stopped working for Gap well before he was elected governor, so it’s less of an issue. I guess she didn’t dress him when he was Attorney General, either, though.

  38. 38.

    Short Bus Bully

    @debbie: What is Glen Beck’s problem with Trump? I would think he would be over the moon for Trumpisimo? And no, I cannot listen to his show on my own to answer that question. It’s a question of retaining my sanity.

  40. 40.

    Emma

    @Iowa Old Lady: For me, there’s nothing wrong about wearing it or even saying it’s from her collection. It’s the “SHOP THE IVANKA COLLECTION” bit that’s off-key.

  41. 41.

    Trollhattan

    @Roger Moore:
    Right, but she certainly has a shitton of stock so definitely a financial stake in their doing well. Not that Jerry would ever wear Gap, mind.

  42. 42.

    Steeplejack (phone)

    @WaterGirl:

    LOL. I was just getting ready to (inadvertently) pile on but decided to read down a bit farther first. Always a good idea here.

  43. 43.

    hovercraft

    @Betty Cracker:
    I don’t get it either, the Trump properties are down in reservations something like 60% already. Maybe they feel that the only way to recoup their loses is to win, then everyone will want to stay at his properties. All the men on tv last night thought she was amazing, which would be great except I don’t think women had the same reaction and that’s who she needs to buy her products. Though I’m sure for her, she feels that she can say she was just supporting her father if he loses.

  46. 46.

    Mnemosyne

    @Keith G:

    Other people already responded but, yeah, it’s as though Martha Stewart had a photo of herself cooking with Martha Stewart Living pans and the press crowed about how it shows that she’s “down to earth” for using something anyone can buy at Macy’s. If the brand has YOUR NAME on the label, it ain’t humble to wear it regardless of the retail cost.

  47. 47.

    Mike J

    Nicholas Thompson ‏@nxthompson 19 minutes ago
    Dems right now: “Trump is a raving dystopian indifferent to policy! But please don’t pick an optimistic policy wonk as VP.”

  52. 52.

    different-church-lady

    OT: opinions sought.

    If you were going to write to a US Senator and ask him to be interviewed in your documentary film, which would you go with:

    a) “I am writing to invite your participation in a documentary project about…”

    b) “I am writing to request your participation in a documentary project about…

  54. 54.

    Roger Moore

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    I confess I don’t see anything wrong with Ivanka wearing her company’s clothes in a public appearance.

    I don’t have a big problem with her wearing them, but there’s something unseemly about her aggressively marketing them based on her wearing them to campaign events.

  56. 56.

    Miss Bianca

    @Tim F.: I remember that painting as the highlight of the Sargent exhibit I saw years ago…was it Chicago or Detroit?

  60. 60.

    Emma

    @dr. luba: Most of the “celebrity” collections are designed by someone else and the name is licensed. If the celebrity is honest, he/she gets involved (famously, Antonio Banderas actually took courses in a London school of design to work on his collections, and Victoria Beckham works closely with her designers) but mostly it’s a publicity deal.

  61. 61.

    different-church-lady

    @Greg: I think so too, but in the back of my mind I keep hearing the sounds of a time-share pitch.

  65. 65.

    low-tech cyclist

    True now more than ever:

    I really don’t understand how bipartisanship is ever going to work when one of the parties is insane. Imagine trying to negotiate an agreement on dinner plans with your date, and you suggest Italian and she states her preference would be a meal of tire rims and anthrax. If you can figure out a way to split the difference there and find a meal you will both enjoy, you can probably figure out how bipartisanship is going to work the next few years.

  68. 68.

    dr. luba

    @Emma: Of course. SPeeches, too. But the shoe collection is the object of a lawsuit; she/the company is alleged to have stolen the designs. Based on the photos at this link, it looks like they have a case.

  70. 70.

    Mnemosyne

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    What other people said about the appropriateness of the venue, but the other thing I have a problem with is the press pretending that it’s somehow down-to-earth for her to wear the mass-market clothes that have her own name on the label.

  71. 71.

    David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch

    Josh Barro @jbarro

    Actually I KNOW WHY this speech seems so, so, so much more off-putting than normal.

    Usually Trump is funny. Likable, even.

    Not today.

    Retweets
    133
    Likes
    288
    8:09 PM – 21 Jul 2016

    Josh Barro ‏@jbarro

    When I read the text, I thought it would play. But since he’s shouted the whole thing, I think he’s coming off as alarming in the wrong way.

    61 retweets 180 likes

  72. 72.

    dr. luba

    I am surprised that BiP has not yet graced this thread with his words of praise for all things Putin…….

  73. 73.

    Roger Moore

    @different-church-lady:
    If you’re stuck between invite and request, it’s a matter how how excited you think they’ll be about being interviewed. “Request” says that the interview is an imposition on them and their participation is a favor to you, while “invite” says the interview is something they really want, so you’re doing them a favor by giving them the opportunity. How you pitch it depends on which one you think is accurate.

    ETA: Or “I would like to interview you for my documentary about…”

  74. 74.

    Mnemosyne

    @dr. luba:

    It’s tricky, because you can’t copyright fashion. The other guys might have a case if they tried to license the shoes to Ivanka and they made rip-off versions instead because then it’s an NDA situation. (Note: I didn’t read the link yet.)

    ETA: Aha! Yes, they’re suing for trademark (aka trade dress) infringement, not copyright. They may end up losing because the courts generally decide that fashion is ephemeral so rip-offs are okay. (IANAL, but I did have a class in entertainment law for my MFA.)

  77. 77.

    Chat Noir

    @Mnemosyne: I saw on one of the overnight threads that you were thinking of getting one of the tote bags from the Hillary Store (the white and blue one). I got it and it’s as nice as it looks in the picture.

  78. 78.

    Trollhattan

    @dr. luba:
    I like to call if the Banhammer of Peace and Quiet. Long may it reign. He’s in some coffee house, fingers twitching at the lost opportunity to call us all nazis and rubes.

  79. 79.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Mnemosyne: The press goes crazy on stuff like this. It’s movie star magazine level journalism.

    ETA: If she doesn’t wear her own stuff, I can imagine people like us saying she thinks it’s good enough for other people, but not for her.

    Should I assume the Clinton rally is delayed because of events in Germany?

  81. 81.

    Immanentize

    @Iowa Old Lady: I would say that the construction “your participation” shifts the object of the sentence from the Senator to you. But I get your point as well. Or should I say, your message was received.

  82. 82.

    Trollhattan

    @David ?▶️Hillary/Harley Quinn 2016▶️? Koch:
    I keep hearing the clip of him flatly intoning “USA USA USA…” along with the crowd and can’t help envision a “Jesus, you simpletons sure are easily amused, I though this would be tougher” thought balloon over his head. Did he end the chant by saying “Yeah, whatevs. Let’s yell at some Mexicans!”?

  83. 83.

    I'mNotSureWhoIWantToBeYet

    @different-church-lady: Naw, you gotta tell him who’s boss!

    “Hey, buster, I’ve never liked you and your bucket-headed policies, but I pay your salary so you better listen up. I want you to be at my interview … or else!”

    Or you could go with #2.

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  84. 84.

    Mnemosyne

    @Chat Noir:

    Good to know! It really is a matter of having enough space for it, because I am a bag freak. Never enough bags, never.

    I’m also tempted by a cool mug at BarackObama.com that has “Respect. Empower. Include.” on it as the community organizer’s mantra.

  85. 85.

    Chet

    When I was in grad school, I used to play hooky at the MUseum of Fine arts. I would get more and more excited the closer I got to the John Singer Sargent gallery.

  86. 86.

    Elizabelle

    @Iowa Old Lady: I have two Ivanka Trump dresses, and they are well made and flattering.

    Have owned them for a while. Shopped for the cut and color, not the name.

  89. 89.

    Mnemosyne

    @Iowa Old Lady:

    It was the Michelle Obama comparison that was getting on my nerves. First your stepmother steals her speech, and now you’re going to claim to be just like her? GTFO, child.

  90. 90.

    Trollhattan

    @Mnemosyne:
    Now that he’s NMFTG Obama I’d go apeshit for an official “Respect mah atoritah” coffee mug. And come January 1, “Screw you guys, I’m goin’ home.”

    More fun than royal wedding commemorative plates.

  91. 91.

    different-church-lady

    @Iowa Old Lady: Kinda funny — to me “request” seems more respectful — a bit obsequious even.

    Still, I think invite is better.

  94. 94.

    MattF

    I visit Madame X everytime I go to NYC. At the Metropolitan, American Wing. Two stories:

    1) This is well-known, but I’ll mention it anyhow. When the portrait was first exhibited, one of the straps on Madame’s gown was fallen off her shoulder. That created such a scandal that Sargent painted it over with the strap back on the shoulder. But you can see the repainting on the canvas, if you look closely.

    2) More obscure– part of the scandal over the portrait requires some knowledge about Victorian ladies’ underwear. It’s said that any Victorian gentleman looking at the portrait would know immediately that she wasn’t wearing any.

  96. 96.

    Immanentize

    @Iowa Old Lady: OK, I apologize. I’m an idiot — I was looking at that on the fly… So forget passive voice…

    I just wrote out the whole as a sentence (or two) and here is the question I have?

    Are you inviting the Senator? Then I would use “invite” and “you to participate”
    OR
    Are you simply seeking a “participation” in which case “request” makes more sense than “invite.”

    And good luck on the invite/request

  97. 97.

    Iowa Old Lady

    @Mnemosyne:

    It was the Michelle Obama comparison that was getting on my nerves. First your stepmother steals her speech, and now you’re going to claim to be just like her? GTFO, child.

    I missed that! You are right on that one.

  99. 99.

    Emma

    @dr. luba: Well, I think so and you think so. But at least the second pair I have seen other variations of, so there might be legal leeway.

  100. 100.

    VOR

    @Roger Moore: I have little doubt someone (reporters, the twitterverse) asked Ivanka or Trump PR what she was wearing. It makes perfect sense for her to wear clothing from her own line. I have no objection to her promoting her products on Twitter. I would object if the promotion was made in Trump campaign materials.

  101. 101.

    Emma

    @Mnemosyne: Oh my, a kindred soul. My family and friends love my bag collection — I often gift from it when I buy a new one. Some even have “requests” on them.

  102. 102.

    Mnemosyne

    @Emma:

    There is a company in the Netherlands called Basil that makes the cutest bicycle bags you’ve ever seen, but they only sell on a limited basis in the US. The wife of one of my coworkers lives in the UK, and I have seriously considered ordering one from Amazon UK, having it sent to her house, and making my coworker bring it back with him the next time he visits. But that might be crazy. ?

  108. 108.

    gogol's wife

    I’m with Garry Kasparov. There is a strong whiff of Putin all over Trump.

  110. 110.

    smintheus

    I wondered why Ivanka’s dress fit so poorly in the back; lots of unsightly bulges along the seam. Turns out it’s the usual slipshod Trump work.

  111. 111.

    Mnemosyne

    @Emma:

    Yes, but the red one would look fabulous on the back of my black bicycle.
    #FirstWorldProblems

  112. 112.

    Ridnik Chrome

    @Tim F.: If I’m not mistaken, it’s part of the permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I’ve seen it there many times…

  113. 113.

    glory b

    @dr. luba: I’m sure Ivanka didn’t design anything. There are armies of fashion designers who work for various “houses.” The principle then approves the ones that get made. The designer gets a paycheck. Then the pictures go to pattern designers who figure out how to translate the picture of the garment into an actual garment.

    Actually designing clothing is a real skill. P Diddy, Posh Spice
    and Serena Williams are some of the few famous people who actually went to school or understudied to learn how to do it.
    Many of them have ended up on Project Runway (one of my secret favs).

  115. 115.

    glory b

    @Blueskies: @Blueskies: I remember someone who worked with Martha Stewart and said her “rough” hands were due to the fact that she worked as hard as the laborers she hired, and wasn’t ever afraid of barnyard smut, carpentry, etc.

    I also remember hearing her former cellmates and prisoners spoke highly of her when she was in jail. They said they really liked her, and she made a few statements about incarceration issues before getting back to trying to rule the world.

    So, give her that much credit

  116. 116.

    glory b

    @Mnemosyne: Yep, this is why so many stores are so full of knock offs, hard to win lawsuits. Fashion magazines are full of articles about “getting the look,” they show a celebrity in outfits costing thousands and then show knockoffs at more reasonable prices.

  118. 118.

    gogol's wife

    I really, really wish I could read what Josh Marshall has to say about this, but the “tweet stream” is an unreadable mess.

  119. 119.

    Tripod

    Mrs. George Swinton is my fav.

    Putin likes to stir up shit via the nationalist right. Maybe birds of a feather, maybe it’s a calculated asymmetrical move against NATO expansionism, maybe a little of both.

  121. 121.

    Kay (not the front-pager)

    I sew. So I notice things like the fit and finish of clothes. What I noticed about Ivanka’s dress when I was looking at the GIFs of Depraved Donnie patting his daughter’s ass was how badly the dress was put together. There were pulls around the zipper inst6allation, the back darts were crooked and looked like they hadn’t been pressed in (a step as crucial to sewing as, well, sewing), the hem rippled. The front didn’t look like it fit or the princess seams were well-pressed either. The front didn’t look great, but I figured she’s a new mom. But the back of that dress was a disaster. So I’m not surprised that is from her tacky line that is made by underpaid third-world children and has the price jacked up to cover fees for her licensed name.

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