Guest column by Sarah Burden
Wednesday, Feb. 8, 2017, President Donald Trump posted a simple yet controversial tweet regarding his daughter Ivanka’s clothing line being discontinued from the popular clothing store Nordstrom.
“My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing! Terrible!” Trump tweeted — on both his personal and official POTUS accounts.
Trump’s tweet raised controversy when the @POTUS account retweeted Trump calling out Nordstrom because the @POTUS Twitter is used strictly for government matters.
“We’ve said all along we make buying decisions based on performance,” wrote Nordstrom in a statement emailed to The Associated Press. “We’ve got thousands of brands— more than 2,000 offered on the site alone. Reviewing their merit and making edits is part of the regular rhythm of our business.”
Nordstrom’s decision to drop Ivanka’s clothing line has actually driven up stock in the company by nearly 4 percent. Prior to dropping the clothing line the sales of the line were not creating much revenue for the company.
I believe the company saw an opportunity and took it. Trump is not the most liked man in America currently and his name, as well as everything he stands for, has taken quite the bashing from celebrities, government officials and most women around the world. Business is all about money. If dropping something associated with him will make the company money, why not do it?
On the other hand, Nordstrom would not want to appear completely against the president because of their customers who may share the views of Trump. There needs to be a balance when it comes to supporting and not supporting someone especially when it comes to trying to sell products. The company was likely trying to avoid any conflict that may occur while supporting the Trump family name. I think it is important for companies to stay neutral on political matters because they have such a wide range of consumers to please.
Although, Trump is not the first president to defend his family. In 1950, music critic Paul Hume wrote a negative review of performance by President Harry Truman’s daughter. Truman sent a letter on White House stationery stating: “Someday I hope to meet you. When that happens, you’ll need a new nose, a lot of beefsteak for black eyes.” Truman did not get nearly as much backlash as Trump has gotten for defending his daughter.
As for the whole situation, Trump is still acting like he is a celebrity and not a government official. I believe that Trump had every right to defend his daughter, but it was completely inappropriate of official @POTUS account to retweet the tweet. Go Trump for standing up for his family, but really our country is facing much more serious problems. A clothing line and petty drama should be the least of our president’s worries.
Tweeting is something our president should not be doing very much of. If he must tweet, he needs to tweet things relevant to our people. Trump should be promoting positivity, change and action. He should want to bring our nation together instead of separating us. Trump has taken on a role of extreme responsibility, and since being elected, he has not done much to prove he deserves to be leading the United States.