The Trump administration continues to limp along under the weight of its own staffing inadequacies, with a record senior staff turnover rate in its first year that has hardly let up as its second year has dawned. Among the recent departures from the Trump administration are White House Communications Director Hope Hicks and Trump’s top economic adviser, Gary Cohn.
Among those still on at the White House, however, are the president’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, both of whom serve as unpaid advisers to the nation’s chief executive. Kushner recently had his position and ability within the White House undercut via losing his top secret security clearance, but the couple are still on for the time being.
Among the recent activities with which the couple have occupied themselves is a trip which Ivanka took to Iowa, where she toured the Waukee Innovation and Learning Center’s APEX program with the state’s Republican Governor Kim Reynolds.
She chronicled her trip, taken to the area on Monday of this week, with a Twitter post that has drawn her a round of ridicule because of one of the photos she included.
As you can see below, Ivanka — who isn’t exactly a scientist — staged a photo with her dressed in lab attire while working with small scientific equipment.
Talking #WorkforceDevelopment and Infrastructure in Iowa today! @realDonaldTrump’s #Infrastructure initiative includes a robust plan to expand skills-focused learning to prepare the next generation of American workers for 21st century job opportunities. pic.twitter.com/10md8d5tnz
— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) March 19, 2018
Evidently, this perhaps hastily put together photo op is the depth to which she’s willing to go to make it seem as though she is competent in her present position.
While in Iowa, besides posing for the awkward photo, Ivanka also advocated for “workforce development and skills-based education,” in the description of CNN. While in the lab attire, Ivanka “helped students collect samples of “vape juice” used in e-cigarettes to test the nicotine content.”
She commented of the school she was visiting:
‘This is an unbelievable example of innovation in education and pairing the skills being taught in the classroom environment with the jobs in demand in modern economies… As we embark on the fourth industrial revolution, it’s critical that that trajectory changes and that more women and girls get involved in these important, lucrative, high-paying fields of the future.’
To the ends she was describing, the president last year directed the Department of Education to focus on education in STEM fields. Concurrent to and in stark contrast to that directive, he last year sought to slash the Education Department’s budget by over 13 percent. This year, he is seeking to slash just over 5 percent off the budget for the department.
The irony of those budget proposals and the STEM initiative coming from the same president is apparently lost on Trump.
Ivanka is hardly the only Trump family member to face a hardly unpredictable round of scrutiny when pushing a certain initiative.
First Lady Melania Trump — married to a man literally known for his cyberbullying — held a meeting at the White House this Tuesday with executives heading companies with a stake in the issue, where she made it clear that she intends to continue to proceed with her long-ago announced campaign against cyberbullying in the face of critics.
No amount of determination will erase the irony of Melania Trump choosing to take on cyberbullying, however.
Check out replies to Ivanka below, including from an actual scientist.
I may not be thin and blonde, but at least I’m doing actual science, unlike Ivanka. #ActualScientist #MedicalLab #LabTranny pic.twitter.com/zq870pm4V9
— Mari Brighe (@MariBrighe) March 20, 2018
your lab coat and your gloves are both the wrong size, your gloves aren’t tucked, your hair is loose in an environment with moving machinery and burners and you’re holding a pour off at mouth level without any kind of a face shield, nice going science genius pic.twitter.com/PV4W97ejAL
— Goth Ms. Frizzle (@spookperson) March 20, 2018
Featured Image via Carl Court/ Getty Images
