Ivanka Trump revealed during an interview that she has been using her extra time during the pandemic to learn how to strum a guitar and to play board games with her kids, the divulgement of which has earned her the ire of maan a social media user.
As a video posted to Twitter — which can be viewed here — showed, the eldest Trump daughter weighed in on the way life has changed for her during the pandemic. She said that she and her family have decided to seek out the simple pleasures in life again, including playing board games.
She also said that she is teaching herself how to play guitar since her husband, Jared Kushner, was working late at night.
Many Twitter users felt that her comments were insensitive, given how many people across the country are struggling to make ends meet and take care of their children as a result of having been laid off and daycare and schools having been closed.
“She is so fortunate not to have to worry about paying bills, or finding medical care for her family, or worrying whether it’s safe to ride public transportation to that job that she needs to keep her family afloat. This is so tone deaf,” wrote journalist Elizabeth Vargas.
“Their tone deaf wealthy privilege make me want to vomit. The nation is facing the biggest eviction crisis ever, and this bsh is talking about learning to play the guitar and playing scrabble,” added David Edward Perry.
“So great for you. The rest of us have been taking care of our kids at home while we work and helping food banks distribute food,” wrote another social media user.
Others took issue with the fact that Trump is a senior White House adviser. Critics felt that she shouldn’t have so much free time on her hands if she was working hard serving the country during the national crisis.
I’ve never heard of a senior White House adviser having so much free time that they take up a new hobby. https://t.co/y0v0PjdajQ
— Helen Kennedy (@HelenKennedy) October 19, 2020
Not everyone agreed. Some supported Trump’s decision to take up a hobby as a form of stress relief.
This is such a bad take. First of all, she's a mother. I hope she's playing board games with her kids. Second, every person alive should have a hobby. People with stressful jobs should have two.
Focus should remain on how she's leveraged her connections for personal gain.
— Evan Dawson (@evandawson) October 20, 2020
Earlier this year, Trump said that she was re-reading the Odyssey and learning the guitar, much like other Americans across the country, as The Daily Mail reported. Additionally, she said that she took a free course on Coursera on Greek and Roman mythology.
It’s not the first time that Trump has faced criticism for her social media comments. In June, she honored Juneteeth in a tweet that was met with backlash from critics who called the Trump administration racist and xenophobic, as The Inquisitr previously reported.