Ivanka in the middle President Trump lost Minnesota in 2016 by only 1.5 percentage points, and said he would have won the state if he came here for “one more speech.” In 2019 and ‘20 he poured millions into his Minnesota campaign, as opposed to mere thousands four years ago. With a little more than three months until Election Day, he sends … his daughter. Ivanka Trump visited Duluth to tout her father’s “Pledge to America’s Workers” campaign on July 27. She
LOCAL NEWS RICHARD THOMAS
was hosted by one of the city’s oldest companies, Duluth Pack, founded in 1882. Her stay was relatively brief while around 50 protesters chanted outside the store in Canal Park. Duluth Pack’s involvement shocked many of its customers who saw a gobsmacking contradiction between its specialty, catering to outdoor enthusiasts, and Trump’s horrific environmental record. The company’s marketing relies on images of pristine wilderness. Its website contains an outdoor guide, “How to Prepare for Your Boundary Waters Canoe and Wilderness Camping Trip.” Trump, meanwhile, has claimed climate change is a hoax, promoted fossil fuels, withdrawn from the Paris Climate Accord, rolled back
Protesters outside Duluth Pack on July 27. Photos by Richard Thomas. support of clean energy and weakened and eliminated many environmental protections. Closer to home, in 2017 the Trump Administration renewed Twin Metals’ mining leases, which had been blocked by the Obama Administration. Twin Metals plans to build a coppernickel mine near Ely and close to the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. Even closer, Chilean billionaire Andronico Luksic, whose family controls Antofagasta, the global mining giant that just so happens to own Twin Metals, bought a Washington D.C. mansion in 2017 and rented it to Ivanka and her husband, Jared Kushner. Ivanka Trump is no stranger to pushing the margins of ethics. Along with her siblings and husband, she holds a senior position in the administration, raising nepotism concerns. She is not paid for her job, but her private business profiteering has intertwined with her government role. In 2017 the Chinese government granted her monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services. On the same day, she and Kushner dined with Chinese President Xi Jinping at Mar-a-Lago. In 2018 she shut down her line of clothing, going further than other family members in suspending her
business activities. But two weeks ago, she courted controversy by promoting Goya products, in apparent defense of the company CEO who drew criticism for praising the president. A former Democrat, she has tried to cast herself as an environmentalist. She attempted to convince her father that climate change is real, bringing Al Gore to meet with him, but her efforts did not stop the Paris accord exit. She has promoted the One Trillion Trees Act and the Great American Outdoors Act, praised teen climate activist Greta Thunberg and tweeted pictures of her and Jared hiking in the wilderness. Ivanka Trump is also co-chair of the National Council for the American Worker, an advisory body her father created in 2018. (Her own company’s products were made in India, China and other foreign countries.) The council’s Pledge to the America’s Workers asks companies to expand programs that “educate, train, and reskill” workers. Around 430 companies have signed the pledge, but the council provides no financial support for such programs. Critics view it as meaningless except for show. Duluth Pack did not respond by deadline to the Reader’s request for comment. CEO Tom Sega has declined to comment to other media about
