July 14, 2020

Ivanka’s Tone-Deaf Advice to Millions of Unemployed Americans: Find Something New

Voters will have their chance to do just that this November.

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The US unemployment rate, currently at 11.1 percent, is higher than at any point during the Great Recession—a grim stat that in the face of ballooning coronavirus cases and, in some states, a return to lockdown measures, is unlikely to see substantial improvement in the months ahead. To make matters worse, the $600 federal unemployment insurance weekly subsidy is set to expire at the end of the month thanks to Republicans, even as experts credit the benefit as a crucial lifeline preventing countless families from descending into poverty.

In the midst of this economic crisis facing millions of Americans, enter Ivanka Trump with advice for the unemployed: Embrace the chaos, she urges, and “Find Something New.” The initiative comes as her most recent diamond-encrusted middle finger to American families since the pandemic hit.

The campaign’s website, which boasts ties with companies like Apple, reads like a choose-your-own-adventure where options like vague certificate and intensive programs are presented but with scant detail on how to pursue such paths, much less pay for some of them. Click on Apple, for example, and you’re simply rerouted to a page offering free beginner coding courses that surely won’t be enough to even land you an interview with the company. It’s the equivalent of directing someone to Indeed.com, wishing them good luck, and congratulating yourself for helping them in a meaningful way.

That isn’t to say that “Find Something New” will fail to inspire. For a growing number of Americans, it’s a reminder that they’ll have the chance to do exactly that come November.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

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