Ivanka Trump likes two things, she would have you believe: empowering women and quinoa. Luckily for her, she was able to combine both with a timely trip to a quinoa factory in Peru.
Trump’s visit is part of her women’s economic empowerment tour in Latin America that coincides with the Summit of the Americas conference this weekend, the Cut reports. But any goodwill that Trump has to women in South America was quickly lost during her quinoa tour, which seems to have very little to do with empowerment beyond helping the middle-class-plus women who follow her on Instagram understand how quinoa is processed.
“Buenos días!” Trump says at the Instagram story’s start, before eventually moving on to the quinoa factory. “Now… seeing firsthand the quinoa production process.”
Ivanka Trump is in a quinoa factory in Peru: pic.twitter.com/qMRzEU3yST
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) April 12, 2018
Twitter quickly wondered aloud why American taxpayer dollars are sending Ivanka Trump over to a factory to learn about quinoa.
https://twitter.com/espiers/status/984535612362579968
Why are we even spending tax payer dollars to send this useless “adviser” around the world where she will accomplish absolutely nothing?
— Prima Darling (@PrimaDarling) April 13, 2018
https://twitter.com/KMG_VA/status/984536455119765506
https://twitter.com/doodlehedz/status/984789315015331840
Ivanka Observes Quinoa https://t.co/7ZYfxvAX28 via @jezebel shes walking around like a model telling everyone shit she lives in an ivory tower supplied by daddy
— anna nuzzo (@am_nuzzo) April 13, 2018
Need more than a barf bag 🤢🤢
— Annie Frost #TheResistance ☮️ (@AnnFrost3) April 13, 2018
Ivanka Observes Quinoa. https://t.co/Awb0MFXGKm
There’s also the fact that quinoa has a dark side. Quinoa’s price started dropping back in February 2014 and reached pre-2012 levels by 2016, showing that quinoa is a food susceptible to the market’s whims, according to one report from NPR. Trump’s Instagram story doesn’t talk about that, though.
Ask her what the rise of the quinoa popularity has done to those whose main source of nutrition is from quinoa
— melissa (@melissalvla) April 12, 2018
Oh no, she’s already on the second phase. WHAT IS SHE MAKING?? pic.twitter.com/xQHFzafgpQ
— @rob-sheridan.com on BSky (@rob_sheridan) April 12, 2018
https://twitter.com/ibwrites/status/984589596104232960
The stop comes shortly after a visit to another feminist stronghold, the Lima Stock Exchange. Meanwhile, Trump is set to unveil a new White House initiative for women’s rights at the Summit of the Americas. Hopefully, there, she’ll shine a light on yet another vegan food.
