Ivanka Trump's former "best friend" has written a scathing essay about her, claiming the US President's daughter shared her father's obsession with "status, money and power".
Writing for Vanity Fair, Lysandra Ohrstrom says she first met Ivanka at an all-girls school in Manhattan. Over several years their friendship blossomed to the point where Ohrstrom says the pair became "inseparable".
"We remained that way for more than a decade, more sisters than best friends. Sure, she loved to talk about herself and was shamelessly vain, but she was also fun, loyal, and let's face it, pretty exciting."
In her essay, Ohrstrom shares several memories of her time Ivanka. She says Donald Trump would frequently hand over his credit card but would "barely acknowledge me except to ask if Ivanka was the prettiest or the most popular girl in our grade".
But after college Ohrstrom said the pair started moving "on increasingly divergent tracks". They "remained close", but in 2009, after Ohrstrom was a maid of honour at Ivanka's wedding "our friendship finally broke under the weight of our difference".
Ohrstrom criticises how, when her father became President, Ivanka "laid waste" to her image, which she describes as having been a "refined brand of celebrity". She said Ivanka had previously been able to blunt her "more Trumpian edges".
"In private, I've had countless conversations with friends who also grew up with Ivanka about how appalled we are that she didn't publicly oppose Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination, or any of her dad's especially repugnant policies."
Ohrstrom says as Ivanka "touted the achievements the Trump administration has made for the middle class while not-so-covertly pursuing a massive wealth transfer to corporate America" she was reminded of a conversation the pair allegedly had in their 20s.
"Ivanka always solicited book suggestions from me, and I had recently recommended Empire Falls, Richard Russo's 2001 Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about the life of a diner manager in a working-class community in Maine.
"'Ly, why would you tell me to read a book about f**king poor people?' I remember Ivanka saying. 'What part of you thinks I would be interested in this?'"
Ohrstrom ends by mentioning how after Joe Biden was declared the winner of the 2020 US election, a social media user said Ivanka would live out her years as an "aging, corrupt, villainous Barbie; paying the price for what you did".
Ohrstrom says she does "hope that fantasy comes true" as the "damage the Trump family has done is unforgivable, even if perpetrated by my childhood best friend".
However, she expects "Ivanka will find a soft landing in Palm Beach instead, where casual white supremacy is de rigueur and most misdeeds are forgiven if you have enough money".
"Whether Ivanka is able to rehab her stained image or not, I hope she wasn't able to drown out the applause of the city she once aspired to rule, cheering and celebrating her political downfall. I was with them, crying with relief, matched only by the regret and shame I feel for not holding my former friend to account sooner."
