Less than three months ago, American Media Inc.—publishers of the nation’s OG fake news rag known as the National Enquirer—announced they were buying competing tabloid US Weekly.
The significance of the sale—reportedly for an estimated $100 million—centers around AMI’s Chairman and CEO David J. Pecker. The longtime publisher of the National Enquirer, Radar, and other fine grocery store checkout line distractions also happens to be a very close friend of Donald Trump.
And Pecker did the Trumps a real solid in this week’s issue of his newest acquisition.
The cover of this week’s US Weekly features a photo of Ivanka Trump above the headline “Why I Disagree With My Dad.” If you were hoping for an article detailing Ivanka’s forceful rebuke of the last seven months of bigotry, incompetence and embarrassment emanating from the White House, well, you’re out of luck. Instead, you learn of Ivanka’s “disappointment” at some of her father’s decisions, like pulling the United States out of the most important international compact on global warming.
The “article”—which is excerpted on their website—instead serves as a puff piece meant to repair Ivanka’s severely damaged brand. US Weekly’s audience tends to be younger and wealthier than the average National Enquirer reader, making them more likely to splurge for a pair of overprinced, made in China, Ivanka-branded apparel.
But many of her potential customers are uncomfortable with her close ties to her father’s toxic administration, and a well-placed cover story wherein she can give the illusion of separation—without actually taking any meaningful steps towards distancing herself from the White House—can go a long way.
So US Weekly tells its readers of Ivanka’s role as a mother, and of her business acumen as an executive at the Trump Organization. We are told Ivanka will always “fight for what she believes in,” and express her strongly-held opinions “with total candor.” The whole endeavor reads a lot like a statement put out by a fancy public relations firm hired by Ivanka Trump.
As Republican voters coalesced around Donald Trump in the 2016 election, so too did the sensationalist front pages of the Enquirer, which simultaneously sought to legitimize Trump’s non-existent credentials (“TRUMP’S PLAN FOR WORLD PEACE!”) and undermine Hillary Clinton’s (“HILLARY: SIX MONTHS TO LIVE!”). And while most fourth graders know better than to rely on supermarket tabloids for the news, Donald Trump would routinely cite the Enquirer on national television as if it were the New York Times; like the time he parroted an article that suggested the father of Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) might have been a co-conspirator in the assassination of President John F. Kennedy.