Oops! Ivanka is in trouble after thousands protest her husband’s latest grift
Well that backfired!
Mark
In the past few days, thousands have taken to the streets of Albania to protest Ivanka Tr*mp and Jared Kushner’s proposed plans for a luxury mistake on the country’s coastline. For the couple—who have tried to keep things suspiciously low profile during Daddy Tr*mp’s second term—it’s a huge PR disaster that shows no signs of letting up. But how did we get here?
Let’s rewind. Back in 2024, Albania’s Prime Minister Edi Rama sold an entire island to Kushner’s firm Affinity Partners. Sazan, the island in question, faces the Albanian coast, and is now being developed by Kushner as a—you guessed it!—luxury resort site that no one asked for or wanted. So far, so normal. Kushner has real estate development plans all over the place, and much like his father-in-law, he’s looking to cash in on land developments in war-torn countries. But because Kushner didn’t just purchase Sazan but a piece of the nearby coast harboring wetlands and wildlife, Albanian citizens are now crying havoc.
The Kushners don’t look too good in the aftermath, but neither does Rama, whose sale of the island isn’t being taken lightly by his fellow Albanians. The PM stepped in it even further this week, after trying to undercut protestors by saying that: “The challenge is not to pour concrete over the heads of flamingos. The challenge is to prove that development and nature can not only coexist, but that nature and development need each other.”
How about we take this to the next level?
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Well…nice try but that sounds like a lot of BS. Sure, nature and development can coexist, but when we’re talking about protected species living in their natural habitat, you don’t necessarily need to pour concrete on them to have a deleterious effect on their ability to live and thrive.
That’s not stopping Ivanka from talking about how amazing the investment is on podcasts, and how she can’t wait to build luxury apartments there. She’s definitely following in her father’s footsteps: one thing about the Tr*mp family is that they love to pave paradise and put up a parking lot, sea turtles be damned!
But what Ivanka didn’t count on was being specifically called out in massive protests breaking out across the country. Oops!
Ivanka is learning that no matter how much she tries to stay out of her father’s business, his legacy will follow her everywhere. To that effect, Kushner’s real estate coup is being seen for exactly what it is: another Tr*mpesque bid for empire in a country that would prefer to be left alone.
How are the Kushners meeting this resistance? By fencing off Sazan Island so that locals can’t even visit anymore, naturally.
“They’re trying to Christopher Columbus Sazan Island,” explains reporter Bekah Day, referring to the classic white person practice of coopting pre-existing land and claiming discovery rights. But this time, it’s not working. Even though Rama has threatened that the protests won’t stop the deal from moving forward, even he can’t deny that the optics are not great.
Neither are the prospects. Since Sazan Island was used as a military base during World War II, it’s also home to hundreds of undetonated mines that could blow at any moment. Definitely the perfect place for a fun summer getaway!
The Kushners could spend the millions required to safely deconstruct the minefield, but it’s looking like a pretty fraught proposition at this point. The Tr*mps aren’t known for doing due diligence on literally anything, so there’s a very high chance of this whole thing going belly-up…literally.
We’ll see how far they get with this doomed venture. Whatever happens, it’s eventually going to make for one hell of a White Lotus season.
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