The 2018 Olympics were noteworthy for a lot of reasons, many of which had nothing to do with who won which gold medals in what events — although there was a little history made in that regard as well, after Ester Ledecka of the Czech Republic became the first woman in the history of the Winter Games to win gold in two different sports at the same Olympics.
In fact, a lot of the notable things that happened at this Olympics involved women, but not all of them involved sports. And not just any women, either. The sister of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un was invited to the Games by the host country, South Korea, marking the first time any North Korean dignitary has crossed the 38th Parallel into the neighboring country since the end of the Korean War, just months shy of 65 years ago.
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While Kim Yo Jong’s visit was marked by etiquette, care, and consideration — and follow-up invitations to potential summits between the longtime rivals, putting a possible pinprick in Donald Trump’s seemingly ballooning desire to drop a nuclear weapon on Pyongchang — the visit of Trump’s own daughter was rather the opposite.
The South Koreans treated Ivanka Trump well, of course. But her very presence at the Games was baffling. It was already strange enough to see Vice President Mike Pence leading the US Olympic Delegation. The fact that he was keeping the company of so many gay athletes that at one point in his career he openly advocated for electrocuting until they “became” heterosexual prompted one high-profile American skater, Adam Rippon, into a very public falling-out with Pence.
But Ivanka herself was treated somewhat like a visiting princess, which is the treatment that countries culturally similar to South Korea might reserve for, say, a First Lady. After all, Ivanka isn’t an elected official. The US athletes didn’t so much see it that way, however.
Openly gay freestyle skier Gus Kenworthy made news alongside Rippon near the beginning of the Games by posing for a selfie with the skater captioned “Eat your heart out, Pence.”
A post shared by gus kenworthy (@guskenworthy) on
But Kenworthy’s social media takedown of Ivanka to wrap up the Olympics has got to be one of the best burns we’ve seen on the Trump administration since Donnie lost the popular vote:
So proud of all these people! Everybody here has worked so hard to make it to the Olympics and have the opportunity to walk in the closing ceremony! Well… Everyone except Ivanka. Honestly, tf is she doing here?? pic.twitter.com/sfJKi0VTDb
— Gus Kenworthy (@guskenworthy) February 25, 2018
In fact, everyone was thinking that very same thing — what in the world was Ivanka doing at the Winter Olympics? Just being a celebrity? When Ivanka landed in South Korea, her father back home heralded the trip by tweeting,
My daughter, Ivanka, just arrived in South Korea. We cannot have a better, or smarter, person representing our country.”
Perhaps channeling that same sentiment that all Americans are feeling, another tweeter asked the only question that mattered to Kenworthy — or to us:
