The Washington Post - Marie Claire fashion magazine is taking a stand against Donald Trump - with a plea to Ivanka
It is not often that foreign publications wade into the thicket of an American presidential election and accuse a candidate of misogyny and hate speech.
It is even rarer for a foreign fashion magazine to do so. But for its July issue, the editor-in-chief of the Mexican and Latin American edition of Marie Claire has climbed atop her glossy soap box with a cover story directed at Ivanka Trump -- and, her father, the presumptive Republican nominee.
In bold cover type, the magazine pleads: "Dear Ivanka. When will you protect us from your father?" Inside, its writers beg: Do something. Talk to him. Stop him.
The cover photograph is an artful collage that depicts her as a cross between a beauty queen and benevolent goddess with bare shoulders and glittering floral earrings. In the background, the Statue of Liberty peers over her shoulder, white stars explode against a blue sky and blush-colored peonies are in full bloom, nestled against her cheek.
The letters inside are often filled with barely contained fury.
"It has never been my goal to attack, judge or question other women. Furthermore, when talking about polemic and controversial topics, generally I would rather stay neutral, with an objective point of view, and if I can't make that happen, at least to be moderate," writes editor Daniela Von Wobeser in her opening letter to readers.
"I'd like to ask you, from the bottom of my heart, if supporting your dad's strategy is the best thing for you, as woman or the best for your country and, consequently, mine."
"Dear Ivanka, do you think your father would be the leader America deserves? Do you think the values your dad promotes are the ones you want . . . your three children" to inherit? Von Wobeser continues. "I understand no one chooses their parents, but sooner or later we have to understand that being a father does not excludes you from human degradation and, therefore, it's [up to] us, their children, to [break] from them when [they] voluntarily choose that path, or . . . be doomed to live the same destiny."
The issue includes letters from journalists, academics and artists, all of them Latin American, some of them living and working in the United States. They attempt to appeal to Trump as a mother, as a business woman, as an educated woman, as someone who, having converted to Judaism, might have particular insight into the history of religious persecution and how it festers and grows.
Fashion magazines have long addressed social and cultural concerns within their own borders and even beyond them. Von Wobeser reminds her readers that one of the founders of Marie Claire France, which was first published in 1937, was involved in petitioning the Vatican to reconsider its stance on contraception.
On the subject of national politics, fashion magazines tend to stick to writing admiringly about local candidates -- or at least neutrally. Vogue editor Anna Wintour, for instance, has made no secret of her personal support for the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton -- but the magazine has also showcased Republican women -- from Sarah Palin to Cindy McCain -- through a flattering lens.
Partisanship, after all, can lose a magazine readers. But Trump -- and outrage -- may be good for circulation.
For the first time, this edition of Marie Claire has jumped into U.S. politics.
The magazine makes no bones that it views Melania Trump as a "trophy" wife who serves at the whims of her husband. Thus, she is in no position to challenge him or his beliefs.