Instagram has become a politically fraught place for Ivanka Trump, who manages her own social media feeds, according to people familiar with her habits. | Olivier Douliery-Pool/Getty Images White House Even Ivanka's liberal New York haters like her on Instagram The first daughter still enjoys a regular stream of little red hearts from prominent Democrats and anti-Trump activists on social media.

During the 2016 election, YouTube sensation Casey Neistat posted a rare endorsement video, encouraging his legions of followers to support Hillary Clinton.

“This has to do with morals and principles,” he said.


His moral opposition to Trump, however, hasn’t stopped Neistat from being a fan of Ivanka Trump’s – online, at least.

Neistat is a frequent “liker” of the First Daughter’s posts on Instagram, doling out little red hearts of endorsement to everything from pictures of her son Theodore’s second birthday to a photo of Ivanka Trump working with Kim Kardashian on criminal justice reform – and even a post in which she wished Donald Trump a happy birthday.

Ivanka Trump has been widely criticized by progressives for positioning herself as a moderating force in the White House with little to show for her efforts. But despite a pervasive sense that she has burned her bridges to New York society by joining her father’s administration as a senior official, Instagram offers some evidence that she might be able to go home again.

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“I am a vocal opponent of the Trump administration,” Neistat said in an email. “Ivanka and I knew one another prior to her father’s entry into politics.”

Ivanka Trump’s other “likers” include billionaire hedge fund manager Marc Lasry, a major Democratic donor and a close friend of Bill and Hillary Clinton. Lasry opposes Trump and remains influential in Democratic politics. Yet on Instagram, he has liked some of Ivanka Trump’s posts, including a photo of the First Daughter at a town hall in Bucks County, Pa.

“Ivanka and Jared are old friends and I like seeing pictures of her and her kids,” Lasry said.

“It has nothing to do with politics, but with being friends with someone for a long time.”

Even so, those “likes” from Democrats have become a point of fascination among those in her old Manhattan social set. “There is a cocktail party game where everyone opens Ivanka’s pictures to see who in their contact list liked a photo,” said one major New York socialite. “It’s always a surprise.”

One surprise: Ali Webb, the founder of blowout chain DryBar, who has posted online that she feels “helpless and distraught” over the Trump administration’s child separation policies. But Webb has also liked multiple personal photos on Ivanka Trump’s feed, including a “happy birthday” post dedicated to Jared Kushner and a picture of Ivanka Trump dressed in black tie with her daughter crawling in the folds of her skirt.

It might be a stretch to say that admiring a photo online counts as a blanket endorsement of a person, or of the policies that the administration they work for supports. A “like” can be interpreted as a quiet little wink of recognition that could represent nothing more than admiration for the composition of a photo, or just a way to acknowledge that you’re up to date on the day-to-day of a friend you don’t see very often.

But Instagram has become a politically fraught place for the First Daughter, who manages her own social media feeds, according to people familiar with her habits.

Ivanka Trump’s photographs consistently rack up ugly comments about her father and her role in his administration, mixed with messages of support to tune out “all the haters.” Since entering the White House, she has also modulated what she posts there, in recent months tending toward more official photos of her work at the White House, and fewer intimate shots of her life at home with her kids.

A “Dear Ivanka” letter has recently been circulating online targeted at people whom Ivanka Trump follows, with the goal of getting them to post it so she’ll see it in her feeds. The letter demands that she call for the resignation of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen after the family separation crisis at the border.

A White House spokesman did not respond to a request for comment on whether Ivanka Trump had seen the letter designed to grab her attention.

But even as Democrats and figures in the art and fashion worlds push her to join what is quickly becoming known as “The Resistance” inside her father’s administration after an official anonymously published a sharply critical New York Times op-ed last week, others are offering her casual public support.

The socialite and fashion blogger Colby Mugrabi is another frequent “liker” of Ivanka Trump’s photos who has been noticed double tapping by people in her social set, as is the designer Stefano Gabbana, of Dolce & Gabbana fame, who often leaves a row of hearts under Ivanka Trump’s photographs.

David Geffen, known as one of Hollywood’s biggest Democratic donors, “liked” a photo of the Kushner family gathered at Blair House during inauguration weekend in 2017.

Television producer Desiree Gruber, who is married to the actor Kyle MacLachlan, who co-hosted a fundraiser for Clinton in 2016, is a frequent supportive commenter on Ivanka Trump’s feed.

Rachel Haot, an entrepreneur who has worked in senior positions in the New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration and worked for former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg – two vocal Trump critics – “liked” a photo of Ivanka Trump throwing a football that she posted online on May 31. She declined to comment on what a like was meant to express.

Some celebrities are more cautious about what a “like” online could mean for their public profiles. Notably absent from the thousands of likes and comments that Ivanka Trump’s pictures collect: any nod of approval from her future sister-in-law, the model Karlie Kloss, who last year attended the Women’s March in Washington with her now-fiancé, Joshua Kushner.

“At the end of the day, I’ve had to make decisions based on my own moral compass — forget what the public says, forget social media,” Kloss told Vogue in the latest issue of Vogue. “I’ve chosen to be with the man I love despite the complications."

For Ivanka Trump, who has been stung by how the coverage she receives has changed from her private sector to public sector life and the vitriol she has received from once-friendly social circles, “likes” appear to be noticed and appreciated.

One fan account, IvankaVogue, which posts flattering pictures of the First Daughter that are often “liked” by the First Daughter herself, includes in its bio: “Followed and noticed by Ivanka Trump.”

