As President Donald Trump’s war against Iran causes more deaths, sets off a potential energy crisis and raises the specter of U.S. ground troops having to fight in another Middle East conflict, his influencer granddaughter Kai Trump is facing calls to be asked to fight in Iran after she posted an “out-of-touch” YouTube video of herself, gushing about a $21 smoothie she bought on a trip to Erewhon, the famed luxury Los Angeles grocery store.
What made Kai Trump’s video even more outrageous to many is that she appeared to be accompanied on her shopping trip by at least one member of her Secret Service entourage, who provided commentary. The video, shared with her 1.4 million subscribers, was indeed titled, “I Brought My Secret Service to Erewhon,” and a male companion named Matt laughed along as the granddaughter of a billionaire president tried to sound relatable by complaining how expensive everything was — including a $60 water bottle and a $44 jar of collagen.
“Collagen,” Matt said. “Wait, does that mean it’s good for you? Like your skin?”
Later, Kai Trump, whose father, Donald Trump Jr., has a net worth of around $500 million, claimed she doesn’t like to spend money. Carrying around a grocery basket with some $200 worth of items, the college golfer declared, “Like, I’m like I’m about to go, like, bankrupt with this stuff. I’m going to need to file for bankruptcy.”
Such comments didn’t sit well with thousands of viewers, who called Kai Trump’s latest YouTube post, “probably one of the most out-of-touch video titles ever.” They fumed that plenty of people in America can barely afford groceries right now while others expressed anger that taxpayer dollars were footing the bill for her Secret Service detail.
“I love that my taxes are funding this instead of school lunches,” one person said, while another asked: “Did you know grandpa cut food stamps for tens of millions of Americans?”
There were plenty of references to the “let them eat cake” quote that’s long been attributed to Marie Antoinette. “The French decapitated their ruling class for less than this btw,” one person said.
A number of commenters also joined a growing chorus of Americans on the left who have begun clamoring for the president’s military-age children and grandchildren to be considered for military service in a war that he and Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu launched on Feb. 28.
“You should be drafted,” one person told Kai Trump. The United States has not called a military draft since the Vietnam War in the 1970s, but Trump has said he was keeping his “options on the table” for calling a draft ,amid the escalating war with Iran, People reported, citing White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Another person commenting on Kai Trump’s YouTube post said she should join her grandfather’s 19-year-old son, Barron, in being expected to enlist. “Hop in a chopper with your uncle (Barron) and go defend our freedom,” another said. “When are you going to enlist in Grandpa’s war of distraction?”
Kai Trump’s video also raises ongoing questions about how she and other members of the Trump family appear to use taxpayer-funded resources to promote their own commercial ventures. Previously, Kai Trump used locations around the White house to market her pricey new line of golf sweatshirts. More recently, her future stepmother, Palm Beach socialite Bettina Anderson, posed for an Instagram selfie in the newly redecorated Lincoln Bathroom and directed followers on her “Shop My” profile, where they could purchase the $780 designer pants she was wearing.
After filling up an Erewhon grocery bag with $233 worth of items, Kai Trump, Matt and one or two others who appeared to be in her Secret Service detail headed back to what appeared to be a luxury hotel room. There, she tried some of the food she bought, including the $21 Strawberry Glaze Skin smoothie, which apparently is known as the “Hailey Bieber smoothie.”
“Oh my god,” Kai Trump said. “This is really, really good. Matt, I’m telling you.”
“Is it that good?”
“Yeah, super good,” Kai Trump said.
But the influencer threw out a box of sushi made with fresh tuna, complaining, after one bite, that it tasted too “fishy.” It’s not known how much that box cost but other plates of sushi and sashimi from Erewhon sell for $19.99 each.
“Could you be more tone deaf?” another person asked. “Making a video about going to the most expensive grocery store while everyday goods and gas are increasing in price? Read the damn room, assuming you know how to read. You deserve all the horrible comments you get!”
Immediately following the news that six American troops had died in the war, the #SendBarron hashtag was trending on social media, and a former writer for “South Park” launched a website that asked whether Trump would be so eager to send his own children and grandchildren off to a conflict he has started.
Comedian Toby Morton’s DraftBarronTrump.com site is supposed to be satirical, according to the Daily Beast. But it echoes critical comments made by Democratic Senator Chris Murphy about Trump’s decision to join Israel in ordering air strikes on Iran as part of “Operation Epic Fury.”
During an interview on CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Murphy, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said that the president’s effort to force regime change in Iran probably won’t get the results he wants and is likely to lead to a regional war and a “quagmire” that will cost the lives of more American soldiers.
“It won’t be the billionaire kids of Donald Trump and his buddies that die,” the Connecticut Democrat said. “It’s going to be the children of middle class and poor families all across this country who are going to die for a war of choice, a war of vanity, an illegal war.”
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