Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Invited Ivanka Trump to a Broadway Show About Welcoming Foreigners
Sometimes the smallest gestures make the loudest sound. On the same night her father's second attempt at atravel ban was put on iceby a federal judge, First Daughter Ivanka Trump attended a Broadway musical at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theater about tolerance of people from other lands, Come From Away , with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
According to The New York Times , Trudeau — who has made it a policy to open Canada's borders to refugees — invited Ivanka, a close adviser to her father Pres. Trump, to the play on Wednesday night (March 15), where she sat between him and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.
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The irony of the timing was rich. The musical written by a Canadian couple best known for My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding looks at the attempt by the locals in a town on Newfoundland to find common ground with 6,700 travelers whose planes have been diverted there after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. A recent review by the Times noted: "[But] we are now in a moment in which millions of immigrants are homeless and denied entry to increasingly xenophobic nations, including the United States. A tale of an insular populace that doesn't think twice before opening its arms to an international throng of strangers automatically acquires a near-utopian nimbus."
The paper reported that in his brief remarks before the show began, Trudeau didn't discuss government policy, but instead praised the play's storyline about the generosity of strangers in a time of pitched crisis. "The world gets to see what it is to lean on each other and be there for each other through the darkest times," he said, according to the Times , adding that Trudeau was attending the show for the first time and saw it as an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of close relations between his country and the U.S. "There is no relationship quite like the friendship between Canada and the United States," he said. "This story, this amazing show, is very much about that, and it's about friendship as well."
Trudeau reportedly received a long, enthusiastic ovation as he led a delegation of 600 people — which included more than 125 United Nations ambassadors — among them many proud Canadians "bearing flags or wearing clothing decorated with the maple leaf." The show touches on a number of hot-button topics that a super-relevant right now, including: "the shame that Muslim air travelers feel at being singled out for scrutiny; cheers the welcome given a gay couple in Newfoundland; and features a black passenger worried about being mistaken for a thief and being shot."
At press time it did not appear that Ivanka Trump had commented on her night at the theater.
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