Trump’s tweet against Nordstrom raises ethical concerns
US President Donald Trump has once again taken to Twitter to express how he feels, this time against Nordstrom for dropping his daughter Ivanka's accessory and clothing line. Trump has attacked the department store chain for treating his daughter “so unfairly.” Trump’s social media rant against Nordstrom has raised some ethical concerns.
US House of Representatives' minority leader Nancy Pelosi said the president’s tweet against Nordstrom was not appropriate. "I think it's inappropriate, but he's a totally inappropriate president, so it's totally in keeping with who he is," Pelosi exclaimed.
Lawrence M Noble, the general counsel of the Campaign Legal Center and formerly the top lawyer at the Federal Election Commission, agreed. He said it is a “total misuse of presidential power.”
Robert Weissman, president of Public Citizen, believes that the president’s tweet was not a major issue in itself. However, it reflects conflicts of interest.
"My daughter Ivanka has been treated so unfairly by @Nordstrom. She is a great person — always pushing me to do the right thing,” the president wrote. The tweet has been shared more than 6,000 times in less than an hour.
Nordstrom has explained that its resolution to drop Ivanka’s accessory and clothing line was due to the brand’s performance. The first daughter’s merchandise has been barred from Nordstrom’s physical and online stores.
In a statement, the store said the sales of the brand have continuously fallen. "Over the past year, and particularly in the last half of 2016, sales of the brand have steadily declined to the point where it didn't make good business sense for us to continue with the line for now," it said. Nordstrom said it advised Ivanka about the situation at the start of the year.
Anti-Trump activist group called Grab Your Wallet has earlier organised a weeks-long boycott campaign demanding that the store should cut its business ties with the first family. Nordstrom also issued an internal statement in support of immigrants following the president’s executive order on immigration, but maintained that it does not have anything to do with their move to drop Ivanka’s brand.
Following the president’s tweet, Nordstrom shares have dropped by 0.7 percent. But it bounced back to 3.7 percent at the New York Stock Exchange, per the ABC. Meanwhile, White House press secretary Sean Spicer has backed up the president’s social media post, saying that as a father, "he has every right to stand up for his family."
