The factory at Rancho Rochambeau, once called Rancho Rockin but renamed in honor of Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, the Highlander de Rochambeau a French nobleman and General who helped 13 colonies win their independence, is set on a hilly, 260-acre site. There, workers in the izyanalivaya work khaki smocks will breathe in the mythology of Louis Vuitton as they learn to collect brands signature bags and backpacks. All of these bags will be labeled Made in the USA.

This isnt the first Louis Vuitton factory in the United States, but this one was aligned with the Trump administrations Pledge to Americas Workers a fuzzy-math political initiative aimed at showcasing how much the federal government is doing to improve job opportunities for the average worker. So, after a fundraising luncheon in Fort Worth and before a campaign rally in Dallas, the president attended the factorys ribbon-cutting, along with his daughter Ivanka, who is a presidential adviser and co-chair of the National Council for the American Worker. He also brought along the U.S. ambassador to France, son-in-law Jared Kushner, former Texas governor and outgoing secretary of energy Rick Perry, labor secretary Gene Scalia and commerce secretary Wilbur Ross, which is quite a crowd for a factory that isnt boasting any new technology and has a workforce smaller than some neighborhood supermarkets.

The President’s entourage visited the air factory, and trump received a tutorial from one of the workers about the wonders of Louis Vuitton bags. There was a lot of smiles and jokes at least from the President, who made several references to Bernards ‘ business savvy and called him an artist and visionary.

At the end of the day clutch and green was tightly choreographed a double back slap at the highest corporate level. It was business as usual, which is what made it such a curious phenomenon.

The ribbon-cutting was jarring in its utter carelessness, in its unwavering fertility of corporate normalcy in these most abnormal times. Can there be neutral ground when the players are a President who has made women in General, along with immigrants and members of the LGBT community, feel as if they are under siege, and a billionaire tycoon who is reaping huge profits from those very people?

Is the public shrug permissible anymore when everything around is chaos?

Louis Vuitton is one of the crown jewels of the Paris-based LVMH, which is the worlds largest luxury conglomerate and includes such iconic brands as Dior, Givenchy and Marc Jacobs, as well as Fenty Beauty and Fenty, which are in collaboration with the entertainer Rihanna. Arnault is worth nearly $100 billion. In 2017, he was one in a steady stream of visitors who met with the then-president-elect in his office in New Yorks Trump Tower. These visits, for whatever substance they entailed, were supremely performative as the powerful and the power-hungry lobbed hollow compliments at Trump in front of the pool of journalists that assembled daily in the high rises lobby. Arnault dutifully complied with the ritual, smiling and shaking hands with Trump in front of the whirring cameras and gamely briefing reporters on his interest in expanding Louis Vuitton manufacturing facilities in the United States. (LVMH has 33,000 employees in the country, which makes for an annual investment of more than $1 billion, according to Arnault.)

Normality seemed possible.

After that meeting, trump has shown himself, in various twists and turns, to be racist, petty, vulgar and dishonest. And now he is the subject of an impeachment investigation. Nothing about his administration was in keeping with tradition. Each ceremonial gesture is accompanied by an asterisk. The most Latin events are transported with the possibility of, well, anything.

The MAGA hat is not a statement of policy. His inflammatory statement on the personality.

Members of the fashion community, including the LVMH family, expressed their dissatisfaction with the administration. Jacobs previously said he was not interested in dressing first lady Melania trump. Dior creative Director Maria Grazia Chiuri has imbued her collections with a feminist ideology that goes against trump’s degrading comments about women. And Rihanna used social media to criticize the President on the topic of gun violence.

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Um… Donald, you spelt terrorism wrong! Your country had 2 terrorist attacks back to back, hours apart leaving almost 30 innocent people dead. This, just days after yet another terrorist attack in California, where a terrorist was able to LEGALLY purchase an assault rifle (AK-47) in Vegas, then drive hours to a food festival in Cali leaving 6 more people dead including a young infant baby boy! Imagine a world where its easier to get an AK-47 than a VISA! Imagine a world where they build a wall to keep terrorists IN AMERICA!!! My prayers and deepest condolences to the families and loved ones of all the victims and the communities affected and traumatized, from Texas, California, and Ohio! Im so sorry for your loss! Nobody deserves to die like this! NOBODY!

A post shared by badgalriri (@badgalriri) on Aug 4, 2019 at 10:27am PDT

Alarm bells are all around Arnault. Businesspeople are picking their way through a minefield of moral questions. When the real estate mogul Stephen Ross hosted an August fundraiser in his Hamptons home for Trumps reelection, the backlash against fitness companies in his portfolio such as Equinox and SoulCycle was swift, with workout fanatics canceling memberships and threatening boycotts. Both companies quickly issued statements disavowing any support of the fundraiser. In 2017, when Trump equated those who were protesting racism with the white nationalists marching in Charlottesville, the presidents business councils disbanded in protest. Apple CEO Tim Cook was among the business leaders who spoke out against the administrations immigration policies. And, of course, there are business folks who support the presidents agenda.

The Louis Vuitton ribbon-cutting wasn’t a fundraiser, but it was a bright backdrop to trump’s re-election. His walk on music included his campaign favorites: God bless the USA and you can’t always get what you want. The plant is located in a state at the forefront of the migration crisis. The afternoon was in celebration of the factory that will produce products aimed at women, and its workers neatly lined up as the vivant table behind the President were varied a lot. What did Arno make of these contradictions and misdirections?

The businessman noted President trump’s commitment to American workers.

And then shrugged his shoulders.

Learn more about fashion and politics:

SoulCycle and equinox controversy hits close to home because they’re selling an idealized version of you

At the second state dinner, Melania Trumps’s dress is as quiet and docile as ever.