Kim Kardashian wasn’t exactly endorsing Arabella Kushner’s Taylor Swift-themed cake itself, mind you. But the SKIMS founder didn’t hold back from passing along a sweet sentiment to the 13-year-old’s mom, Ivanka Trump.
Hence Kim’s friendship with Ivanka continuing to inch its way toward matter-of-factness by way of her July 17 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡day greeting for Arabella on Ivanka’s Instagram—which was only the latest out-in-the-open display of affection between the two.
But ever since Ivanka and her husband Jared Kushner facilitated Kim’s first meeting at the White House in 2018 to discuss criminal justice reform with President Donald Trump—who won the 2024 presidential election Nov. 5, becoming only the second U.S. president ever to win non-consecutive terms—much attention has been paid to the ladies’ social interactions.
With Kim being based in Los Angeles and Ivanka in New York, the pair—jet-setters though they both are—wouldn’t have been regulars in each other’s social circles.
Their acquaintanceship dates back to at least May 2014, when they chatted at the Met Gala, Ivanka with Jared on her arm and Kim escorted by then-fiancé Kanye West, fashion’s biggest night occurring just weeks before their lavish Italian nuptials.
Though, as Ivanka shared with People at the time, no Met Gala schmoozing trumped getting to meet Idina Menzel—Frozen‘s Queen Elsa herself!—as far as Arabella was concerned.
But it stands to reason that she and Kim—both moms, business owners and scions of particularly hard-charging families—would have plenty to keep in touch about.
So by the time Kim started law school in 2018 and became invested in the cause of Alice Marie Johnson, who was serving a life sentence for a nonviolent drug offense, she knew who to call to get the president’s ear. (Trump did end up commuting Alice’s sentence and issued a full pardon for her in 2020.)
“I do love that I see so many different potential candidates discussing [criminal justice issues],” Kim told the New York Times in March 2020 after another visit to the White House. “I will work with any administration.”
Sure enough, Kim met with Vice President Kamala Harris in April, a day after President Joe Biden pardoned 11 people and commuted the sentences of five others who’d been convicted of nonviolent drug charges.
In the meantime, however, Kim’s friendship with Ivanka—who left D.C. for Florida after her dad lost the 2020 election and stated on Instagram in November 2022 that she loved her father but did “not plan to be involved in politics” as he ran for president again—has flourished.