Rihanna’s Work/Life Balance Philosophy Endorsed By… Donald Trump?

President Donald Trump is notoriously online: It’s there his constituents (and some days, his administration) has learned about everything from announcing policy initiatives to creating crude nicknames for his political adversaries to, most recently, endorsing Rihanna’s work/life balance philosophy.


The feeling isn't mutual. In November 2018, Rihanna made her disdain for Trump all of the more clear once she sent a cease-and-desist letter blocking her music from being played at his reelection campaign rallies. The song in question was “Don’t Stop The Music;” she asked him to stop. Per a letter derived by Rolling Stone, the singer’s legal team pointed out “As you are or should be aware, Ms. Fenty hasn't not offered her consent to Mr. Trump to use her music. Such use is and for that reason improper.”


It’s not the initial time she’s spoken out about the current president, either — in September 2017, she @’d Trump about the humanitarian crisis in Puerto Rico following Hurricane Maria. “Don’t let your people perish like this,” she wrote, a plea that seemingly went did not think about given that Trump has continued to otherize the island and the American citizens who live there, and has repeatedly blamed them for not acquiring the funds needed to rebuild.


Given that criticism often causes Trump to shut down, it’s detailed that he – or someone who has access to his Twitter account – “liked” a tweet writer Heben Nigato made about Rihanna’s philosophy on work/life balance on June 11.


“It’s only the last couple years that I began identify that you have got to prepare time for yourself, because your mental health depends on it,” Rihanna mentioned in a interview with Sarah Paulson for Interview Magazine. “If you’re not happy, you’re not going to be happy even doing things that you love doing. It’d feel like a chore. I never want work to feel like a chore. My career is my purpose, and it also should never feel like anything other than a happy place.”


She added: “I’ve made little things a big deal, like going for a walk or going to the food market. I got into a new relationship, also it matters to me. It seemed like, ‘I need to create time for this.’ Just like I nurture my companies, I need to nurture this as well. I’ll shut things down for two days, three days at a time. On my calendar we right now have the infamous ‘P,’ which means personalized days. This is a new thing.”


It’s not surprising that anyone would endorse the singer’s outlook, as it is objectively a good one. Work/life balance is crucial (if incredibly elusive, and often impossible for several people to actually achieve). And as someone who is balancing a industry-disrupting lingerie line, a powerhouse makeup line on trend for a $1 billion valuation, her status as the first Black woman to lead a magnificent style house, and, yes, her upcoming album, she understands a thing or two about needing to carve out some me-time.


President Trump is also no stranger to navigating the tricky art of work-life balance, though several critics could handily argue that his inequity falls more on the life side of things than work. To wit: NBC News estimates that of his 873 days in office, the President has spent 270 days at properties owned by the Trump Agency, and has spent 194 of these days golfing. New York also detailed his fondness for “executive hours,” which dwarfed his time spent in meetings last winter. As for his actual workload, a January 2018 report from Politifact found that, soon after his first year in office, Trump had enacted the least quantity of legislation of any post-World War II president. (Of course, given the nature of several of his administration’s policies, perhaps that’s for the best.)


And sure, being President is probably an exceedingly stressful job, however it is still understandable why people were surprised at Trump’s Twitter activity, given… well, the state of a lot of things now. Typically, people should not be surprised that other people endorse Rihanna’s viewpoints because she is, naturally, Rihanna.)


MTV News has reached out to both Interview Magazine and the White Home for comment.