Ivanka Trump disagrees with dad’s ‘enemy of the people’ view
President’s daughter criticizes family separation policy
WASHINGTON — Ivanka Trump distanced herself from her father on two high-profile issues Thursday, saying that she did not agree with his characterization of the media as “the enemy of the people” and that she was “vehemently against” separating migrant children from their parents at the border.
Toward the end of a forum hosted by the news site Axios that focused largely on workforce issues, she was asked whether she considered journalists in the room to be “the enemy of the people.”
“No, I do not,” Trump replied.
Asked to elaborate, Trump offered what she said was “my own personal perspective.”
“I’ve certainly received my fair share of reporting on me personally that I know not to be fully accurate, so I have some sensitivity around why people have concerns and gripes, especially when they sort of feel targeted, but no, I do not consider the media the enemy of the people.”
President Donald Trump has used the term on multiple occasions, and his animus for the media was on display again this week as he promoted a video on Twitter showing his supporters chanting “CNN sucks” as a reporter from the network did a live shot from the site of a campaign rally hosted by the president in Tampa.
The president tweeted a defense of his daughter later Thursday, arguing that his “enemy of the people” line did not apply to all of the news media but rather only “a large percentage” of it.
“They asked my daughter Ivanka whether or not the media is the enemy of the people,” Trump said. “She correctly said no. It is the FAKE NEWS, which is a large percentage of the media, that is the enemy of the people!”
At the Axios forum, Ivanka Trump also said. “I am very vehemently against family separation and the separation of parents and children.”