Does Ivanka Trump know her place?
Hint: it’s not in the president’s chair
Ivanka Trump charted some seriously new territory this week when she was photographed sitting in the president’s chair in the Oval Office, flanked by her father on one side, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on the other.
It’s probably not the first time a president’s offspring has taken a seat in the chair. I wouldn’t be at all surprised if Malia and Sasha Obama had a late-night swivel contest in the Oval Office when they accompanied their dad to Washington in 2008. (I know that’s what my sister and I would have done when we were kids.)
But when the cameras are rolling and you’re a 35-yearold woman who should know how much symbols matter it leaves all kinds of uncomfortable questions: What is Ivanka Trump up to, anyway? What is her strange, as-yetundefined mission in the White House? And, if it’s not too much to ask, where is her stepmother and what has she done with her?
It’s hard to imagine that someone in her position could fail to see the irony of tweeting such a presumptuous photo, as she did, while pontificating about the “importance of women having a seat at the table!” Most women agree that seats of power must first be earned. You can’t just waltz in and say, “Hey, I bet I’d look cute in that chair!” And the president’s chair, in particular, was central to the bloody battle that Hillary Clinton so recently fought and lost. Even the twittersphere was virtually unanimous that the seat-warming chicanery was both inappropriate and unbecoming.
These days it seems that overexposure to Ivanka is an inevitable side-effect of underexposure to Melania. Central to the confusion is whether the daughter’s constant presence marginalizes the wife.
Or, is it a case that if Ivanka weren’t on standby there would be a fashionmodel-sized hole in all the photos where a First Lady is supposed to be?
No one envies Melania having to fill Michelle Obama’s shoes — at least some of her reticence is justified. From the now-famous White House vegetable garden to Girl Guides camping on the lawn to viral talk-show videos, Michelle Obama set a high watermark in so many areas: mother, wife, style icon, role model to women around the world. She graced the cover of Vogue magazine an unprecedented three times.
But Mrs. Trump is not the first FLOTUS to have a tough act to follow. Such was the fate of Claudia Alta Johnson, better known as “Lady Bird” who trailed “The First Lady of Class” Jacqueline Kennedy.
In spite of the challenges of comparison theology, which were rarely in her favour, Lady Bird served her country well. According to biographer Betty Boyd Caroli she “invented the job of modern first lady. She was the first one to have a big staff, the first one to have a comprehensive program in her own name, the first one to write a book about the White House years.”
Whether the First Lady is a fashion plate, a fitness fanatic, or a frustrated farmer — or, like Michelle Obama, all of the above — she is an important figure in the presidential arena and she needs to show up for work. Unless Mrs. Trump is personally making hot chocolate for Barron and his friends after school, or is helping him conjugate verbs for his French test, she needs to get in the game.
Surely getting dressed up for a visiting dignitary like Justin Trudeau is well within her skill set. And if anyone can manage the juggling act of raising a child while performing some official First Lady duties it’s Donald and Melania. They may not have a Marian Robinson at their disposal — Michelle Obama’s mother who was a grounding presence in the official residence for the Obama’s children — but paying for extra help isn’t exactly a burden.
It only contributes to the worrisome atmosphere of an unstable presidency to have a First Lady who is MIA and a First Daughter — not an actual title, by the way — with an ambiguous but clearly ambitious agenda. As long as the White House continues to explore this strange arrangement without defining it, and without supporting either of these women with the staff required to prevent them from making amateurish gaffes, the world will continue to scrutinize their every move.
It remains to be seen if Ivanka Trump can be a strong presence in her father’s administration — strong in her own right, apart from playing dress-up when world leaders come to call. She has been a brand promoter for so long the transition to public service is bound to be a challenge. Step No. 1 may be getting out of her stepmother’s way.