Ivanka Trump needs prayers, not scorn
On Monday, President Trump’s critics began tweeting a picture of a billboard that featured daughter Ivanka modeling for Trump Tower in Manila. As it turns out, the photo was taken in 2012 and the billboard since removed.
But for many, the story was too good to pass up (or check out), as it had the perfect recipe of complaints about his administration: a dash of nepotism, a pinch of self-enrichment and a cup of bribery (the murderous president of the Philippines was recently invited to the White House).
At the center of all the charges is Ivanka, 35, who has curiously drawn the scorn of many who’d normally claim to welcome a level-headed woman in the White House. When Ivanka was jeered for standing up for her father’s record on women’s issues at a public discussion in Germany last week, detractors pounced.
“On stage: the chancellor of Germany, the managing director of the IMF & an unqualified jewelry designer who is included because of nepotism,” tweeted Brian Klaas, an observation that garnered more than 17,000 retweets. In March, Saturday Night
Live mocked the idea that Ivanka could separate herself from her father’s odious treatment of women, suggesting she endorse a new fragrance called Complicit.
These critiques have moved us into a new era when people are now on the hook for their parents’ behavior. It is no surprise that Ivanka likely loves her dad and wants to see him succeed. But the scorn she has received for refusing to condemn him publicly holds her to a standard that rare- ly has been applied to anyone else. (Especially males.)
While it is certainly a novel arrangement to grant the first daughter an official office in the White House, there is nothing wrong with the president having a related confidante close by. Presidents have used first ladies as sounding boards for policy. But if Melania Trump has no interest in the job, we should encourage Ivanka to fill that role.
Nepotism laws are meant to prevent the president from hiring people who can’t be fired, but in this case that seems like a bonus. Ivanka’s public persona is one of being measured, level-headed and articulate; and if she is the one that can deliver commonsense advice to the president without fear of job recrimination, then more power to her.
Contrast the particular enmity leveled at Ivanka Trump with the nauseating praise heaped on another first daughter. Despite speaking publicly in tweets arid of wisdom yet dripping with selfregard, Chelsea Clinton has parlayed her former first daughter status into an industry all its own. Given her place in Democratic Party royalty, she will have to answer questions about her own father’s conduct toward women right about the time she starts getting asked about the FrancoPrussian War.
Trump could be president for over 1,350 more days. We should encourage Ivanka’s continued involvement — especially if she can explain to her father why the Civil War started.