Ivanka Trump has stepped into the firing line by taking a job in her father’s administration. What does she hope to get out of it? (Photo: White House Pool)
Ivanka made clear in a new interview with CBS News this morning “where I disagree with my father, he knows it.”
The first daughter’s wide-ranging interview with Oprah sidekick Gayle King comes on the heels of criticism that she is “complicit” in her father’s controversial policies largely because of her silence.
In the opening weeks of his administration, Trump has rolled back environmental protections, giving corporations free reign to pollute the environment free of government restraints.
He’s also pushing for repeal of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), also known as Obamacare, and would replace it with a policy that would cause as many as 24 million people to lose health insurance coverage.
Trump has also boosted military spending by 10 percent, even though it already makes up more than half of the federal budget. He’s proposed paying for it with sharp cuts in arts programs, federal agencies, scientific research and state department diplomats.
While both the president–and Ivanka– have spoken in favor of expanding programs for women who work, so far his waged a war against women through cuts to Planned Parenthood and by nominating an anti-abortion federal judge to the Supreme Court.
With the president’s popularity at an all time low and his credibility even lower, some say Ivanka could provide a moderating image for her father.
Ivanka moved to Washington with husband Jared Kushner and initially said she would play no role in the administration. Since then, both she and Kushner have taken on senior roles in the Trump White House. Her’s is assistant to the president, an unpaid position.
“I realized that having one foot in and one foot out wouldn’t work,” she told King. “And the reality is that it [taking the job] all happened very organically for me.”
Ivanka said she came to the realization she could be an “asset to the administration” and “help my father and, ultimately, the country.” She explains:
“I’ll continue the advocacy work that I was doing in the private sector– advocating for the economic empowerment of women. I’m very focused on the role of education… I’m still my father’s daughter. So to me the– this particular title was about giving critics the comfort that I’m holding myself to that highest ethical standard. But I’ll weigh in with my father on the issues I feel strongly about.”
Critics, King noted, have wondered why Ivanka isn’t speaking out about such issues as Planned Parenthood, gay rights, womens rights and climate change?
“And it’s, like, you’re being held personally accountable for not speaking up. What do you say to your critics?” King questioned.
“I would say not to conflate lack of public denouncement with silence. I think there are multiple ways to have your voice heard. In some cases, it’s through protest and it’s through going on the nightly news and talking about or denouncing every issue on which you disagree with. Other times, it is quietly and directly and candidly. So where I disagree with my father, he knows it. And I express myself with total candor. Where I agree, I fully lean in and support the agenda and– and hope– that I can be an asset to him and– and make a positive impact. But I respect the fact that he always listens. It’s how he was in business. It’s how he is as president.”
Whether she’s in our out of the White House, Ivanka will ultimately bear the sins of her father. Critics are already calling her “complicit” in what is happening in the administration.
“There’ve been articles. There’ve been parodies. What do you think about that– that accusation?” King asked.
“If being complicit is wanting to be a force for good and to make a positive impact, then I’m complicit. I don’t know that the critics who may say that of me, if they found themselves in this very unique and unprecedented situation that I am now in, would do any differently than I’m doing. So I hope to make a positive impact. I don’t know what it means to be– complicit– but– but, you know, I hope time will prove that I have– done a good job and much more importantly, that my father’s administration is the success that I know it will be.”
So should voters get their Ivanka 2024 campaign signs out?
Ivanka says “No.”
“Politics is a tough business. Politics is a tough business,” she says.
But obviously she doesn’t speak for her husband.
Check out the video below and the full interview here.