Ivanka claims 'unrealistic' to expect her to influence Donald Trump
'To voice dissent publicly would mean I’m not part of the team,' she said in rare newspaper interview
Trump hit out at the high-end retailer for announcing last week it had decided to discontinue sales of Ivanka Trump's fashion line due to poor sales. PHOTO: AFP
US President Donald Trump’s oldest Ivanka Trump has claimed that she has no power to change the president’s mind on issues he feels strongly about, The Independent reported.
Ivanka said she also declines to speak out publicly about issues on which she specifically disagrees with her father, because it would be an act of disloyalty. “To voice dissent publicly would mean I’m not part of the team,” she said in a rare newspaper interview. “That doesn’t mean everyone in the White House has homogeneous views - we don’t, and I think that’s good and healthy - but that doesn’t mean we’re publicly undermining [each other] and this administration.”
Ivanka Trump says Saudi progress on women 'encouraging'
Ivanka, 35, and her husband, Jared Kushner, both play important roles during the former reality television star’s presidential campaign. After Trump’s surprising win, he insisted that they join him in the White House, despite concerns being raised that this may be a breach of anti-nepotism rules.
The couple then took up positions as federal employees, and moved to Washington in order to fulfill Trump’s wishes. At that point, popular opinion was that Ivanka would act as moderating force upon her father, who ran on a nativist, nationalist campaign.
Yet in her interview with the Financial Times, Ms Trump claimed this was not the case. “Some people have created unrealistic expectations of what they expect from me - that my presence in and of itself would carry so much weight with my father that he would abandon his core values…. It’s not going to happen,” she said. “To those critics, why of turning my father into a liberal, I’d be a failure to them.”
However, she claimed that her father does listen to her in a range of opinions on issues. “I think it benefits the president to be able to hear from people who both agree and disagree with him on any given issue,” she said. “And then, ultimately, the president makes his own decision.”
Trump’s relationship with his eldest daughter has long been the subject of fascination and study. Over a period of two decades, he frequently referred to her beauty, called her ‘voluptuous’ and suggested he might date her if she was not his daughter.
In 2003, he told shock jock Howard Stern: “You know who’s one of the great beauties of the world, according to everybody? And I helped create her. Ivanka. My daughter, Ivanka. She’s six feet tall, she’s got the best body. She made a lot of money as a model - a tremendous amount.” Alongside this, as a member of his family, Trump appears to trust her more than many of his senior officials or aides.
The world looked on with no small bewilderment at the G20 Summit in Germany, when Trump had his daughter sit in of him at several meetings with world leaders, rather than asking Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Major US stores drop Ivanka Trump products
Before her father campaigned for the White House, Ivanka worked for him and developed her own fashion and accessories line. In April, it was reported her company had won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy. This was announced when the Trumps hosted Xi Jinping, and as it happened, Ivanka was seated next to the Chinese president.
Ivanka said she also declines to speak out publicly about issues on which she specifically disagrees with her father, because it would be an act of disloyalty. “To voice dissent publicly would mean I’m not part of the team,” she said in a rare newspaper interview. “That doesn’t mean everyone in the White House has homogeneous views - we don’t, and I think that’s good and healthy - but that doesn’t mean we’re publicly undermining [each other] and this administration.”
Ivanka Trump says Saudi progress on women 'encouraging'
Ivanka, 35, and her husband, Jared Kushner, both play important roles during the former reality television star’s presidential campaign. After Trump’s surprising win, he insisted that they join him in the White House, despite concerns being raised that this may be a breach of anti-nepotism rules.
The couple then took up positions as federal employees, and moved to Washington in order to fulfill Trump’s wishes. At that point, popular opinion was that Ivanka would act as moderating force upon her father, who ran on a nativist, nationalist campaign.
Yet in her interview with the Financial Times, Ms Trump claimed this was not the case. “Some people have created unrealistic expectations of what they expect from me - that my presence in and of itself would carry so much weight with my father that he would abandon his core values…. It’s not going to happen,” she said. “To those critics, why of turning my father into a liberal, I’d be a failure to them.”
However, she claimed that her father does listen to her in a range of opinions on issues. “I think it benefits the president to be able to hear from people who both agree and disagree with him on any given issue,” she said. “And then, ultimately, the president makes his own decision.”
Trump’s relationship with his eldest daughter has long been the subject of fascination and study. Over a period of two decades, he frequently referred to her beauty, called her ‘voluptuous’ and suggested he might date her if she was not his daughter.
In 2003, he told shock jock Howard Stern: “You know who’s one of the great beauties of the world, according to everybody? And I helped create her. Ivanka. My daughter, Ivanka. She’s six feet tall, she’s got the best body. She made a lot of money as a model - a tremendous amount.” Alongside this, as a member of his family, Trump appears to trust her more than many of his senior officials or aides.
The world looked on with no small bewilderment at the G20 Summit in Germany, when Trump had his daughter sit in of him at several meetings with world leaders, rather than asking Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
Major US stores drop Ivanka Trump products
Before her father campaigned for the White House, Ivanka worked for him and developed her own fashion and accessories line. In April, it was reported her company had won provisional approval from the Chinese government for three new trademarks, giving it monopoly rights to sell Ivanka brand jewelry, bags and spa services in the world’s second-largest economy. This was announced when the Trumps hosted Xi Jinping, and as it happened, Ivanka was seated next to the Chinese president.