CLEVELAND — Ivanka Trump attempted to soften the image of her father, Republican nominee Donald Trump, while introducing him Thursday night, lauding him as the “people’s nominee” before Trump was set to accept the GOP nomination.
“In his own way and through his own sheer force of will, he sacrificed greatly to enter the political arena as an outsider and prevailed against a field of 16 very talented competitors,” Trump said in her opening. “For more than a year, Donald Trump has been the people’s champion. And tonight, he is the people’s nominee.”
During her address before the convention, Trump’s eldest daughter sought to humanize him as she discussed at length his life as a businessman and a father, emphasizing the latter throughout. She also lauded him as a “fighter” in various ways.
“My father is a fighter,” Ivanka Trump told the crowd. “When the primaries got tough — and they were tough — he did what any great leader does: he dug deeper, worked harder, got better and became stronger. I have seen him fight for his family. I have seen him fight for his employees. I have seen him fight for his company and now I am seeing him fight for our country.
“If it’s possible to be famous, and yet not really well known, that describes the father who raised me,” Ivanka Trump told attendees. “My father taught my siblings and me the importance of positive values and a strong ethical compass. He showed us how to be resilient, how to deal with challenges and how to strive for excellence in all that we do.”
She also praised her father as a leader, especially in his business ventures, pointing to his abilities to spot and grow talent within the company. Interestingly, Trump also noted the diversity at her father’s organizations, particularly on construction sites, calling them “incredible melting pots.”
“These sites are also incredible melting pots, gathering people from all walks of life and uniting them to work toward a single mission,” she said. “There have always been men of all backgrounds and ethnicities on my father’s job sites and long before it was commonplace, you also saw women.”
Early in her address, Trump also addressed her own politics, labeling herself as neither a Republican or a Democrat and saying that she votes “based on what I believe is right” for her family.
While her speech was largely filled with anecdotes about her father and support for him, she weighed into politics on a few occasions, specifically telling the crowd that the GOP nominee will “fight for equal pay for equal work,” adding that she will help him do so. She also said that her father will push to change arcane labor laws to make “quality childcare affordable and accessible for all.”
Ivanka Trump was the final member of Donald Trump’s family to speak before the convention, with wife Melania and children Tiffany, Donald Jr., and Eric all delivering speeches on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.
