Ivanka Trump’s meeting with Al Gore has left many questioning exactly what kind of role the future first daughter will play in the Trump administration.
While Ivanka has stated that she will serve in no official capacity during her father’s presidency, she has expressed a desire to take on signature issues. During the campaign, Ivanka built up her father’s paid family leave policies.
Just last week, however, Politico suggested that she “aims to use the first lady’s lectern to champion liberal causes” — one of them being climate change — and might be “the first ‘first daughter’ in modern history to play a larger public role than the first lady.” After her meeting with Gore, that suggestion seems to be a real possibility as opposed to mere speculation.
The news is sure to have liberals, who hope to still see progressive policies passed, feeling optimistic, but it does present an unusual problem. Donald Trump will soon be handing over his many businesses to his children to avoid potential conflicts of interest as president. If Ivanka is aiming to influence policy, shouldn’t she do the same? If not, how can she properly serve as a barrier between President Trump and the Trump Organization?
Her championing issues that her father supposedly disagrees with only further complicates the matter. I’m sure the West Virginian coal miners who voted The Donald into office won’t be pleased if his administration begins investing heavily in alternate forms of energy.
As Phillip Bump of The Washington Post put it, “the Gore meeting highlights that incongruity between the interests of Ivanka Trump and her father. But more importantly, it highlights the extent to which the president-elect’s transfer of his business interests to his kids simply kicks the conflict of interest down a branch on the family tree.”
The fact that Gore’s meeting with Ivanka later turned into a meeting with Donald (the president-elect was not initially supposed to attend) only further proves that Ivanka is a shortcut to her father’s ear when it comes to his decisions as president. In other words, get your foot in the door with the Trump Organization, and you could also get an in with the Trump White House. It’s not exactly a good look for someone who used his opponent’s problems with transparency and trustworthiness as a catalyst to win the Oval Office.
