Ivanka Trump, the woman who listens the most to the president of the United States
A month before Donald Trump was elected president, he and his advisers witnessed their daughter's serene countenance crumble.
Inside the Trump Tower, the candidate was preparing for a debate when an aide came in with the news that The Washington Post was about to publish a video showing Trump flaunting touching women's private parts. Trump reacted badly: first he denied that the recording existed and, when it was published, he agreed to say that he apologized ... if he had offended someone. The advisers warned him that that would not be enough.
Those who witnessed the discussion claim that Ivanka Trump advocated for her father to utter a much more emphatic apology. The eldest daughter of the current president of the United States grew up in the eye of the tabloid press hurricane and has spent her adult life trying to establish herself as the balanced and focused daughter of the family. She is a businesswoman with her own clothing line that markets itself with slogans on female empowerment and has just written a book on the subject.
Trump was unfazed by Ivanka's suggestions. Her daughter's eyes filled with tears, her face reddened, and the feeling of frustration made her leave the room.
Seven months later, Ivanka Trump has become the presidential confidant on virtually every issue discussed in the western wing of the White House, an adviser whose portfolio appears to have few parameters making her the highest ranking woman in a group. advisers made up mainly of men.
White House officials say that while he has no government or political experience, he wants to review some executive orders before they are signed. She also calls the members of the cabinet to consult them on the subjects that interest her; she recently asked UN Ambassador Nikki Haley about humanitarian aid shipments to Syria. She also set up a weekly meeting with the Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin.
In two interviews in April, she said she intended to act as a moderating force in a government that came to power out of nationalist sentiment. Other officials indicated that she has already spoken out on issues such as climate change, deportations, education and refugee policies.
Although she seeks to exert greater influence, she acknowledges that she is a rookie on the Washington issue. "I'm just learning how it all works," he said, "but now I know enough to be a much more active voice within the White House."
Ivanka, 35, a former model, entrepreneur and real estate developer, says she will focus on gender inequality inside and outside the United States. Her interest in that topic produced the “Women Who Work” label and marketing campaign that she devised a few years ago to promote the sale of $ 99 high heels and $ 150 dresses. The career advice book I was working on prior to the election and which has the same label title has just been published.
Critics see his efforts as a brazen feat to promote Trump - what they see as an unsatisfactory response to the 2005 recording of "Access Hollywood" released during the campaign and to the thousands of people who protested at the women's marches. which is promoted by a woman who enjoys extraordinary privileges and who seems to take advantage of feminist messages to promote her brand.
In interviews, the eldest daughter of the Trump family spoke about unlocking the economic potential of women - in phrases very similar to those of Hillary Clinton - and evaded questions about the reasons that motivate her to defend feminist issues so vehemently.
"After my father announced his candidacy, it happened that the things for which I was recognized, were suddenly seen by the same people with different eyes," he said. "Somehow everything that I was applauded for as a millennial, as a businesswoman, was now seen in a very cynical way as opportunistic."
Some former employees of her business are surprised by her new interest in gender policies, saying that she was even reluctant to give them maternity leave. However, other observers believe that it is the best hope within the administration for there to be some progress on gender issues.
Ultimately, "the only test is whether you will be able to accomplish anything other than personally benefit," said Umber Ahmad, a banker-turned-baker and one of many women who feel uncomfortable about appearing in Ivanka Trump's new book.
Her acquaintances claim that she is someone socially liberal and willing to do business. However, she herself says that she does not have very strong opinions on various issues (in the White House, she expresses herself in corporate terms, such as "business plan" with the same frequency that she uses partisan or political expressions).
According to relatives and advisers, Ivanka has a skill that almost no one possesses: she can criticize a man who usually rejects almost any criticism, and she can make him change his mind.
"I am her daughter. I've known him my whole life. Trust me, ”she said. “I have no hidden intentions. I don't want to attack it to benefit myself ”.
Although her demeanor is different - she is cautious while he has no restrictions - Ivanka Trump is more like her father than many believe, according to several people who know them.
She shares her vision of the importance of an image and a brand, as well as her sensitivity to criticism. Like him, she sometimes makes generalized and arguably exaggerated claims: He described Donald Trump as an advocate for women in last summer's Republican convention speech and has described his brand as a movement that wants to end the stereotypes. Like her, you are confident that you can master areas in which you have little experience or expertise. They both use the same superlatives when speaking: "tremendous", "incredible".
But can she really influence her father? At 35, she has given little evidence of having questioned or changed the opinion of the man who raised her. Trump did apologize for the "Access Hollywood" recording, but he did so when it was already a political emergency.
Donald Trump often calls Ivanka in the Oval Office to ask her questions and hear her ideas; she calls him "dad" not "Mr. President." If he asks you a question about an unknown topic, he usually does research to form an opinion. Sometimes she is the one who seeks to speak to Trump and tells other staff members, "I need ten minutes alone with my father."
"A lot of their true interactions happen when they are alone," Jared Kushner, Ivanka Trump's husband and also a White House adviser, confessed in a telephone interview.
Ivanka says that when she is alone with her father, she defends the issues that she considers a priority. "I defend certain issues to the impossible and I may not win," he said. “But in the process I have modified her position, at least slightly. And that is wonderful ”.
The loyal daughter
No matter how scandalous the divorces are or how exaggerated Donald Trump's remarks are, Ivanka rarely rejects or distances himself from him.
Her older brother, Donald Jr., was sent to boarding school when her parents divorced and she refused to speak to her father for a year. Her younger brother, Eric, was very young. So Ivanka was the daughter who spent the most time with Trump, according to Ivana, her mother, in an email. Even then, "Donald knew he could trust her!"
Ivanka used to come to his office to greet him or accompany him to construction sites, just as often as she now does in the West Wing or on presidential trips.
In her teens, she ventured into the world of modeling to earn money and show what she could achieve on her own. She walked the European catwalks, appeared on magazine covers, and hosted the Miss USA pageant funded by her father. "She never had a chance to have a modeling career because her name was associated with her father's," said Audrey Roatta, who worked for the agency that represented Ivanka Trump and accompanied her on her travels.
A friend indicated that she was upset when her father opened his own modeling agency because he felt he was dabbling in his fields, but he held back his anger.
Shortly after Ivanka Trump joined the family's real estate business, in 2005 Trump's name became an even more powerful source of power and opportunity due to the television show The Apprentice starring her father. Although Ivanka was in her twenties, and barely learning the tricks of financing negotiations and construction details, she was an important figure on the show because she weighed the merits of participants during tense boardroom scenes.
Cultivating an image
The attention generated by The Apprentice helped its name to consolidate as a brand of various products: fine jewelry (2007), shoes (2010), clothing (2010) and bags (2011) that were promoted on the television program. Ivanka's business was closely linked to her father's company; she initially tapped into the resources of the Trump Organization to establish her payroll and attorney services (one representative said she had paid her father's company).
However, penetrating the market was a challenge: Ivanka Trump's majestic life seemed very distant from that of women who shopped in department stores. So in late 2013, she and her husband met with some employees in their Upper East Side New York apartment. Facebook executive Sheryl Sandberg's book, Let's Go Forward: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead was on the bestseller list; Ivanka Trump's team was looking for a catchphrase that was just as catchy.
The brainstorming generated a new slogan: “Women Who Work”. The businesswoman began to adapt her image to fit the concept. An internal document from that time mentions that one of its challenges is "that it is perceived as rich and unattainable." Ivanka Trump was told to post pictures on her Instagram account that made her look more earthy - less of a model and more of a mom.
“We felt it was important for people to see who they are in a more complete way,” said Abigail Klem, president of the Ivanka Trump brand.
However, the brand hasn't always lived up to its progressive image. Beyond knowing that she was one of the few women in the male-dominated world of real estate, her close associates comment that she never paid attention to the gender issues and policies she now promotes.
Shortly after establishing her businesses, she was reluctant to grant maternity leave and did not have a benefits package, her former employees say. Marissa Kraxberger, an executive who was pregnant when the businesswoman offered her a job in the summer of 2013, says she asked about her paid maternity leave. She recalls that Ivanka Trump replied, “Well, we don't have a maternity leave policy here; I went back to work a week after having my daughter, so it's not something I usually do ”.
Klem maintains that, after consulting with employees, the company implemented in mid-2014 a policy of paid maternity leave for a period of two months, as well as flexible working hours.
An unknown role
Ivanka Trump and her associates describe the time leading up to the announcement of her father's candidacy as one of the most satisfying of her life. She had managed to update her family's brand by positioning it as an image of a certain elegance and was personally involved in the development of a hotel in a historic building in Washington, blocks from the White House. In addition, Vogue magazine published an article in which it presented her as an example of good taste and the remarkable achievements of the millennial generation, a radical departure from the tabloid coverage she received in her youth.
However, the first day of the presidential campaign caused her problems: Comments that Mexico was sending rapists to the United States caused two famous chefs to abandon the Washington hotel project.
Ivanka Trump was in awe of the heated and strong campaign. Before, she used to receive letters of admiration in which she was described as a role model; now many of the letters he receives are scathing. "Everything that was attributed to him suddenly became, for my detractors, something that also applied to me," he said.
The advisers say that, behind the backdrop, she is frustrated and unhappy to have abandoned her life in New York, but that she is determined to prevail and make the most of her stay in the White House, something that she never imagined would happen. .
In an interview in late April from her freshly painted West Wing office - white with metallic accents, in contrast to the traditional cream hue of the rest of the site - Ivanka Trump was energetic but also defensive and defensive. , sometimes intimidated.
Her first week as the president's official advisor, she had just hired her chief of staff, and was scheduling meetings. She was about to travel to Germany, where for the first time she would represent her father's government on a global level.
In Berlin, Ivanka Trump was part of a round table with some of the most important women in the world: Angela Merkel, the German Chancellor; Christine Lagarde, Director of the International Monetary Fund, and Chrystia Freeland, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada. For her part, Ivanka Trump was presented as the "first daughter."
As she spoke, the audience murmured skeptically (although, contrary to various media reports, no one booed her) but one moment was particularly awkward. "The German public is not familiar with the concept of the first daughter," commented the moderator. "I would like to ask you what your role is and who you represent: your father as president of the United States, the American people, or your company?"
"Well, certainly not the latter," Ivanka Trump replied lightly, adding, "I'm not familiar with this role."
An inescapable shadow
Questions about her father haunt her everywhere. Defending a center position in an administration that leans to the right would be a challenge for anyone, even the most well versed in politics. As with the current president, Ivanka Trump's inexperience in Washington and a preference for frontal trade negotiations can lead to painful confrontations.
For now, she recognizes how much she has to learn and asks for patience.
"I think in time I will get to the right place," he said. "In the short term I will have some setbacks and, in some cases, I will take the blows that I could have avoided if I had publicly said what I thought." "I'm making a great, great effort to learn," he added.