Ivanka, the kind face of Trump
The role, and influence, of the eldest daughter of the next president of the United States has been decisive in the campaign because she embodies the most presentable side of the Republican
When Hillary Clinton found herself, in the second campaign debate, faced with saying something positive about her adversary, Donald Trump, the Democratic candidate responded: "Her children are incredibly capable and committed." Among the five descendants of the Republican, he was referring mostly to Ivanka, a close friend of her daughter Chelsea, and one of the pillars of the tycoon both in the family's real estate empire and in his electoral career.
As a result of Trump's first marriage to the Czechoslovakian athlete and model Ivana ZelnĂcková, this 35-year-old businesswoman and model has become a key figure in spreading the political message and, above all, countering the sulphurous image of her father. Vanity Fair magazine has defined it, with some reluctance, as "first lady first lady by proxy." In fact, during the electoral campaign, she has played the role of conventional first lady that Melania, the third wife of the next president of the United States, has avoided for various reasons, from her foreign origin - not in keeping with her husband's anti-immigration discourse - to the Republican's degrading attitude toward women. The beautiful Slovenian model has not stood out either for her communication skills or for her ideas. One of her few speeches - prepared by the campaign team - verbatim copying a speech by the popular Michelle Obama, ended up with a resounding ridicule.
Ivanka, on the other hand, cultivates her own profile. Raised in New York and educated in the most prestigious American schools and universities, she is perfectly integrated into the country's elites. Unlike her father, she is not considered an outsider. And although Trump blatantly admits that of all her offspring, she is her "favorite", she rejects the label of daddy's girl. The recurring comparison of her with her famous heiress Paris Hilton causes him great irritation. "I work 13 hours a day to earn my money and I have paid the house to my father," she claims the woman whom some political analysts see as "the rising star of the Trump family."
Along with her brothers Donald Junior and Eric, she serves as Vice President of Real Estate Development and Acquisitions, the flagship of the real estate business, as well as running her own jewelry and clothing brand with a Madison Avenue store. Ivanka, who for years combined business with catwalks and the covers of well-known fashion magazines, married in 2009 the Jewish businessman Jared Kushner, owner of the New York Observer, with whom she has three children: Arabella (6), Joseph (4) and Theodore (7 months). Because of him, she converted to Judaism - she affirms that it was a "great vital decision" -, which has provided her father with a wonderful asset to proclaim himself a friend of a people suspicious of the xenophobic tendencies of the Republican.
With a well-articulated speech and an extremely temperate character, Ivanka embodies the more presentable side of the histrionic candidate who lands in the White House like a bomb, after bursting almost all the forecasts. She seems to be the only one in the clan with sufficient authority to allow herself to be contrary to him. She and even she scold him, as she did with Trump's profanity about women. "They are clearly inappropriate and offensive," she proclaimed as she was satisfied with the candidate's apologies to her family and the Americans.
“Her father listens to her, respects her as one of her main supporters, not only because she is her daughter. She is one of the few people who can influence her thinking, ”says a friend of the Trumps. Ivanka defines herself as a “modern woman” and at the same time “very traditional” on a religious level - she respects the Sabbath and kosher food - and family.
Throughout the campaign, she has defended "policies so that women with children can develop outside of their role as mothers" and have the right to receive the same pay as men. Ideas that, in her mouth, acquired a credibility that they would not have had in Trump's message. As the electoral race progressed, her presence increased at rallies. Far from parental sophistry, she has brought warmth, serenity and common sense to a rough campaign, based on viscerality. Once in power, the new president has promised to leave his companies in the hands of his descendants. However, in view of Ivanka's contribution to the electoral victory, more than one analyst wonders about the office that her favorite daughter could occupy in the White House.
