Is Ivanka Trump the president’s daughter, or a senior adviser? Evidently she can’t be both

IVANKA Trump scolded a reporter who asked a controversial question about her dad. But she seems to have forgotten an important point.

WHEN Donald Trump was running for president, his eldest daughter was hailed as his greatest weapon.

Ivanka Trump is poised, intelligent and attractive, and her soft-spoken, articulate demeanour serves as an effective counterbalance to her notoriously off-the-cuff father.

But if her recent NBC interview teaches us anything, it’s that Ivanka is a total hypocrite.

“Do you believe your father’s [sexual misconduct] accusers?” -@PeterAlexander

“I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated there’s no truth to it.” -@IvankaTrump pic.twitter.com/23AVPgcOdE

— TODAY (@TODAYshow) 26 February 2018

Interviewer Peter Alexander asked a seemingly innocuous question: “Do you believe your father’s accusers?”

He was referring to the over-a-dozen women who have accused Mr Trump of sexual misconduct.

“I think it’s a pretty inappropriate question to ask a daughter if she believes the accusers of her father when he’s affirmatively stated there’s no truth to it,” she responded.

Wait, an inappropriate question to ask “a daughter”? Has she forgotten she’s been a senior adviser in the President’s administration for almost a year now?

Ivanka has her own office, staff and a wide portfolio of issues under her belt, but when faced with an inconvenient question — a question anyone who works closely with the President in his administration should be able to answer — she’s suddenly just “a daughter” again.

How can Ivanka, who has positioned herself as a key advocate for women’s issues in America, refuse to address her father’s sexual misconduct allegations?

No one is denying Ivanka’s difficult position. As his daughter, she’s not exactly going to respond with: “Why yes, my father is a sexual deviant! I firmly believe his accusers!”

As his daughter, it’s reasonable to assume she’ll side with him in the public eye no matter what.

But Ivanka is not just “his daughter” anymore, like she was during the presidential campaign. She holds a key role in the White House. She’s positioned herself within the administration as a voice for women’s issues. Since her father’s rise to the White House, she’s addressed the gender gap, called for improvements to paid family leave policies, and penned a book filled with advice for corporate women, presenting herself as a symbol of women who can “have it all”.

Last month she even praised talk show legend Oprah Winfrey following her speech calling out the abuse of women by powerful men — a hypocrisy not lost on anyone.

Just saw @Oprah's empowering & inspiring speech at last night’s #GoldenGlobes. Let’s all come together, women & men, & say #TIMESUP! #United https://t.co/vpxUBJnCl7

— Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) January 9, 2018

Great! You can make a lofty donation to the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund that is available to support your father's accusers.https://t.co/A8HCVa715v

— Alyssa Milano (@Alyssa_Milano) January 9, 2018

I’m sorry @IvankaTrump but unless you wish to call out your own father for his taped admission to assaulting women, your desire to join the sisterhood cannot be taken with any validity...I know it’s difficult but #TIMESUP for your dad too.

— tara strong (@tarastrong) January 9, 2018

When Ivanka attended the PyeongChang Winter Olympics recently, she wasn’t there as “a daughter”. According to the President, she was there as an adviser to lead up a “high level delegation”.

So the question remains: when is Ivanka a “daughter” and when is she a senior administration adviser? Or does the answer conveniently shift when the circumstances call for it?

Can’t she be both? Not when you’re using one as an excuse to shy away from your duties as the other, no.

This, as CNN editor-in-chief Chris Cillizza deftly points out, is exactly why nepotism laws exist in the first place.

As news.com.au has previously reported, a statute was passed in 1967 stating that no public official — whether they be President or in a low-level managerial position — may hire or promote a relative.

The Trumps may have gotten around this by giving Ivanka an unpaid role, but that doesn’t change the fact that there are practical setbacks to her position.

Over a dozen women have accused Mr Trump of sexual harassment. A senior aide to the President should be able to engage with the issue — particularly in light of the #MeToo movement, and even more so when they’re the administration’s self-appointed spokesperson for women’s rights.

Evidently Saturday Night Live was right. Ivanka Trump is complicit. And the “daughter” card is just not good enough.

[e-mail] | @gavindfernando