We might as well start with Ivanka, as we plumb the present and future of Trumpism, the Trump Cabinet, the Trump family, the Trump brand.
Because – Ivanka. The most personable, palatable, fashionable, Trump-lite member of the future first family. The most inscrutable, yet most weirdly relatable.
Some people think she’ll be the real first lady, with her telegenic personality and her copacetic pet causes, and her lifestyle website, already dedicated to being a gracious host and professional woman.
Last week, her father formally named her to his transition team; early this week, rumors swirled – which Donald Trump later denied – that the president-elect had requested top-secret security clearance for Ivanka and her brothers..
Donald Trump tweeted that the transition “is going so smoothly,” and we are reduced to scouring Ivanka Trump’s Instagram feed to figure out the future of the country.
Ivanka sat for a “60 Minutes” interview with the rest of her family this week and folded her hands primly across her lap, one wrist bedecked with a heavy gold bracelet. “I’m going to be a daughter,” she said firmly when Lesley Stahl asked whether she would be seeking a job in the Trump administration.
The next morning, a sales representative from her jewelry line sent out a notice to journalists that the aforementioned gold bangle was Ivanka’s “favorite.” It could be purchased for $10,800 through the Ivanka Trump Fine Jewelry website. Daughter/businesswoman? Businesswoman/presidential adviser?
Ivanka was the one who stayed focused.
Ivanka: in those other photos where – and we realize that cameras are always catching things at weird angles and odd moments – but those photos where the president-elect always seems to be patting around his daughter’s butt. “She does have a very nice figure,” Trump once said of his daughter. “I’ve said that if Ivanka weren’t my daughter, perhaps, I would be dating her.”
