It’s obviously the most pressing question for the second Trump administration: is daddy’s favorite child about to make her triumphant return to the White House? In the first Trump term, Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner installed themselves in the West Wing and acted as “advisors” and “babysitters” for Donald Trump. Both Ivanka and Jared worked their own agendas too, and they profited from the administration in ways few people understand. Jared and Ivanka did not participate in this year’s Trump campaign whatsoever though. Post-insurrection, they bought a home in Indian Creek Island in Florida, and they’ve been establishing themselves in the Miami social scene. So will Javanka return to DC? From the NY Post:
Ivanka Trump was by her father’s side as he was won the Presidency for a historic second term – but it doesn’t mean she will join him in the White House, sources say. The statuesque blonde is preparing to be First Daughter a second time, however, she and her husband Jared Kusher have spent the past few years settling into Miami life and have no plans for a return to the political fray.
The couple, both 43, moved to Florida after a tumultuous few years in Washington D.C. where they both worked in Trump’s 2017 to 2020 administration as advisers. Doing so lost them some of their more liberal friends in the process, multiple sources confirm. The pair now live with their three children on Indian Creek Island, dubbed the “Billionaire’s Bunker”, where their neighbors include close pals Tom Brady and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and his fiancée, Lauren Sanchez.
A society source in Miami told us Ivanka – who called her dad’s conviction over his hush money trial in May “painful” – is “loved.” A close source added, “Ivanka is proud of her father, she loves him, but his last presidency took its toll. There were friends who turned their back on Ivanka and Jared because of Donald, and that was hurtful. Now she has a great life, her thoughts are she does not need to be working in the White House to make a difference.”
Although she won’t be taking meetings in the West Wing, Ivanka, who joined President Trump on stage alongside her husband, siblings and Melania Trump in the early hours of Wednesday morning as he declared victory, is, however, looking forward to still having an impact on public life.
“I expect that we could see Ivanka work with tech leaders and talk about child safety on the internet, as well as her concerns about child trafficking, that’s the kind of thing she concentrated on in the White House,” said the source. “I think we’ll see her utilize her power in that way.”
Another source familiar with the Kushner family added, “Ivanka has been remarkably consistent for two years and right now she is focused on her family and the needs of her children. She doesn’t plan to be in politics. If she has something she wants to say, she will speak with her father about it directly, and privately…If that changes and she decides she wants to advocate for various policies, she will say it publicly. Ivanka is not preparing to re-enter political life, but there’s whispers that she could make key appearances and support the idea of the American family,” added another Miami source. “Ivanka is prepped to do all the family walks at some point… but has no plans to enter the political fray.”
Similarly, a source said that Kushner has no plans to return to politics — but that he will be advising the transition team as needed.
I think it was Rachel Maddow who made the point, pre-election, that if Trump won, the people around him would be radically different than the first term. Meaning, there will be disciplined, seasoned fascists and hard right-wing political operatives using this Trump term to work their agenda. The first term, as ghastly as it was, was riddled with incompetence and a lack of discipline across the board. Just the sheer fact that Jared Kushner was, like, the go-to foreign policy advisor and jack-of-all-trades on domestic policy tells you everything about what the first term was like. It will be different this time around. And I hate to admit this, but it will actually be worse without Ivanka and Jared making a bare-bones effort to moderate Trump’s worst instincts. I actually hate that I even had to write that sentence.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Backgrid.