Let me get this straight: I am an unswerving liberal who voted for Bernie Sanders in the primary and will most definitely vote for Hillary Clinton in the general election. Every time I hear the name “Donald J. Trump,” I can feel the bile rise from my stomach to my throat. I can't stand him, his dangerous rhetoric, or his dearth of political experience.
During the Republican National Convention this past week, my feelings for The Donald grew even more sour. But, the last night of the convention, the biggest asset of the Trump campaign became more and more apparent. Trump’s strength? Ivanka, his eldest daughter.
As she introduced her father at the RNC, I was left with nothing but high regard and genuine admiration for Ivanka. While she is her father’s favorite child and admires her in more ways than one (some ways more inappropriate than others), her social and political ideology is refreshingly different from her father’s. Ivanka herself said: “I do not consider myself a Republican or a Democrat.”
That Thursday night, she spoke ardently about paid leave, equal pay, and gender equality in the workplace. Liberal, feminist issues in a room full of conservatives, all to a surprising applause. How? Only Ivanka can pull this off. She sounded like any other American millennial passionate about political and social issues -- that, too, at a platform directed towards a Republican audience.
And, it looks like she actually believes in what she is saying. Ivanka is friends with Chelsea Clinton, and she supported Hillary Clinton’s campaign in 2008. After Clinton lost to Obama in the Democratic primary, she voted for Obama in the general election. She also donated to $40,000 to Cory Booker’s campaign in 2013, and she “forgot” to register to vote and, therefore, couldn't cast a ballot for her father in the primaries.
Like The Donald, she was born with a silver spoon in her mouth. But, that’s where the similarities between her and her father stop. Instead of misusing her privilege, she strategically wields it as a weapon to empower other women as an accomplished businesswoman consistently defying the odds. Unlike Donald, she is sharp with her words; she is more informed about political issues. She knew what she was talking about.
In fact, Ivanka sounded a lot like someone familiar. Someone with an equal, if not more, amount of influence on the American people. Someone who is attacked and lambasted on a daily basis by same people who cheered Ivanka on stage that night. Yes, Ivanka Trump sounded a lot like -- gasp -- Hillary Clinton.
Sure, her father is a racist, sexist megalomaniac whose ego is as big as his fingers are tiny, but while Ivanka is a liberal feminist to the core, she still loves her father and credits him for inspiring her to stand tall and fight for her success. She never defends any of his policies. In fact, she was upset when Trump said that “Mexico was bringing rapists” during his initial campaign speech -- to the point where she drafted numerous statements, none of which were released to the public, that would retract his dangerously racist claim. In fact, it was Ivanka who convinced Donald to realize that his comments towards Megyn Kelly were not only misogynistic but also unacceptable. But, she continues to emphasize how her father is a good man who is “color-blind and gender-neutral.”
Some say that Trump should have picked Ivanka as his vice-presidential running mate. I say that she should be the one running for president. She is smart, she is poised, but most importantly, she is ready to take charge of her own destiny, empowering women of all shades in the process.
