"In areas outside of my portfolio, I tend to agree more with the more conservative viewpoint more often than where the Democrats are today," she told The New York Times this week

By Adam Carlson
March 03, 2020 09:27 AM
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Ivanka Trump would like to make something clear.

The eldest daughter of and senior aide to President Donald Trump, Ivanka is aware of the perception that she has tried to be — depending on the view — either a more liberal force in her father’s White House or a treacherous one, betraying his conservative promises.

Ivanka, like her dad, has a history of Democratic ties and more Democratic-friendly social stances. After joining the administration in early 2017, there were multiple reports that she and husband Jared Kushner, also a presidential adviser, had resisted one or another controversial move, such as pulling the U.S. from the Paris Agreement to combat climate change.

But in fact, Ivanka, 38, told The New York Times in an interview published Monday: “I am a proud Trump Republican.”

She changed her voting registration from Democrat to Republican in October 2018, according to the Times, and then gave an interview about it this week.

She said she wanted to vote for her father in the New York primary.

“I believe he’s broadened the reach of the Republican Party, which is really important to me,” she said.

The paper also notes that her social media has gotten more pugilistic, akin to her dad’s or her brother Donald Trump Jr., who regularly echoes his dad in fighting with and mocking people online.

“In areas outside of my portfolio, I tend to agree more with the more conservative viewpoint more often than where the Democrats are today,” Ivanka told the Times.

From left: Ivanka Trump and President Donald Trump
NICHOLAS KAMM/AFP via Getty
Ivanka Trump (second from left)
Fernando Vergara/AP/Shutterstock

“No one person or party,” she said, “has a monopoly on good ideas.” (Kushner has also commented on his political transformation, saying in December, “Now I’m a Republican. I think the Republican Party is growing now that people like me feel comfortable being part of it.”)

Ivanka and her husband together work on a wide swath of both domestic and international issues in the White House, including workforce policies and Middle East peace.

From the beginning, they have faced criticism they are unqualified for such positions and benefit from nepotism. The president himself reportedly intervened to push to get them security clearances.

“I’m not going to speculate on the projections other people have cast upon me,” Ivanka told the Times this week.

She has previously said that she is privately candid with her father but acknowledges he is her boss.

“One of the reasons that I have such a good relationship with him in both a personal and professional capacity is because I’m incredibly candid with him,” she told ABC News in 2018.

“He knows exactly where I stand on any issue,” she said then. “I’ll always tell you what I’m for, but it is not my place as somebody working within a White House to tell you what I’m against. The only person who knows that is one person, and he knows it.”